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

[Kmack]

Thanks Fancy Chook Lady!

 

[IamSamSam]

Hi All,
Here's some pics of the girls.
Wondering though, if the black one is a girl?
Any opinions welcomed

Hard to say. My austroplorp Rooroo was a boy until she laid. Now she crows too.

 

[IamSamSam]

Go Away Rain

 

[Fancychooklady]

Go Away Rain

Lol, I just finished mowing the lawns and had to water the roses. Send some my way.

 

[Meeka3]

Here are some updated photos of my chicks, the fourth one (a hen I think) died. Are they looking more like welsummers or marans? When I rang the bloke I got them from and told him they aren't marans, he got really angry and said they are marans, and when I tried to tell him they look more like welsummers he wouldn't listen. I don't really care and I was being nice to him, so I guess I'll just have to hope that two of them are hens and not worry about the breed.

 

[tandykins]

Hard to say. My austroplorp Rooroo was a boy until she laid. Now she crows too.

^ This. I'd have said boy but I'd have said boy about my large-combed, large-wattled Ancona hen who lays and crows. Sometimes it's just hard to tell. I wasn't sure about my little Easter Egger pullet until the moment I saw her push out an egg. Her wattles were so -long-.

Also hello! I haven't been around in a while, things going on. The chicken who wandered onto my property - who we thought was Bumblebee - turned out to be a very similar looking but unrelated chicken from someone else's flock. Considering the multitude of fox attacks at that time, probably a hen chased off their property by a fox. We named her Elizabeak and she was absolutely -covered- in lice and mites and had the worst scaly leg mites I'd seen up to that point. We got her parasite free over the span of a couple of months (though her appearance in my yard set off a feedback loop of poultry lice in my -whole flock- which was -very- hard to get under control. Unfortunately, about a month ago she suddenly began fading and wasting away and within a day or so lost the ability to stand and had to be euthanized. We never found out what was wrong with her - but no other chickens showed any symptoms. Without any information on her history, I incinerated her corpse and chalked it up to unknown illness. However, I did immediately deworm my entire flock - just in case.

A week ago my hen Queen ***** (which we shorten to Queenie) hatched 9 beautiful chicks and has been raising them in a maternity brooder quite happily. She's a great mum but isn't as defensive of her babies as she could be so I'm keeping them separated from the flock for now.

We tried a hatch in our incubator but had a catastrophic failure a week in when it turned out we had overfilled it and radiant heat had killed 75% of the embryos. Oh well, it'll happen when you're using a homemade incubator. Now we get to learn from it!

Today I obtained three rescue hens from a local lady keen on downsizing her flock. She called them "Araucanas" but I'm inclined to call them Wheaten Ameraucanas. Every chicken that I saw had a severe case of scaly leg mites. I tried to talk with her about it and the detrimental effects of scaly leg mites on hens but I was treated with a smirk and an attitude which implied that it was rather quaint that I cared so much about simple birds. "They never die by the time I get rid of them, so I don't see the problem." (I may have screamed in my brain)

I let her know that if she wants to pass on more of her birds - I'd be happy to take them. Maybe then they'll be cared for properly. -_-

I've included pictures of the hens (and one's foot). Ameraucanas? Easter Eggers? I don't know. I told my husband, "There's not a huge difference - but don't tell any breeder who is really into genetics that I said that. I'm pretty sure I just heard several rolling over in their graves." >.> XD

Also - yup. That sure is a portacot. This is what happens when you let your guard down and dismantle the quarantine pens. Chickens in a portacot in your kitchen. My husband is setting up the quarantine pens again and I'm going to give these girls a lovely pedicure and get their poor feet treated.

 

[satay]

Here are some updated photos of my chicks, the fourth one (a hen I think) died. Are they looking more like welsummers or marans? When I rang the bloke I got them from and told him they aren't marans, he got really angry and said they are marans, and when I tried to tell him they look more like welsummers he wouldn't listen. I don't really care and I was being nice to him, so I guess I'll just have to hope that two of them are hens and not worry about the breed.

They do look closer to marans for sure not pure but you can definitely see some welsummer feathers there as well. I can see yellow legs in the first picture. You should have told him marans don't have yellow legs.

