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

[satay]

Good morning Friends 

I think I have been on a horse once in my life when I was much younger and that might have actually been a pony    I believe I have mentioned in the past, horses are beautiful but as I know very little about them, how to handle them etc, I prefer to admire from a distance.

Thank you Anniebee, I handled the bully with my usual grace and charm; I do not need to sink to her level; Karma is always lurking 

Thank you RodneyRooster, that means a lot to me.

I didn’t mention this yesterday because I did not have time to tell the story and as you know, I do like to tell a story 

Anyways [touch wood] I have not experienced a predator attack here but I was woken at 04:30am yesterday morning by much screeching, frantic flapping of wings in the coop .. what I can only best describe as what I would imagine having a fox, or cat etc in the coop would sound like.

As tends to be the case in these situations, flew out of bed, dressing on the way out the door just in time to see the girls all rushing down the ramp, wings still flapping, still screeching, absolute panic.

I am living my worse nightmare, adrenaline is pumping and I am so scared for their safety .. what am I dealing with here?  My eyes are darting everywhere, trying to count gals, check for injuries, find the predator, how did it get in? etc etc

On opening the big door on the coop, no large predator .. hmmm, OK, look for something smaller, snake etc .. nope, nothing, zip, zilch.  Spent a good 30 minutes checking absolutely everywhere and everyone.

The only ‘evidence’ was a couple of LuLu feathers on the coop floor.  I have no idea what the reason was but I am thinking LuLu might have fallen off the roost, spooking everyone else; or someone jumped off the roost, landing on LuLu or something maybe landed on the coop roof, freaking them out.

If you remember, my set up has the coop in the middle with a front and back run .. breakfast is served in the front run .. even with breakfast in the front run, there was no way they were going there .. they were gathered in the far corner of the back run and not budging.

With much encouragement, I finally got them to come in the front run for breakfast at 10am .. my racing heart did not settle until well after that 

I did not sleep well last night, one ear tuned in for any signs of a repeat .. nothing, all good this morning.  Interestingly, for the first time in ages, no eggs were laid yesterday.

ETA:  Ooops, nearly forgot .... Happy Birthday to LuLu who turns 2 today   As she is hubby's chicken, I have no doubt that she will get some sort of treat when he gets home from work 

They can be spooked buy just about anything the poor girls. One day i heard a hen going off outside i raced out to see what it was and i see an aussie tearing across the yard stopping and yelling some more and repeating. Finally figured out what she was spooked by... Her own shadow. She kept looking over her shoulder and going off, running and stopping and looking again.

Lulu

 

[satay]

Thanks. One of my girls had thin shells with a small build up at the top back when everyone else seemed to be having thin shell issues too haha and i noticed yesterday she had the same thing again. Just that one girl. Yes i give treats everyday but rarely calcium. I give them yoghurts either when the kids havent been eating much so its getting to the end of its life or if theres no waterbased fruits when its hot hot so maybe every 3-4 weeks during summer ill give them some yoghurt, otherwise no calcium treats.

Might have a look at one of the other feeds ive always been drawn to next time i go down then and see if it has less, ive asked about it before and basically theyve said that the one im using now is the best and most popular - of course they didnt tailor their advice specifically tho

What brand are you using Rodney? Produce stores will alot of the time try to sell you a particular brand that is not always the best choice. Some of them don't own chickens but will tell you what they think regardless. I would ask around and see what others are using. It can't hurt to try a new brand if you think that may help also.
Everyone has their favourites. I use laucke Mills brands of feeds for the most part (showbird breeder for the big girls , gamebird for the quails and their starter and grower as well for little ones). Except for the pekins and belgians who refuse to eat it and many other brands as well once they are full grown. At the moment they are own avi grain coffee blend but they may be over that in a few weeks and i will then try something else. Yes my pampered little ladies decide that after a while we don't like this brand anymore , they refuse to eat any form of pellet either so it's grains for them .

 

[RodneyRooster]

Good morning Friends 

I think I have been on a horse once in my life when I was much younger and that might have actually been a pony    I believe I have mentioned in the past, horses are beautiful but as I know very little about them, how to handle them etc, I prefer to admire from a distance.

Thank you Anniebee, I handled the bully with my usual grace and charm; I do not need to sink to her level; Karma is always lurking 

Thank you RodneyRooster, that means a lot to me.

I didn’t mention this yesterday because I did not have time to tell the story and as you know, I do like to tell a story 

Anyways [touch wood] I have not experienced a predator attack here but I was woken at 04:30am yesterday morning by much screeching, frantic flapping of wings in the coop .. what I can only best describe as what I would imagine having a fox, or cat etc in the coop would sound like.

As tends to be the case in these situations, flew out of bed, dressing on the way out the door just in time to see the girls all rushing down the ramp, wings still flapping, still screeching, absolute panic.

