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

[cwrite]

Hey there potato chip .. put me down as a vote for normal; your little girl just looks like she is turning into a little lady to me.

cwrite if I can, there is some method to the way the garden is set up and a few reasons I believe the girls have not turned it into a moonscape.

* They are all bantams.
* Half the flock have feathered feet and I have found that they cause less damage than the non feathered half.
* They only free range for 3-4 hours a day during the week but all day on the weekends.
* I have 3 specific, shaded areas that belong to the girls and are pretty much plantless. These get turned over every day with the garden fork so the girls like digging and bathing in them as they are loose and dry.
* Pavers and paths are strategically placed so that there is not any other largish areas that they can get a good foothold and destroy en masse.
* 95% of the plants are potted which not only saves water, it also stops the girls digging them up. They quite happily dig in the shade and earth around the pots and occasionally jump up to steal a bit of plant in the pots but the plants have more of chance being that little bit higher.

One of the chicken specific areas:

Your garden is very pretty but I didn't realise that most plants are in pots until you mentioned it & I had a closer look. I'm moving all plants into wicking pots as I can't keep them alive otherwise so there's hope then. Now I just need to work on limiting their scratching area. My lawn was looking particularly disgusting last week as I let them free-range the whole 6 days I was away. Usually I limit their time on the grass which does help. It looks much better now except for a large circle that looks like it had a concentrated effort to denude it. On the up side they love eating sweet potato leaves and crop any that escape my little fenced veggie garden so I don't need to do that.

appps - I hope Carl comes right soon again. Hopefully it will be easier this time!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Thought I'd share a pic of the lovely tall ship Yukon that we went out on Australia Day. That's another thing ticked off the bucket list.

 

[User395221]

That's beautiful. Nothing better than getting on the water in such a beautiful place. You are soooo lucky to live in Tassie, it's my favourite place of everywhere.

 

[Deej211]

Thought I'd share a pic of the lovely tall ship Yukon that we went out on Australia Day. That's another thing ticked off the bucket list.

i have some pics of this ship too. It was in the harbour last christmas time when we went to sydney. Gorgeous ship

 

[Fancychooklady]

i have some pics of this ship too. It was in the harbour last christmas time when we went to sydney. Gorgeous ship

They sailed all the way from Copenhagen , had only intended to stop in Tassie but fell in love with the place. They are now based at Franklin , just down from us .
As they quaintly say ' the children had to eventually start school somewhere . '
Franklin is such a lovely little town.

 

[User395221]

So, I found my camera.... Guess where I'd dropped it?

Secret stash of eggs in the bushes


Why I hadn't easily seen them

 

[appps]

Little update on Carl. She spent today locked in a dog crate on pavers so she couldn't eat dirt or shaving or hay or anything else she shouldn't. So just had water in there today to try and get it reduced enough it starts moving.

I've just had another massage and it does feel softer than this morning. Trouble is it always feels hard again the next morning. Anyway, I'm going to get up before the chooks tomorrow and lock her up again before she gets off the perch in case she is eating their bedding or something before I let them out.

Thinking some softened pellets for her tomorrow?

 

[sjturner79]

Little update on Carl. She spent today locked in a dog crate on pavers so she couldn't eat dirt or shaving or hay or anything else she shouldn't. So just had water in there today to try and get it reduced enough it starts moving.

I've just had another massage and it does feel softer than this morning. Trouble is it always feels hard again the next morning. Anyway, I'm going to get up before the chooks tomorrow and lock her up again before she gets off the perch in case she is eating their bedding or something before I let them out.

Thinking some softened pellets for her tomorrow?

I would go with treacle, molasses or yoghurt for an impacted crop, and have her in a cage or box inside overnight, not out in the coop, so she can't get up on the middle of the night and eat.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I would go with treacle, molasses or yoghurt for an impacted crop, and have her in a cage or box inside overnight, not out in the coop, so she can't get up on the middle of the night and eat.

Molasses has a laxative effect but as the impaction is in the crop and not in the gizzard it wouldn't help much. Treacle is just sugar and the yogurt / probiotics might help with the bacteria. Vegetable oil and massage are the only practical methods short of surgery.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Little update on Carl. She spent today locked in a dog crate on pavers so she couldn't eat dirt or shaving or hay or anything else she shouldn't. So just had water in there today to try and get it reduced enough it starts moving.

I've just had another massage and it does feel softer than this morning. Trouble is it always feels hard again the next morning. Anyway, I'm going to get up before the chooks tomorrow and lock her up again before she gets off the perch in case she is eating their bedding or something before I let them out.

Thinking some softened pellets for her tomorrow?

That or some porridge with a tablespoon of Greek yogurt, or soft cooked rice. Being as she has had crop issues in the past her crop might also be slow to empty and that might be the new ' normal ' for Carl.