Welcome to our backyard!
And a very colourful backyard it is too with beautiful colours, patterns and personalities of all our feathered friends! We breed all types of chooks (heavy, light and bantam) and also have many types of gamebirds: pheasant, partridge, peafowl and guinea fowl.
We have the Light Sussex, my favourite, which remind me of elegant ladies in bustle dresses! (see photo above) This classic bird is a brilliant all-rounder - great layer, good table bird, striking looks and friendly temperament. We have also been working on the Buff Sussex and found them to be excellent layers of brown eggs looking equally elegant and well marked in their gold attire!
Another of our favourites is the Wyandotte a beautiful dual purpose, heavy breed with good laying ability and exquisite laced markings. We breed the Silver-laced (see photo below), Gold-laced and White varieties. We have also been working with the Buff-laced and Blue-laced wyandottes...and found the Buffs to be just as beautifully laced as their gold and silver counterparts.
We are very fond too of the Barnevelders a dutch breed and prolific layers of beautiful brown eggs. They are a calm and friendly breed, robust, active foragers and also come very attractively laced (single or double-laced).
The Dorkings is another wonderful dual purpose breed with a history that goes back to when the Romans first arrived in Britian. This hardy breed with its famous five toes is the best choice as a table bird (the cockerels grow to an impressive size!). They do best on a free range basis as they love to forage. We keep the silver-grey dorking and its looks, temperament and personality make it a great backyard bird.
The Barred Plymouth Rock and Rhode Island Red both created in America are two popular dual purpose breeds. We have found them to be fantastic layers; also robust, easy to handle, friendly and very easy to keep.
We love our Croad Langshans! Gentle, passive natured birds that just seem to continuously lay. This rare breed originated in Asia and first arrived in the UK in the early 1870's when Major Croad brought it back from the Langshan area in China.
The White and Brown Leghorns (light breed) are very independent, active birds with sprightly personalities and love to forage. They are the 'Queens of Layers' and will keep one in a good supply of white-shelled eggs.
We thoroughly enjoy our Golden Campines (light breed); their enquiring nature and lively personalities makes them a pleasure to watch and keep. We have found ours to be friendly and approachable; showy and they delight in having access to free range. The Silver Spangled Hamburg, with its spectacular plummage, is a real stunner! They are a wonderful to have around, are active birds, hardly and prefer to be out exploring and foraging. Both the campines and hamburghs are good layers of white eggs.
New to our backyard this season is the Welsummer (light breed) an attractive, active bird that loves to free range and lays lovely brown eggs. We hatched out our first Welsummer chicks this season and are very excited about having this rare breed as part of our backyard family.
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In the Bantams we only keep the Pekin. Pekins are the perfect poultry to have wandering around the garden. They look gorgeous on the lawn with their rounded profiles and very feathered feet. They are full of personality and make great pets. They also are inclined to go broody at the drop of a hat! We breed spangle, cuckoo, buff columbian and silver birchen.
We enjoy our birds and breed as closely to the NZ Poultry standards as possible.
We have pullets, cockerels and fertile eggs available on request.
We also design and build chook houses, runs ,chicken coops and avairies. Most of our designs are now available in KITSET. Please email info@chooks.co.nz if you would like a price and/or freight quote (we can send nationwide).
APPLETONS HEN HOUSES AND POULTRY SUPPLIES (03) 542 3224 (03) 542 3224
We are in the Nelson Bays area - top of the South Island.
Many thanks for you time and we would love to hear from you!
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