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

[Teila]

Hhhhm MyHaven can’t say I have seen him, I will keep an eye out though. That sounds hopeful with the chirping .. I so hope they hatch. That is a nice allsorts mix

I had a great day in the garden with the gals. Got Crystal’s bottom washed early so that she dried. I did not see any lice and it looks like she might just have had a bit of build up. Anyways, she looks much better now.

Stripped the coop and washed it again; no signs of anything creepy crawly.

Installed another roost so that they can spread out even more; especially while I have two semi broodies suffering from HGS [hormonal grumpy syndrome]. On that note, if I keep Blondie out of eye sight of a nest I think she should be fully broken tomorrow along with Cilla

They got their usual weekend watermelon and seen as we were having fruit salad for lunch I tried them on some rockmelon [again] .. ‘eeew, we are not eating that’. Then, for the first time, I tried banana .. instant hit; they loved it

 

[appps]

Good morning Friends 

MyHaven I am sorry to read of your losses and hope the remainder of your hatch goes well and your determined broody has some bubbies to care for.

Thank you for yet another reason to hate Crows! 

I have lost track and I am not sure if Blondzilla is spending Day 5 or 6 in the broody breaker today and Cilla is on Day 4 or 5.

Blondie has not been as bad in that during free range time, as long as she has no access to a nest box, she potters a little in the garden with the flock.  However, after spending the night on the roost, I find her pancaked on the nest box cover each morning and into jail she goes.

Cilla, on the other hand, is taking out her frustrations on the flock and has no qualms bashing up all and sundry 

Anyways, plans for today are to give Crystal a bath, she has a dirty butt which I believe is from the lice. 

I haven’t seen any more but I will still give the coop another strip and clean today and the gals will get another dusting before bedtime just as a precaution.

They are due for a worming also but that will have to wait until later in the week when the temps are forecast to be a bit lower .. I will treat them for two days this time to ensure they drink it .. not so sure the little munchkins did last time 

Must be catching lol. So far have had penny and al, all broken now. Then colonel started so she is currently doing time in Alcatraz. Then last night went to lock the nesting box and there was our australorp pepper growling at me. Nervously pulled her out as wasn't sure if she was going to be a pecker or not this being her first time. Thankfully despite feeling like I was trying to pick up a sack of very heavy potatoes lol she didn't bite or growl any worse phew.

 

[Teila]

Hey appps, yep, definitely catching!

Last night, because of the possible storms and believing, after 6 and 5 days respectively, Blondie and Cilla were broken, I put the broody breakers away.

I got woken by someone screeching and raced out, half asleep to find Cilla on Blondie’s back beating her up. While I was feeding them Cilla attacked Crystal so I dragged out one of the broody breakers again and put Cilla in it.

Blondie seemed fine, she was not making any moves towards the nest box and was scratching around in the run etc. Crystal was in the favourite double nest box. This was at 5am. I go out at 06:45am to check on things and Crystal is no longer in the nest box but appears to not have laid her egg yet. With relief I see that Blondie is not in the favourite double nest box either .. the relief lasted all of two seconds .. I found her pancaked down in the back up nest box!

So, I have dragged out the second broody breaker again and she is back in it for Day #7!

We have the possibility of 20mm of rain so I have no idea what I am going to do with them if that happens.

Hubby suggested to ‘just let them sit’ but I can’t leave Cilla in with everyone cos she is going to hurt someone. While Cilla has some weight on her, Blondie is light as a feather and needs to be broken soon. Also, if I ‘leave them sit’, my battles with lice etc will have been pointless.

At the risk of not being my normal cheerful self … I am tired and pretty close to my wits end.

 

[RodneyRooster]

Morning everyone! Yed the bushfires here are/were horrible. I know of quite a few familes that lost everything. None that have lost family tho thank heavens.

Lol, I have had similar images come to mind Fancy when I read Teila's accounts. Teila have you seen the black and white crow that is around. It has a bit of white behind each wing - weird. Definately a crow.

While clucky but Before Cagney, the poor Barney having the bad luck, got the eggs she was leaping about a metre into the air to send the crows off. They didn't risk it when she was off the next. I hate the pests.

Egg update: There was a lot of chirping from one rescued egg last night but today still no pipping that I can see on either. I hate not being able to check them in an incubator.

