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

[Fancychooklady]

Fancychooklady ....  thank you.   

Found your advice fascinating - for not only a good way of dealing with scaly leg on chickens, which I don't have with my girls .... but - - - 

A podiatrist recently told me that Vicks Vaporub - applied to toenails that have or have had, a fungal infection  ( a common affliction ) ... works well. 

Tried it - and it does work.   Continuous use of it on myself ( not a serious,  but annoying problem ) .... has almost seen the last of it.   

For anyone who is interested ... FYI.  

Cheers ..... 

Thank you Annie, I will keep that in mind .

 

[RodneyRooster]

Good morning Friends Bazza didn’t turn up for training this morning! He was apparently a little on the hot side yesterday afternoon, before the rain/storms, seeking refuge in the pond but he was a no show this morning … either he has great metabolism and has already burnt off those love handles; 04:50am on a Friday morning is just too early for him, he couldn’t find his togs or, even after all my advice, he overdid it yesterday .. tut Hey locknest4, as you know, any guesses I make with regards gender are just that, guesses. I looked at the black one for a while .. sometimes I thought rooster due to comb, wattles, colouring and feathering and then other times I thought large combed pullet due to stance, legs and expression … definitely sitting on the fence on this one and not taking a guess either way Beautiful gals! RodneyRooster I recommend a Google Image search of ‘Teila’, apparently it is not only a girls name For those keeping count, Cilla has laid two eggs since being broken from broodiness. Poor Cilla, she can’t win .. when she is broody she is dubbed GodCilla and when she is not broody ‘Nike’ [Just Do It!]. When she is broody I forget what a fuss she makes about laying an egg. She runs around for anywhere from 30mins to a couple of hours “gunna lay an egg, she’s in MY nest box, gunna lay an egg, she’s in MY nest box, gunna lay an egg, she’s in MY nest box” to which she gets replies from myself and hubby “Gees Cilla, Just Do It!” .. silence while she does the deed ... “I laid an egg, I laid an egg, I laid an egg”. KiKi is still semi broody, hopping on the nest when she can but not overly perturbed if she can’t .. hopefully, weather permitting, I may be able to snap her out of it completely this weekend.

Nope not searching it, it is done Haha 2 down 6 to go ;-) Scarlett runs around each morning when i let her out trying to find a way out of their area to lay for about half hr too, then settles in the same old nesting box eventually lol.

Hey there fellow Aussies! Well... I'm not an Aussie, I'm American, but I'm living in Melbourne (Campbellfield, specifically). I was hoping you all might be able to point me toward someone on here that sells good chickens. I just had a loss from a chicken I bought two days ago.... can't believe it, poor thing. She had sour crop, which took me a few hours to figure out because I'm so new at this. I'm hoping I can find some more honest people to buy from.

welcome! There are a few here from around ur area but otherwise yes poultry fb pages i have just newly been introduced to seem to be great.

^ 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.

Welcome back! Well done on the hatches - yay! - and sorry for ur losses. Wow i am so mad at people like that! I wouldnt want to be bringing all of that into my flock but well done for trying to give them all a happy healthy life

Chickens - I ( and many ) have discovered, scare the heck out of their owners every other day. Mud bath ? .... Love it. I know my Mindy ( who I hope is ok - more on that tomorrow maybe - but I hope I don't have to ask ) .... who is white with coffee coloured feathers throughout - has 'bathed' herself in really wet dirt ( but not exactly mud ) and come out looking like she's been dragged through a coal heap, backwards. So what does Mumma do ? Bring her inside, fluff out as much of the dirt as possible, and have her sit in the cat carrier until the remainder dries off in the warmth, and I can then shake the rest out of her by fluffing out her feathers on an old sheet or towel. She adores that darned cat crate - and just loves to be inside, talking to Miss Ruby dog. I think she does these little capers deliberately !!! Nothing surprises me anymore, where chickens are concerned.

Haha cute as! My chooks used to love getting a good proper bath inside and then blow dry maybe u should try that next time rather than the cat cage - even though she obviously enjoys it. Mined loved it. Obviously be careful with the distance, heat and time under the hair dryer tho! Wow there are some really cruel people out there arent there!!

 

[satay]

Zeus goes back for his x rays today. I'm keeping everything crossed that it isn't cancer and it's something fixable.. Gunna be a long weekend I think as we have to wait til at least Monday to be sure as the uni vet surgeon doesn't work weekends.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Zeus goes back for his x rays today. I'm keeping everything crossed that it isn't cancer and it's something fixable.. Gunna be a long weekend I think as we have to wait til at least Monday to be sure as the uni vet surgeon doesn't work weekends.

Oh a worrying time for you. Sending good vibes to you and your beloved pooch.

 

[Teila]

Good morning Friends

Hey Kmack I am also sorry to read of your loss and hope you have better luck this time around.

