Chooks, some councils have regs because they can be noisy and neighbours complain, some times its because the foods the chooks are fed attract vermin like mice and rats, some times its because the owners dont clean the chook house often enough and the aroma blows into the neighbours.
Tip - offer a carton of eggs now and then to the neighbours.
DONT get a rooster, the buggers crow constantly.
DO become used to the idea that the kids will adopt a chook each, and you will never end up killing one for the plate without hurting your children, either they are pets or produce.
They will stop laying and what do you do with them after that ?
Normally kill and butcher them on mass and then replace with a whole new set, the old "pecking order" applies in this situation because the older hens will be protective of their environment (potentially against your kids too) and will possibly 'hen peck' the newbies to death. That is cruel, and heartbreaking to kids but just natural.
They can be cannibals too, if a bird dies the others will start to eat it, also if you see broken eggs in a laying box it is likely that you have a bird that is pissed off and will continue to break and eat eggs out of habit, sometimes it is because of a lack of calcium product for their bodies or producing eggs - thats where shell-grit comes in, you can mix it with their food or just easier to scatter a little on the ground now and then, and let them find it.
From the start you need to lay baits for vermin and traps too, you can do this yourself there are lots of advice vids on the YouTube, be careful of baits with children, chooks and other animals,
just one of those things nature does to us.
Just the facts/reality.
Any greens, bugs, scraps, spoilt fruit, grass clippings just spread them in the chook yard they dig and chew through it, weeds too, wheat and chook pellets.
If out in the garden they will scratch out and kill off a vege patch, lawns they will eat some and dig through garden beds, which is sort of good but a pain to keep fixing up.
However the eggs will be wonderful.
They can be extremely tame and tolerant of kids handling, I have provided chooks to our Kindy that despite kids pulling feathers out, were very happy to be picked up by other kids - smart enough to know who was who.
My oldest daughter tamed a chook that rode a skateboard and loved being towed around in a cart, it actually became sad when not seeing her, it would hear the other kids and look for Kato,
luckily it died of old age - not for dinner.
Each bird needs a place to lay - 4 birds = 4 boxes or places to brood minimum
The chooks are at the In-laws, Italian, so nothing is wasted.
We have Indian Runner ducks - dont expect to own a lawn with those guys unless they are penned in, they eat everything, we have no snails or rodents no bugs in the yard, even spiders hide.
But they also eat all vegetable matter and it is tough to keep anything alive
I have watched two of them stake out a spot where there is a hole under the house, a mouse would come to the front and they would snatch at it, 3 days later they got it and fought over the tiny body, when one finally had control it was just one swallow - awesome.
Oh... the ducks leave lots of 'landmines' everywhere, they are now about 8 yrs old now.
NEVER get any of those fat Muscovy ducks, unless you have plans to eat them !
Chook eggs I love soft boiled and toast soldier for dipping into the yolk, omletes, in fried rice, hard boiled.. almost any way.
Ducks eggs are VERY rich and are so good in cakes.
Enjoy
