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

[Beulah89]

Wow. I never knew! Lol cane toads have been making their way down south so please don't send us foxes in return!

 

[rexy]

The 2 chickens I brought yesterday seem to be not wanting to feed outta this dine-a-chook feeder I brought I have no idea why not I've stuck there heads in it to show where them the feed but they seem reluctant to eat out of it I've placed feed In front of it which they eat but as far as them sticking there heads in to have a feed themselves they won't have a bar of it.

Just give them time. I also have one of those feeders, and then actually made a couple copies. They were fairly slow to get used to it. Sprinkling feed in front of it is good. But I also filled the eating part full, because that is a bit low for them to see it. Is it a good height for them? Are they getting the same feed as they used to get, because they can also be slow to adapt to a new feed? But don't worry, they won't starve, they will eat first.

 

[SydneyChickens]

Hmmm my parents are starting to question what the next electricity bill is going to be like now we have the incubator.. Has anyone found that it's a big cost? Are we going to be in for a rude shock?

 

[SandeeC]

I used to live in QLD for years, saw foxes all the way up to Cairns
Cane toads aren't down here in NSW that I know of. Well I have never seen one out Central West here anyway Thank god

 

[SandeeC]

I saw a post a while back but can't find it now, it was saying that a fox got into someone's coop. I didn't know we have foxes in Australia!? Pretty sure we don't have them up north.
Quick question, how long can eggs be left before they need to be refrigerated? I couldn't collect my eggs yesterday so one has been there for about 24 hours. Still ok?

Your eggs will be fine I went away for 4 days and collected them and put them in the fridge still You think of how many people store their eggs on the bench top They are still good for quite a while

 

[SandeeC]

I will add, I have to update my profile pic now Chicken coop has been extended for the little ones
My youngest son and I finally finished it today
Now to sit back and relax for a bit before I get ducks Then the building starts all over again lol

 

[appps]

I saw a post a while back but can't find it now, it was saying that a fox got into someone's coop. I didn't know we have foxes in Australia!? Pretty sure we don't have them up north.
Quick question, how long can eggs be left before they need to be refrigerated? I couldn't collect my eggs yesterday so one has been there for about 24 hours. Still ok?

Definatly in Australia. In their infinite wisdom the English brought them over and released so they could still go fox hunting like they used to in England. I didn't know there was anywhere in Australia didn't have them (except maybe Tasmania)

We lost our original trio to a fox about ten years ago and we live right In the middle of town. I would not bank on there not being any near you.

 

[appps]

I used to live in QLD for years, saw foxes all the way up to Cairns
Cane toads aren't down here in NSW that I know of. Well I have never seen one out Central West here anyway Thank god

I think they are just starting to spot the odd cane toad in Sydney.

 

[SandeeC]

I think they are just starting to spot the odd cane toad in Sydney.

Oh wow, I haven't seen one out here in the past 9 yrs Have enough to contend with though without them too
Almost lost a rotti years ago from a cane toad in Gladstone. Definitely don't need them out here

 

[appps]

Frizzle have the frizzle feathers and can be any breed large or bantam. My frizzles are frizzle pekins (bantam cochins) a sizzle is a frizzle cross silkie, To get a frizzle you need a frizzle bird and non frizzle bird, You cross them and you generally get 50% frizzle and 50% that will be smooth feathered but carry the frizzle gene. It is however unwise two breed to frizzles together as it makes a frazzle which is really tight frizzled feathers and break easy they also have genetic faults alot too which can cause early deaths.

Like Satay said above its a cross. And the idea is to get a bird with every characteristic of the silkie but with frizzled feathers instead of the silkie ones. So you want black skin, five toes and a rose comb. Not that easy when you are crossing with something like a frizzled Cochin which has none of those. It takes many many generations to actually get everything right.

We have three first generation birds and ended up with a silkie, a frizzled with normal skin colour and a rose comb five toes and a frizzled with five toes normal skin colour and normal comb. We also had a rooster and he got everything except the rose comb.

So you can see there is more to getting one than just doing the cross. Then its a matter of taking the ones that worked best and mating back to a silkie and on an on it goes till eventually you get that frizzled feathered silkie characteristic bird.