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

[tandykins]

It's Tetra's hatching day! Whee! I popped out around 6am and lifted her up just a smidge to see if we had any babies under her wing but saw all of the eggs were pipped instead. I let Tetra settle back down (thankfully she's very gentle with that and is terribly forgiving of me lifting her fluff to see) and I put a sheet over the entire maternity brooder so that she doesn't have to deal with seeing the other hens wandering past while she hatches the babies. <3 Go Tetra!

Five of the eggs are my little Golden Spangled Hamburg X Araucana Pipper's and two of them are my Golden Spangled Hamburg hen Grendel's. So many pretty babies.

Oh yes..and meanwhile...responsible grown-up type person that I am, I get an SMS on Sunday reminding me that my Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks are ready to go to their new home.

.........
OH YES THOSE CHICKS.

I'd forgotten that I was on a waiting list for them. x.x Luckily, I'm fairly always prepared and have several brooders, so I was able to just jump in the car and head off to get them while my husband pressure washed and set everything up. My little boy donated his furry froggy backpack to the chicks who keep burrowing themselves underneath it adorably.



Babies, babies everywhere! <3 <3 :3

 

[tandykins]

If they have access to the ground they don't need added grit, even then it's not necessary until you introduce other types of feed. Grit is simply to help with digestion in the gizzard. Cooked rice or pasta with some sardines in olive oil is always a ' crowd pleaser '. I like to give the youngster a few boiled eggs for protein.

Before my husband had his gallbladder surgery he was eating mostly brown rice cooked in chicken stock with frozen veggies. As I often do when wandering through my yard eating, I shared the love by throwing some spoonfuls around to the hens. I was -swarmed by chicken floods-. XD

 

[Teila]

Good morning Friends

Aaaw gees appps, I am so sorry to hear that Carl is unwell again

Fancy how long until the foal is due?

Tee hee at your broody rooster sjturner79

Good to hear that your gals approved of the new nest boxes tandykins and yep, it seems to never end

I wish your hubby a speedy recovery. Congrats on the new bator. I enjoyed Becky’s homestead tour video; must check out some of the others when I get a chance. Go Tetra!! Tee hee at “forgetting I was on the waiting list”. FROGGEEE!

Good to see you again Lavender11. While it is frustrating that your son threw out the nipple waterers .. you have an 18yo son who cleans up??

Wow .. lol. Love the name changes also

Beautiful pics! Your little featheries are adorable!

Gees chooks01 that is a run of bad luck with the eggs. Four of Cilla’s eggs in a row [before broody] got cracked. She has a very fluffly butt and when she jumps out of the nest box the egg goes with her and then drops somewhere in the coop or run; usually I am able to rescue them intact but yep, we had a run of having to toss them due to cracking.

LanaDucky your little ones are also very adorable! Just for fun because I have enough trouble sexing my own chicks … I think Pingu might be a pullet.

So, I ummm’d and aaaah’d about whether to put the covers on last night for the expected 25mm of rain today and storms. Because the forecast was for 30 degrees also, it is a toss up between them and the deep litter run getting wet or too hot under the covers.

I decided to wait until this morning .. before going out to feed them, took a quick look at the BOM to see if there was anything and if the covers could wait until lunch time … big blue blob heading right for us!

… Raced out, put the covers on .. big blue blob faded to white!

Ah well, they are on now, ready for the predicted storms … if it gets too hot, I can just peel them back a bit

 

[Fancychooklady]

Morning Teila. The foal calculator indicates 7 th of January , but the vet was here on Monday and said that this being a ' maiden mare ' , makes it very unpredictable . Every morning , through blurry eyes , I look for her in the paddock half expecting to see a ' blob ' following close behind. I only hope that it all happens without incident. I have 2 x race trainers and a well seasoned horse breeder on call . Naturally with my thirst for information , I have read some real ' horror stories ' about stillborns etc. think positive thoughts, think positive thoughts......................
Yesterday I hearded the goats down the back, overnight they went through the fence , across the garden and back to the hay paddock.

