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

[sjturner79]

Shadows has 8 chicks out now. 3 pips and 2 yet to show. Better hatch rate than I got int the incubator.

 

[ChristieB]

My broody apparently only likes white chicks ... She has accepted one of the 2 week olds as her own, I decided to leave it in there with her after I saw it tucking itself under her wing, the two red ones she would allow to stay close to her, but they are a bit too independent to cuddle with her, the black one she hates, but they had fun running around the broody pen while I cleaned their box

 

[appps]

Wow... hatches, babies and adorable cuteness!! Now I want to hatch more babies I'm glad your mp3 seems to be working @Teila . I'm glad I don't have crows cawing at ungodly hours. We just have plovers who sometimes get upset at something in the middle of the night and go off, but that's not too often. Sad news coming out of here, Casanova lost his fight. While it's unfortunate, I take comfort in the fact I have some of his babies here, and that a couple look like girls, so they'll get to stay. Also had a great day at the Wondai Ag show up in the South Burnett, with Yahtzee being awarded his first "class in group" win! What a rush it was for me! He was very nearly awarded what you call Dog Challenge as well, which mean the best male dog for the breed. We were just pipped to the post by the more mature boy. Never mind though, there's always next week!

Sorry to hear that K :-( Congrats on your pup!

 

[IamSamSam]

My broody apparently only likes white chicks ... She has accepted one of the 2 week olds as her own, I decided to leave it in there with her after I saw it tucking itself under her wing, the two red ones she would allow to stay close to her, but they are a bit too independent to cuddle with her, the black one she hates, but they had fun running around the broody pen while I cleaned their box

My Austrolorp Rooroo did that but she hatched them ! She loved the big yellow maran and abandoned 3 black ara's

 

[Teila]

Good morning Friends

K Spot I am so sorry to hear about Casanova

On a happy note though, congrats on Yahtzee’s win

ChristieB Cho is a funny little gal; a little selective

Congrats on the new layer V1cky, Lucy is a cutie.

Fancy good to hear everyone arrived safely on the mainland.

sjturner79 congrats on the little ones .. adorable!

Crow be Gone Update: Morning of Day 5

*Sigh* got woken at 05:30am by cawing right outside our bedroom window. Again, nothing like the numbers in the past and appears to just be a determined one or two. I managed to ensure that there were no Crows in the front or back trees at bed time last night but apparently they came back for the morning shift!

My neighbour was working out in the garden yesterday and knowing that I have the mp3 playing was watching the Crow in the back tree. He reckons that “it sat there for the majority of the day” and he believes “it is sitting there warning the other Crows who just fly over and keep going”.

Anyways, I had the mp3 player plus speakers under the gazebo, pointing skywards and the two determined Crows were under the gazebo, rummaging through my shelves again!

Today I am trying a reposition and have the speakers inside, at the kitchen window, pointing skywards … no chance of them finding them there!

So, basically, to date, I have managed to move the majority of the Crows away except for these final couple. Can’t really call it a win because I am still being woken at the crack of dawn by cawing

I will persevere with volume and positioning to see if I can actually win this war!

While it is totally against my nature, I confess to having evil thoughts against these remaining few ... apparently if you hang a dead Crow from a tree that also works as a deterrent ... anyone know where I can get a dead Crow?

 

[ChristieB]

Ok so Hermione is not well, she was off the roost last night, I put her back on not really thinking much of it, this morning though I've seen she's not walking normally her wings are dropping and she's slow, normally I cant catch her, but I was able to and put her in the quarantine coop.
I called the vet who suggested mareks, but she's going to call her friend who specialises in birds/poultry. I realise if it is mareks Hermione likely will die but I cannot afford to lose all my girls. What can I do?

 

[ChristieB]

The only unexplained loss I've had was Sybil in July but I can't remember if she showed any symptoms, her issues were no feather and going off the lay (which I'm told is common for production bred birds?) the newest hens were the araucana who've been in the coop a month today and 3 weeks "quarantine" before and have shown no sign of illness.

 

[V1cky]

ChristieB....

If it's mareks I don't think there's anything you can do apart from seperate and hope your other chickens don't get it.
Droopy wings, loss of balance and lack of moving is quite common with any sick bird so there's a good possibility it's not meraks but something else. Is her crop empty? Not eating can explain her lack of energy/balance. Check for signs of respiratory infections, crop issues and throat blockages as all of those can be the cause of a bird getting sick.
It's hard when one of your chickens isn't well especially when you don't know 100% what the reason is so you can try to help the best you can. My thoughts are with Hermione and I hope she pulls through whatever it maybe that's making her feel unwell.

 

[Teila]

Hey ChristieB

As you probably know by now, there are far more experienced people when it comes to what ails chickens than myself but I agree with V1cky that the symptoms you describe are common with many ailments.

I had a bantam Leghorn with the same symptoms and she was internal laying. Another with similar symptoms was diagnosed by the Vet as 'in shock'.

As V1cky suggested, I would check her crop.
Do you know if she has laid recently?
How is her comb colour?
No parasites?
How does her poop look?

Chances are I will not have an answer to what ails her even with the above information, but it may assist someone else or give ideas for a diagnosis.

I do hope you are able to diagnose and help Hermione

 

[Deej211]

My 1st batch of araucanas are hatching. 18 eggs 8 out and 2 more ext pipped!!! So exciting!

On a side note sparrow has finally gone broody so i have a hen to put my polish eggs under!! Yay!