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

[A Chicken Owner]

As these are my first chickens i am wondering if there was any other signs closer to laying their first egg i watch out for?? mine are 20week sexlink pullets showing all signs combs, waddles and face is all bright red, squating and showing interest in the nests.

She should be laying in 1-2 weeks

 

[A Chicken Owner]

There's isn't anything else I can think of from the top of my head to look out for. The next thing is actual laying

 

[satay]

Cuteness! Can you sex them by colour, I heard the darker/stripiest partridge ones are girls?

You sex them as day olds by the colour of the v on the head and the eyeliner on the side of the face.

 

[satay]

Who lives in or near QLD Standthorpe???

Don't think any of us do or want to Luke lol. It's a nice place to visit but freezing cold in winter

 

[cluckcluckluke]

As these are my first chickens i am wondering if there was any other signs closer to laying their first egg i watch out for?? mine are 20week sexlink pullets showing all signs combs, waddles and face is all bright red, squating and showing interest in the nests.

Well it is the middle of Winter and hens don't lay well in Winter ( number of hrs of daylight etc ) so you might just have to wait till next Spring.
Although in saying that my Ancona's started laying their first eggs just a couple of weeks ago.

Quote: Yeah I have heard that.....and I'm going

!

 

[K Spot]

Wow that's awesome k spot! Double yolka???

I'm not sure! I haven't cracked it yet, but I'm hoping so

I used to live in Warwick many many years ago as a child, that was bad enough.

 

[appps]

Here we go again :-(

I always sit with the chookies and have a cuppa of a morning and have noticed this morning that Tuppence is doing that sitting down all the time thing again. She walked from one end of the run to the other and it was soooo slow. She then just sat down and tried to eat sitting.

Ive pulled her into the garage and given her some warm moistened food and some water with vitamin powder in it to make sure she is getting enough as she is pretty much I think at the bottom of the pecking order.




She also sneezed once. I have never managed to totally clear up that sneezing thing. I had put it down to them being in with shavings in their sleeping box but they have moved up with the older hens now so that gone but I will still hear the odd sneeze every couple of days. So that has now been going on for months.

I didnt worry last time Luke as they seemed to be doing better once I took the shavings away but think Ill go to the vet and get what your vet prescribed for your sneezing hens. Is it handy for you to get the name for me again? If not Ill go do a search as I know you did post the details before.

My other worry is that last time she wasnt walking it was I decided because they were on layer pellets from the breeder at 10 weeks and I thought the high calcium may have led to rickets symptoms. I put them on grower crumble and it went away. However since moving them up with the big girls at about 5 months old they have been eating a mix of the rest of the grower with layer pellets and mostly layer mash as that seems to be the favourite. They are about 6 months old now but Favs dont start to lay till about 7 months so do you think even at this age the too much calcium for a non layer could be a problem? I hadnt thought it would be as they are getting close to laying and growing so fast being a dual purpose breed thought it wouldnt hurt for bone development. But maybe not?

 

[K Spot]

As these are my first chickens i am wondering if there was any other signs closer to laying their first egg i watch out for?? mine are 20week sexlink pullets showing all signs combs, waddles and face is all bright red, squating and showing interest in the nests.

My Speckled Sussex only began laying about 3-4 weeks ago and she's around 8 months old.

Sexlinks I believe lay earlier than purebreds. You'll just have to be patient though, it will happen.
Being winter as well, they may not even lay until spring.

Keep an ear out for an egg song. You'll know what it is when they start; they make a gawd awful racket with a bok-bok-bok ... bokaaak.

 

[IamSamSam]

Just thought I'd share something funny from today. Was picking up the post and there was this guy in the middle of town with two goats on leashes taking them for a walk by the looks of things. Very cute and the kids (mine not his) were very impressed lol

Love it

Seems it really is not my year for budgies. I had 6 budgies.. until I lost pearly. 2 of the 6 were in a small cage as they were given to me but the boy had no tail so could not fly well enough to be put in the aviary. Well George was starting to look much better and I was hoping to be able to put him and pippa in the aviary next week. It was raining hard yesterday so I put George and pippa on a table in our covered area. Was going to move them up higher and night but forgot. Came out this morning and saw their cage was smashed on the ground and no birds .Guess George really could fly again. I think my naughty puppy has knocked the cage off the table over night., So now I am down to just 3 budgies. 1 girl and 2 boys.

Oh no Satay. You are having bad year. Don't be to quick to blame the dogs. Could have been possum or cat? Also I would recommend you get another girl. 2 boys 1 girl will be bad for the girl.

Wow, they sure are some very obedient pups. So are you just training your dog for that or are you actually entering a competition?

Lol a well trained dog will go where you say do what you say no matter what. When I was young and stupid I had a great extremely loyal dog that jumped off a wharf because I said jump in to my brother. Took hour to get him out. I didn't tell him to stay first. Never made that mistake again.

Here we go again :-( I always sit with the chookies and have a cuppa of a morning and have noticed this morning that Tuppence is doing that sitting down all the time thing again. She walked from one end of the run to the other and it was soooo slow. She then just sat down and tried to eat sitting. Ive pulled her into the garage and given her some warm moistened food and some water with vitamin powder in it to make sure she is getting enough as she is pretty much I think at the bottom of the pecking order. She also sneezed once. I have never managed to totally clear up that sneezing thing. I had put it down to them being in with shavings in their sleeping box but they have moved up with the older hens now so that gone but I will still hear the odd sneeze every couple of days. So that has now been going on for months. I didnt worry last time Luke as they seemed to be doing better once I took the shavings away but think Ill go to the vet and get what your vet prescribed for your sneezing hens. Is it handy for you to get the name for me again? If not Ill go do a search as I know you did post the details before. My other worry is that last time she wasnt walking it was I decided because they were on layer pellets from the breeder at 10 weeks and I thought the high calcium may have led to rickets symptoms. I put them on grower crumble and it went away. However since moving them up with the big girls at about 5 months old they have been eating a mix of the rest of the grower with layer pellets and mostly layer mash as that seems to be the favourite. They are about 6 months old now but Favs dont start to lay till about 7 months so do you think even at this age the too much calcium for a non layer could be a problem? I hadnt thought it would be as they are getting close to laying and growing so fast being a dual purpose breed thought it wouldnt hurt for bone development. But maybe not?

I don't have much experience but would say if that was the issue before it could be again. ESP if they are not laying yet. She is a pretty girl. I hope she is better soon.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Sorry to hear appps, that is a real bugger.
Appps, hens do sneeze, it is part of what they do. It is only when they sneeze constantly and discharge starts coming out of their nostrils that it becomes a concern. Some of my hens still sneeze, the Winter is a hard time for them breathing etc, I have one WLH that sneezes a little more than often, but she is happy eating drinking etc, so to me she is fine.
The stuff given to me was OXYTET POWDER.