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

[appps]

Exciting discovery today, two tiny little eggs in the laying box!! Our first since we brought home our chicks in August

No idea who is responsible but the kids were very excited

 

[IamSamSam]

Congrats. Apps. Always exciting to get your first eggs.

 

[ra ra]

Yes, congratulations! So exciting!

 

[satay]

oh and I only have 4 2 x lorpe cross wynadottes and 2x isa browns

and Satay that broody nasty lorpe of mine is making a convincing of being dinner.

Every 2nd week she has taken to the nesting box and i break it she is good a week then goes back to brood !

She has my cattle dog scared and the kids wont go near her anymore.

Lol Bugger Sam. I have one broody Aussie right now that screams blue murder if anything at all goes near the nest boxes. We try to break her but she is having none of it lol. I also have 2 broody bantam cochins one yells at me when i take her eggs the other pecks so hard she almost draws blood.

 

[satay]

Exciting discovery today, two tiny little eggs in the laying box!! Our first since we brought home our chicks in August

No idea who is responsible but the kids were very excited

congrats

 

[mogvgb]

I tried this yesterday when it was absolute scorcher, but they didn't take to them and I just found all the ice melted in about half an hour.

Bugger. When I do this I get up to 12 hours from the bottle before they have completely melted, even at 39C plus outside. Ah well, worth a shot.

 

[mogvgb]

What feed does every one here use???

At the moment my girlies are on a pullet grower as their staple.

They also get greens daliy, nasturtiam, dandelion, pigweed, cleavers, clover etc if I spot any while walking home, and supplemented with bok choy and silverbeet, brocolli leaves, endive etc from my garden. I have planted a couple of trays of "clucker tucker" for them, but most of the got scorched into dust during the heat last week, just sunflowers left really.

On the weekend they go in the forage run on the lawn for a few hours.

Treats include, but are not limited to: caterpillars and bugs from the garden, tomatoes (they are getting lucky as I have a case of blossom end rot in a couple of my bushes, so all the little tomatoes are going to the girls), strawberries, watermelon, yoghurt with SLA and garlic, occasional scratch feed/cracked corn (though not in this heat) or chopped egg.

They aren't keen on vegies/kitchen scraps for the most part so that goes to my worm bin or in the compost.

I'm planning to start a mealworm farm too, hopefully I can convince my turtle to try them.

 

[satay]

My chickens pretty much will eat everything you put in front of them. They are not at all fussy. I use top layer mash for the hens and roos as well as millrun. My ducks and turkeys get layer pellets. They get all the vegie scraps as well as they free range so they get whatever they can find when out and some nice boss that I scatter for them when if first let them out.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

My chickens pretty much will eat everything you put in front of them. They are not at all fussy. I use top layer mash for the hens and roos as well as millrun. My ducks and turkeys get layer pellets. They get all the vegie scraps as well as they free range so they get whatever they can find when out and some nice boss that I scatter for them when if first let them out.

Same with my hens (greedy girls). Can you give ducks layer mash??? They have no problem eating it just maybe pellets are better???

 

[TweeTea]

Thank you cluckcluckluke  

My girls are only about 10 weeks old, so I worry.

They do have shade,  a mister at one end of the run and I put ice in ther water this morning, and a big block of ice and berries to melt off during the day, but frankly in this heat I doubt it will have stayed cool for that long. It has been so hot all day.

My best innnovation worked well yesterday when it got up to 38C - big frozen juice bottles buried in the dirt bath. Came home and all of them were nestled in the dirt, which was nice and cool - bottle stayed partly frozen even over a 12 hour day and kept the dirt extra cool. Hopefully they are doing the same today and keeping themselves a little cooler that way.

Just discovered "Frosty Bowlz" and have ordered one, so hopefully I will be able to guarantee cooler water for longer in the future.

I think f they make it through today I will be able to turn the stress down a bit as it doesn't often tip over 40 in Melbourne. Only another 20 min and I can make my way home and see for myself

I live in Yass (nth of Canberra) and had similar fears for my girls, mostly my black feathered sussex australorp cross. A colleagues chooks dropped dead from the heat which didnt help my fears.

I think I'll try your frozen water bottle trick though. I have been giving them chilled yogurt water and set up a fan in the pen which seems to help. How deep do you bury the frozen bottle?