You will have gathered by now through reading my blogs that nothing disappoints me like a dead boring garden. When I say dead I don’t a garden where the lawn is brown from lack of rain and the boeders over run with weeds, what I mean is a garden that is not developed, lacking creativity, no sense of life or purpose, I see these gardens all the time. Don’t get me wrong, each to their own, all I think is there could be so much more life in our living space.

One way of bringing a real sense of life into your garden and your family is by getting a couple of chooks.

They are easy to maintain, kids love them and will even give you something in return for your kitchen scraps – eggs!

There are a few myths to get out of the way before we start on the fun stuff. Chickens do not intice rodents such as rats. My backyard literally backs onto the bush, not once have I ever seen a rat near my chickens or even in my backyard. What about fleas? No fleas. Chickens love to flap around in a dry mud bath, this method of cleaning will kill any fleas and other bacteria. What about living with other pets. Well we have two cats, my chickens are free range, they roam the backyard, and even hop over the fence into the reserve and my cats while initially checked them out and gave them a good smell knew these were pets and have never attacked them. There is the odd playful chase, however, this is the chook chasing the cat round the yard!

There is one other thing I need to point out at this time – in order to get eggs you do not need a rooster! I meet so many people who say, but there’s no point in keeping chickens because I live in suburbia and you’re not allowed roosters. This is correct. A female chicken, a hen is like a woman, born with potentially thousands of eggs inside her. As she reaches about 8-9 months, so she will slowly start to lay. If you want to breed baby chickens then you need a rooster – the rest is left to your imagination!

Chickens are great pets. They are smart and kids will love collecting their eggs and helping to clean out the cage once every three weeks – all this involves is clearing out the poo, which should go straight onto your veggie garden, and topping up the straw. A free source of manure is a great way of saving a few bucks.

I have a variety of chickens. Bantams, oriental silkies, leghorns and isa browns. They all get along great. Of course there is a pecking order (just like there is in the workplace). Scientific studies have been done that show if you had 90 chickens in an enclosure, within a few minutes each of those chickens know where they will fit into the pecking order. Not all of my chickens lay every day (I have 8 chickens total). Bantams and silkies are not consistent layers, a change in weather can put them off laying and they tend to get broody more often than other varieties and spend a week in the cage sitting in their nest waiting for an immaculate conception.

I love watching chickens. They spend all day pecking round the yard. Every time the back screen door opens a couple running to greet you to see what scraps you might have. They go round in groups, I often have to play hunt the eggs and chickens will change where they like to lay. I even had a chicken that as it got dark in the evening she would sit on the backdoor step and wait for me to put her to bed each night!

You can pick them up at farmers markets or poultry auctions really cheap. They don’t need a palace to live in, just ensure that at night where they sleep is totally fox proof. Chciken wire makes a good fox-proof fence. Chickens do not like to spend all day cooped up, after a week or so of getting your chickens let them out. Not one of my chickens have ever flown away, they are like a cat, they know where they live. It is not even necessary to clip their wings. Chickens do not fly around like birds. Go on, I dare you, treat yourself, buy a couple of chooks this weekend and bring that backyard to life!!

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