Thinking about chickens

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Aquilis
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Thinking about chickens

Post by Aquilis »

So, the garden has been comming along quite nicely for a year now and I am thinking about adding some chickens. I will have to keep them in an enclosed run because the neighbour runs a cat sanctuary. Want something just for eggs and fun really, so looking for a good personaility laying breed.

Done a fair bit of reading here and online but any advice or tips is very welcomed. Hope you are all doing well!

Aquilis
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Re: Thinking about chickens

Post by Aquilis »

Sorry, should add I am in Shizuoka so looking for something that is okay with up to 40 degree summers and 0 in winter. Obviously can add heating if needed, but cooling would be difficult.

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Zasso Nouka
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Re: Thinking about chickens

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Pretty much any of the varieties available to buy are suitable for your location. Nagoya Cochins are more of a meat than egg laying bird, Okazaki Ouhan's are also quite large birds if you are mostly after eggs so they will eat more food than smaller bodied birds. Boris Brown's are good layers and smaller body size so consume less food. Momiji & Sakura will cope quite well with your climate and like Boris's are smaller in body size so will consume less food but won't give so much meat when you slaughter them. Aracuna's from Mexico shouldn't have any problems with the heat but they are expensive to buy and don't lay every day.

Unless your neighbour is keeping Maine Coon's chickens are too big for most cats. Our farm cats are pretty bold when it comes to stalking prey but they give the chickens a wide berth and the chickens don't seem bothered by them when they are free ranging through our hatake. During the day our 'friendly' tanuki won't bother the chickens but apparently chickens are vulnerable at night to tanuki and raccoons when they are sleeping so make sure you have a secure place for them to sleep, ideally get an automatic door closer. There is a link in the chicken thread for plans to build your own chicken house for them to sleep in safely, you can scale it up or down to suit the number of birds you have.

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Re: Thinking about chickens

Post by Aquilis »

That's great thanks. Do you have any issues with hawks in your area too? How do the free roamers interact with your plants?

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Re: Thinking about chickens

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Yes, hawks will take chickens if they get inside the enclosure but for some strange reason we've never lost one of the free ranging chickens to a hawk and I don't really understand why. Perhaps inside the enclosure they can't so easily flee ?
Aquilis wrote:
Thu Mar 26, 2020 9:21 am
How do the free roamers interact with your plants?
They eat them :lol:, normally we don't mind if they eat a few leaves here or there but we do keep them out of salad crops. Having them go through rows of nasu keeps caterpillars and kamemushi down and they don't eat the fruit but they will eat tomato, cucumbers and other soft fruit.

VanillaEssence

Re: Thinking about chickens

Post by VanillaEssence »

I don’t know if they’re easy to find in Japan, but in australia we always had Isa Browns. They’re consistent layers at least for 2 years, getting an egg a day from each and they’re good natured, which is a characteristic that shouldn’t be underestimated!

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Re: Thinking about chickens

Post by Aquilis »

Fair enough, one of my neighbours uses some of my garden as it's all a bit much for me to use at the moment, so he might not be too happy with sudden chicken x) Would be good to get them roaming though.

Last question, if you don't mind, where did you get yours from? I've seen in the States you can get them posted to you! Assuming that is not a thing here.

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Zasso Nouka
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Re: Thinking about chickens

Post by Zasso Nouka »

VanillaEssence wrote:
Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:23 pm
I don’t know if they’re easy to find in Japan, but in australia we always had Isa Browns. They’re consistent layers at least for 2 years, getting an egg a day from each and they’re good natured, which is a characteristic that shouldn’t be underestimated!
They sound a bit like Boris Brown's and look somewhat similar as well, maybe there is some connection ?
Aquilis wrote:
Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:03 am
Last question, if you don't mind, where did you get yours from? I've seen in the States you can get them posted to you! Assuming that is not a thing here.
You can buy from Joyful Honda, they generally stock Nagoya Cochins, Okazaki Ouhans, Boris Browns and Aracunas. We get our Momiji and Sakuras from a friend of ours who is an egg farmer. Not sure about posting, don't think live chicks are a thing but you can get fertilised eggs posted and then pop them into an incubator.

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Re: Thinking about chickens

Post by Tora »

can you recommend a automatic door opener and source. All the models I looked at on the US Amazon site (linked to from info sites😅) don’t ship to japan.

Asking for a lazy friend who wants to do a chicken tractor but likes to go surfing and camping with the kid now and then.

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Re: Thinking about chickens

Post by Zasso Nouka »

AXT Electronic will ship to Japan, I recently ordered a replacement part from them and their service is excellent and very swift. You can either order the aluminium door and rails or make something similar over here.

Your *ahem* friend won't have to rush home anymore to ensure the safety of their chickens :lol:

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