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

[Fancychooklady]

Morning , looks like we are in for a ' cracker ' of a day. Hubby's gone trout fishing and we have some lovely Thai fruit pickers coming for lunch. They are preparing sushi and dumplings. Yum.

 

[Teila]

Good morning Folks

Beautiful pictures Fancy!

Sadly, we appear to be in for yet another day of rain … I am going to go stir crazy if I am not able to get outside into the garden soon

Blondie, on the other hand, is probably very pleased to see that it is raining and she gets to spend another day on an empty nest. LuLu was kind enough to lay an egg this morning for Blondie to sit on but then some mean lady took it off her!

Ah well, another day of stalking BYC and Gumtree and of course, listening to the Test Match. Not quite what I had planned for my holiday, but at least I am resting

Actually, I blame myself, I planned to mow the lawn yesterday!

 

[birdman55]

hope everyones day was great

 

[cwrite]

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.

Thanks Satay. I was glad that it at least looked like a farm with goats, ducks and sheep as well as chooks so my kids can think of the chicks living on a farm although some of them are bound to end up in the pot.
That's too sweet about your nephews. My mum was the Granny that burnt the toast for ages after a stay with us.

It's funny which experiences stand out for them.

 

[cwrite]

Does anyone know if it's ok for chickens to eat baby cane toads? The lawns that are fenced off from the chickens are heaving with tiny toads that I'm presuming are cane toads.

 

[Teila]

Hey cwrite that is an interesting question and I have often wondered that myself. We do not have a huge number of cane toads around here but I can be guaranteed to see one or two on the back lawn of an evening.

I did some research a while back when I was contemplating their affect on chickens and found that Cane Toad eggs, tadpoles and adults are toxic to vertebrates; but other results mentioned chickens happily munching on baby cane toads with no side effects and others mention losing cats, dogs and many chickens to cane toads. At that stage, with all the mixed reports, I gave up researching and just decided to try and ensure my gals did not get up close and personal with any cane toads.

I was thinking, if they can seriously upset/kill our four legged furries, they surely cannot be good for chickens but then we are taking a totally different species.

I look forward to hearing what others' thoughts/experience are on the topic.

 

[smhoekzema]

Hedwig wants to know how come everyone else gets prawn heads and all got was the end of a garden salad!
(Her mums a slacker who bought pre peeled prawns this year)

 

[AussieChics]

Yesterday I wrote a big message then pressed back instead of post, so I gave up.

mumma and chicks are doing really well. Getting in some nice feathering. Cant get pics as they are too fast for my liking.

This morning I have found quite a few feathers in the run. Clearly someone forgot their place or mumma just decided to fly kick someone in the head again for no good reason. However no one has any bald spots. So its a mystery.

1 of the teen chickens has a really red waddle and comb havent heard any crowing though. So she might be ready to lay. the other 2 were a vouple weeks older and they are due to lay in 3 weeks. So fingers crossed.

hope everyone had an awesome cmas!

 

[ChristieB]

Hi all, we had a lovely Christmas first on the farm then at the Sunshine Coast for Boxing Day then finally ballina yesterday, despite the rain and traffic (seriously does no one on the Gold Coast know how to merge??) we made it through in good spirits.
Sadly yesterday while at a pit stop I recieved a call from the pet sitter saying my bantam araucana and light Sussex, the only 2 hens of the 6 chicks I'd bought, were missing with only some feathers left behind. Then not long after we got a text saying one of our border collies was out. Putting 2 and 2 together I'd say the dog has found a way into the pen to play with the chickies then off to explore when they weren't fun any more. This morning I got another text saying the araucana was sitting on the front steps looking a little ruffled this morning so has been put in with the new Pekins (to hell with quarantine)
What bums me out the most is of the 6 chicks I got only the one I liked the least is left!!!
Plus Christmas means I don't have the money to replace them right away (though I may have secretly lined up a buff Sussex and barnevelder already, shhhh don't tell my hubby)

 

[kat79]

Ok needing some pros advice... I have a broody who is a stubbon mule (so to speak) she has been isolation for at least 36 hours dunked in a tub of water and still is not broken. So my question is there something else I should try or should I let her have a few eggs? Currently still taking her out of the nest.