Backyard Poultry Info Centre

Hi Iam so brand new to owning chooks - less than a week lol


Just wondering if any one would like to share their insites on a day in the life of their chook?

I have let my 3mth old Pekins free range supervised for an hour or so, the past two afternoons, but today I have let them out un supervised for their first whole day by them selves... although I am home and keep checking out the window lol.

Just wondering what should they be doing at this age? So far they have spent most of the day hiding in the garden bed - snuggled up looking like they are sleeping. On the two afternoon supervised free ranges they spent most of the time eating grass and having a dust bath.

So what are the general habits I would expect to see? and is it different when they are older?

Pretty soon they'll get into digging up your vege patch, scratching the mulch from under your trees and pooping on your paths

Thats so true

Depending on the weather mine start the day by spotting me in the kitchen window and lining up at the fence for their morning treat (left over dinner from the night before etc). Then they wander off into the yard when I've finished cleaning their pen and collecting the morning duck eggs. (They free range all day). Over the course of the day they either wander over the lawn eating grass, scratch down the sides of the fences or in the garden beds, snooze under bushes after looking under their leaves for insects, or dust bathe together around a tree they've picked as their special spot. There are now seven or eight divits which almost reach China. Throughout the day they'll come back to their pen and have a drink and eat some food (although I do have water around the garden for them). Throughout the day individual chooks will make their way back to the shed and lay their eggs then run back with wings outstretched to where ever they find the group afterwards.

Sometimes when they're on the lawn one will start running then they all will, so they're all running in different directions but suddenly I'll see them facing off to whatever chook is closest with their neck feathers all fluffed out. Then they go back to their chook business.

Fortunately / unfortunately I bought myself two backyard layers recently, a leghorn and ISA Brown (my eye candy isn't that wonderful in the laying department) and these two have worked out they can jump the low fence which always kept the chooks off our verandah. In all the years I've had chooks they've never worked out they can do this before So these two are often found pooing and hanging around the back door and digging up our last 'good' patch of lawn which was chook free previously. *sigh*

Oh I had a good giggle! Thanks so much this is what I was looking for lol. Atleast I know mine are "normal" now lol.

I have a couple of Pekin Bantams. They are quite cute little ladies and I am enjoying watching them get used to their new home with us

The 1st two days I let them free range for an hour it was a funny mission trying to get them back in the coop!! but last night around 5:30 they just seemed to know what I wanted them to do and scurried in.

I am hoping tonight they will do the same...

Thanks for a good laugh! Yep, they'll do whatever they're not supposed to do; most animals are that way... but they're still so enjoyable... better than humans sometimes!

Pekins are lovely... I have one cranky rooster with PMS but I have several others that are just sweethearts.

Got any pics??? We all LOVE pics here...

I will try to work out how to upload pictures... maybe tonight when kids aren't up and distracting my concentration lol.

The girls are now snuggled in a hole that one dug out and the other one pushed her way to sit in! lol

my guys were the same the first few times letting them out they would stay close to the coop at first if i'm not there but when i was there they would venture out more but stay close to me. It took maybe a week then they came out more and more on there own without me being there. Now they will do what they please but as soon as they see me they all come runing as in to say "quick she may have food for us" Couple of my silkies actually follow me to the back door its so cute.

I never thought i could get so attached to my chickens but i have there my babies. There just like dogs follow you,mine also come to me when i say chook., But most of the time i don't have to say it they come runing as soon as they see me. We had visiters one day they couldn't help but laugh when they saw one of my silkies following me,almost walking beside me in heel like a dog does.

That's so cute!

Well my ladies seem to have gotten into a comfortable routine now... as soon as I let them out in the morning they have a peck at the grass then hide in their now usual spot in between the shrubs staying low key...

around 3 pmish though they have been out eating grass and hanging about. if I am inside at say 5pm they are jumping up the outdoor chair and peering through the window! It's such a crack up as if to say "come out and feed me"

So when I do go out, they run inside their coop and happily wait for me to give them another big feed...

very cute and have fast become treasured pets... and I thought they would be "just chooks" lol