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

[satay]

Marans are fairly common i think Luke but still prices are dear.. Think you are looking at $100 a doz still for them most places. 10 Large roosters and a few banties. Prob is noisy here Luke but as i have had roo's so long i never hear them. I think in the last few months i have given away or culled about 15. Most have gone to new homes as breeders which is good.
Update on the quail hatch 46 out so far and quite a few whites this time so am a happy camper.

 

[satay]

Marans are fairly common i think Luke but still prices are dear.. Think you are looking at $100 a doz still for them most places. 10 Large roosters and a few banties. Prob is noisy here Luke but as i have had roo's so long i never hear them. I think in the last few months i have given away or culled about 15. Most have gone to new homes as breeders which is good.
Update on the quail hatch 46 out so far and quite a few whites this time so am a happy camper.

 

[satay]

The cochins are 25 weeks.

 

[satay]

2 more quails out this morning for a total of 48 so far. Gosh that's alot of tiny fuzzy butts in my brooder now. Put some of maxi and the girls eggs under a broody muscovey yesterday so hopefully in 21 days I will have some mini maxi's running around.

 

[IamSamSam]

Well its cooler today and the girls have free ranged all week to get the cooler spots under the Gymea lilly and Gumtree.

They love the cold aircon water too

Im sorry to hear of the loses Luke and grats on the hatch Sam !

 

[IamSamSam]

Here is the Biosecurity DAFF response to import Jersey Giants..........


Dear Sam

Thank you for your query regarding the importation of live chickens. The importation of live poultry is prohibited, although it is possible to import fertile hen eggs from the USA, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, UK, France, Ireland and New Zealand. Please note that this approved country list may change without notice if outbreaks of exotic poultry disease such as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) occur. Live birds and fertile eggs are considered to be an extremely high biosecurity risk.

Importation of fertile hen eggs is a long, expensive process that involves several months of quarantine of the flock of origin in the country of origin with multiple tests prior to the eggs being collected and sent to Australia. Following arrival, the eggs will need to be hatched out in a quarantine station, where they will remain until they are over 9 weeks old [release is dependent on several tests taken on the birds at prescribed ages (including 6 weeks) coming back as disease free].

The import conditions for the importation of fertile hen eggs can be emailed to you on request.

Please note that existing facilities for the importation of fertile eggs are designed for large commercial consignments. Hatching eggs are generally imported into the subsidised government facility at Torrens Island near Adelaide. This facility is fully booked for the next 3 years, and tentatively booked out for the next 5 years. Fees for use of the station are currently over $44 000 over the quarantine period (at least 12 weeks at $525/day) and this does not include export, shipping, laboratory, sentinel chicken, feed or labour costs.

There is another avian facility available at Spotswood in Melbourne, but this is generally set up for live pigeons and is much smaller. The capacity at Spotswood is just over 100 birds at time of release. Fees for use of the Spotswood facility are the same as Torrens Island (with the same exclusions). Incubators would need to be provided if the Spotswood facility were to be used. As for Torrens Island, you would need to supply labour to meet all husbandry needs for the birds.
There is a rare poultry importation syndicate which may be able to help import fertile eggs, although I expect you will need to be put on a waiting list. To follow this up, please contact the syndicate at the following address:

Meredith Parker
Co-ordinator, Rare Poultry Importation Syndicate
P.O. Box 314,
Wagin, WA. 6315
[email protected]

Thanks

Lee

 

[IamSamSam]

2 more quails out this morning for a total of 48 so far. Gosh that's alot of tiny fuzzy butts in my brooder now. Put some of maxi and the girls eggs under a broody muscovey yesterday so hopefully in 21 days I will have some mini maxi's running around.

Sounds like a commercial production Satay, hope your getting good tax advise LOL

 

[Ashburnham]

Sam

So basically importing eggs is only viable if you are a commercial operation or extremely rich!

Back to Plan B I think - recreate the breed in Oz from chooks available here.

M

 

[satay]

Omg Sam. Those prices are crazy. Think Ash's idea will be the way to go.
Pic of the new babies

 

[mogvgb]

10 week olds a bit young, I would worry but wowwie you have mad special precautions, they will be absolutely fine with what you've done and I thought my girls where special. On a hot day I think I'll try that frozen bottle in the dirt, great idea,

Share with us what breeds you have and how many etc and well share ours(I love to say what I have.lol).

I have wanted chickens my whole life and now finally own a home large enough to accomodate a micro flock; they are getting quite seriously spoiled.

I have just 4 little bantams - 2 Wyandottes, 1 Light Sussex and 1 Plymouth Rock. I had planned to get some others but my birds all became sick within a week of coming home and obviously I didn't want to bring any more in while that was going on.

Having now nursed and cajoled them back to health I have decided that 4 is enough for now - they pack a lot of personality into a small package. As mine are quite definitely pets, rather than working animals (and in my house pets are family members) I hadn't quite appreciated what a massive increase it was to have 4 new 'people' move in in one go and I am well ready to hold off on increasing the flock for a while.

They pulled through the hot days fine, a bit of panting but not too bad. However the fact that it just did not cool down overnight was much harder on them and they became quite distressed; in the end I booted them out of the coop and made them sleep in their (very secure) run which seemed to help. In comparison todays 36C is no biggie, so I am much less worried about them.

So, What sort of size flocks and what breeds do all you other Aussies have? I expect to experience quite a bit of envy