Henny~Penny & Lucky~Ducky

I can be a little obsessive when I get involved in things so having decided we would keep chooks again, & having ordered our chook pen, I turned my attention to the object of this exercise: the chooks themselves.

Last time, over quite a number of years, we had 2 bantams [who never once laid], an Australorp & 1/2 a dozen ISA Brown rescues. I loved my Australorp. The bantams were pretty but anti~social.  The rescues were prone to dropping dead for no reason @ all & they are not a colour I am fussed on. Not their fault I know but there you have it.

Now the ISA Browns I can get easily.  The island nursery stocks them @ POL but having kept them once I don't want them again.   I wanted birds that were friendly ~ yet large enough to not be put off by small children; I wanted excellent layers, hardy & long lived; I wanted chooks that could cope well in a pen with limited free ranging [in case our neighbours object] ~ and I didn't want fliers!  They go up trees to roost & can be the devil to get down again for the night!

So I began researching & it didn't take me too long to decide on the 2 best breeds that met most of my requirements: the Australorps & Plymouth Rocks.  Rocks are lovely speckly chooks, large, placid & good layers who are happy in a pen. And they are pretty.  Pretty is good.  Big enough the cats will think twice before tangling with them.

So I began making enquiries you know & before long it was obvious I shouldn't have set my heart on any particular breed because what I wanted was not going to be so easily come by.  Part of the difficulty of course is I am not yet *in the loop* so to speak so don't know the closest breeders who might have extra birds they want to off~load.  Part of the problem is that not everyone has what you want when you want it. Part of the problem is cost.  Heritage breeds are more expensive.  POLs are more expensive than chicks but chicks are dodgy & I'm not that brave!

I shot off a series of emails.  Only one breeder replied &, you guessed it, she is on the north side of Brisbane, but she expects to have what I want when I want it & is prepared to chat to me.  So nice when experts will take the time & trouble to chat with us plebs. So I think I have my chook supply sorted.  I have said 3 Rocks & 2 Australorps even though my coop will hold 7 chooks comfortably.  I figure I can add to the flock @ a later date & it will allow for some staggering as birds age & stop laying. The MOTH thinks I am quite demented. Having looked @ the map I am prepared to look @ it as a wonderful day trip through pretty countryside.

Meanwhile my long coveted coop has run into difficulties. The company won't deliver to the island so it is going to the boys & I will have to arrange for the courier to get it from there. Nothing deterred I ordered my treadmill feeder, a large feed bin & some hemp bedding for the nesting boxes.  The hardest part is practising patience as I wait on all the various bibs & bobs coming together but eventually it all WILL happen.