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

[ChristieB]

Some more pics, might make a page for them rather than filling up this feed.

The newest one also has a spot,

it was under Padma, poor thing was in the back corner behind her, felt pretty cold and was peeping loudly, looks like Padma won't be keeping any chicks, she's got one left that's hatching but I'll take it out too, I feel sorry for her but it will be easier on me not to have 2 separate broody pens. I can't wait till I can afford more land, my house sits on 658m2, not really big enough to accommodate my growing chicken addiction lol.
Hi all the new people, I only joined a year ago, definitely a dangerous place to be, all these enablers and fellow chook addicts in the one place

 

[ChristieB]

I lost all my ducks after Black Saturday when the fences burned down and the foxes got them
These are the first ducks I have had since then.


xxxxx    M

How awful @Ashburnham extra special babies you've got there then

 

[lifeonthehill]

Hi everyone. First time on this thread and I can't believe it's taken me this long to look for an Aussie thread on here for advise -_- anyway @Ashburnham I'm so sorry to hear about your ducks, I'm in the whitsundays and I always feel so bad when I see the fires down south, despite how bad the cyclones here and further north can get I think you guys have it tougher. I hope things go better for you all.
So my question is that I'm hoping to get some eggs to test out my new incubator in the next few weeks, it's already starting to hear up here, like warm enough during the night that we aren't always using our light summer doona. I read a thread on here about making a heat cave for the chicks so I'll go for that design, but will they still need the actual heating pad or would a few towels be enough? I've never incubated chicks before. After them I'm going to get some jap quail but not sure about wether it'll be eggs or birds. If eggs I'm presuming the quail chicks would need the heating pad even in summer?

 

[sjturner79]

Hi everyone. First time on this thread and I can't believe it's taken me this long to look for an Aussie thread on here for advise -_- anyway @Ashburnham I'm so sorry to hear about your ducks, I'm in the whitsundays and I always feel so bad when I see the fires down south, despite how bad the cyclones here and further north can get I think you guys have it tougher. I hope things go better for you all.
So my question is that I'm hoping to get some eggs to test out my new incubator in the next few weeks, it's already starting to hear up here, like warm enough during the night that we aren't always using our light summer doona. I read a thread on here about making a heat cave for the chicks so I'll go for that design, but will they still need the actual heating pad or would a few towels be enough? I've never incubated chicks before. After them I'm going to get some jap quail but not sure about wether it'll be eggs or birds. If eggs I'm presuming the quail chicks would need the heating pad even in summer?

The trick is that you need the at 36-38 degrees all the time for the first week after hatching and they can handle an extra 4 degrees drop per week once they start feathering. Do not let them get up to 40 degrees at all until they are at least 8 weeks old or they will die of heat stroke within about 20 minutes.

 

[sjturner79]

The trick is that you need the at 36-38 degrees all the time for the first week after hatching and they can handle an extra 4 degrees drop per week once they start feathering. Do not let them get up to 40 degrees at all until they are at least 8 weeks old or they will die of heat stroke within about 20 minutes.

If you want to be more accurate all the studies are in Fahrenheit- 85 to 100 first week 110 kills. 10 per week drop once feathers start.

 

[ChristieB]

Mystery solved. The darker ones are apparently most likely from an Orpington cross that shares the pen.

 

[Fancychooklady]

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hi everyone. First time on this thread and I can't believe it's taken me this long to look for an Aussie thread on here for advise -_- anyway @Ashburnham I'm so sorry to hear about your ducks, I'm in the whitsundays and I always feel so bad when I see the fires down south, despite how bad the cyclones here and further north can get I think you guys have it tougher. I hope things go better for you all.
So my question is that I'm hoping to get some eggs to test out my new incubator in the next few weeks, it's already starting to hear up here, like warm enough during the night that we aren't always using our light summer doona. I read a thread on here about making a heat cave for the chicks so I'll go for that design, but will they still need the actual heating pad or would a few towels be enough? I've never incubated chicks before. After them I'm going to get some jap quail but not sure about wether it'll be eggs or birds. If eggs I'm presuming the quail chicks would need the heating pad even in summer?

