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

[LuckysMum]

moandmcgee sorry how is the red mite treatment going.

Fizzybelle We all need to vent sometimes. It's good to unload better than bottling it up.

Potato chip my ISA's run back and forth when we come out because we always bring scraps they are funny. I love sitting and watching all our chooks. Though its sad we can't have them all out together. The ISA's actually try and peck them through the fence if they get to close. Though now the "mean" ones are gone maybe they will be a bit better. Haha

 

[Fancychooklady]

Annie, it's always wise to wear a mask when cleaning the coop. The dander is not the only danger though. When using the deep litter method the rising ammonia can be quite harmful and for those that use DE the risk of respiratory and lung damage increases. I have suffered pneumonia a number of times and with my VRE, treatment is made all the more difficult . Mask up , put your gloves on and stay safe.

 

[Teila]

Good morning friends

OMG MyHaven I am so sorry to read about your cat dramas; cat bite’s hurt! Great stuff that your littlies let you know that something was amiss and that everyone is safe. Sadly your intruder cat might possibly belong to someone whose cat care practices are lacking. Are fox traps and cat traps the same? If not, might be worth getting Council to drop off a cat trap also. Hopefully, if she is not feral and just a stray, she might be able to be found a new home. If you are lucky, she may be microchipped.

potato chip I would say that the majority of the time my girls might have company in the nest box it is because they are squabbling or waiting for the apparently only one of three nest boxes which ‘works’

Having said that, I noticed that when Crystal and KiKi were younger and first coming into laying, KiKi used to sit with Crystal while she laid .. KiKi had not started laying at that point. I think it may have been a mix of sisterhood and curiosity “Whatya doin’ Crystal?”

Also, if one of my gals is broody and not laying, she will hover around whoever is laying, waiting for an egg to sit on or take over to her nest.

Fizzybelle I have to be honest, the only time I really even notice that I am using bantam eggs is when I have to buy eggs because they are not laying and notice the size difference. Otherwise, as you suggested, depending on which bantam laid it, I throw in two eggs when one is called for in a recipe. Other than that, I boil them, give them away to the neighbours, scramble them etc the same as you would normal.

A couple of my banties lay what you would call smallish eggs but a couple also lay eggs that would qualify as regular eggs in the supermarket.

On that note .. has anyone noticed how the extra large eggs in the supermarket appear to be getting bigger? I remember when I was younger, eggs pretty much came in one size, regular and I definitely do not remember seeing any whoppers like you can buy now.

I do not know if Pekins are known as “seasonal layers” but I do know that Cilla has not laid an egg for nearly two months, LuLu has not laid one for nearly four months and Blondie is sitting on nearly three months.

The only draw back I find of having all bantams is that they are not good layers and if you only have a few, relying on them laying eggs is not going to work … good job that eggs are just a bonus here to having such beautiful companions/pets.

LuckysMum ouch! Sorry to hear about your toe .. that had to hurt!

We had a great day in the garden yesterday, I got the lawns mowed and cleaned the coop along with some other stuff .. sat down in the evening with that nice feeling of a very productive day.

We do have a dilemma which I have to keep secret from the girls .. we are running low on meal worms! I have placed an order [plus some dried crickets to try] but it will not get here until Tuesday or Wednesday and some rationing may be needed until then. I hope Dusty does not notice or she will be packing her little suitcase and moving to Martyn’s Mealworms

 

[User395221]

Oh and on injuries

Don't get me started. I stepped on an errant bit of glass from a glass I'd dropped. Couldn't get it out, had to get the doctor to fish it out. Then I cut my finger on a knife. Yesterday I thwacked my head. AND I've had a cough as well. I know I should wear a mask when I'm sweeping things, but I hate the feeling of having something over my airways and I can never remember where I've put it to put it on before I get cracking on doing it.

Bear let the 11 week olds out again he moved the brick and pulled the door back while they got out. So naughty. Then later my son found him in with the 7 week olds, just sitting there.

I've put my guinea pigs outside in a little hutch while I "do things" to their other house. My dog won't leave them alone. She managed to figure out that the run could be moved, moved it, and I found her standing inside with the piggies. Trip to Bunnings to attach the run so it can't be moved. I'm just lucky she didn't do anything to them. She isn't trying to eat them, she wants to play with them.

 

[LuckysMum]

God morning,
I've been out to the girls and its raining, has been drizzling since 5.30. It's great it's cool but I don't know how much of the coop will get done today. We need to run a power cord and Paul won't do that in the rain. Still we need the rain and it will only rain when we are doing stuff outside. It'll be fine when Paul goes back to work at the end of the week. LOL
Hope everyone has great day.

 

[Fizzybelle]

Thanks Luckysmum and Teila (though how do you manage to ration out your mealworms for so long? I think part of my problem is I give into 'the look' to quickly.)

I'm watching the girls dustbath atm, and Agnes' feathers are heavy with dirt. I can see just how much chicken this is underneath all that fluff. Not a lot lol. But they're all having a ball. A lot of 'purring' going on. Love that sound!

 

[LuckysMum]

I'm watching the girls dustbath atm, and Agnes' feathers are heavy with dirt.

I was watching my beautiful white silkie dust bath yesterday. She was covered in dirt could barely see the white, when she shook all the dirt out she was white again. I couldn't believe it nothing stuck. I wish my lots clothes were like that. LOL

 

[User395221]

Some people really annoy me. There's an ad in the classified for a chicken. One chicken. Bought a month ago for a kid. Why would you buy an animal as a toy?

 

[MyHaven]

That's INSANE!!!! Are you alright? Seriously you poor thing that is just crazy. Couldn't even imagine what I would do in that situation.
Maybe there isn't a fox? Maybe all you issues are all from a bunch of hungry stray/feral cats.

Thanks. It is insane. But I have had foxes too. They took some of my big girls in September last year. We (meaning the council) caught one in a trap in my backyard when it came back. One night it walked straight past the trap, took one girl and nearly killed one of my barnies. I had the traps set again a few weeks ago but we didn't get anything. The council did pick up one as road kill on the next block during that time.

I am going to see if I can trap this cat and see if it is microchipped.

I am fine. Got a tetanus shot. Bled like a stuck pig though.

Today I finally found a silky that my son was happy with. His Silkie was the first one taken by the fox.

 

[Teila]

Aaaw potato chip your dogiddy found some new friends

Sorry to hear the rain has put off your coop plans for a while LuckysMum.

Fizzybelle the rationing did not happen and we made an emergency trip to Brisbane Northside Produce for some of their meal worms to tide us over. They are tiny compared to Martyn’s and expensive but they will do the trick.

Congrats on finding a new Silky for your son MyHaven.

Talking dust baths and heavy with dirt feathers … Yes, that is the same chicken, KiKi

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