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

[locknest4]

Hi Folks,
Our pullets are now 14 weeks old. They finished off the last of their medicated chick feed last week and I have been giving them the left over layer crumble feed that we had reserved from our previous chooks (as the breeder doesn't have any pullet feed). Is layer feed ok to give them? They seem to be chowing through it. They have also been occasionally helping themselves to some shell grit that I forgot to remove when they moved into the coop.
Any advice is appreciated

 

[sjturner79]

Hi Folks,
Our pullets are now 14 weeks old. They finished off the last of their medicated chick feed last week and I have been giving them the left over layer crumble feed that we had reserved from our previous chooks (as the breeder doesn't have any pullet feed). Is layer feed ok to give them? They seem to be chowing through it. They have also been occasionally helping themselves to some shell grit that I forgot to remove when they moved into the coop.
Any advice is appreciated

That would depend on breed. If they are early maturing and about to start laying the feed layer food. If not then get meat raiser, pullet grower, duck grower, all flock feeder or something else lower in calcium, but not too high in protien

 

[sjturner79]

I usually prefer to take the longer road when treating their legs and wait for the damaged scales to slough off unless they're becoming a problem themselves (such as a large piece hanging but threatening to tear if not cut off). I'd rather take longer to treat it than cause undue trauma to the bird - it's very difficult to remove the damaged scales without causing bleeding and it can be a bit unpredictable.

No don't cut anything off. Anything that doesn't sloth off when rubbed should be left alone. Depending on the extent of damage some of the scales will be forced outwards. Just rub them with Vicks or what ever it is you are using and make sure you have good coverage. The legs may not return to smooth but the important thing is to rid them of the mites.

Thank you both. good advise. I had to cut a little bit off on one of the hens, the toe had folded right under ad was barely attached by a thin bit of skin.
I have bathed 5 of the flock so far, and they are all getting vicksed daily once they've been bathed, It looks like it will take a bout 2 weeks to get them all done.
How do I tell when they no longer need to be treated?
is it once they have no more dead scaly bits or wounds ?
Thanks so much - mites are one thing we never had where i grew up so this is a bit new to me.

 

[devinandfeather]

15 little old English bantam chicks they are adorable

 

[Teila]

Good morning Friends

tandykins good to read that Pipper has recovered and your new girls are settling in well and laying.

Aaaw Fancy those fairy floss chickens are adorable!!

Anniebee nope, no Elm trees but there is a Maple tree and a Mango tree.

devinandfeather beautiful pics!

So, Day 1 of the IT Workshop is done and dusted .. very exhausting. We picked the quietest two days of the week to have the workshop but that apparently did not stop Windows doing an update which broke Windows 7 computers and the majority of the day was spent on our computers working out a plan of attack, monitoring the queue.

It also did not stop the helpdesk tickets coming in … gunna be a big week next week catching up on all the non-urgent tickets and we still have another day to go.

Wish us luck that today is better/quieter.

Hubby let the girls out at 4pm yesterday and was in the garden with them when I got home at 05:30pm they all came running up the path at the sound of my voice “Mum’s home!!” .. such a lovely welcome, it felt so good and instantly put a huge smile on my face and the bad day was forgotten. I am also so very grateful that I have a hubby who loves the girls nearly as much as I do ... without him they would not have got a free range yesterday and probably not today either.

No bugs in the coop last night or this morning and I did not have any on me either

I cannot thank you enough Fancy for the surface spray tip

… not only did it instantly get rid of the bugs, it appears to have averted a repeat of last years’ nightmare. I am still going to strip everything down this weekend and hit it with hot soapy water and a respray when dry, but it appears the crisis has been averted.

I do have a funny story from the workshop. A colleague has a new house and was showing me some pictures … one of the pictures was of a wood fire he has in the lounge. I asked him “do you have wood ash?”. He was a little confused by the question so I asked again if he had wood ash when he cleaned the fire and could I please have it for my chickens? He gave me a strange look and jokingly said “You know chickens do not eat wood ash right?” lol. This attracted the attention of another colleague who also has a wood fire … so, end of story, I am getting some wood ash for the gals dust bath in exchange for a few eggs

 

[appps]

I generally use self paced intergration where the chicks have a pop hole the larger birds can't get through from thier brooder out to the main flock. I move the out to the out door brooder at about 7-10 days, and by 3 weeks they usually run with the flock, and don't have any issues until the cockerel's hit puberty, and no issues at all with the hens. If I have a broody I don't seperate for more than 3 days at most.

Do they find their way back okay? That sounds like a good way to do it. Im thinking I might make a little tunnel up to a grass area I have in the coop so they can at least get out and about and used to getting back to their bed area. I might give it a couple days then open another pop hole to the big run, or maybe a couple pop holes, chickens do not seem to be smart when it come to finding the way out of places l0l

 

[Fancychooklady]

Thank you both. good advise. I had to cut a little bit off on one of the hens, the toe had folded right under ad was barely attached by a thin bit of skin.
I have bathed 5 of the flock so far, and they are all getting vicksed daily once they've been bathed, It looks like it will take a bout 2 weeks to get them all done.
How do I tell when they no longer need to be treated?
is it once they have no more dead scaly bits or wounds ?
Thanks so much - mites are one thing we never had where i grew up so this is a bit new to me.

You are probably over doing it. The Beauty of the Vicks is you lather it on and forget about it. I might reapply 2 weeks down the track. When using oils you have to apply almost daily.

 

[Fancychooklady]

15 little old English bantam chicks they are adorable

There's nothing like a momma and her chicks.

 

[appps]

Man it's warming up out there! Well my babies are out running round in the coop, well half of it anyway . Have spent the morning dividing it down the middle so they can learn where all the escape holes I've set up are before I let them all go together.

They had a lovely time sun baking and then the one I think is a rooster decided to peck at Carl through the wire. Carl was not amused lol

 

[ChristieB]

15 little old English bantam chicks they are adorable

Omg that are so tiny!!! Gorgeous, I love when they sit on mummas back

...

Hubby let the girls out at 4pm yesterday and was in the garden with them when I got home at 05:30pm they all came running up the path at the sound of my voice “Mum’s home!!” .. such a lovely welcome, it felt so good and instantly put a huge smile on my face and the bad day was forgotten.  I am also so very grateful that I have a hubby who loves the girls nearly as much as I do ... without him they would not have got a free range yesterday and probably not today either.

I've had a few people around to pick up roosters and every time I walk in to the run its met with exclamations when the girls come running, it's so lovely even if I do have to watch my step or risk falling on my face lol.

Hi Folks,
Our pullets are now 14 weeks old. They finished off the last of their medicated chick feed last week and I have been giving them the left over layer crumble feed that we had reserved from our previous chooks (as the breeder doesn't have any pullet feed). Is layer feed ok to give them? They seem to be chowing through it. They have also been occasionally helping themselves to some shell grit that I forgot to remove when they moved into the coop.
Any advice is appreciated

They should probably be on pullet grower from about 6 to 18 weeks. My 4 week olds just went on it because I couldn't be bothered buying more chick starter when so much gets wasted on the ground.

I'm now down to 10 chooks and 8 chicks, of that, 2 are cockerels, 2 have chicks, 2 are brooding invisible eggs, which leaves me 4 laying hens, crazy