Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[LuckysMum]

Great to see photos of Carla with her flock.

I have a question for anyone who know about deep litter. My girls spill a lot of their seed on the floor. My husband made a tube with holes in the top to try and stop them from spreading seed everywhere trying to get to the seed they like best. But they still manage to get it everywhere. Is that bad if I do deep litter not sure if seed sitting in the litter will be a problem.
Thanks everyone.

I absolutely love your new coop Teila

My husband has been fixing ours up the netting over the top was ripped so apparently that calls for a remodel got to love him.

 

[Fizzybelle]

Telia, that coop looks fantastic. A palace worthy of your fluffy royalty.

Well, I just got back from dropping Iris off. Burst into tears whilst handing him over, but the staff at City Chicks were kind, and they genuinely care about their animals. The owner who served me said that Iris' new family is very nice, live fairly near the hatchery and he'll be a pet for sure with his own new group of ladies. They wanted a nice friendly boy, and owner could see how sweet he was when she held him, and praised my efforts at raising him so nicely, as he's such a handsome boy, which meant a lot coming from another chicken person. So I'm happy for him, he was practicing his cock-a-doodle do's this morning, so it was the right time to re-home him before he got louder. Never want to do that again though, give up a pet, dear god that was awful.

And to conclude my tale, because I am hopeless when surrounded by chickens, and only because I'd been wanting one forever and they had some, I came home with a little lavender Araucana. Prolly 8-10 weeks old. They had a super friendly Araucana roo there too, but no, I got a pullet. Well, fingers crossed she's a she, comb is basically flat, and the hatchery owner said she looked the most feminine of the bunch. I'll post pics later, and ponder over names. I like old fashioned lady names for my hens.

 

[Deej211]

Th

The coughing , gurgling and sneezing is more likely to be an upper respiratory disease than the weather. With mycoplasma the birds will relapse at varying degrees of severity. There are 2 things that I see as ' possible ' problems with your gravel. 1- hosing out won't be a very effective means of cleaning, i.e. The poop will just filter down and sit in the gaps. 2- those larger rocks may cause bruising to the underside of the birds feet , when they jump down from the perch, leading to bumble foot. Using ' fat sand ' or builders sand in the coop is a better option. The course sand creates less dust, helps to keep feet clean, is better for drainage and easy to clean with a sieve . Just my opinion. .

re is plastic sheeting under this and ive dug in a drain and used specal frainage pipe. Its round with holes in it that leads out to a slope down from the chook pen. There will be no poop sitting in it as it will go down the drain and out of the pen. The floor is slightly raised around the outside so water drains off to the pipe also as water not draining is why we put it in. Their perches aren't very high and I've been checking their feet. Thats why i went with rounder larger stone instead of gravel as I've already treated a hen for bumblefoot a few months ago and am not keen to do so again if avoidable. Yes just bedore christmas i brought in a new chook that had been quarantined and treated for a respiratory issue and seemed fine so i put her in. Not a mistake i will repeat as i had to cull her and 10 or so of my other chickens. The rest showed no symptoms until the consistant rain so out with the flooring that stays wet and in with the gravel. Working wonderfully so far. Been in for about a month now and still smells pretty fresh. Been hosed out only once so far.due again tomorrow. Im getting more eggs and chooks are putting some more weight on. As far as im concerned it is the best option for what we have to work with and in our climate...so far. We will see.

 

[User395221]

I like old fashioned lady names for my hens.

How about Myrtle?

 

[Fancychooklady]

Well we had a showjumping coach here from NSW running a clinic over 2 days and whilst I was down the front playing host, I heard the roosters sound the alarm. By the time I got back up to the house the goshawk had pulled one of the chicks through the wire and had it trapped up between the coop and the cherry netting. Poor little thing was still warm . That hawk had the audacity to stand screeching at me and has been back twice since. It managed to peck one of the 3 week olds on the shoulder , drew blood but he will survive.
Tomorrow I will have to move everyone around, once he knows there are little chicks about he won't give up.

 

[MyHaven]

mooandmcgee I am so happy that Carla is well enough to come home. I hope she will continue to improve.

I've been reading back and I think I have caught up with all the posts from while I was sick. I've been answering a few out of order and hope I haven't missed any.

Fizzybelle I'm glad you made it through today saying goodbye to Iris. Yay! New chook! That is always going to help! Thanks BTW for asking how my birthday presents are. They are both still in quarantine I can't wait to let them out to play. Is Agnes still clucky?

I can only agree with everybody's praise for the Bambrook Bantams new abode. Great job Teila it looks fantastic.

AB I don't think clipping wings is always the best solution. While I used to clip one wing on each flighty bird where I lived before, I wouldn't do it where I live now. Clipping wings can inhibit the chooks ability to evade predators.

fox I have heard of another nth brisbane suburbs attack. This time at Nudgee.

