This is a 16 day old chick.
According to yesterday's Sunday Herald Sun having chooks means being resigned to a decimated garden where nothing can grow and everything is reduced to a dust bowl.
That was once the case -- but not now.
These chicks are being raised by mother hens who have been selected for their light, roaming touch but as with most pets if you want them to integrate well with your family and environment there is some training required.
When you buy a puppy you don't just put it down and say, "Well it's mother would have taught it not to wee in its living quarters so it won't wee in the house."
No -- you use the mother's basic training as the basis for teaching that puppy the rules of your house; where it can and cannot go; where it can dig like a dog and what is off limits.
This is our garden. We're growing watermelons, beans and spinach.
There's no disturbance from the chooks but clearly they don't eat snails as it is the snails that have caused the damage here. The mulch is untouched.
There are places where we encourage them to dust bath and dig -- and there are places where it is not permitted. The key to teaching them is to encourage and reward good behaviour.
When you take your new chooks home you should keep them confined until about an hour before they will want to roost -- then take them to the place where it is OK to scratch and dig.
Have the area lightly spread with special treats such as sunflower seeds and corn. After a week or so when you allow them to roam they will concentrate their foraging efforts in your preferred area -- and move swiftly across less productive areas in search of insects.
The last one to bed is a rotten egg...
And now he has positioned himself in the best vantage point -- right up on Alice's back.
In another week they will have outgrown their barrel. By 5 weeks they will be roosting with the while family. By week 6 they culd be getting ready to move into your garden.
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