Fancy I meant to say I like hatching with Silkies too, but I need another one now the fox got mine.

A work colleague got extra eggs from Western Australia and offered them to me. I have a week along and under my blue Australorp the following. White auracanas, birchan, cuckoo and copper marans and dbl barred p rocks. Also I'd already picked up locally speckled Sussex and buff orps. It will be guess who's who when they hatch.

Cheers

Wow! Thats a lot of different breeds at once!!!

Well I apologise if I repeat myself, cant honestly remember what I last posted haha.

Few days ago i found out why id not been getting any eggs for 4 or 5 days.. my.. sorry, the HUSBAND'S! Dog, had been taking them! Made sure he was kept out again and bam, 4 eggs the next day. >:-(

Hey? 4? I only have 3 egg layers that arent raising chicks! It seems broody number 2 has decided the younger chicks were fine on their own about a week ago - or they decided lol. So shes back to laying, YAY! But the eggs are tiny! Each one has been slightly bigger tho lol.

Miss Vonte is still raising her chicks, theyll be 6 weeks old tomorrow! I'm waiting for her to seperate from them before I seperate the roosters. Most of them are pretty obvious but there are a few im not sure about that ill post on here for advice.

Plan for today is to clean their shed. Guess id better drag my *** out of bed and let them out! Theyll be ropable, still in at 8:15!!

Haha enjoy ur weekends everyone

 

[Teila]

Hey RodneyRooster glad to hear that you are OK and yes, it is very sad how people have lost everything

Tee hee .. bad puppy dawg!

So, feeling a little better than I was this morning; back to my cheerful self …. The heat, or should I say humidity, is getting to me and yep, I am tired.

Anyways, I kept Cilla and Blondie locked up until 10:30 when it was just too hot to keep them locked up any longer. I let everyone out and shut down the coop/run/nest boxes. So far, so good .. Blondie is quite happily pottering and Cilla has not tried to kill anyone yet.

Hopefully the day away from the nest boxes will remind them that they are supposed to be broken and if/when the weather does hit, anyone who needed to lay an egg has done so and I can block the nest boxes off again. If we get the 20mm and possible severe storms predicted before bed time, they will need to go into their coop/run earlier.

 

[chooks01]

vilma is creepy!!! Lol

 

[Anniebee]

Lol, I have had similar images come to mind Fancy when I read Teila's accounts. Teila have you seen the black and white crow that is around. It has a bit of white behind each wing - weird. Definately a crow.

While clucky but Before Cagney, the poor Barney having the bad luck, got the eggs she was leaping about a metre into the air to send the crows off. They didn't risk it when she was off the next. I hate the pests.

Egg update: There was a lot of chirping from one rescued egg last night but today still no pipping that I can see on either. I hate not being able to check them in an incubator.

Fancy I meant to say I like hatching with Silkies too, but I need another one now the fox got mine.

A work colleague got extra eggs from Western Australia and offered them to me. I have a week along and under my blue Australorp the following. White auracanas, birchan, cuckoo and copper marans and dbl barred p rocks. Also I'd already picked up locally speckled Sussex and buff orps. It will be guess who's who when they hatch.

Cheers

MyHaven ....

Re : The crow with white on its' wings .... sounds very much like a pied currawong. It might be strange to see them in Queensland in summer ( plenty down south during winter and some remain for summer which I always think is a great sign !! ) .... but they do range from North Queensland down to Victoria. It is said there are none in Tasmania, but when we were there - saw and heard several ?? Fancy ? Can you say yay or nay to this query ?

They have a unique call which usually heralds rain.

Here is a pic of one of them .... very like what you describe. And they certainly look like crows ... but are only very distantly related.



Cheers .........

 

[Fancychooklady]

MyHaven .... Re : The crow with white on its' wings .... sounds very much like a pied currawong. It might be strange to see them in Queensland in summer ( plenty down south during winter and some remain for summer which I always think is a great sign !! ) .... but they do range from North Queensland down to Victoria. It is said there are none in Tasmania, but when we were there - saw and heard several ?? Fancy ? Can you say yay or nay to this query ? They have a unique call which usually heralds rain.

Here is a pic of one of them .... very like what you describe. And they certainly look like crows ... but are only very distantly related. Cheers .........

