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

[Sidhe13]

@Teila those are some seriously cute wee fuzzies! Baby chickens and ducklings are just so full of "nawwwww"!

 

[Teila]

How come when I don’t have bubbies, work is flat out and I don’t have time to think ‘I could be outside’ … Now that I do have bubbies, work is quiet and I am sitting here thinking ‘I could be outside”!

Ah well, it does mean I get to duck out and check everyone is OK more often than usual.

Thank you everyone for the aaaaw’s and kind comments; I am already smitten! Believe it or not, at Day 1, I reckon the little black one is a rooster .. one of the joys of guessing the gender of your own chicks is that you can change your mind frequently

At last check, they were already scratching at the dirt like professionals, tugging on the grass and hanging off Cilla’s wattles!

MyHaven I am on the other side of Sandgate Road from where you found Rosie, just past Muller.

The rooster I heard would be over 12 months ago now but yeah, maybe I only heard him the once because he was a dinner guest.

Sidhe13 Lemons huh? Thank you for the tip, hadn’t heard that one.

On the mozzie subject; did you know mosquitoes have 47 teeth? Around here they are affectionately known as 47-teethers. Anyways, while they do enjoy annoying me at dusk and the gals oblige by pecking them off me and eating them, I have not noticed large numbers in the coops.

I have, however, noticed that the gold fish get very excited around dusk and there is lots of splashing water and jumping. I’m thinking that the pond water is probably more attractive to the 47-teethers than fresh chicken

 

[Fancychooklady]

Agreed. They are the worst.

My mum got Ross a River too.

I would really appreciate ideas to give the chooks some relief if anyone has any. I'm just hoping we get a cold snap to knock the biters back a bit.

I have the river not 6 metres from my pens and have found that spraying with a pyrethrum based surface spray and hanging sticky fly tapes in each of the pens , has them under control. The sticky traps cost me $1.90 for 8 at the reject shop. Prevention is better than cure so tip any water laying around out. Keep waterer's clean and add a splash of acv . If you've got any ponds around keep gold fish in them to eat the Mozzi lavae.

 

[Fancychooklady]

How come when I don’t have bubbies, work is flat out and I don’t have time to think ‘I could be outside’ … Now that I do have bubbies, work is quiet and I am sitting here thinking ‘I could be outside”!

Ah well, it does mean I get to duck out and check everyone is OK more often than usual.

Thank you everyone for the aaaaw’s and kind comments; I am already smitten!  Believe it or not, at Day 1, I reckon the little black one is a rooster .. one of the joys of guessing the gender of your own chicks is that you can change your mind frequently 

At last check, they were already scratching at the dirt like professionals, tugging on the grass and hanging off Cilla’s wattles!

MyHaven I am on the other side of Sandgate Road from where you found Rosie, just past Muller.

The rooster I heard would be over 12 months ago now but yeah, maybe I only heard him the once because he was a dinner guest. 

Sidhe13 Lemons huh?  Thank you for the tip, hadn’t heard that one.

On the mozzie subject; did you know mosquitoes have 47 teeth?  Around here they are affectionately known as 47-teethers.  Anyways, while they do enjoy annoying me at dusk and the gals oblige by pecking them off me and eating them, I have not noticed large numbers in the coops.

I have, however, noticed that the gold fish get very excited around dusk and there is lots of splashing water and jumping.  I’m thinking that the pond water is probably more attractive to the 47-teethers than fresh chicken 

Lol, great minds think alike !!

 

[ChristieB]

I've been researching plants that repel mozzies and flies and lemon grass was top of the list so lemon juice makes sense

 

[Fancychooklady]

I've been researching plants that repel mozzies and flies and lemon grass was top of the list so lemon juice makes sense

That makes sense, citronella has been commercially available for many years.
But there is no lemon juice in citronella , it's lemon grass oil.

 

[cwrite]

At last check, they were already scratching at the dirt like professionals, tugging on the grass and hanging off Cilla’s wattles!

Congrats on the cute chicks Teila!

It's just amazing how quickly they get stuck into everything when raised by mum.

 

[Teila]

Good morning folks

I do believe that Blondie is having an identity crisis!

Last week she wanted to be like Cilla; broody and sitting on eggs. This week she apparently wants to be like Dusty .. bald!

I will know we have a serious problem when the curling wand goes missing … can’t think of any other way she is going to be like LuLu the Frizzle!

Either that or, unbeknown to me, the chicken Olympics is being held at our coop this year and her and Dusty are competing for the Gold in Cross Country Molt or Feather Drop Floor Routine!

 

[Steampunked]

Random non-news from the Owlhome flock: When are you guys going to realise that at 20-24 weeks you should be laying, and-or crowing as your sex dictates!

Okay, the silkies are off the hook on that one - my tiny female silkie Candycorn has less than my little finger's width between her keel and pubic bone, she's so little. My little silkie rooster Ivan the Terrible likes to cuddle under the big breed rooster, so God only knows what he thinks his 'job' is. Lord high snuggle bunny, maybe.

But my huge (and they really are huge, I have to carry them one at a time) white sussex ladies are up to four fingers now, even the sprightly anconas are getting there. My gentle-man rooster, Wellington, is a massive boy.

I've tried crowing near him (don't laugh!) to see what he does. He looks at me with a horrified, melancholic expression, and then wanders off with a hurt look on his face.

I wonder if all Marans are as cuddly as Ori, the 'wheaten' Maran I have - she'll sit next to me while I stroke her head feathers and then stretch out and fall asleep. Sometimes she falls off the bench. If she's really zoned out, she'll lie on the ground for a while.

 

[satay]

Good morning folks 

I do believe that Blondie is having an identity crisis!

Last week she wanted to be like Cilla; broody and sitting on eggs.  This week she apparently wants to be like Dusty .. bald!

I will know we have a serious problem when the curling wand goes missing … can’t think of any other way she is going to be like LuLu the Frizzle! 

Either that or, unbeknown to me, the chicken Olympics is being held at our coop this year and her and Dusty are competing for the Gold in Cross Country Molt or Feather Drop Floor Routine!

Love it.