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

[V1cky]

houdans are much larger than polish. One of my polish jens has 5 toes. Ive been told it happens now and then

The guys I got them from was told when he got them as chicks that they were pure bred. So is it possible they are still pure bred but with an extra toe?

 

[IamSamSam]

Oh I'm sorry :-(.

Thanks Apps.

As sad as it is, it happens. Temp and humid it was fine through out. This one was zipping like the others but was just in a hurry !

 

[satay]

Oh mate what a serious LOL I'm having here. Wait, wait, there's an 'official' authority on crows now? And this has not been noted by people who regularly observe them! Pmsl! I lived or worked on 15 different properties over the greater Sydney region and I've had pet crowds at every single one. They all like shinies. Each of them have favoured particular kinds of shiny too. Probably worth noting for the future, when I speak, its only from my own experience. I tend to believe 'official' sites less and less as they argue directly against the evidence I have on hand. Though I love crows, I adore mynah birds, and I hear the most outrageous lies about them which, for the sake of the thread,i wont go into.

As for your interaction with them, I was try trying to help YOU honey, I wasn't trying to make myself feel better about your crow flock, I honestly just wanted to help make your life easier and its so simple.

Guess it's all about what we like. I am not a fan of minor birds nor crows. I do love the black cockies, maggies and the galahs we get here. Each to their own I guess.

 

[satay]

I also do not want to get into a roaring argument and believe that civilised discussion and differing view points can be educational.

Like you Kleonaptra I only speak from my experience but throw in some research that I have undertaken to educate myself as best I can when I have no experience.  I then make the decision that I feel is the right one; if I am wrong, I live with the consequences.

Research indicates that lice and mite enjoy the comfort of a warm nest and the parent birds sitting on it and subsequent chicks.  When the nest is vacated by the parents and chicks when grown up, the lice/mites remaining in the nest look for another host. 

Encouraging multiple wild birds to your garden may increase the chances of them nesting in your garden, close to the food source and then, when they vacate the nest, there are some rather inviting, permanent resident chickens that the lice/mite can move on to.

I am not anti-wild bird and as I mentioned before, those that chance by are welcome and if I did not have chickens, I would not be concerned but I do believe there is a risk with encouraging them en masse because the more birds in my garden the more chance that one of them may be the “weakest/sickest” in the flock and transfer what ails them.

I do not have show quality birds but also would not be interested in showing birds.  If I take a healthy bird to a show, I risk disease transmission from another bird at the show which, at that time, may not be showing symptoms and was innocently entered.  I then take my bird home and risk my flock.

By encouraging wild birds I may be encouraging a sick one and increase my flocks chance of infection. 

I practice biosecurity to keep my flock protected and shoes that I wear to other peoples chicken coops or feed stores etc are not worn in my coop/run etc.  Inviting wild birds when I have no idea where they have been is increasing the chances of infection.

While maybe a little extreme and/or paranoid I raise the issue of  bird flu in the States with 1,000,000’s of birds being destroyed and some just because they were ‘at risk’ of being infected.

Granted, many of my points are ‘what/ifs’ and ‘maybes’ but erring on the side of caution is my preference.

I think I am 50/50 on your discussions here. I agree with Teila on the chicken security. I have no desire to ever show my birds I have been asked to a few times but I would not want them housed near other birds for days. I went to get some Belgian eggs on Friday from a friend in the next town over and as I do I aquired a new rooster as well. I know very well how well she looks after her birds but I will still keep him away from all my others for at least 3 weeks cause you can never be to careful. When people come to buy either marans hens or eggs from me I am happy to show them the parent stock they can look and see quite well from outside their pen. I wont ever let anyone inside their pens.
I do however feed some wild birds up near the house. I have dish out for the maggies my favourites of the lot and a wild bird feed for the king parrots and the galahs.

 

[satay]

My hatch is still going along nicely. Will get some pictures when I move some to the brooder later. I have so far 2 quails I think 4 Pekins and about 7 or 8 marans. Still got alot of marans pipping.

 

[satay]

Took these pics this morning I know its difficult to see, but next to the concrete basket in the garden theres a little baby lorp taking a tiny winy dust bath. So cute! And my gals Penny and Megan sitting at the back door. Me and Shiela

Your girls are beautiful.

 

[satay]

houdans are much larger than polish. One of my polish jens has 5 toes. Ive been told it happens now and then

I agree I think they are polish. The friend I went to see on Friday. Breeds both polish and Houdans and the Houdans are huge compared to the polish.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Guess it's all about what we like. I am not a fan of minor birds nor crows. I do love the black cockies, maggies and the galahs we get here. Each to their own I guess.

