My Girls

I never ever wanted to have chickens. Mr Steps wanted them in the last house we lived in but I always thought they would bring rats and to be honest, they sort of freaked me out a bit. However when we bought this house on half an acre it wasn't even up for discussion. The chooks were coming to stay!

Now that we've had them for six months or so I couldn't imagine not having them. They are so friendly and when we go in their pen they squat down for you to pat them. I've even held them a few times and they're not so scary! Oh and not to mention the delicious eggies we get from them everyday. We use ALOT of eggs in this house and I haven't had to buy any for months and I get to give some away to family and friends when we have extras.

We started off with 6 Isa Browns and 2 Silkies (which were meant to be pets for the boys) but the poor silkies got overtaken and pecked constantly by the bossy Isa's so we rehomed them to a friend of mine who has a chook refuge :) Now the Isa's rule the roost lol!

Our girls are very spoilt and get lots of yummy scraps. I was giving them everything (except meat) until I found out that there a few things that they shouldn't have.

Raw green potato & peel - this contains Solanine which is toxic
Avocado skin and pit - these contain low levels of toxicity - OOPS! I only have just found this one out....
Raw eggs - obviously
Dried beans - these contain hemaglutin which is toxic to birds
Sugary foods

I've also read that citrus peel is bad for them due to the amount of acidity in it but there is alot of debate over this so I'm not too sure if it's true or not. I don't give it to mine anyway just to be safe.

They pretty much will eat anything though as any chook owner will tell you. I've read that giving them natural yoghurt is fantastic for them so I'm going to try them with a bowl of that.

Here are my lovely ladies

And here is the food and water shelter the talented Mr Steps made for them recently which of course they have pooped all over straight away!

Love my girls!