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

[Fancychooklady]

Good morning to you also Fancy, I hope all is well with you and the critters.

Yeah, Mothers' Day is a bit of a non-event in this house but I did buy myself a new vacuum cleaner on Saturday 

I am not going to tell you how much I spent but lets just say, after the sales spiel and my asking "how much?" the salesman came back with "Actually, it has been reduced by $500" !!  Anyways, hubby was with me and as the salesman mentioned "you will never need to buy another vacuum cleaner" and "thorough testing has revealed that with one hours' use a week, it will last 196 years", hubby said to buy it so I did   

196 years! It could be a family heirloom 

Hehe, my ' u beaut ' expensive vaccy went on the blink yesterday. Hubby came home and fixed it, I must say it has lasted longer than any of its predecessors though. 6 years and counting, but that is my one OCD I vacuum obsessively .
My daughter and bestie took me to brekky at the Royal Hobart yacht club and then we went shopping and stopped in at the Female Factory ( no that is not where they make woman ) , an old museum of a woman's prison.
Still got some fencing to finish , but the majority of it is done.

 

[Teila]

Hehe, my ' u beaut ' expensive vaccy went on the blink yesterday. Hubby came home and fixed it, I must say it has lasted longer than any of its predecessors though. 6 years and counting, but that is my one OCD I vacuum obsessively .
My daughter and bestie took me to brekky at the Royal Hobart yacht club and then we went shopping and stopped in at the Female Factory ( no that is not where they make woman ) , an old museum of a woman's prison.
Still got some fencing to finish , but the majority of it is done.

That sounds like a lovely Mothers' Day!

I am the same .. I have the new, u beaut expensive vaccy for on the weekend when I do a thorough clean but I also have a little cheapy upright that I use every afternoon to quickly run over the main traffic areas.

Ok, it might be a bit OCD, but if I leave it for a week, with two cats in the house and all the comings and goings from outside to inside, 7 days of walked in dirt builds up to a pretty big job on the weekend. Also, I do like that just vacuumed look on the carpets and hate feeling stuff underfoot on the tiles.

 

[Fancychooklady]

That sounds like a lovely Mothers' Day!

I am the same .. I have the new, u beaut expensive vaccy for on the weekend when I do a thorough clean but I also have a little cheapy upright that I use every afternoon to quickly run over the main traffic areas.

Ok, it might be a bit OCD, but if I leave it for a week, with two cats in the house and all the comings and goings from outside to inside, 7 days of walked in dirt builds up to a pretty big job on the weekend.  Also, I do like that just vacuumed look on the carpets and hate feeling stuff underfoot on the tiles.

s
Lol, sounds like we are on the same page. We have a ' shoes off ' policy here so any little piece of dropped food etc is fairly obvious once you tread on it. Also the fire creates a lot of dust and debris. Hubby thinks I am crazy when he sees me vacuuming the verandah outside the entry.

 

[User395221]

You could try looking on gumtree or classifieds for avairies, cubbies and coops. Sometimes they are cheap or free - sometimes not. If you look close to you you can be lucky. Also sometimes the seller will deliver. I have been lucky lately and had two hutches for chicks and quails and an 1800 high aviary delivered by the different sellers.

I'm always looking on gumtree. That' s how I "scored" my chicken house. That was luckily not that far from my place and I was lucky in finding a good "guy" to dismantle, transport and re-erect it. The thing is that I really don't want any permanent-type/big house, but something more easily knocked down/taken away. Of course, I'd go for a cubby/big house if the price was right (free? lol) but I don't want to spend the big bucks for a second compound.

My little house is fine just as a "bedroom", they all scrunch up together anyway. The downside is that there's no separate laying area. I've decided to set up the second little house as a second "room" to their sleeping quarters and see how that goes.

I'll still keep my eye out on gumtree. You never know, I've been lucky with the things I've "scored". Often you miss out, but sometimes you find something local, and see it first. I shouldn't really look.... It leads to adopting more chickens....

EDIT: you must have brought me luck, just found a free cubby, 5 minutes away... don't know what the handyman will charge me to pull it apart and re-erect it here, but it won't be the cost of new.... yay.

Just found a whole heap of screws and some mending plates that I must have left outside all strewn across the roof of the little chook house. Bloody crows, now I have to hide stuff....

 

[Anniebee]

Get a bit confused at times, as to whose chickens are doing what ! ... This is one busy thread !!

I know MyHaven and Teila have had some nasty shocks recently, in health of chickens and I recall one sad loss ? ( memory like a sieve ).

But it is good to know that you both seem to have stopped the problems, with anti-biotics etc., and it is so good to hear that news.

As for chicken coops ... The best one of the two I have, is the all aluminium with wire front and door at the front - former aviary. It had not been used for years for budgies, but withstood all that weather for such a long time, and still does.

I received that ( free ) from a friend, at the time I was a total newbie to chicken raising, and Mindy has been in it ever since. I did clean it all down of course, but not with any cleansing chemicals such as Virkon .... just a good wash and scrub with soapy water and sprayed off. I pegged tarps to the open front to keep Mindy warmer, but there is still plenty of ventilation. She doesn't of course, have a friend to snuggle up to.