Satay good to hear you are getting some rain. We have had some but luckily not enough to flood the run. I have everything crossed for good news on Zeus’ x-rays

Meeka3 I am reading the Welsummer or Maran conversation with much interest but unfortunately have no experience to offer .. just wanted to say that they are very nice looking birds.

Nice to see you again tandykins. I am sorry to hear that after all your love and attention you lost Bumblebee. Having experienced a mite infestation, I know how draining that can be and I am probably now over paranoid in my prevention measures as I do not want to go through that again. Congratulations on the hatch.

I had a chuckle at your “don’t tell any breeder I said that” .. they look like chickens to me

They are very pretty and so lucky to now be in your care. The picture of that foot is sad .. while it is a little frustrating, I think some people are not intentionally neglectful of their pets, just not fully educated on all of their needs.

I will try and cut a long story short .. a friend had a rental property and as his tenant was moving out and I needed a place to stay, I went around for a look. The tenant had a large mastiff and a terrier in the garden. They looked healthy enough, fed etc and when we were out in the garden she was telling me that they were both 4 years old and she was quite proud of the fact that she has never had to take them to the Vet. I am thinking health check? vaccinations?

Anyways, I moved in with my dog and sure enough, two days later, I am brushing Charlie-Bear and she is covered in ticks! Took me months and $100's to get them under control.

Tee hee Anniebee it is kind if ironic that the Crows are not welcome but a poisonous introduced species gets named and is allowed to treat the garden as his spa

I know Bazza is all kinds of dangerous and should not be encouraged but he does not wake me before dawn, does not steal eggs or food and does not make my life a misery.

Sadly, Bazza was a no show again this morning .. he has probably moved on to greener pastures.

Hubby was out BBQing last night and as always, the entertainment was watching the geckos on the gazebo catch their dinner which the bug zapper [Frank] attracts .. yeah, I know, even the bug zapper has a name! Anyways, hubby is working away and hears a ‘plop’ .... a lump of geckos had dropped on his keyboard! Yep, three of them, all wrapped around each other. They were probably fighting and lost their grip on the canvas.

I have mentioned him before, but we have a gecko, Two Tails, who lives on the glass next to our front door .. I am always pleased to see him each summer. His tail is split in a ‘V’ at the end and has been that way since we first met 5 years ago.

Loved the Mindy story!

Thank you for the Vicks v Fungal infection tip.

We have a 70% chance of rain, the possibility of a severe thunderstorm and an expected maximum of 33 … the plan is to try and get the back lawn mowed [the front can wait, it is not as thick] before that and because the covers are on the run, make sure the girls get to free range for as long as possible today.

It is a bit of a juggle keeping the covers on because of storms/rain but not overheating the girls .. they take 15-20mins to get on properly so I do not want to constantly be taking them off and putting them on again but then also cannot leave them on all the time … before chickens I probably paid very little attention to the BOM, now it is my new BFF

 

[satay]

Oh a worrying time for you. Sending good vibes to you and your beloved pooch.

Thank you

 

[appps]

Where oh where was that little voice telling me stop, when I ordered that two tonne of road base for my paths. #imknackered lol

Zeus goes back for his x rays today. I'm keeping everything crossed that it isn't cancer and it's something fixable.. Gunna be a long weekend I think as we have to wait til at least Monday to be sure as the uni vet surgeon doesn't work weekends.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Where oh where was that little voice telling me stop, when I ordered that two tonne of road base for my paths. #imknackered lol

Hehe, probably in the same place as my little voice that is supposed to say ' no more chickens ! Stop hatching chickens ! '

 

[sjturner79]

Hehe, probably in the same place as my little voice that is supposed to say ' no more chickens ! Stop hatching chickens ! '

I need to hatch more chickens but I don't own an incubator, so I have to wait till I can borrow one before I can do breeders eggs again, but I got 7 under a broody at the minute. The other hen that was broody at the same time as her hasn't started laying again yet, but one of the chicks from that hatch is trying to crow.

 

[locknest4]

satay hope Zeus is ok.
Kmacksorry for ur loss.

Feeling mortified at the moment as we forgot to let the chickens out yesterday morning!

Both hubby and I had to work, both kids were sick and needed to be dragged out of their beds (which is always a fun activity),

dressed, packed, given medicine, etc, to be on the road by 7.30 and dropped off at their grans for babysitting.

In the rush I totally forgot about the girls. My husband for home around four and realized upon looking out the Window that the chooks were still locked in the coop. He let them out and they dive- bombed passed him to stick their heads in the food and water! He reckons the wind from their passage nearly knocked him over.

Luckily it was a mild day and everyone seems to have (most) of their feathers still intact. Im Feeling lots of 'Mother Guilt ' now.