23rd October 2020 - Omlet Blog Australia

Why chickens make great pets for families with children

Chickens really are wonderful pets for the whole family. Aside from providing delicious daily eggs, they’re super fun to watch, hang out with, and can teach children valuable life lessons. Compared to other pets, chickens are also relatively low maintenance, and caring for them doesn’t really require much that children from primary school age won’t be able to at least take part in. Read on to find out more reasons why chickens are great pets for families with children.

Responsibility

Having chickens will help children of all ages learn about taking responsibility for another living being. Whilst they should never be given full responsibility for all the chook care duties, even allowing them to scatter some corn for their feathered friends or refilling the drinker can help children build a wondrous connection and gain a better understanding of what it means to take care of another.

Routines

Chickens are pets of routine and part of your daily regime as a keeper includes, but is not limited to, cleaning out the coop and run, filling their feed and waterers and collecting eggs. Having pets that need structure helps children to understand the importance of a routine, which, is something many kids can thrive with,

Food

Keeping chickens will teach your children that food does not magically appear on supermarket shelves. If they care for their own chickens, they’ll hopefully realize how important it is for animals to have enough space and adequate care, and they will not take animal products for granted.

Chickens and children: things to consider

Dream big, start small

Whilst you might be tempted to start off with more, begin with a smaller flock of no more than 5 chickens. That way, your children will easily be able to differentiate them and give them names based on their personalities. Too many at once makes the chickens seem like a flock rather than a group of individuals. And at a later date, there’s nothing stopping you from falling victim to the infamous “chicken math” when your children are older!

Happy hens

Stick to hens. It’s probably a good idea not to get a rooster to start with. Whilst some chicken keepers have their own personal reasons as to why they want to keep cockerels, they’re not for everyone. For one, they’re much more confident and pushy than hens and can be a bit intimidating for younger children.

Easy peasy coop cleaning

Get a coop that makes chicken keeping easy, so that the kids can help. The Eglu Cube chicken coop is perfect for adults and children alike. With the innovative design, even younger members of the family can even help with the cleaning of the coop. Simply empty the dropping tray and wipe down the smooth surfaces of the house once a week, and your coop will look shiny and new every time.

It’s super easy to let the chickens out in the morning and close the coop at night too with the optional Autodoor. Plus, collecting fresh eggs is a breeze with the egg port found on the side of the coop.

Start them young

Even if you’re not incubating eggs and rearing chicks yourself, getting young chickens is a good idea if you want your children to be involved. Encourage regular interaction, and try to pick up the chickens regularly to get them used to being handled. This is sometimes made easier by having the chickens in a run that is easy to access, like the Walk In Run.

Which breed?

There are a number of chicken breeds to choose from, all of which with their own pros. When choosing chickens as family pets though, opt for a friendly and hardy breed that’s renowned for getting on well with kids. Silkies, for example, are famous for being loving and happy to be held, Orpingtons are calm and affectionate and Cochins easily adapt to any situation they are confronted with.

Omlet and your family pet

Whether you’re a first-time chicken keeper looking for a new family pet or expert, Omlet has everything you need to give your chooks the best lives possible. From our range of easy-to-clean chicken coops, to our Autodoor to take the guesswork out of bantam bedtime, chicken keeping has never been more simple or fun than with Omlet.

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This entry was posted in Chickens on October 23rd, 2020 by linnearask

How Much Should I Be Feeding My Chickens?

A chicken peeking into an Omlet chicken feeder

Chickens are great foragers, and free-range birds will peck and scratch for all kinds of wild treats, from grass and weeds to worms and beetles. However, even a hen with all-day access to a backyard or meadow still needs to be fed with high-quality layers pellets. These contain the correct balance of protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals (notably calcium for egg shells) that will keep them happy and healthy. Protein is particularly important for healthy egg production.

A general ballpark figure is very useful, to guarantee that the hens’ dietary requirements are being met. For medium-sized breeds you need to feed between 115 and 120 grams (just over a quarter of a pound) of feed per chicken per day, which is 805 to 840 grams (one and a half pounds) of feed per chicken per week. A slightly larger Sussex will eat a bit more, and the smaller Leghorn will eat slightly less, while a small bantam breed will only eat between a half and three quarters of that amount.

Chicks, Pullets and Layers

Until it is five weeks old, a chick will need to have its diet supplemented with protein-rich ‘chick crumbs’. Between then and 18 weeks old, while they are ‘pullets’, the birds will need ‘growers pellets’ to put on weight. As soon as the hens begin laying, they only need the regular ‘layers pellets’. These, again, are rich in protein, calcium and all the other essential nutrients.

The hens will also need daily access to grit. Treats are fine, as long as they are not being offered so frequently that the hens fail to eat their share of pellets. Corn is a healthy treat, and birds that have free-range access to grass will be in chicken heaven.

How Can You Make Sure Each Hen is Getting Her Share of the Food?

Any flock of chickens develops a natural pecking order, and the dominant birds will tend to eat their fill before the others, if there is not enough space for all the hens to fill their crops at once (something they like doing shortly before retiring for the night). A solution here is to buy a wide-bottomed feeder that allows several birds to eat at once, or to use more than one feeder. This will ensure the timid hens get their fair share of food.

However, as long as you have provided enough for all your hens, there should always be food left in the feeder when the dominant birds have had their fill. You should still keep a close eye on the health of your flock, though. Issues such as soft shells or feather-plucking can be signs of dietary deficiencies, and the problem might lie in the quality rather than the quantity of the birds’ diet.

Do Hens Eat the Same Food All Year Round?

Chickens moult every year, and will usually eat more food during this process, to ensure their bodies have all the protein they need to grow a new set of feathers. Hens usually eat more during cold weather, too, in order to fuel their metabolisms and stay warm. Free-range hens also tend not to find as many treats in the backyard during the winter, as the insect population is at low ebb and the grass is no longer growing.

You can add a little more food each day during these periods. You will soon know if you are giving them too much or too little, by noting the amount of pellets left in the feeder each evening.

However, the hens produce fewer eggs in the winter, so all in all the amount of protein-rich pellets required does not differ significantly from season to season. Again, the key detail is to ensure a regular supply of food. In the summer, if your hens appear to be eating very little, it may be because they are finding too many good things on their foraging trips in the backyard. This can be a problem if the wild food they are filling up on doesn’t provide the right balance of nutrients. You might want to confine a hen to the coop if she doesn’t seem to eat enough pellets. That way, she will be forced to eat the good stuff rather than the backyard treats.

Layers pellets should be available to the hens 24/7 – they will eat as much as they need, and will not behave like a dog, eating everything at once simply because it’s there!