Why buying a chook is more than a transaction

INGRID Dimock comes close to being a mother hen to “her girls” and firmly believes buying a chook should be an experience, not a transaction.

Ingrid Dimock from City Chicks, Samford. Photo: Dominika Lis

INGRID Dimock comes close to being a mother hen to “her girls” and firmly believes buying a chook should be an experience, not a transaction.

She started her business City Chicks about 10 years ago and moved it from Anstead to Samford’s The Lifestyle Centre in March.

Ingrid stocks a large range of hybrid chickens, day-old chicks, exotic pure breeds and bantams as well as ducklings, guinea fowl, quail and turkey poults.

Some chicks at City Chicks, Samford. Photo: Dominika Lis

Customers can also find everything they need for a set-up at home: feed, straw, grit, feeders, drinkers, containers; and novelty items, chicken bonnets, native bees, honey and more.

It all began when Ingrid took a break from teaching to raise her children, and read an article about the business Rentachook.

“I thought I could do that. I wanted to create a nice experience of chicken buying,” she recalls. She now also has a City Chicks outlet in Sydney and her own hatchery on the Sunshine Coast with 4000 birds.

She specialises in heritage breeds and says they are in demand as a result of exposure on TV and in magazines. “People want different birds. They will drive for two and a half hours to come to us,” Ingrid says.

She says they don’t lay as constantly as hybrid birds but they lay for four to five years, in comparison to about 18 months.

“People want to support heritage birds and birds that don’t have as much reproductive pressure on them,” she says.

One of the chooks at City Chicks, Samford. Photo: Dominika Lis

Ingrid can provide expert advice and can put together a flock for people to take home.

“I’m very much an animal person. They (chickens) have such unique personalities,” she says. But it’s not just about the chooks. City Chicks provides ducklings for playdates and sleepovers so children can enjoy and learn about the animals.

They also run activities at their Samford shop during the school holidays.

Chicken bonnets at City Chicks, Samford. Photo: Dominika Lis

The business is at The Lifestyle Centre, which is a collection of homewares, garden, lifestyle and leisure businesses. It has a farm walk visitors can enjoy, with chickens, ducks, goats, sheep and a donkey.

Address: The Lifestyle Centre, 225 Mount Glorious Rd, Samford Valley

Phone: [phone]