I now would cleanse a second hand coop, thoroughly, using disinfectant, especially since any further 2nd hand stuff, might well come from someone I don't know. There are quite a few designs available on line, for easy DIY coop / cubby house making. Provided you use new wood, or new materials.

Cheers ........

 

[User395221]

as to whose chickens are doing what ! ...

Mine are being "naughty".... So, I bring home the veges. I throw some scraps in the yard, thinking that'll keep them amused. No, they want to eat out of the boxes, so they went back to the yard. Silly girls. They always want to be in whatever you've got, not what they've been given.

Flossie seems "cured" of her cluckiness. I locked her out of the coop the other day and she's stayed out in the run with everyone else since. yay.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Get a bit confused at times, as to whose chickens are doing what ! ...  This is one busy thread !!  

I know MyHaven and Teila have had some nasty shocks recently, in health of chickens and I recall one sad loss ?  ( memory like a sieve ).  

But it is good to know that you both seem to have stopped the problems, with anti-biotics etc., and it is so good to hear  that news.  

As for chicken coops ... The best one of the two I have, is the all aluminium with wire front and door at the front -  former aviary.   It had not been used for years for budgies, but withstood all that weather for such a long time, and still does.

I received that ( free ) from a friend, at the time I was a total newbie to chicken raising, and Mindy has been in it ever since.   I did clean it all down of course, but not with any cleansing chemicals such as Virkon .... just a good wash and scrub with soapy water and sprayed off.   I pegged tarps to the open front to keep Mindy warmer, but there is still plenty of ventilation.  She doesn't of course, have a friend to snuggle up to.  

I now would cleanse a second hand coop, thoroughly, using disinfectant, especially since any further 2nd hand stuff, might well come from someone I don't know.  There are quite a few designs available on line, for easy DIY coop / cubby house making.   Provided you use new wood, or new materials.   

Cheers ........ 

You can scrub Till your hearts content but Virkon is the only virucide thought to be effective against mareks disease.
Im not saying all , but some people that continually loose birds to illness get out of the poultry game and sell everything off. So buyer beware. Second hand, strip it down and drench it, let it dry before adding your birds.

http://www.neogen.com/animalsafety/pdf/ProdInfo/Tech_Bulletins/VirkonS.pdf

 

[Anniebee]

You can scrub Till your hearts content but Virkon is the only virucide thought to be effective against mareks disease.
Im not saying all , but some people that continually loose birds to illness get out of the poultry game and sell everything off. So buyer beware. Second hand, strip it down and drench it, let it dry before adding your birds.

http://www.neogen.com/animalsafety/pdf/ProdInfo/Tech_Bulletins/VirkonS.pdf

Gosh ... I think you might have misunderstood my post Fancy. !!

My very last paragraph stated that I would always thoroughly cleanse any second hand coop in the future, with disinfectant ( Virkon - your recommendation ) ....

It was not my intention to infer that a good wash with soapy water was the way to go, all that would be needed, or would be ok ??

I think I was fortunate to get a bird aviary that did not carry any nasties in it. Beginners luck you might call it.

And I can imagine that people who have had problems in their flock wouldn't hesitate to sell off their coops ... with all the contaminants they might contain.

On second thoughts, not a good idea to buy second hand coops - I wouldn't - not now. ( might have when starting out though ). Also mentioned DIY coops and cubby houses - but only using new materials ( not second hand stuff, which could harbour anything. )

I think we all know a lot more by having the advantages of this excellent thread with all the good advice it gives. I know I certainly have learned a great deal here.

 

[Teila]

Hear, hear Anniebee .. I have a couple of gals running around in my back yard whose lives were most likely saved by advice from this thread.

Even if no-one knows what the issue may be, the support and encouragement received is priceless.

To be honest, during our big mite infestation, back in our early days I think I could have easily thrown in the towel but having such great advice and support made it so much easier.

Good stuff on the cubby score potato chip I look forward to the photos and renovations.

So, we are thinking we should have named Cilla ‘Shelly’ as in Sheldon, as in The Big Bang Theory. For those of you not familiar with BBT Sheldon has his spot on the couch …Sheldon has placed this location "in a state of eternal dibs", and has little tolerance for anybody who tries to sit there.

"In the winter that seat is close enough to the radiator to remain warm, and yet not so close as to cause perspiration. In the summer it's directly in the path of a cross breeze created by open windows there, and there. It faces the television at an angle that is neither direct, thus discouraging conversation, nor so far wide to create a parallax distortion."

Cilla has her spot! Tonight Crystal dared to roost in Cilla’s spot .. Cilla pushed, bothered and pestered Crystal until Crystal jumped down; Cilla shuffled over to her spot but did tolerate Crystal jumping up and sitting next to her; just not in HER spot

 

[User395221]

Cilla pushed, bothered and pestered Crystal

"You're in my spot!"

I just picked up one of my chickens and noticed that her wattle and comb are really dark, like purple-coloured. I wonder what sort of chook she's got in her to get that colour? I had the idea that all the combs and wattles were pink/red, I've never really noticed other colours.