Backyard poultry FAQs

Owning chickens for show, breeding, or just having a couple of chickens in the backyard can be very rewarding, but it may not be suitable for every household. It is important to consider a few key points before buying any chickens.

It is important for you to consider if you have the time, commitment, and resources to care for chickens and meet their daily needs. You will get fresh eggs, but you will be unlikely to get them at a cheaper overall cost than buying eggs from the supermarket. Just like any animal under your care, you need to consider things such as ‘how do I care for my chickens when I am on holidays or when I am at work?’.

Check with your Local Council to see if you are allowed to keep chickens as there are different rules about keeping poultry across NSW.

It’s important to think about why you want to keep chickens. This will determine which breed you choose, the age of the chickens you buy and how big your flock will be. Remember chickens are social so it is always best to have at least 2 chickens and you do not need a rooster to produce eggs.

Find some reliable resources to read in advance so you are prepared before your chickens arrive.

A couple of free resource that you may find useful are:

Many local councils have regulations about keeping chickens. Contact your local council.

Typically, these regulations include restrictions on the number of chickens that are allowed on a property. In urban areas some councils prohibit keeping roosters as their crowing at dawn impacts neighbours.

There are also regulations that apply if you are keeping more than 100 chickens or keeping chickens for commercial purposes, including selling eggs or poultry meat.

All people caring for chickens have a responsibility to meet the welfare requirements of the chickens. This means providing adequate food, water, shelter and protection from predators and disease.

If you do not sell eggs or meat from your flock AND you have less than 100 poultry, then in NSW you do not need a licence to keep backyard chickens or other poultry.

Once you have 100 or more chickens and/or poultry you will need to apply for a Property Identification Code (PIC). For details and more information on why this is required please visit the Local Land Services website.

In NSW, if you sell any eggs or poultry meat then Food Safety regulations will apply including registration or licences. Please note that state or territory regulations will vary so check with your own state or territory on these requirements.

‘Egg producers’ are businesses or farms that produce more than 20 dozen eggs for sale in any week. Businesses selling more than 20 dozen eggs in any week will require a licence. Find out more about Egg Producers.

Please note that state and territory regulations will vary so check with your own state or territory on these requirements.

Buying chickens from reliable commercial suppliers, or reputable breeders, who sell vaccinated pullets (young hens close to laying their first egg), is often the best option, whether you are just getting started in chickens, or increasing your flock size. This will mean your new chickens should be young, in good health and will soon start laying eggs. Pullets will typically lay their first egg at approximately 5 – 6 months of age. The exact timing will depend on the breed of the chicken, time of the year and how well she has been grown as a young pullet.

Buying chicken as young chicks will mean that special attention must be paid to keeping them warm (as they are not fully feathered). Depending on the age of the chick, you may need a heat lamp or heating pad. You will also be unlikely to know if you have a hen or a rooster, as sexing birds at this age is often not possible.

Ask the seller what the vaccination and worming programme has been. This can be particularly useful information to know in case the chicken gets sick in the future, and especially if you are introducing the chicken/s into an existing flock.

If chickens have not been vaccinated against common poultry diseases, there is a risk they may not remain healthy if exposed to those diseases.

Buying or adopting older hens’ (called spent hens) increases the risk of introducing disease to your backyard flock such as Salmonella which causes gastrointestinal illness. Older hens will lay less eggs than younger hens, potentially have other health problems  and eggshell quality issues are more likely to occur.

A commercial (licenced) egg farm should keep a record of who and where spent hens are sent. This is an important part of their responsibility as food producers. Traceable records of the sale, including date, address, and contacts of the person to whom they were sold are crucial so that if there is a food safety, animal health or other related incident, the movements of the chickens can be rapidly traced, and the situation resolved as quickly as possible.

No, hens will lay eggs without a rooster in the flock.

Many backyard poultry keepers choose not to have a rooster. Roosters should not be kept where crowing will cause annoyance such as in a residential area.

A rooster is needed to fertilise eggs, however, you can buy eggs from a breeder that are already fertilised. The eggs will need to be incubated, either by hens or in an incubator.

If you do decide and are able to keep a rooster, ideally you should have no less than 4 hens per rooster to avoid unwanted behaviour from the rooster.

This is one of the most asked questions on social media.

The ability to sex young chickens is very much dependent on their genetics.

The simplest method is in some breeds where they can be sexed based on the colour of their feathers if the feather colour is linked to the sex chromosome.

Another way to determine sex of chicks is by the length of the wing feathers at day-old. The males are slower feathering. This again depends on genetics of the chickens. With breeds that are, what they call, fast feathering this is not possible.