I am living my worse nightmare, adrenaline is pumping and I am so scared for their safety .. what am I dealing with here?  My eyes are darting everywhere, trying to count gals, check for injuries, find the predator, how did it get in? etc etc

On opening the big door on the coop, no large predator .. hmmm, OK, look for something smaller, snake etc .. nope, nothing, zip, zilch.  Spent a good 30 minutes checking absolutely everywhere and everyone.

The only ‘evidence’ was a couple of LuLu feathers on the coop floor.  I have no idea what the reason was but I am thinking LuLu might have fallen off the roost, spooking everyone else; or someone jumped off the roost, landing on LuLu or something maybe landed on the coop roof, freaking them out.

If you remember, my set up has the coop in the middle with a front and back run .. breakfast is served in the front run .. even with breakfast in the front run, there was no way they were going there .. they were gathered in the far corner of the back run and not budging.

With much encouragement, I finally got them to come in the front run for breakfast at 10am .. my racing heart did not settle until well after that 

I did not sleep well last night, one ear tuned in for any signs of a repeat .. nothing, all good this morning.  Interestingly, for the first time in ages, no eggs were laid yesterday.

ETA:  Ooops, nearly forgot .... Happy Birthday to LuLu who turns 2 today   As she is hubby's chicken, I have no doubt that she will get some sort of treat when he gets home from work 

No eggs wow they must have been freaked out since theyre clearly not broody again yet. Everything scares chicken

Happy birthday!! Im sure dad will bring home something extra yummy, dont let the other girls take it!

What brand are you using Rodney? Produce stores will alot of the time try to sell you a particular brand that is not always the best choice. Some of them don't own chickens but will tell you what they think regardless. I would ask around and see what others are using. It can't hurt to try a new brand if you think that may help also.
Everyone has their favourites. I use laucke Mills brands of feeds for the most part (showbird breeder for the big girls , gamebird for the quails and their starter and grower as well for little ones). Except for the pekins and belgians who refuse to eat it and many other brands as well once they are full grown. At the moment they are own avi grain coffee blend but they may be over that in a few weeks and i will then try something else. Yes my pampered little ladies decide that after a while we don't like this brand anymore , they refuse to eat any form of pellet either so it's grains for them .

Haha precious ;-) coffee blend?! Wow id be scared of hyper chickens lol. Yeah i use laucke too, they have a mill right across from my old high school so i feel as tho im supporting locals by buying it

On the horse topic i used to ride when ibwas probably 10-12, havent riden since, so miss it. I always rode 16.1-16-3 horses even tho i was a short 10 yr old lol. I didnt like ponies much, the bigger they were the nicer gait i found

 

[satay]

No eggs wow they must have been freaked out since theyre clearly not broody again yet. Everything scares chicken

Happy birthday!! Im sure dad will bring home something extra yummy, dont let the other girls take it!
Haha precious ;-) coffee blend?! Wow id be scared of hyper chickens lol. Yeah i use laucke too, they have a mill right across from my old high school so i feel as tho im supporting locals by buying it

On the horse topic i used to ride when ibwas probably 10-12, havent riden since, so miss it. I always rode 16.1-16-3 horses even tho i was a short 10 yr old lol. I didnt like ponies much, the bigger they were the nicer gait i found

There is actually no coffee in it so i am not sure why it is called that.

 

[satay]

Not the best picture but as close as the mummas would let me get. The 2 mumma pekins and their babies a black and a buff.

 

[RodneyRooster]

Not the best picture but as close as the mummas would let me get. The 2 mumma pekins and their babies a black and a buff.

Hmm strange about the coffee, id think it would put people off more than sell it..

Awwwww! Took me a minute to find them but theyre gorgeous! Little black fluff balls are as cute as white/yellow!!

 

[Teila]

No further freak outs today, except for Cilla whinging about Blondie being in her nest box .. told all the neighbours all about it

LuLu thanks everyone for her birthday wishes

Oooh yeah, fussy princesses here also .. “we are not eating pellets .. pfft!”

So, because I do not go through that much, they get the Country Heritage Organic Coarse Layer Mix which kinda gives them variety as it can change depending on what organic grains, corn etc are available at the time. There are very small ‘protein’ pellets in there which they will sometimes eat.

Satay looking at your pic is kinda freaky; it is like looking at Cilla and Blondie

The little bubbers are so tiny and SO CUTE!

 

[chooks01]

Pearls day old babies hahah so cute they are so tiny!

 

[satay]

Pearls day old babies hahah so cute they are so tiny!

 

[cwrite]

Very cute babies chooks01 and Satay!



A very cross Snowy and Hagrid are installed in the broody breaker. It's a great size for the two of them and raised so that there is airflow underneath their breasts. I've given them a treat and so far Snowy has not stopped pacing, except to eat. It seems a bit mean to leave them in there overnight, but it would be worse to leave them not eating properly indefinitely. I'm hoping it doesn't take as long as 3 days and they they give me some clues that they have stopped being broody seeing as they can't race back to the nest. How do I tell when they are over it given that there is no nest or eggs for them to hoard?