Sheep for meat and chooks for eggs. Advice?

[D110V8D]

Ok I would be fairly certain we have a few members on here that have sheep and chooks. Maybe some of you have large farms, maybe just a few acres. I'm after some advice on a couple things sheep and chook related.

I just bought a few acres outside of Yarra Junction in Victoria and I'm moving up there full time shortly. I'm pretty keen to get into running a few sheep for some meat and a few chooks for eggs, along with the usual vegie patch etc to both cut down on my food cost's as well as teach the kids a few things about the realities of life.

Now I've done some initial research on sheep and most people seem to think that Dorper sheep are the ones to go for on a small "hobby" type farm due to the little amount of maintenance required and they also tend to have twins or triplets more so than other sheep breeds. Apparently they fatten quickly too.

Anyone have any real life experience with these sheep?
My plan is to start off with a few ewe's and a ram and basically just see how many lambs I get and just go from there. I don't know a lot about animal husbandry but I will continue to read up and take whatever advice I can get.

As for the chooks.....how many different breeds are there? It seems to me there are literally thousands! Which are the best layers and which ones are best with kids? Is it just as simple as building a chook shed, adding some hay and a spot to lay and away you go? I want the kids to be really involved in this part of it so placid or easily handled chooks would be the best but we also want a good yield of eggs too. Again if anyone has any real life experience I'm listening.

[crash]

Do not have experience with Dorper sheep, but what I have heard are low maintenence, and are preferred meat sheep. They still have to be drenched, and have to watch out for fly strike like any other sheep.
Isa Brown chooks are the best layers (1 egg / chook / day on average) for about 2 or three years then their productivity drops off. They are not brooders so if you want to hatch your own will need an icubator (plus a rooster of course). There are a few other varieties that make better brooders, but prioductivity in the egg laying area is lower. There is an english breed of chooks which the name escapes me (white with black specks) which is a larger bird and is good eating.
If you hatch some chicks out of an icubator yourself, any chick can be imprinted and will make great pets for the kids. Bantum chickens - especially the roosters can get a bit of attitude. They are one of my favorite breeds to look at.
Make sure your chook pen has some shade and an undercover area for them, plenty of fresh water. Chooks can get worms and fleas/ lice as well. Keep the nesting area clean, dry and change the straw requlary you should not have too much problem with the fleas or lice - there are special powders for this aswell. Use good quality chicken mesh to keep the foxes out and if you let them out during the day, make sure they get locked up at night.
Our chooks get the food scraps as well as a good quality laying mix. I occasionaly add a grain mix in as well for a bit of variety.
Best of luck

[Veryan]

I had a couple of Sussex and a Leghorn Hens and a couple of Sussex X Leghorns hens. They are big birds, and also good layers. I had 4 and would get at least eggs a 4 a day if not more on occasions . So that was more than enough for just me. I had a large pen which I fenced in and made a layers coup. There big birds, so if you get really hungry, they would make a decent dinner

I had them from when they were 6 weeks old. It took maybe 2-3 months until they grew up to start laying eggs. Fed the on growers mash, and then layers mash, with corn and grain and what ever scraps I had, plus a run about in the late afternoon in the garden. Eggs were small to begin with, but then they came larger to what I would consider average super market size, except tastier.

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I'd let them out in the yard during the day if I was about or at weekends.

Occasionally they would go broody, so I would have to lock that one out the coup for a few days.

Few picture of what I had and my set up.

PS the white one with the black ring of feathers round the neck is the pure bred Sussex, it was a monster. The rest are Sussex/Leghorn X. They lived in the tree when they were little, it was great fun to watch them try and get up into it when they had grown up a little!

[Chucaro]

If you are looking to get some money from the sheeps I would go for colored and black ships. It is a nich market for the colored wool by spinners and weavers.
Have a look HERE for info abouth them.
Regarding chooks my favorite are the Rhode Island Red.

[isuzurover]

Consider indian runner ducks instead of chooks. You get ~1 egg per duck per day, and they are the size of extra, extra large chook eggs. Taste is very similar and can use them for anything you can use chook eggs for.

Plus:
They taste better than chooks (IMO) if you want to eat some
They are excelent for the control of snails/slaters/grubs, but don't dig big holes like chooks do.
They live longer, lay longer and are less prone to illness and parasites.
They are also less likely to go clucky and stop laying.

Plus they are a lot cuter (even when not dressed in stupid costumes...)


I would also go for goats instead of sheep personally...

[Beckford]

The SWMBO has 3 chooks. We live on a small 10 acre block. She does all the day to day work and I enjoy the eggs. My advice is;

1. Chickens need to be fed lots of different things, including a good grain mix + shell grit. Some people think they can live on kitchen scraps alone and then wonder why they aren't laying.

2. You don't need a Rooster. We average 2 eggs a day. 1 chook is a very good layer and 1 chook is hopeless.

3. Lock them up at night in a fox proof mesh enclosure.

(My mum used to have a few thousand free range on the farm as a kid.)

Know nothing about sheep, except what I learnt at school in year 7 ag.

[Bundalene]

As for your vegetables




A good veggie garden takes a bit of planning to get the most out of it.

Some years ago I bought a book called No Dig Garden by Ester Dean, in which you grow veggies in different layers without using soil - the best thing we ever did as we rarely have to weed.



We used a combination of sleeper halfback beds and cut up rusty water tank for the beds.



















Erich

[CraigE]

Isa Brown chooks, we have 7 on a normal residential block of around 800m2. We supply half the neighbourhood with eggs. They are great layers. Think about running a couple of geese with them on acerage, but you need to get them at the same time (chicks). The geese will protect the chooks and take on foxes.

[CraigE]

As for your vegetables




A good veggie garden takes a bit of planning to get the most out of it.

Some years ago I bought a book called No Dig Garden by Ester Dean, in which you grow veggies in different layers without using soil - the best thing we ever did as we rarely have to weed.



We used a combination of sleeper halfback beds and cut up rusty water tank for the beds.
















Erich

Erich,
great crops, my address is...............

[rick130]

Around these parts most everyone uses Isa Browns for layers, Australorps are supposed to be very good too.

Isa Browns are a commercial hybrid bird so are pretty much spent after two to three years, they put everything into egg production.

Whatever you get, buy it as a pullet from a breeder as there are some dodgy mature birds around (older and not laying)


Ben, one of the older stockman here (and he'd kill me for calling him 'older' ) used to do shows with his ducks and dogs, horse and sulky, including exhibitions at Sydney Royal.