 

[satay]

Morning Teila. The foal calculator indicates 7 th of January , but the vet was here on Monday and said that this being a ' maiden mare ' , makes it very unpredictable . Every morning , through blurry eyes , I look for her in the paddock half expecting to see a ' blob ' following close behind. I only hope that it all happens without incident. I have 2 x race trainers and a well seasoned horse breeder on call . Naturally with my thirst for information , I have read some real ' horror stories ' about stillborns etc. think positive thoughts, think positive thoughts......................
Yesterday I hearded the goats down the back, overnight they went through the fence , across the garden and back to the hay paddock.

You must have mighty good hay

 

[satay]

Good morning Friends 

Aaaw gees appps, I am so sorry to hear that Carl is unwell again 

Fancy how long until the foal is due?

Tee hee at your broody rooster sjturner79 

Good to hear that your gals approved of the new nest boxes tandykins and yep, it seems to never end   I wish your hubby a speedy recovery.  Congrats on the new bator.  I enjoyed Becky’s homestead tour video; must check out some of the others when I get a chance.  Go Tetra!!  Tee hee at “forgetting I was on the waiting list”.  FROGGEEE!

Good to see you again Lavender11.  While it is frustrating that your son threw out the nipple waterers .. you have an 18yo son who cleans up??  Wow .. lol.   Love the name changes also   Beautiful pics!  Your little featheries are adorable!

Gees chooks01 that is a run of bad luck with the eggs.  Four of Cilla’s eggs in a row [before broody] got cracked.  She has a very fluffly butt and when she jumps out of the nest box the egg goes with her and then drops somewhere in the coop or run; usually I am able to rescue them intact but yep, we had a run of having to toss them due to cracking.

LanaDucky your little ones are also very adorable!  Just for fun because I have enough trouble sexing my own chicks … I think Pingu might be a pullet.

So, I ummm’d and aaaah’d about whether to put the covers on last night for the expected 25mm of rain today and storms.  Because the forecast was for 30 degrees also, it is a toss up between them and the deep litter run getting wet or too hot under the covers. 

I decided to wait until this morning .. before going out to feed them, took a quick look at the BOM to see if there was anything and if the covers could wait until lunch time … big blue blob heading right for us! … Raced out, put the covers on .. big blue blob faded to white!    Ah well, they are on now, ready for the predicted storms … if it gets too hot, I can just peel them back a bit 

We had a shower of rain at 3.30am.. Nice for a bit of rain but now the humidity has gone through the roof

 

[satay]

Beautiful!

I have trouble believing you though - 18 year old male cleaning up? Seriously?

It does happen occasionally. My just turned 19 year old has even cleaned windows before if he is bored. Mind you it takes alot of him to be bored.

 

[bowe0508]

I know this has nothing to do with this conversation but how do I start a thread(I have not been on here for a long time)?

 

[satay]

Hi, I think I introduced myself already and have been lurking for a couple of weeks. My chicks are four weeks old tomorrow and are growing like weeds. I'm hanging out to get them their coop as 9 of them fill the little guinea pig hutch. I wasn't expecting as many as 9 of my 12 eggs to hatch seeing as it was my first time incubating. I'm also getting so sick of cleaning out their water several times a day, the pine shavings are atrocious and if they're hanging over the edge of the waterer they make all of the bedding wet. I'm making a nipple watering system for them but my 18 year old son cleaned off the kitchen table and threw the envelope with the nipple waterers in it in the bin. Grrr! Now I have to wait for new ones to be delivered. I've been letting them out for a little bit when I fix their food and water, to explore, although they don't venture more than a couple of feet from their hutch. They've just been having chick starter feed but I think they might be ready for more, I'm wondering if I should put some dirt or dig up some grass with the dirt and give it to them? They're so cute and fluffy and I love seeing which part of them will start feathering next. They're named Chika, Emma, Alicia 'fluffy', Raptosaurus, Yvorra, and Valkyrie. My 3 year old changes her one's name 3 times a day but at the moment it's Bonny and there's a couple without names.

 

[satay]

Actually I think it will probably be the 19th they start coming out.

Baby's close to Christmas how exciting. I was meant to have a whole batch of marans hatch this weekend,. Went to put them in lock down last night and disaster they bator was off. We had a bunch of teenage boys staying on the weekend for sons birthday and it must of got bumped with them going in and out and being busy i had not checked .. All eggs were dead.