Listeners' Chickens

Our town bantams live in Christchurch. They are great, keep the garden weeded and bug free!

These are my girls Mavis, Molly and Maude. I am having them free range on my garden for the winter. When they first came the garden was full of weeds. I am hoping they might get rid of my oxalis they have eaten the weeds but not the bulbs.We will have to see if they have made a difference. In spring they will go to my friend and I will plant my garden.In the meantime we are getting 2-3 eggs a day and the garden is getting some fertilizer.

Andy Dimond from Brighton in Christchurch writes - I have had my chickens for around 2 years & they are fantastic layers. They are Shaver Browns & I paid about $17 per bird. Someone told me that they start to lay when their crest turn a rich red ? I just waited & sure enough they started popping them out at a rate or about one a day per bird so I'm lucky in that aspect. I feed them some mash, some pellets (though the birds eat most of them!) & lots of scraps ranging from pate, fish n chips, to meatballs which they love. Also the farmer I got them from told me to give them dog roll every now & again for protein. They are very happy birds & used to have the run of the garden keeping the weeds down but made too much of a mess with their poo. They now have a run & coop so are free to roam. I have never bothered to cut their wings as the farmer said that part protects their kidneys especially when it's cold. What does Darcy think about that?

Dear Simon, We have really liked your chicken farm programme. My name is Ethan Baldwin and I am 7 Years old and have my own chicken farm. I have 11 good layers and 6 duds! I have had them for about a year. So far I have made $434 selling the eggs.

The names of my chickens are Pecka, Brown Cluck, Brownee, Brown Bill, Reddy, Henryetta, Bellbird, Corka, Pink, Sharpie, Funnybeak, Funny, Dumbcluck and Crazycluck, Fluffybum, Dumbhead.

Me and my Dad have just put in a energy saving light bulb so the birds will lay during the winter. We've got this hooked up to a timer and it has really helped with the number of eggs we've been getting. We let them out to play in our patch of bush during the day. Mum makes great sponge cakes with the cracked eggs I cant sell.

Duncan-Corlett urban chickens and their little house and run.

Beautiful Silver Laced Wyandotte who should start laying very soon (heres hoping).

Duncan-Corlett Urban chickens check out the pot plants.

Ruth Henderson's chicken run in downtown Christchurch.

Ruth Henderson's chook house - central Christchurch.

Michael from Nelson built the coop on a steep sloping section and mostly out of plywood (treated) with recycled iron for the roof. For the run use half round retaining posts dug in and compacted earth to hold in place. Used chicken wire around - twice to get the height and tied together.

Coop Black nesting box and run to the left.

An advantage of having raised their hens from small chicks is that their daughter Maia has handled them from a young age and she still picks up the hens and gives them a cuddle - Maia is now almost 5. This is Maia and Beaky.

Charlotte... or is it Rose... or ist it Charlotte...

The McClunes have a huge section right in the middle of suburban Auckland and have recently built this run. They have fenced a back part of their section, acquired a wonderful coop and they have a large area for the chickens to roam. They have 3 brown shavers (Dora, Bob and Chickenee) and 3 Pekin Bantams (Blah, Goldilocks and Pinochio). Due to the age of the bantams they are not expecting them to start laying until Sept/Oct. They feed the chooks a mixture of peck n lay, a mix of wheat/corn etc, plus a little bit of mash with shells thrown in, as well as scraps.

'Toast' the cat surveys the McClune chicken run, and the chickens!

'Toast' the cat has never once tried to catch the hens (even though he is a hunter). This photo is of Chickenee standing up to him. Chickenee won!

Birthday and Silver Fern in the back yard in Pirbright, Woking, UK.

Notes from chicken lovers in the UK…1) Beware foxes – one tried to dig in last night. I’ve had to pee around the perimeter fence again today! 2) They love pecking around grass clippings. 3) Chickens love having a dust bath. Birthday and Silver fern do it in little holes they’ve dug out for themselves. They love it. 4) The chicken dung is good compost for Dad’s rhubarb.

The Nisbet family's chicken auto-feeder - chicken innovation at its finest.

The Nisbet family chicken auto-feeder on location with rain guard, in Kauri, Whangarei.

Spud ( pet lamb) and Ms Brown

Family photo, from left , Lilac, Diesel ( with the orange spots), Dixie, Ms Brown and Spud.

Ms Brown and Ms Brown. As you can see they all get along, however time has moved on since the snaps- Spud is grown into a big ram, Lilac, Diesel and Dixie are going to be new mums this year but and Ms Brown no longer with us.

Thomas Lewis' chicken coop - Invercargill. Home to Mrs cluck the second and Mrs cluck the third (Mrs cluck the first disappeared).