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

[Anniebee]

There are so many things to factor in, like moult , broodiness , overall health and breed.
My silkies and Wyandotte lay right through winter. By spring time the silkies are usually full on broody or raising young and both equate to no eggs. A good pinch of paprika is said to stimulate the blood and help bring a bird into lay, might be worth a try. I give mine a ' pick me up ' when they are coming out of a moult.

Fancy ..... My dad used to say "Well, I'll be darned" .... and so I repeat that now. He passed away many years back now, but many of his old fashioned sayings remain.

Paprika ? ....... it will be introduced to my girls tomorrow - in one of my " Mum Mashes ", which they just love. Will be rice, oats, a pinch of bran, finely chopped greens, scrambled ( purchased !! ) egg, a bit more of the BOSS but no scratch mix, and the paprika. I gather a teaspoonful would be more than enough in the entire bowl I make up - divided into 3. It's a goodly amount of goodies, fills 2 x cat bowls ( for the big girls ) and one smallish cat bowl for Madam Fluff Stuff ( Mindy Araucana ).

Thanks so much for that tip. Hope it helps them to do their thing. Not so much worried about the lack of eggs, but rather if my chookies are having some problems after moulting.

I hope the water is subsiding down there .... that photo of the 'lake' viewed from your verandah, while a pesky situation, actually looked quite beautiful. Not beautiful for you though I guess.

Cheers ...........

 

[Anniebee]

Purple boy is also a baby Silkie, older than my others, but still to young to crow. I am indeed moving house. The chooks and myself are at my brothers farm until I get a new permanent home for them.

sjturner79 ........ I have to go googling again - to find a purple silkie, and have just done so ...... Oh my .... they are utterly beautiful.

Are they rare ? Would love to see a pic of your purple boy.

And in the photos' you have posted, is that kale I see growing with the white silkie and all the baby silkies ? Kind of looks like kale.

Sorry to be so inquisitive and asking so many questions, but ...... everything is intriguing ... ( I think to us all here ).

Kale is such a great green for us and for chookies. ..... ( and for that matter - all animals and birds ). Am a great believer in kale.

Best wishes for your move to your new home. Can be stressful - moving house, but I hope all goes really well for you.

Cheers - and thank you for your response.

...........

 

[sjturner79]

sjturner79   ........ I have to go googling again - to find a purple silkie, and have just done so ...... Oh my   .... they are utterly beautiful.  

Are they rare ?   Would love to see a pic of your purple boy.   

And in the photos' you have posted, is that kale I see growing with the white silkie and all the baby silkies ?   Kind of looks like kale.  

Sorry to be so inquisitive and asking so many questions, but ...... everything is intriguing ... ( I think to us all here ). 

Kale is such a great green to us and for chookies.   ..... ( and for that matter - all animals and birds ). 

A great believer in kale. 

Best wishes for your move to your new home.  Can be stressful - moving house, but I hope all goes really well for you.   

Cheers - and thank you for your response. 

...........

The color is actually called lavendar, Still pretty rare in Australia at the minute, most of the breeders are in Tasmania with only about 2 or 3 on the mainland.
Purple boy would be the bigger one in the photo, he is a bit white at the minute, especially in the photo. He will be much darker when he gets his next set of feathers. I don't think there is any kale in with them. The area is grass, stinging nettles and thistles at the minute.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Fancy ..... My dad used to say "Well, I'll be darned" .... and so I repeat that now.    He passed away many years back now, but many of his old fashioned sayings remain. 

[COLOR=B22222]Paprika ?[/COLOR] ....... it will be introduced to my girls tomorrow - in one of my " Mum Mashes ", which they just love.   Will be rice, oats, a pinch of bran, finely chopped greens, scrambled ( purchased !! ) egg, a bit more of the BOSS but no scratch mix, and the paprika.   I gather a teaspoonful would be more than enough in the entire bowl I make up - divided into 3.  It's a goodly amount of goodies, fills 2 x cat bowls ( for the big girls ) and one smallish cat bowl for Madam Fluff Stuff ( Mindy Araucana ).  

Thanks so much for that tip.   Hope it helps them to do their thing.    Not so much worried about the lack of eggs, but rather if my chookies are having some problems after moulting.

I hope the water is subsiding down there  .... that photo of the 'lake' viewed from your verandah, while a pesky situation, actually looked quite beautiful.   Not beautiful for you though I guess.

Cheers ...........     

My grandads favourite saying was ' God stuff a stoker ' apparently it was ship related. Hehe
That's no lake, that's the mighty ' Huon river '. She has settled down today .

 

[Anniebee]

My grandads favourite saying was ' God stuff a stoker ' apparently it was ship related. Hehe
That's no lake, that's the mighty ' Huon river '. She has settled down today .

So the photo from yesterday - that I likened to the Murrumbidgee, was also the Huon River breaking its banks onto your property. ???

Would be little wonder, with all those eddies and whirlpools that showed in that photograph.

Trust it all continues to settle down, pretty quickly.

Loved your grand-dads old saying too ...... sad that we seem to be losing the beauty of 'old language'. It was very descriptive ... with no political correctedness attached.

Cheers .....

 

[redguinea]

Havent seen any lavenders in sa. So pretty rare. Ive got some splashs but they are not as nice as lavenders.

 

[sjturner79]

Havent seen any lavenders in sa. So pretty rare. Ive got some splashs but they are not as nice as lavenders.

Yeah as far as I know I am the first to bring them into SA. There is one breeder in QLD, one in nsw and 3 in Tasmania that I managed to track down over the last year. I also found out that cuddles is splash, and her parents were blue. They were sold to me as black, so now I have a splash hen, a good blue hen, a reasonable white cockeral and a good lavendar cockeral.

 

[redguinea]

Yeah as far as I know I am the first to bring them into SA. There is one breeder in QLD, one in nsw and 3 in Tasmania that I managed to track down over the last year. I also found out that cuddles is splash, and her parents were blue. They were sold to me as black, so now I have a splash hen, a good blue hen, a reasonable white cockeral and a good lavendar cockeral.

I'll have to get some off you in spring! Any bearded in there? I have 2 buff roosters, and one bearded buff partridge cockeral but cant seem to found any good quality bearded hens in buff or other colours. Plus was meant to hatch out some lavender eggs but the outages meant nothing hatched!

 

[sjturner79]

I'll have to get some off you in spring! Any bearded in there? I have 2 buff roosters, and one bearded buff partridge cockeral but cant seem to found any good quality bearded hens in buff or other colours. Plus was meant to hatch out some lavender eggs but the outages meant nothing hatched!

I have no beared silkies. Of all of them only my blue silkie hen (shadows) and my new lavendar cockeral are true to standard. I also don't have separate pens so I can't garunantee what mix the eggs I get are. Only one of the 7 silkie chicks from the photo meet standards, and isn't true in color.
I won't actually have lavander chicks hatching until next spring not this spring as the are a recessive colour.

 

[redguinea]

I have no beared silkies. Of all of them only my blue silkie hen (shadows) and my new lavendar cockeral are true to standard. I also don't have separate pens so I can't garunantee what mix the eggs I get are. Only one of the 7 silkie chicks from the photo meet standards, and isn't true in color.
I won't actually have lavander chicks hatching until next spring not this spring as the are a recessive colour.

You've got a good start then. Im not too fussed with show quality, I enjoy breeding to that point. Keep us updated on what you hatch out this year, should be interesting.