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

[Teila]

Good morning folks

Thank You Mother Nature! Today we have a break from the heat.

satay I do not think we got any overnight rain but it is overcast at the moment and only predicted to get to 29C with a chance of up to 60mm of rain; before we go back to mid 30’s again next week.

Humidity sitting on 86% at the moment.

 

[Fizzybelle]

It's nicer today thanks to the rain but we still need more of it to properly break this **** heatwave, or else it's back to melting in the humidity. Anyway, it's a better day to be a chicken. Ezzie's on day two of broody breaking. Should be broken tomorrow (fingers crossed, and hopefully it's a longer span before her next visit to clucky town). I have five wet, dirty chickens playing in the yard, but they can stay that way, they're happy. I hate seeing them panting from the heat

 

[Teila]

It's nicer today thanks to the rain but we still need more of it to properly break this **** heatwave, or else it's back to melting in the humidity. Anyway, it's a better day to be a chicken. Ezzie's on day two of broody breaking. Should be broken tomorrow (fingers crossed, and hopefully it's a longer span before her next visit to clucky town). I have five wet, dirty chickens playing in the yard, but they can stay that way, they're happy. I hate seeing them panting from the heat

Rain? What rain? We have not had a drop at Boondall

I still have five dry, panting chickens lounging in the garden

Fingers crossed we get some soon.

 

[Fizzybelle]

Rain? What rain? We have not had a drop at Boondall

I still have five dry, panting chickens lounging in the garden

Fingers crossed we get some soon.

Really? Well it's pouring down very heavily now over Carina, hope it is in Boondall too. I'll likely have to bust out the hair dryer.

 

[Teila]

Really? Well it's pouring down very heavily now over Carina, hope it is in Boondall too. I'll likely have to bust out the hair dryer.

Yep, still not a drop! BUT I can hear thunder and I think this one might just deliver

 

[sjturner79]

Chickens are very hard to count.
After pulling out 12 to give away and16 to sell, I still have no idea how many are in the main flock. There is more than 20 and could be any where up to50.

 

[Anniebee]

Ah, yep, THANK YOU!! Looked up Lilly Pilly, that is it! Thanks again

Yes Lilly Pilly - was trying to remember it when I first saw your photograph - then it was answered by Fizzybelle. We had one in our back garden when I was a kid, and my mother told me to NEVER touch the lovely red / purple berries - "they are poisonous" she said.

Well - that was back in the 1940's-50's .... and I think she was trying to frighten my sister and I from eating anything in the garden. That being said - I had to go google it, didn't I ?

Apparently there are many varieties, and from what I could quickly learn, they are not poisonous ( as your chickens have proved ) ... however, I think just to be on the safe side, I would trim any lower branches of the Lilly Pilly back and remove all the tempting red berries from chookie beaks.

Thing is, there is nothing to say how much they can eat safely. And red berries has always been a no-no in the bush.

Cheers .....

 

[LuckysMum]

Chickens are very hard to count.
After pulling out 12 to give away and16 to sell, I still have no idea how many are in the main flock. There is more than 20 and could be any where up to50.

I know it can be frustrating. We ended up with 7 different coops trying to sort out who to keep, give away and sell. Not always easy, we still have about 26 not bad when we had 90 a few months ago. Good luck. Chicken math being what it is, you'll never tally with what you think you have and what you really have. When we finally got fairly accurate numbers no one would believe us, they'd say "there can't 90 chooks in your back yard".

Anniebee The trouble with the berries from the lilly pilly is not what hangs but all the berries that fall. We had one in Thornlie it was near the back door and it was horrendous when the berries were falling, I could barely keep up. But the shade was beautiful.

 

[sjturner79]

I know it can be frustrating.  We ended up with 7 different coops trying to sort out who to keep, give away and sell. Not always easy, we still have about 26 not bad when we had 90 a few months ago. Good luck. Chicken math being what it is, you'll never tally with what you think you have and what you really have.  When we finally got fairly accurate numbers no one would believe us, they'd say "there can't 90 chooks in your back yard".   

Anniebee  The trouble with the berries from the lilly pilly is not what hangs but all the berries that fall.  We had one in Thornlie it was near the back door and it was horrendous when the berries were falling, I could barely keep up. But the shade was beautiful.

It will get easier to count them as they grow up I think. I listed the sale ones on Facebook and I have buyers for all of them hopefully turning up tommorrow . The free home ones should be going Friday.
That will leave the spare pen empty again put in any culls as they show out. Biggest problem is identifying final breed traits and sex with the majority of them bieng only 5 weeks old.

 

[Tillicans]

Hi everyone I couldn't cope with your summers in Queensland either, it's hot enough here in Sydney this year. I'm catching up on my reading inside in the cool during the day. We have the cockatoos as well as the bush turkey can't get rid of it, has built a nest but has not been aggressive towards the chickens. Fizzybelle that's too funny, I wouldn't have the heart to do that.