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

[Teila]

I don't know, that might be a smarter reaction, if I threw a grenade in my back yard, mine would all come to attack it.

 

[Meeka3]

Wow, they are kinda cute in an odd kinda way lol. Are these Guinea fowl?

yes, they're Guinea fowl, I have to keep them in pen for a couple of weeks, and then I'll let them free range and hopefully they'll clean up all the ticks, small snakes, and keep the foxes at bay.

 

[appps]

yes, they're Guinea fowl, I have to keep them in pen for a couple of weeks, and then I'll let them free range and hopefully they'll clean up all the ticks, small snakes, and keep the foxes at bay.

Really, a match for foxes? I'd heard the tick bit but hadn't realised they gave foxes a run for their money!

 

[tandykins]

In happy news-- I think the chooks liked having thier leg mites killed, and the move to a new coop area. Today is the first time sine shadows went broody in August that I got 4 eggs in one day. I have 5 that I know have layed eggs at some point and 1 I think might be laying. So I could possibly get up to 6 until the 4 hens that hatched August 1 start laying

I know mine started laying again regularly the moment I started treating them (will post pics of the progress which seems to have slowed a bit). It may well be that simply beginning treatment took enough excess stress off of their bodies to allow them to lay

Hey sjturner79 do you have LF’s or bantams?

If my gals see anything that is not bite sized “Run, it is a chicken trap!”

Please see my profile image for how my childrens chickens respond to large pieces of food. It is a trap - and they're on to me. >.>

Ta guys. They seemed to have done fine today at 33 but 38 is a whole lot hotter again, especially since most of their lives we have been having quite cool temperatures and they have spent time seeking out the sunny spots. I think I'll just bring them inside once the temps get over about 35 on Friday. It was actually two more than forecast today so could end up even hotter.

I feel you. It was 36 yesterday and 34 today. Pinkie Pie (SLW) was in the nesting box and I kept ducking in to check on her, terribly worried. Her head was up in the air and she was panting so hard. The chickens in quarantine left a nasty letter on their nesting box and have taken to laying in the cool dirt directly beside my front steps. I'm not even slightly annoyed. I just get it. I wouldn't lay in there either on a day like today.

I was skeptical on the real effect of spraying my coop roof down with water - since the inside of the coop didn't really feel all that hotter than the temperature in the sun outside to begin with - so instead opted to give my girls frozen veg treats. I fill muffin tins with veggies (often I scour my pantry for "let's be honest, am I ever really going to eat this? It looks like barf" cans) and top them up with homemade chicken stock (no salt) or plain water and freeze them. They make nice treats on hot days.

Kissybum got herself in a MOOD earlier. She pushed herself into our maternity cage (where I put my brooding hens so the nesting boxes are free) and ejected Tetra, scattering her eggs all over (but thankfully breaking none). Tetra attempted to come back to her nest but was pecked. I had to hold Kissybum to let Tetra get back in and then had to shut the doors behind her (wire walls, did not affect ventilation) temporarily just to keep Kissy out. She stood outside the cage for over an hour complaining. Every other hen who came in was pecked viciously. Every nesting box a hen wanted to be in was Kissy's. Grendel got up into one when Kissy wasn't even in there and Kissy burrowed underneath her and booted her straight out. Because apparently, "Until I get to lay an egg, NO ONE gets to lay an egg."

I finally found her squatting beside the maternity cage, laying an egg in the bedding beside it. Once she did get to lay, she calmed down. Maybe it's the weather.

We had been keeping Queenie inside with her chicks but realized that her social status in the flock had suffered in just a short period, so we moved her brooder into a covered area outside where the flock could continue interacting with she and her chicks while everyone was kept safe. I'm now contemplating when I should let her take them out amongst the flock. I'm really anxious about it.

Quote:
Welcome!!

Quote: Or in my case, Murican transplants to Oz.

Your girls are certainly spoilt.