The easiest way to tell the difference between Ravens, crows and currawong s , is the the eye colour. I have been close up and personal with a raven and the eye colour was white to almost iradescent light blue. Annie I have seen currawong in numbers at the air walk, south of us. There song gives them away. http://www.angair.org.au/documentstoDL/Difference_Currawongs_Magpies_Ravens.pdf

 

[Anniebee]

Hey appps, yep, definitely catching!

Last night, because of the possible storms and believing, after 6 and 5 days respectively, Blondie and Cilla were broken, I put the broody breakers away.

I got woken by someone screeching and raced out, half asleep to find Cilla on Blondie’s back beating her up. While I was feeding them Cilla attacked Crystal so I dragged out one of the broody breakers again and put Cilla in it.

Blondie seemed fine, she was not making any moves towards the nest box and was scratching around in the run etc. Crystal was in the favourite double nest box. This was at 5am. I go out at 06:45am to check on things and Crystal is no longer in the nest box but appears to not have laid her egg yet. With relief I see that Blondie is not in the favourite double nest box either .. the relief lasted all of two seconds .. I found her pancaked down in the back up nest box!

So, I have dragged out the second broody breaker again and she is back in it for Day #7!

We have the possibility of 20mm of rain so I have no idea what I am going to do with them if that happens.

Hubby suggested to ‘just let them sit’ but I can’t leave Cilla in with everyone cos she is going to hurt someone. While Cilla has some weight on her, Blondie is light as a feather and needs to be broken soon. Also, if I ‘leave them sit’, my battles with lice etc will have been pointless.

At the risk of not being my normal cheerful self … I am tired and pretty close to my wits end.

Teila ........ is there anything whatsoever, you could give Cilla to calm her down a bit ? Like a couple of drops of Bachs' Rescue Remedy ? ( homeopathic - available at all chemists ) ... ( I have NO idea if that would cure or kill .... so it is only said as an example. ) ....

She sounds as though she has gone waaaay over the top this year. Attacking and attacking. To preserve your sanity, and instil some 'nice' back into your flock ... an Avian specialist could advise as to a calmative for her. I have not researched it myself. I do know that Valium is a big no-no, though.

Do you have a spare empty room that you can halve off with a stretchable trellis ? Or even a 2nd bathroom you could use - putting everything out of sight, before hand. Put one in each half, nothing to nest on - just food and water and an upended chair each to roost on at night. That would obviate the lice problem as the hens would be moving around, probably driving you crazy with loud objections, but at least they would be safe, not inclined to be revisited with lice, and would be broken fairly easily - away from their usual haunts, and on paper spread all over. They wouldn't get too far, pancaking themselves on paper !!! Would be most uninteresting for them.

and they'd probably be rather sad little chooks for a few days !!

You do have troubles with the hormonally charged girls at this time, so thought I might try and help a little.

Cheers ......... ( and good luck with whatever you do ).

 

[RodneyRooster]

Hey RodneyRooster glad to hear that you are OK and yes, it is very sad how people have lost everything 

Tee hee .. bad puppy dawg! 

So, feeling a little better than I was this morning; back to my cheerful self …. The heat, or should I say humidity, is getting to me and yep, I am tired.

Anyways, I kept Cilla and Blondie locked up until 10:30 when it was just too hot to keep them locked up any longer.   I let everyone out and shut down the coop/run/nest boxes.  So far, so good .. Blondie is quite happily pottering and Cilla has not tried to kill anyone yet.

Hopefully the day away from the nest boxes will remind them that they are supposed to be broken and if/when the weather does hit, anyone who needed to lay an egg has done so and I can block the nest boxes off again.  If we get the 20mm and possible severe storms predicted before bed time, they will need to go into their coop/run earlier.

Thanks. This weather really is nuts isnt it. Changing so quickly all the time. Summer officially start tuesday, we'll see. Goodluck.

Well everyone keeps asking how many roosters and hens i have from my hatches so thought id do a headcount today. Pretty sure 6-7 roosters in one hatch and 2-4 in the other so looking at 9-11 out of 19. Happy with that. Not stoked lol but if 9 ill be happy and 10 i wouldnt be complaining

Nice clean shed, think its been about a month since i last cleaned it!