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

[IamSamSam]

Hello there fellow Aussies! e  Anyone from the ACT out there? I moved to Canberra this February and have yet to meet another poultry person. 

Heaps of chook people in act. Just not on byc ! I visit act a lot as inlaws are there. And my brother

 

[MagicPidge]

Heaps of chook people in act. Just not on byc ! I visit act a lot as inlaws are there. And my brother

That's fair enough, all of my family are back in NSW. I'm the only one to have left the nest, so to speak.

 

[satay]

Just popped in to say that free range integration is going well ... the fear of Cilla's wrath is apparently greater than the temptation to peck Crystal and KiKi 

Glad it is all going well.

 

[satay]

Hello there fellow Aussies! e  Anyone from the ACT out there? I moved to Canberra this February and have yet to meet another poultry person. 

 

[satay]

Long time no see! Life has bern flat out. And hence i don't have time to read nearly a thousand pages!

Hope everyone is well?

We are mite free! Woohoo but poor black ops and shadow are molting. So 2 eggs a day atm.

Just took some random pics thought I'd share. Apparently my phone doesn't want me to so not this time lol

Glad your mite problem is under control.

 

[satay]

Happy Birthday K

Hope you have a great day e
@K Spot

 

[Teila]

Good morning folks

Howdy MagicPidge, welcome to the thread.

Hey AussieChics good to see you again. Congrats on being mite free! (Your chickens, not you

)

K Spot



So, as I posted earlier, free range integration went pretty well. The broody coop and main coop are joined together in the middle of the run, so when I have a broody with bubs, they can be split into two coops and two runs.

After opening up both coops and letting everyone out together there was a slight snag when Dusty, Blondie and LuLu couldn’t wait to get into the broody coop and run and Crystal and KiKi tried to retreat to it when something spooked them .. I had little ones thinking “OMG what are they doing in our coop” and big ones thinking “OMG, Cilla’s babies, that means Cilla is not far behind, we need to get the h*ll outta here!” but no injuries and no harm done, everyone was too busy looking out for themselves to worry about munchkins!

Because it is a full time job watching everyone for the first few integrations, if Cilla & Co wandered back into their coop, I shut them in for a while, to give me a break and the big gals a break from Cilla

Anyways, I do not think the temporary fence will be needed for free range in the future, just close supervision and after a couple of weeks of that, the coops and runs can probably be opened up and become one again.

Edited to Add:

Actually, something that intrigues me and I would appreciate any thoughts:

The current pecking order (minus Crystal and KiKi who still have to find their niche) is:

1. Cilla
2. Dusty
3. Blondie
4. LuLu

Blondie is Cilla’s bub from her last hatch before this current one.

Cilla hates Blondie! I have no idea why.

Yesterday Cilla was OK with Dusty and LuLu being reasonably close to the chicks and just gave them a warning chase but when Blondie got close, Cilla jumped on her. No harm done and Blondie high tailed it out of there, but it is strange why Cilla dislikes Blondie so much. Blondie does not appear to hate Cilla and both of them get along fine with everyone else.

 

[appps]

@Teila. Maybe she thinks blondie is trying to rejoin the babies when she comes close and so she is reminding her in no uncertain terms that once you leave home your on your own!

 

[MagicPidge]

@Teila. Maybe she thinks blondie is trying to rejoin the babies when she comes close and so she is reminding her in no uncertain terms that once you leave home your on your own!

Or perhaps it's her lesson to everyone that she's still the top hen... Even after being MIA for a few weeks brooding.

 

[Teila]

Thank You appps and MagicPidge, I appreciate your thoughts.

I probably should have mentioned that Cilla actually demonstrated before this hatch that she was not particularly fond of Blondie so I do not believe it is totally hatch related.

Watching the others with Cilla, they have always bowed down to her. If she is throwing her not so significant weight around, Dusty and LuLu will ‘freeze’ and bow to which Cilla walks away.

However, while Blondie is not silly enough to take Cilla on in any form, she does not ‘freeze’ and bow but stands strong; not fighting, no feathers raised, but not submitting either.

Maybe Cilla sees Blondie’s proudness (Blondie is the Diva of the flock) as a threat to her position.

But, with Cilla MIA and broody, Dusty takes over #1 position with LuLu and Blondie and she has no problems with Blondie.

Ah, the mysteries of what goes through their little chicken brains