That's for sure ! I'm from NSW and I vividly remember those pesky minor birds. Pooping on the clothes , eating out of the dogs bowls those and starlings were in plague proportion. Thankfully we don't have minors here , however we do get migrating starlings, at times there are hundreds along the power lines on our driveway that is 300 m long. They nest in the eaves and manage to squeeze into the smallest of cavities.
Serious showies show all of their birds or keep their show birds separate from the flock at all times. Otherwise you would be risking the entire flock , each and every time your birds left the property. I've worked hard to get my birds up to standard and they are of show quality but after seeing some very sick birds at the shows I have visited I won't risk it.


http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/04/08/2044900.htm

 

[Teila]

Good morning folks … uggg; Monday

Hey V1cky your new girls are gorgeous.

Lol satay, I love how you just snuck into the conversation “and as I do, I acquired a new rooster as well”

Looking forward to the pics … oooh, Pekins, the world needs more Pekins!

I have my first official broody for this season and of course, it is Cilla! She had a play at being broody a week or so ago but a coolish evening on the roost appeared to have changed her mind … *sigh* not so much now; she is full on broody!

She is a sweet broody in that she does lets me pick her up and does not puff up or peck etc but she turns into a right bully with her flock mates … everyone else is currently giving her a wide berth and I reckon the looks on their faces tells it all … “oh gees, here we go again … hang onto your feathers and run for cover! GodCilla lives!”

On Saturday I thought she was going broody and locked her out of the nest boxes; she was not happy and eventually, I have no idea how, managed to break into a nest box and when I found her, she was sitting in there with the barricade on top of her! She was not hurt and had actually laid an egg.

So, of course, I felt like the worse chicken mumma, locking her out because I thought she was broody and all she wanted to do was lay an egg … BUT Sunday morning, as soon as I opened up the nest boxes, she jumped in. I gave her the benefit of the doubt as I did not want to be mean again and she may have wanted to lay an egg but come 3pm yesterday, no egg so I closed off the nest boxes and she spent the night on the roost.

For a change, this morning I was actually not woken by cawing Crows but by appealing chickens .. Cilla was taking out her frustration on anyone she could catch and as soon as I opened up the nest boxes, she jumped in …. She has until 4pm today to come up with an egg or show any other signs of anything but broodiness or broody jail it is!

As you know, I am not planning on any hatches this season and even if I was, it is not going to be someone whose last hatch is only 6 months old … Not happening Cilla! Go try those pleading “I wanna be a mumma again” eyes on someone else

 

[Fancychooklady]

Good morning folks … uggg; Monday   

Hey V1cky your new girls are gorgeous.

Lol satay, I love how you just snuck into the conversation “and as I do, I acquired a new rooster as well” 

Looking forward to the pics … oooh, Pekins, the world needs more Pekins!

I have my first official broody for this season and of course, it is Cilla!  She had a play at being broody a week or so ago but a coolish evening on the roost appeared to have changed her mind … *sigh* not so much now; she is full on broody!

She is a sweet broody in that she does lets me pick her up and does not puff up or peck etc but she turns into a right bully with her flock mates … everyone else is currently giving her a wide berth and I reckon the looks on their faces tells it all … “oh gees, here we go again … hang onto your feathers and run for cover! GodCilla lives!” 

On Saturday I thought she was going broody and locked her out of the nest boxes; she was not happy and eventually, I have no idea how, managed to break into a nest box and when I found her, she was sitting in there with the barricade on top of her!  She was not hurt and had actually laid an egg.

So, of course, I felt like the worse chicken mumma, locking her out because I thought she was broody and all she wanted to do was lay an egg … BUT Sunday morning, as soon as I opened up the nest boxes, she jumped in.   I gave her the benefit of the doubt as I did not want to be mean again and she may have wanted to lay an egg but come 3pm yesterday, no egg so I closed off the nest boxes and she spent the night on the roost.

For a change, this morning I was actually not woken by cawing Crows but by appealing chickens .. Cilla was taking out her frustration on anyone she could catch and as soon as I opened up the nest boxes, she jumped in …. She has until 4pm today to come up with an egg or show any other signs of anything but broodiness or broody jail it is!

As you know, I am not planning on any hatches this season and even if I was, it is not going to be someone whose last hatch is only 6 months old … Not happening Cilla!  Go try those pleading “I wanna be a mumma again” eyes on someone else 

Hehe, sounds like cilla has ' broody fever ' . My little silkie hen ' Priscilla ' promptly stole everyone's eggs , so I ditched the infertile eggs for 6 of my prized BLRW
Popped her into her broody box and she hasnt budged since the 23/8 . This morning I'm cooking some rice and sardines for her. I will also give her a light spray with pyrethrum to ward off any lice or mites.