shell grit is good for them to pick over - they get some calcium from the shells and make calcium for their shells with it

I used to put 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of crushed garlic in one litre of water once every month or six weeks - helps to keep down any parasites

the best idea is to keep an eye on them - if they look happy, they usually are.

if they start to get growths on their legs or seem run down - then you have parasite problems.

usually a fit healthy and happy chook will look after herself without too much bother

I agree with paradisi,your chicks are probably free from parasites if they're looking well.
Lice can be seen quite easily if you look under the wing where the feathers are thin, thye're about the size of a pin head & a yellowy colour, you'll see them scuttling about.
Dirty bottoms are an indication your chooks may have worms, not definitive of course but I would recommend a commercial worm preparation if you get this. You can buy them quite esaily from pet shops. I know I have a worm problem at my place so treat my chooks regularly if I get new girls. The old timers seem to be ok & I just worm a few times a year.
It never hurts to have shell grit available although free ranging chooks would probably get enough anyway. Also the commercial pellets contain shell grit so if you supplement there diet with pellets they'll get some that way.
How old are they now? I'm thinking the boys will be starting to get their talons & getting taller, it's usually easy to tell if you have some of each!
Sarah

I worm mine every six weeks, I only have four chooks so 5mls of Piperazine Solution to 500mls of water.
Dont forget to empty any other water container if you use it, I used to put half that amount but one hot day
I went shopping and got back about 3pm to find the small amount gone, so never again
As paradisi said a healthy chook looks after itself.
My daughter used to give her dogs garlic for worms but I know it did not work.
If it works on chooks or not I do not know, do chooks like garlic???
We have a kind of hill with lots of loose soil in the chook yard and they get in that
and have a good dust bath, and they have never has any of those things you mention.
Cheers..MM.

I have read that if you plant wormwood, the chooks will go through it and that repels mites and flea type bugs...Tina

sarah, they are 8-9 weeks, and no, we can't tell the difference yet. I've worked out 2 are probably Australorps, and 2 are probably Rhode Island Whites..... but so far none look like roosters (just one of the Australorps in crowing!).

Tina - wormwood - thanks, I'd forgotten about that. Anything else I should plant in their area?

so.. a real variation on worming - from every 6 weeks, to a few times a year. Any other votes?

it's 10 years since i moved to the city, but I seem to recall that it was very easy to tell the young roosters.. their little combs along the tops of their beaks become more prominent much earlier than the hen-chicks.Also i'm fairly certain that their little legs and feet were thicker and stronger, and they developed tail feathers earlier as well as having a taller rangy look. 8-9 weeks are well advanced and the little hens should have a more squat shape in comparison to the young roosters.

florial - I'm a city girl, so have no 'eye' for these things yet. The two black Australorps were crowing, and I spent ages looking online at photos etc - the Australorp roosters seem to have a much sturdier, rounder shape than many other breeds - more like a hen - so probably explains why Aunty Sylvia was wrong. Also, the wattles on even Australorp hens are very big and dangly, and the combs on the ones we had were not that big. They had just (this week) developed white pimples where the spurs would come in - if they were going to grow spurs. And - assuming both were roosters - they developed everything (wattles, combs, tail feathers) at the same time, and looked the same - so I may not be sure if they were crowing dominant hens, or little roosters, but I am sure whatever they were, they were both the same. thanks for the tips - maybe I'll get the hang of this eventually!

grub - are you around? how are your girls - fully recovered? and how often do you worm them?

.. my hens squawked, clucked or trilled to themselves, so i'm ever so curious about the crowing. I always preferred black australorps because they were strong, healthy and friendly. I can't recall any problem with worms, but then they liked scratching around the cow areas so maybe the rural environment helped.

The Australorps were very pretty, with the green sheen on the black feathers. When I get a chance, I'll hit the yellow pages and find out where in Brisbane you can buy chickens - preferably certified hens! I've promised my daughter we'll replace the 2 that went - we only have 2 left, and it just doesn't seem enough somehow!

any suggestions on what breeds are preferable?

