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

[cwrite]

Thanks guys. Going to be -15 tonight again. And it should be -22 on Tuesday. Brr.

I'd like to experience that just once. Do you actually go outside in those temps and for how long? Beautiful pics Felix and lovely looking fluff balls!

 

[vehve]

cwrite, it feels a bit cold at the moment since it got cold suddenly, but after a few days you get used to it. I have trouble with +35 temps, a lot harder to handle than -20. I've gone cross country skiing and snowboarding in -25 without any issues. The dogs start getting some issues at -20 though, the labs are okay in coats but the dachshund has some trouble when it gets that cold. Decent clothing does wonders.

 

[birdman55]

hey everyone got the boards today for the bases of the next three coops so that is what I shall be working on over the weekend...hope everyone had a great christmas

 

[Teila]

Good morning folks (or afternoon depending on which state

)

Fancy your Christmas lunch definitely sounds like it came complete with an audience. Chimee and Syba (puddy cats) enjoyed their turkey dinner and the gals had Turkey Roast for breakfast on Boxing Day.

I hope you enjoyed your shopping trip and snapped up lots of bargains.

Lol Ash! Yep, I can picture my bantams running away from a pile of prawn shells screaming “it’s a chicken trap!”

cwrite interesting about the purple cabbage; I will store that one in the memory bank.

vehve beautiful pictures! Those little fluffy butts are adorable!

*Sigh* the rain, while nice, has me cooped up inside and unable to be outside with the gals.

Still reeling from my recent mite infestation, rather than enjoy the rain, I am fretting. Blondie is still broody and as I cannot lock her in broody jail in this weather, she is camped on the nest … I know it is irrational but I have this need to race out and spray the coop! I wonder if I will ever get over the paranoia!

She is proving very difficult to break. Even in broody jail she still flattens down to pancake size. When they are out free ranging, I ensure she gets to go also. I tried taking away or blocking off the nest boxes and she just pancakes on the coop floor. I shut the coop and run down so no-one can get in and she just runs round and over trying to find a way in; that is pretty much all she did all day yesterday. Having her on the nest today is not going to help

I can already hear the enablers among us "give in" and I am close and have room for a couple of girls but the thought of trying to rehome more roosters keeps slapping me back to reality

 

[cwrite]

@Teila - stay strong! Don't give in to Blondie. She only wants them for 6 weeks anyway. You have them for much longer.

Yesterday morning I thought I heard a breaking voice crow. This morning at 04:11 I definitely heard one. By 9am I had found a farm to take all my boys. I nearly threw Baby in with the boys, but decided not to. As soon as the big boys were out of the run she immediately started pecking all the girls to let them know she was now the boss of them. I think the crower was the taller cream boy. So Rumpless, Ninja (after much trouble catching him), Fantail boy, Cream Spot and the two cream boys were boxed and dropped off. It turned into almost a 3 hour round trip between the traffic going to the Sunshine coast and the traffic going to the Gold Coast.

I got home and had barely sat down with some much deserved left over trifle when I heard another crow.

I'm off to the market with the miracle 11 week old Baby chick tomorrow.

To top it all off, I heard Snowy growling on the nest this morning. Not a snowballs chance in hell Snowy!

Edited to add the time my daughter spent crowing in the car - to make the boys feel at home.

 

[Teila]

Bless you cwrite your tale of woe has recharged my broody resistance powers!

 

[appps]

Great photo Ash My girls love prawn heads and they sure got a lot of them over the last few days.

@Ashburnham and @satay I never would have thought to give them to my chooks, they end up a space taker in my freezer till bin night. Much better use of them!

You don't worry about the sharp pointy bits on the heads in their crops since they don't chew them?

 

[cwrite]

I'm pretty sure Ash's chooks got lobster leftovers. Lucky buggers. I wonder if they can digest the calcium in the shells?

I'm no expert appps, but going by the pointy bits of straw my chooks insist on eating I would think that prawn heads will be fine. : ) It's extended Christmas feasting for chickens it seems.

 

[satay]

@Teila
- stay strong!  Don't give in to Blondie.  She only wants them for 6 weeks anyway.  You have them for much longer.

Yesterday morning I thought I heard a breaking voice crow.  This morning at 04:11 I definitely heard one.  By 9am I had found a farm to take all my boys.  I nearly threw Baby in with the boys, but decided not to.  As soon as the big boys were out of the run she immediately started pecking all the girls to let them know she was now the boss of them.  I think the crower was the taller cream boy.  So Rumpless, Ninja (after much trouble catching him), Fantail boy, Cream Spot and the two cream boys were boxed and dropped off.  It turned into almost a 3 hour round trip between the traffic going to the Sunshine coast and the traffic going to the Gold Coast.

I got home and had barely sat down with some much deserved left over trifle when I heard another crow.  I'm off to the market with the miracle 11 week old Baby chick tomorrow. 

To top it all off, I heard Snowy growling on the nest this morning.  Not a snowballs chance in hell Snowy!

Edited to add the time my daughter spent crowing in the car - to make the boys feel at home.

Glad you found somone to take them. Too funny about the your daughter and the crowing . KIds do the funniest things. My two nephews Samuel and Liam were here for Christmas. When it was time to go late boxing day, Samuel the oldest told my brother I'm staying atntie KImmies farm as she needs help with the chickens and we need to check on benjaminis hens on the net... He doesn't forget ... Then little Liam decided he was going to hold onto the bummer of mums car(Not running) as he wanted to go with nana.. I should have taken a pic it was so funny.. The boys did eventually get into the right car and headed off to brissy.

 

[satay]

@Ashburnham and @satay I never would have thought to give them to my chooks, they end up a space taker in my freezer till bin night. Much better use of them!

You don't worry about the sharp pointy bits on the heads in their crops since they don't chew them?

I have always thrown them into the chicken pen.. They seem to tear bits off and then eat them,