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

[satay]

They're Pekin bantams and I agree, I can't imagine it being comfortable for even four full sized bantams. My friend has a few and she lets hers free range completely and they sleep in a dog kennel. I was hoping to free range but lock them up at night. I have nine at the moment but I really only wanted about 4 so I'm having to adjust my plans. Being a newbie at incubating I really didn't expect all the ones that made it to lock down to actually hatch, especially as I couldn't get the humidity right and we had a black out for a short period of time the day before they hatched.    I'll be using some parts of old pallets leaning against the bathtubs for extra protection. 

Sounds like you are doing fine., As long as they have some places to get out of the sun if needed they'll be fine.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I agree that it definitely won't be big enough (the box said for 6) but it might be a scaled up version of the one you bought as they aren't having any problem with the ramp. It was all I could afford at the moment and I'm hoping it will do until I figure out which ones are roos and maybe have the confidence to build my own. Also the backyard is not overly huge especially with my bathtub garden beds. I really need to rearrange my yard. I've got the materials to build them a bit of a run but I'd like to free range them when their older. I felt it was extremely important to get them out of where they were. They've grown so much in just the last 3 days. It's crazy. The photo is so you can get an idea of how big the coop is next to a 5 year old girl.

Cute ! Your little coop is no smaller than my Silkie pullet enclosure. I keep 6 in mine and allow supervised free ranging. It doesn't take long for them to eliminate the grass and once you feel comfortable that they are safe, you may find that you can allow them more and more free ranging time. You will be able to ' tweak ' It as you go.

 

[Teila]

Good morning Friends

Seems like we are all on similar worming schedules

tandykins sounds like things worked out OK in the end .. congrats on the littlies.

Lavender11 they will not be on “just grass” for long .. scratching and digging will soon have them on dirt/grit

Even with mumma hen jumping up and down at the top of the ramp my little ones need help for the first couple of weeks getting up the ramp. Just me, but to teach them where to sleep, I would pop everyone in the coop at dusk. While they sometimes have a little trouble learning to go up, they pick up going down the ramp pretty much straight away.

EllaLouise94 I would not put sun screen on my gals. I can not give you a concrete or scientific reason but it does not sound like something I would want to risk. May be one of those aprons that you can buy or make that they use for over mating damage?

RodneyRooster good to hear that everyone survived the hot weekend .. I do not blame you for doing nothing! That was good luck with the tree branch also .. your suggestion of an arborist sounds even better now.

I totally blame myself .. what was I thinking, doing a happy dance that I had no broodies?!!

One week after breaking Blondie and Cilla .. KiKi is broody again!

She lasted just over 5 weeks since last being broody and a grand total of 17 eggs.

No doubt I will get her broken and it will be Blondie and Cilla’s turn … I will say it again; it is going to be a loooong summer! lol

 

[chooks01]

Tooooooo hot! My poor chooks been trying to cool them down. Lucky the 40 degree days I'm not working else might come home to fried chickens

 

[Lavender11]

My chicks survived the night outside and I didn't lose too much sleep either. I threw a handful of fine scoria on the grass in their coop hoping it will do the trick for now. They've even gone exploring up the ramp and into the roosting area, although I didn't see it the pine shavings are messed up a bit. I thought their food container was pretty much empty so unscrewed it and got food everywhere because it wasn't. They went crazy, anyone would think I've been starving them. Maybe they're just not used to not having to eat around the pine shavings.

Anyway I'm glad it's a bit cooler today.

Lavender11 they will not be on “just grass” for long .. scratching and digging will soon have them on dirt/grit

Even with mumma hen jumping up and down at the top of the ramp my little ones need help for the first couple of weeks getting up the ramp. Just me, but to teach them where to sleep, I would pop everyone in the coop at dusk. While they sometimes have a little trouble learning to go up, they pick up going down the ramp pretty much straight away.

I thought about popping them in the roosting area but the silly things were tucked away in the furthest corner so I couldn't reach them.

 

[satay]

Ooooh .. baby Pekins!!  And a buff!! 


 ..... 

i thought of you when i saw them hatching. Will get pics when the 2 sharing mums venture out with them at the moment the are being bunkered down grumpy new mums.

 

[satay]

My 2 ringneck babies are finally out of the nest and my over achiever budgie mum who laid 10 eggs and hatched 6 has her first of 5 babies out today
1 baby died early on

 

[Fancychooklady]

For weeks I've been hearing a peacock call and today I finally laid eyes on him. Big and beautiful, a little shy and straight opposite the house. Will try to get a pic of him. I'm guessing he is an escapee from the local caravan park.

 

[appps]

For weeks I've been hearing a peacock call and today I finally laid eyes on him. Big and beautiful, a little shy and straight opposite the house. Will try to get a pic of him. I'm guessing he is an escapee from the local caravan park.

Well you may have a new addition then. One of mums neighbours a good distance away had an escaping peacock and once it decided that was where it wanted to be it was really really hard to convince it otherwise. It wanted to roost in one of her trees and despite numerous catch and returns it just kept coming back. I think in the end he had to keep it locked up.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Well you may have a new addition then. One of mums neighbours a good distance away had an escaping peacock and once it decided that was where it wanted to be it was really really hard to convince it otherwise. It wanted to roost in one of her trees and despite numerous catch and returns it just kept coming back. I think in the end he had to keep it locked up.

This one has been hanging around the bottom block for some time now . I'd say to hubby when we were sitting out on the verandah, ' did you hear that ? ,sounds like a peacock ' . He'd say ' nup '. Yesterday we were fencing the foaling paddock , he called and then appeared directly opposite us .
I've had several people offer me peacock chicks, but I've always resisted the temptation. A friend of mine has them and they roost on her car.
They poop the size of a dog.