Alternatively, sexing can be done by looking at the chicken’s vent area although, even the most experienced commercial sexers can have a level of inaccuracy in sexing by this method.  It is also possible to submit a DNA sample using feathers/ blood however this can be expensive.

Finally, you can wait until the chicken gets older to see the development of either male and female characteristics, with comb and wattle development the most visible. It can take 3-4 months to clearly see a difference between the hens and roosters.

It is important to think in advance of what you will do if your hopeful egg layer turns out to be a rooster. Buying chickens as started pullets (young layers) will take out all the guesswork.

Find out more about how to sex chickens.

Before new chickens arrive on your property ask the previous owner for a full disease/ vaccination history. Remember to buy only from reputable sources.

On arrival, even if the chickens look healthy, there is always a risk that they may be carrying a disease that could transfer to your existing chickens. Before mixing them with your other chickens,  To reduce the risk to your existing flock keep new chickens in a separate area for at least 30 days. This separation area should be as far away as possible from your current flock. During this quarantine period, check the chickens for signs of disease, worm, mite, and lice infestation and use approved products to control these. There is a limited number of products that are considered safe for the chicken, and for the consumers of their eggs, so make sure you check with your veterinarian about which products are registered for food-producing poultry and always adhere to label directions.

Ideally wear separate clothing and boots when moving between the groups.

This video provides more information about biosecurity for chickens. Whilst this video focuses on exhibition birds, the topics discussed are just as relevant to backyard flocks as well.

Similar to taking care of a dog or cat, a chicken needs to be given 24/7 access to water and fed high quality food daily in clean bowls/trays that are cleaned regularly. This is especially important whilst the chicken is actively laying as the nutritional, husbandry, and environmental requirements are significantly increased during this period.

Chickens need shelter from hot and cold temperature extremes to avoid large temperature fluctuations. A poultry house should provide protection from rain and cold drafts in winter. The house needs to be well ventilated and kept clean to prevent disease and health impacts.

The poultry house should include a perch for the chickens to roost on at night. The perch should be within a comfortable jumping distance from the ground for your chickens.

If you have very young chickens without a hen to care for them, they will need to be kept warm through an external heat source, such as a heat lamp or heating pad. They will also require specially formulated chick feed to ensure they have the right balance of nutrients to grow.

Wild birds should not be allowed to access the chicken's food and water as there is a risk they can bring disease to your flock. An adequately sized enclosure should be secure to protect the chickens from predators, such as foxes, and pests such as rodents. Foxes can dig and climb which should be considered when designing and constructing the enclosure.

You will need a good understanding of daily husbandry routines to keep your chickens healthy.

The Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry provides welfare requirements. Whilst it is designed mainly for commercial producers, the principles can be applied to backyard chickens.

Chickens, especially hens producing eggs, have high nutritional demands. Commercial poultry pellets, or mash, are recommended as this is specifically formulated and balanced to meet the nutritional requirements of chickens.

The commercial feed should make up all, or almost all, of their diet. It is important that the feed is suited to the production stage of the chicken. For example, hens have high calcium demands when laying eggs and therefore should be fed a ration designed for laying hens. Whilst very young chickens have high energy and protein needs to help them grow. Young chickens also have small beaks and are unable to eat large pellets. Specially formulated chick feed should be available as a small crumble, or mash.

It is important for all food to be fresh and stored in a cool, dark, rodent and bird-proof environment or container. Feeders and waterers should also be kept where wild birds and rodents can't access them.

It is recommended you only feed out what your chickens will eat in a day, otherwise the feed will potentially go stale and attract rodents.

The most common reason for chickens losing feathers is moulting. This happens once a year, usually in late summer - autumn. It's nature's way of taking out old plumage and preparing for the cold by re-growing new, perfectly formed feathers.

Other reasons for loss of feathers may include wounds (small scratches to severe open cuts) caused by objects in the environment, the action of parasites, pecking injuries or aggression from other chickens, nutritional deficiencies, and feed and/or water deprivation.

Chickens have a set pecking order when in groups. Introducing new chickens can disturb that order and therefore it needs to be carefully managed. When new chickens arrive, it is best to isolate them from your existing flock for 30 days to ensure they are healthy and do not introduce disease.

When introduced to the flock watch the chickens’ behaviour closely. Ensure there is plenty of space for them to roam and enough feed and water space for all chickens. You may need to consider feeding the new chicken/s separately until the pecking order can be sorted and introducing the new chickens at night-time can also help.