I don't even pull the bread apart. They get the ham bone at Christmas, but I prefer them to peck off the size of ham that they can safely swallow. As with the danger of whole grapes , they will swallow and gobble up what ever you offer, so if you are chopping up all of their food, make sure it is very small.
I went on our annual garden walk yesterday and as usual the girls came back here to have a glass of wine and check out the chooks. Sold some silkies and fertile eggs. Little Coro BB ( blue butt ) is doing really well, can't even see where his first momma pecked at his vent. He is very tame as a result of handling , very cute.

Most of my dramas with giving my chooks scraps is yelling at my dog to stop stealing them from the chickens. A couple of times I've caught him in the coop stuffing his face with layer pellets.

Last month before Queenie hatched her eggs we'd put her on another dozen but they were one by one being smashed or going missing. I was so disappointed in Queenie and she got so many weary looks. A couple of days later I saw my pug waltz into the coop and waltz back out with an egg in his mouth. I ran out and shouted to him to 'drop it' which he is RIDICULOUSLY good at doing and sure enough found a marked hatching egg. :| I moved the maternity cage up about 2 feet so that he can't get into it. Then I blew out some old eggs, filled them with Tobasco sauce, sealed them with candle wax, coated the shells with Stop 'n' Grow (bitter nail polish for nail biters) and wrote, "Bruno is a dick" on them so that I could easily identify them.

The first day he came out with one and it smashed in his mouth on his way out. He has avoided the coop entirely since. > Serves him right.

But I have to pull the bread apart because if I don't - one chicken is going to do a runner with a whole slice and the dog is going to run after them until he's out of my line of sight and then steal it. -_-

Things over here are pretty okay - though I've been down a bit with allergies and my depression spiralling a bit. I spent the weekend cleaning my garage and dealing with the old remnants of my hoarding. That leaves my office - which these days isn't so much a hoard as a room full of objects we know we need to keep but that need to be gone through and organized. The more I get done around the rest of the house, the more surmountable it seems. My husband finally got up the cojones to speak to our neighbour about his privet tree and the neighbour happily gave his consent for us to cut it down (it being the source of my awful allergies and an invasive pest besides). That was nice, but cutting it down only served to disturb the allergens and I just got worse. XD Ah well. Next year it will be better.

 

[tandykins]

yes, they're Guinea fowl, I have to keep them in pen for a couple of weeks, and then I'll let them free range and hopefully they'll clean up all the ticks, small snakes, and keep the foxes at bay.

I've heard they're great for foxes but VERY noisy which was the thing which kept me from being able to have them.

 

[appps]

Forecast just jumped to 41 for tomorrow. It's crazy weather, next week we are back to mid to low 20's.

 

[tandykins]

Forecast just jumped to 41 for tomorrow. It's crazy weather, next week we are back to mid to low 20's.

Auuuuugh. We're getting a forecast of 36 tomorrow but at least they're predicting 23 for Saturday. Whew....

 

[Meeka3]

Really, a match for foxes? I'd heard the tick bit but hadn't realised they gave foxes a run for their money!

They don't actually chase the foxes, but they make a very loud noise like a machine gun, which warns all the other animals of danger, and sometimes it's so loud, it frightens the fox away.

 

[Meeka3]

I've heard they're great for foxes but VERY noisy which was the thing which kept me from being able to have them.

If you live close to neighbours you wouldn't be able to have them unfortunately. Most of the time they are quieter than the chooks, but I had a taste of how loud they can be this afternoon. One of them escaped from the pen and the others called very loudly for her to come back, she came back and tried to get back in so I was able to catch her and put her back. The chooks wouldn't be that loyal to each other. I have to keep them locked up for a couple of weeks before I let them free range.

 

[appps]

Aww look what DS found when he locked the chooks up tonight. Apparently the babies have decided at 5 1/2 weeks they are big enough to sleep with everybody else instead of in their own box . Not sure if Penny could move any further over lol. They still make her a little nervous so it's funny they chose to sit right next to her on the otherwise empty perch

Think I better get up bright and early to let them all out just in case