Hi,
Most of your first time hatching questions will be answered in this link. It's a good one to bookmark so you can use to reference later.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/03/baby-chick-basics-what-you-need-to-know.html

 

[RodneyRooster]

Good morning friends Oooh RodneyRooster not long now! for a good hatch

Thanks! Hoping it all happens as early as poss so i dont miss it while im at work on monday but shes not really due until sunday arvo so its likely all the fun will happen while im at work haha.

Hehe teila that's why I fill the feeders at night. It's my kids who wake me at ridiculous o'clock for food lol 6 chicks out this morning, 3 still to go. hoping you can help me with something, maybe @Fancychooklady can't remember who else has Sussex. I've messaged the lady I got the eggs from but don't expect an answer right away. When I bought them I was told light Sussex. I didn't ask further, what do you think?

Can't wait to see them feather out, (Thanks for the tagging tip @appps)

Yay!! Yep as uve now found out, only the yellower ones are light sussex. Mine were sold to me as pure light sussex but somehow got a throwback? Or mix of RIW! She said she didnt have RIWs at that stage - did not long after. So out of my 3 light sussex i got one that seems totally sussex, one that seems totally RIW and one thats a 50/50 mix haha. Love the RIWs tho so stoke with that.

The darker ones look like buff Sussex, could just be the lighting. Look like Sussex to me ash also breeds Sussex. Interesting , the one with the black spot on its head, mine are all yellow at hatch, except for one that had a snip.

I had to wait for it to feather out , turned out to be a Wyandotte / Sussex. Sometimes these things happen if you keep many breeds.

Gorgeous

I lost all my ducks after Black Saturday when the fences burned down and the foxes got them These are the first ducks I have had since then. xxxxx M

Aww :-( thatd be horrible. Yay for new ducklings though! :-D

Some more pics, might make a page for them rather than filling up this feed.

The newest one also has a spot,

it was under Padma, poor thing was in the back corner behind her, felt pretty cold and was peeping loudly, looks like Padma won't be keeping any chicks, she's got one left that's hatching but I'll take it out too, I feel sorry for her but it will be easier on me not to have 2 separate broody pens. I can't wait till I can afford more land, my house sits on 658m2, not really big enough to accommodate my growing chicken addiction lol. Hi all the new people, I only joined a year ago, definitely a dangerous place to be, all these enablers and fellow chook addicts in the one place

Gorgeous pics!! Yay!

Hi all. My name is Toon, I live in Melbourne, Australia. I'm a new member of BYC and also very new to the chicken's world. I have recently got three chickens on last Friday, there is an Australorp, an Isa Brown and a White Silkie. I have been told from a person(family friend) who gave them to us that they are all girl and all three of them are about 16 weeks old. And today I just picked up an Partridge Silkie since I did a research and found out that you should keep at least two or three silkie chickens together. Now I have two questions and I would like to ask for your help please... - My first question has came up since I found out that you would not be able to tell the sex of your silkie until they are about 5-6 months old so I started to wonder that my white silkie could possibly be "A Boy". Could you please tell me what do you think? - My second question is... This evening when I brought a new girl partridge silkie in, and my white silkie came up to her and looked like they were both talking but then she started to jump on top of a partridge girl and kept pecking her non stop so I have stepped up and tried to stop her and put a new girl into bed as it started to get dark. What should I do if this continue to happen when they wake up tomorrow morning? Thank you so much in advance, any help or reply will be greatly appreciate.

Welcome! As the others have all said when introducing new chickens u need to keep them seperated for some period but still visible so they can start to sort out their pecking order and get used to one another. How long for depends on u. Its also to keep them isolated incase any signs of illness show. If you do decide to add to ur flock again its also best to add more than one so she doesnt get all the picking on. She is absolutely beautiful!! goodluck with it, hopefully all being in new territory will help with the newbie not being such a big interuptance Birds have been harrassing the mickey out of my chooks today :-( had to go and run after some magpies this morning, spring has sure start to really spring!

 

[RodneyRooster]

Hahaha love it!!

Oh yeah, ive been meaning to ask, had a lot of pasty butt issues when i got my first lot of chicks, will my broody clean their bums for them or will i need to check on them for pasty bum regularly again?

Cheers