I'm not worried about the hens having worms so much as the hens giving my kids worms - is that possible?

Hi Wishful,
Sounds like you had a couple of raucous roosters to me. However, my neighbours have mention to me that my girls crow. One in fact makes a shrieking sound when the other is laying. She is an Isabrown. The Rhode Island Red is always muttering about something. But the noise they make pales compared with the wattlebirds and koels, cockatoos, crying babies, parties, passing trucks and so on.

IÂve been told to worm my chooks twice a year. I have the product but havenÂt yet wormed them. It says: remove water two hours before their bedtime, apply to their drinking water at required rate, and when they wake up theyÂll hook into it.

Runny chooky poops could be a sign they have worms, I believe. Mine are probably due for worming. I wouldnÂt worry about your kids getting worms from the chooks so much as from kindy or school. Good practice to work the buggers anyway. My grandmother had a worm phobia and weÂd be wormed almost weekly.

My girls are heaps better, thanks for asking, though Neck Chop isnÂt so outgoing. SheÂs laying okay and what I thought was a large bone sticking out of its neck is in fact congealed blood.

As for bird types: I donÂt think you can go past a couple of Âpoint of lay Isabrowns. Check the Yellow Pages or Google for suppliers in your area. Probably cost about $15 ea, which isnÂt much more than the frozen ones ;)

You do seem better rested, I can tell. No place for roosters in anyoneÂs backyard.

Check out produce stores, they often have sexed chicks and depending on the time of year should have point of lays. Other options are local papers as someone may be getting rid of adult chooks.

Jackie French has a good book called The Chook Book which I've found helpful and has commonsense info in it. Cost me about $10 - $15 from bookstore.

goldhills - I had read the Jackie French book - borrowed it from the library - and have bought my daughter a copy for Christmas - it is great!

sarah may - all we had were roosters - 9 of them in total! - which is why I couldn't see any 'difference' in them LOL.

grub - 4 kids, a total of 23 years kindy/preschool/school so far - and not once has any of my kids had worms. lice yes, worms no. but the way my luck is going - I wouldn't be at all surprised if we have them now - I'll worm them all next week when they're on holidays just to make sure!

florial - we have gotten rid of all the roosters, and are getting hens - so far 2 Australorps and one brown (unidentified) one. my daughter also wants a yellow/white one. The australorps are beautiful when you are up close - but I prefer the yellow ones for when I'm standing at the kitchen window looking out - the black ones camoflage too well!!

I'm going to the plant nursery this week - what else should I plant for them apart from wormwood?

re: about what breeds to choose, if they are for the kids i dont know how available they are in ausie but my fav of ours is barney our barnivelder hen she sits in your lap follows you round and is just so special. if you want wow factor we have 2 lavender aracanas (not too sure of the spelling there but you get the gist) they lay the biggest coolest blue green eggs. then if you want reliability although the eggs are small they make up for that with a steady 1egg each every day, then go for frizzles or plain old bantems. the other breeds we have are barred rocks, verry pretty big fat hens,light sussex, also very pretty majestic looking hens, rhode island red, im told nice big brown eggs very neat charicter too, and lastly the andilusian shes an odd one shes thin and wirey a bit flighty but pretty all the same. all those ive listed after the bantems are not in lay yet so im not so sure on the eggs but if you want i can keep you posted. hope that is of some help

HI DIff, Do keep us posted on the chooks. I'm intersted in a Barni or some chook that sits on your lap. We lost one of ours a few years back and it was like that. Would walk all over you. A crack-up. Loved fast food too. Several months back, my Rhode Island Red got attacked by a dog, recovered a bit, then infection set in. She just finished the antibiotics. Three week human-like dose. Lancing infection. Yuk. No eggs. Bottom line: $188 vet fees plus chook drugs. Still, gotta love 'em. Eggs ready in a week and Neck Chop is back to her old tricks sans some neck feathers :0