Chickens & Ducks - Happy Families

[Woody]

As a novice to permaculture i am on a very steep learning curve.
I would like to keep chickens and ducks, i have a dam that can be used by those who wish to, but would i need to separate the families further up the field?
Can someone recommend a book on the subject covering both families?
Cheers
Woody

[makehumusnotwar]

hi woody......

i'm in exactly the same position as you. the "wouldn'hava clue-itis accompanied by severe headaches due to info-overload then a sore back after completing your backyard garden-pest sanctuary." still, it's the best fun in the whole world.

as for chooks and ducks - dunno. yeah there are books - they're good to start with, but i've found out a lot more through people. have a look at this site :

http://www.simplynaturalorganic.com/course_details.html

there's a one-day course specifically on chookens, as well as many others. i'm booked in for my first course next wkend.

[Alexis Anderson]

Jackie French has published a great resource called "Jackie French's Chook Book". It is readily available and a great read.

And yeah, usually good to seperate families to stop any inbreeding!!

Although I have never kept a breeding pair, a freind who does keeps his breeding pair and slaughters the younguns when they get old enough for the pot. He always has plenty of chicken to eat!! Depends on how many you want to run, but if you get signs of particularly stupid animals, it can be a sign that the gene pool is degenerating.
Had a problem with sucessive generations of geese on a project I was working on!!

Alexis

[Chook Nut]

Hi Woody,

There is stacks of info on chooks and ducks, you can look for books in your local library to help get you started. The Jackie French recommendation would be good also.

Hey Humus, have fun at Jades place with your chook course. Don't think you will find too many examples of her that top her permaculture oasis; her gardens are superb. I have bought a few chooks off her myself as well as her chook book. Pretty easy read and has good ideas and hints for the novice.

Make sure you take your camera to get lots of pics of her garden.... her garden tours are pretty good for gleaning lots of info as well.

Cheers... Dave