The risk of getting diseases from your backyard chickens is very low, however, there have been cases in Australia and overseas where this has occurred. Most of these cases are related to Salmonella, which chickens may carry in their intestine without causing any signs of ill-health in the chicken themselves.

Some poultry mites can also bite people causing skin irritation.

Using basic hygiene practices after handling chickens and their eggs can greatly reduce the risk of getting sick from your chickens. Be mindful with young children as they can be more susceptible to getting sick.

Mites and lice will cause irritation to your chicken’s skin. Mites can suck blood which can lead to anaemia and some species (red mites) may also cause irritation to people.

The mites can be carried by wild birds or may be introduced through new chickens or equipment. To prevent infestations in your flock, it is important to keep wild birds away from your chickens, their range areas, feeders and waterers.

Keeping new chickens away from your existing flock for a period of 30 days and regular equipment washing are other important ways to prevent your chickens becoming infested.

Treatment can be a long and difficult process and will involve thorough cleaning all pen materials.

It is important to seek veterinary advice on the best treatments for your situation.

Be careful to ensure that any treatment is followed according to label directions. Some treatments may be suitable for ornamental birds but are not suitable for chickens' producing eggs for human consumption. Furthermore, the fact that a product may be recommended overseas does not mean it can be used in Australia.

Vaccines are typically not sold in small quantities and there are a number of ways vaccines can be administered to chickens. Chickens also need to be vaccinated at certain ages for best protection against disease. This can make it challenging if you are breeding your own chickens, or if you have purchased unvaccinated chicks and want to vaccinate them. Some veterinarians can supply smaller vaccine quantities, and some poultry clubs may be able to assist or hold vaccination days.

The difficulty in getting vaccines and administering them to chickens, makes the importance of strong biosecurity to reduce the potential for disease in your flock even more important.

Worming chickens every 3 months is very important. Worms and coccidiosis control (especially in young birds) is essential for general chicken health.

When introducing new chickens to an existing flock, it is important to keep them in a separate area for 30 days and worm them on arrival.

RSPCA Knowledge Base - Humane euthanasia for backyard chickens

Salmonella is a bacteria commonly found in animals, including poultry. It can cause illness to humans such as gastroenteritis (commonly known as ‘gastro’) when contaminated food is consumed. Salmonellosis is one of the most common and widely distributed foodborne diseases.

Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) has been detected in NSW in recent years and is a notifiable disease in NSW.SE is high-risk for causing foodborne illness in humans, which can be particularly severe for people who are elderly, young children, and those with a weakened immune system. SE can be spread from property to property through the movement of chickens, eggs, manures, produce, equipment, feed, rodents, people, and vehicles.

NSW DPIRD has issued a Biosecurity (Salmonella Enteritidis) Control Order to assist in the management of the biosecurity risk posed by the spread of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE). For more information, visit Salmonella Enteritidis (nsw.gov.au)

An egg needs a good shell, not just to hold it together, but to protect it from bacteria and contaminants. Therefore, eggs with poor eggshell quality are more likely to be contaminated, especially if the shell is thin, cracked, or missing and these should be discarded.

The shell is made primarily from calcium carbonate, which is the same hard substance found in chalk, limestone and coral. Hens need the right amount of calcium in their diet to produce strong eggshells. This is why it is very important to have a balanced commercial ration. A diet of kitchen scraps or grain alone, such as wheat, will not have enough calcium to meet the hens needs.

Age of hen is also a very important factor in eggshell quality. After 2-3 years of age there can be a significant decline in strength of the egg shell.

Often you will not see a shell-less egg, as chickens tend to eat them soon after they have been laid, but the evidence of a shell-less egg includes a wet, sticky looking patch left in the nesting box.

The causes of poor eggshell quality can be quite varied. The following 20 Common Egg Shell Quality Problems and Cause, provides a good summary of the different egg shapes and potential causes.

Hens sitting on eggs all day is called broodiness. Broodiness is part of a chicken’s nesting behaviour – she wants to sit on the eggs so that they can hatch. During this period of broodiness chickens will reduce eating and therefore lose weight. They can be aggressive to protect their eggs, can get shrunken combs and will stop laying so that all their attention can be put into hatching their eggs.

There are certain breeds of chicken that are more prone to broodiness than others. If you wish to break the broody cycle, you need to act before she becomes too settled. This should be within the first couple of days of her staying in the nest. Place her in an area without a nest box, or comfortable nesting places, but ensure she still has plenty of space to move and has food and water available. It should only take a couple of days to break the cycle, but it can take longer.

The key is early intervention when you notice a chicken go broody, and regular, at least once daily, egg collection is important to reduce the opportunity for her to sit on the eggs.