School Chickens in the Coop
Hi guys, well I got back the the school garden conference a few weeks ago and have been so busy planting seeds and running the garden club that I haven’t had time to finish answering all your questions. Well, today I caught some spare time and thought I’d answer your questions about chickens.
Hi Dan, I really like the worms and the chickens. Your garden is looking great. Where did you get the chickens? Love Maddy
– There are 10 chickens at the school at the moment. 6 of the chickens were given to the garden by the 2/3 and 3/4 classes taught by Miss Runyard who raised the chickens from baby chicks for their science class. Then 4 older chickens were donated to the garden by a friend of mine who was moving to Sydney and couldn’t look after them anymore. When all the chickens get bigger then some of the older chickens might move to a bigger coop in my back yard so that they have enough space.
Hi Dan the Garden Man, Hope you like my letter. How many years can a chicken be alive for? It must be great! Love Charlotte
– I love your letter. A chicken can be alive for up to 12 years. However, on average they are alive for about 7 years because they are more likely to get sick as they get older. Also, you need to watch for foxes and other predators that would like to eat the chickens. This can decrease how long they will live for.
The Chooks Looking for Food
Dear Dan, you are very good for the garden. Why do chickens like veggie scraps? Love from Henry.
– Chickens like veggie scraps because they are so tasty!! Chickens like any food and would happily eat your lunch if you let them. However, if we feed them the scraps they will eat them too and turn them into compost. They also like some food scraps because the food is rotting and has fruit flys in it which chickens love.
Yarralumla School Garden 
Dear Dan
Do chooks like seeds or scraps best? How long do lavender flowers live for?
From Ethan Bendeich
Windmill Class
Hey Ethan. I’m not sure which the chickens like most because they eat so much of each all the time. I think that they love scraps as a treat because they get bits of fruit and meat and leafy greens. However, the seeds make sure they are getting a balanced diet and have enough energy to lay eggs.
Lavender flowers last for different amounts of time. We are growing Italian lavender which has flowers that last the longest. The flowers will last longer if there is more water so with all the rain we’ve been having I think they will last a long time. Maybe they will last until the coming winter, so for about another 6 months.
Dear Dan,
I have a red Sexlink that i do not know want gender it is. It is about 4 years old and ive never heard it crow. I have had it all of it life. A couple of days ago i was feeding it and noticed that it has 2″ spurs. Then today i was feeding them some apple peels and it want to steeel some from a big rooster i have. This rooster is 10 months out and about 3x the sexlinks size. He is either a Maranor a Barred Cockerel. They both fluffed out their neck feathers and the Maran had to back down because it has no spurs. So can u help mefind out the gender of the Sexlink? I would appericate your help greatly.
Thanks
Hi Tim, I don’t have the greatest amount of experience sexing chickens so I am unable to give you a definitive answer about the sexlink’s gender. However, I have seen chickens that are not completely roosters or completely female so this may be the case with your sexlink. Does it live with many other chickens?
Dan
Dan, I have 4 other chickens besides those 2. They are all hens. 2 of them are black Sexlinks, another one if a monster all white hen that looks like the ones on chicken farms, except she lays brown eggs. The last hen is a small white one with a cream colored head and neck. Now back to the red sexlink, i was cleaning the chicken house the other day and he got up on the laying shelf and pushed the little white/cream hen off of 2 eggs and ate them. Is there any explination for this and can it help us determin his gender him.