 

[sjturner79]

^ This. I'd have said boy but I'd have said boy about my large-combed, large-wattled Ancona hen who lays and crows. Sometimes it's just hard to tell. I wasn't sure about my little Easter Egger pullet until the moment I saw her push out an egg. Her wattles were so -long-. Also hello! I haven't been around in a while, things going on. The chicken who wandered onto my property - who we thought was Bumblebee - turned out to be a very similar looking but unrelated chicken from someone else's flock. Considering the multitude of fox attacks at that time, probably a hen chased off their property by a fox. We named her Elizabeak and she was absolutely -covered- in lice and mites and had the worst scaly leg mites I'd seen up to that point. We got her parasite free over the span of a couple of months (though her appearance in my yard set off a feedback loop of poultry lice in my -whole flock- which was -very- hard to get under control. Unfortunately, about a month ago she suddenly began fading and wasting away and within a day or so lost the ability to stand and had to be euthanized. We never found out what was wrong with her - but no other chickens showed any symptoms. Without any information on her history, I incinerated her corpse and chalked it up to unknown illness. However, I did immediately deworm my entire flock - just in case. A week ago my hen Queen ***** (which we shorten to Queenie) hatched 9 beautiful chicks and has been raising them in a maternity brooder quite happily. She's a great mum but isn't as defensive of her babies as she could be so I'm keeping them separated from the flock for now. We tried a hatch in our incubator but had a catastrophic failure a week in when it turned out we had overfilled it and radiant heat had killed 75% of the embryos. Oh well, it'll happen when you're using a homemade incubator. Now we get to learn from it! Today I obtained three rescue hens from a local lady keen on downsizing her flock. She called them "Araucanas" but I'm inclined to call them Wheaten Ameraucanas. Every chicken that I saw had a severe case of scaly leg mites. I tried to talk with her about it and the detrimental effects of scaly leg mites on hens but I was treated with a smirk and an attitude which implied that it was rather quaint that I cared so much about simple birds. "They never die by the time I get rid of them, so I don't see the problem." (I may have screamed in my brain) I let her know that if she wants to pass on more of her birds - I'd be happy to take them. Maybe then they'll be cared for properly. -_- I've included pictures of the hens (and one's foot). Ameraucanas? Easter Eggers? I don't know. I told my husband, "There's not a huge difference - but don't tell any breeder who is really into genetics that I said that. I'm pretty sure I just heard several rolling over in their graves." >.> XD Also - yup. That sure is a portacot. This is what happens when you let your guard down and dismantle the quarantine pens. Chickens in a portacot in your kitchen. My husband is setting up the quarantine pens again and I'm going to give these girls a lovely pedicure and get their poor feet treated.

They look like Australian Aracuana to me. They are very different to the American Aracuana and more likely to be greenish eggs than blue. I'm yet to find anyone who has actually brought americuana into Australia.

 

[Meeka3]

They do look closer to marans for sure not pure but you can definitely see some welsummer feathers there as well. I can see yellow legs in the first picture. You should have told him marans don't have yellow legs.

yes I did tell him that but he didn't want to know. He's not a breeder this old man, he owns a recycling plant nursery and has a big vacant allotment next to it where he has chooks, ducks, turkeys and peacocks roaming around. When I bought the chickens he charged me $20 each, and told me he paid $12 per egg to a lady in Victoria and is why they were so dear. When I questioned him about the breed he changed his story and said he knows they're marans because he has two hens and a rooster and he bred them. When I thought I only had one hen, I asked him if he still had any hens, and he said ( at about 8 was old ), that he had thrown them into the spare paddock and didn't know where they roosted, I was horrified and thought if they were still alive they would be so wild you wouldn't be able to catch them anyway, so that's why I got another little Wyandotte hen to put in with them.

 

[satay]

yes I did tell him that but he didn't want to know. He's not a breeder this old man, he owns a recycling plant nursery and has a big vacant allotment next to it where he has chooks, ducks, turkeys and peacocks roaming around. When I bought the chickens he charged me $20 each, and told me he paid $12 per egg to a lady in Victoria and is why they were so dear. When I questioned him about the breed he changed his story and said he knows they're marans because he has two hens and a rooster and he bred them. When I thought I only had one hen, I asked him if he still had any hens, and he said ( at about 8 was old ), that he had thrown them into the spare paddock and didn't know where they roosted, I was horrified and thought if they were still alive they would be so wild you wouldn't be able to catch them anyway, so that's why I got another little Wyandotte hen to put in with them.

Darn thats not good. If you are every up this way in qld i would be happy to give you a couple just so you know you have real marans.