Someone said crows! Actually Potatoechip said bl**dy crows. The mongrel things have stolen more eggs - even the nest eggs. I'm going to redesign nest boxes as I can make the coop opening any smaller without locking the girls out.

Now I have some mixed news. This is Honey if you remember. Isn't she beautiful.

Now, in case you missed it here she is again in close-up. She has developed little white spots on the end of each feather (are they called florets?) her colouring is developing beautifully.

Now for my downer. Here's my D'uccle pol. (Photos of Millie's are soo hard. Their spots go blurrier than their little circling feet. )

And incase you missed it, here it is again.

And again - sry I couldn't get a good shot.

I don't think he's on the point of laying anything.

 

[MyHaven]

Well we had a showjumping coach here from NSW running a clinic over 2 days and whilst I was down the front playing host, I heard the roosters sound the alarm. By the time I got back up to the house the goshawk had pulled one of the chicks through the wire and had it trapped up between the coop and the cherry netting. Poor little thing was still warm . That hawk had the audacity to stand screeching at me and has been back twice since. It managed to peck one of the 3 week olds on the shoulder , drew blood but he will survive.
Tomorrow I will have to move everyone around, once he knows there are little chicks about he won't give up.

Oh no Fancy You just can't take a trick. Let us know how you and the chicks get on

 

[Fizzybelle]

Myhaven, yeah, Aggie's still clucking away, silly girl. She'll get over it eventually, as long as I keep her locked out. I'm just surprised at how determined she's been to stay broody. I must say you girl Honey is beautiful! What an amazing colour, I'm sure she'll get prettier every day. Sorry you ended up with a roo too, though maybe with a D'uccle you can get away with it. He is very handsome though. If you re-home him I wish you the best with it.

Got pics of the newbie this arvo. Here she is.

 

[sjturner79]

mooandmcgee I am so happy that Carla is well enough to come home. I hope she will continue to improve.

I've been reading back and I think I have caught up with all the posts from while I was sick. I've been answering a few out of order and hope I haven't missed any.

Fizzybelle I'm glad you made it through today saying goodbye to Iris. Yay! New chook! That is always going to help! Thanks BTW for asking how my birthday presents are. They are both still in quarantine I can't wait to let them out to play. Is Agnes still clucky?

I can only agree with everybody's praise for the Bambrook Bantams new abode. Great job Teila it looks fantastic.

AB I don't think clipping wings is always the best solution. While I used to clip one wing on each flighty bird where I lived before, I wouldn't do it where I live now. Clipping wings can inhibit the chooks ability to evade predators.

fox I have heard of another nth brisbane suburbs attack. This time at Nudgee.

Someone said crows! Actually Potatoechip said bl**dy crows. The mongrel things have stolen more eggs - even the nest eggs. I'm going to redesign nest boxes as I can make the coop opening any smaller without locking the girls out.

Now I have some mixed news. This is Honey if you remember. Isn't she beautiful.

Now, in case you missed it here she is again in close-up. She has developed little white spots on the end of each feather (are they called florets?) her colouring is developing beautifully.

Now for my downer. Here's my D'uccle pol. (Photos of Millie's are soo hard. Their spots go blurrier than their little circling feet. )

And incase you missed it, here it is again.

And again - sry I couldn't get a good shot.

I don't think he's on the point of laying anything.

Could be on the point of laying on the hens to fertilize them?

 

[MyHaven]

Myhaven, yeah, Aggie's still clucking away, silly girl. She'll get over it eventually, as long as I keep her locked out. I'm just surprised at how determined she's been to stay broody. I must say you girl Honey is beautiful! What an amazing colour, I'm sure she'll get prettier every day. Sorry you ended up with a roo too, though maybe with a D'uccle you can get away with it. He is very handsome though. If you re-home him I wish you the best with it. Got pics of the newbie this arvo. Here she is.

Lovely. Have you settled on a name? Regarding Agnes, I recall reading your post thinking you are breaking her the hard way. I didn't get a chance to reply that day. What do you do with her at night? If you pick her up you will find she's really hot, it is part of the hormonal change that makes a clucky. If you leave her outside she may still find somewhere to sit. In a cage, particularly one with a wire base to allow air circulation to cool her, she will break more quickly.This in the long run may be better for her. It should only take a couple of days. Isolation is not a problem as in her state she doesn't want company. A couple of days in a cage is better than indefinitely hormonal. My boy is two out of four the breeder got wrong. I've already got rid of one. Although I've been suspicious for a little while its really only today his comb has given him away. I guess a little time without seeing him while sick made it noticeable. He doesn't have a name. I only name them when I know they are keepers or when kids insist. I am disappointed though. But also thinking that it leaves a space for a blue mottle D'uccle I saw on gumtree.