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

[Anniebee]

He's finally here.

meet Castiel. He made his appearance at 1-30 am and after many failed attempts at nursing we finally got to bed at 5-30 am.
Mum is very proud of him.

YAAAAYYYYY ..... Congrats Fancy --- and Mum Mare.

Why is foaling such a worry ? ..... well, I do know - but nature takes care of its' own, and we have no choice but to go with the flow - and hey - look at that beautiful little fella.

Castiel - a fantastic name. Glad to hear that he is nursing well now - guess you'd have to keep an eye on that ( like you'd be doing ANYTHING else ???

)

Mum will now do all the right things day by day, ' all that heaving and pushing is over - gonna raise me wee baby boy - properly ' ( I hope it all goes well from here on in ).

Wonderful news ... so delighted.

( from a horse crazy lady in Victoria ) ....

Cheers -----

 

[Anniebee]

Hi, what a puzzle. My girls keep laying but they don't moult hard like yours - if you didn't see the new growth and the old feathers on the ground you almost wouldn't know they're moulting. The new feathers grow as fast as they loose the old.

Maybe extra soy protein helps?

The new feathers take a bit longer with my girls ??? .... but then they are a decidedly weird lot - except for Mindy Araucana, who gets on with all business at top speed - moulting, regrowth, laying, and egg production. Get about 6 out of 7 days eggs with her.

The other two big girls .... whenever the mood strikes, but otherwise

This is the first time, however that I have ever seen Mandy Welsummer ( BIG girl ) moult very quickly ---- she usually takes months.

Will just give up and enjoy my 3 girls antics I think. Will have a look at soy protein too - tku for that suggestion.

Cheers ........

 

[Anniebee]

From Teila :

Anniebee Yep, Cilla is addicted and just wants to be a mumma, over and over and over again. If I had more room and could guarantee that the eggs only hatched girls, I would cave but I just feel bad bringing little ones into the world that I can not keep and others may not want. May be I should hire her out lol

................ Now there's a thought !!

No guarantee to hatch girls - ever. !! Sad though it is. I can understand your feelings.

You do have some weird chooks! Lol ........ Oh yes, I think they might be aliens !!

In my experience with moults, it has taken my girls ages to lay again. Dusty does the hard/fast moult but still does not lay for weeks or months. LuLu is currently going through a soft/slow moult and also has stopped laying.

In the two hard moults Dusty has had, all signs of pin feathers have vanished completely and she has been fully feathered and back to normal before going back to laying.

My experience too Teila ..... takes a few weeks at least for the comb to redden, and back on the job. Mindy is always the quickest but that's no surprise. This latest effort by Mandy, really is a HUGE surprise. And it WAS her egg. But no more from her, since that 'one-off' !! Her comb has reddened though. Molly and Mindy are keeping up the egg supply !!!

Definitely from outer space - especially Mandy ( who constantly growls at anything and everything ) !!!

Cheers .......

 

[appps]

Castiel means covered or protected by God . Powerful Angel.

My daughter said is she a supernatural fan . Apparently that's one of the characters.

 

[Fancychooklady]

My daughter said is she a supernatural fan . Apparently that's one of the characters.

Our daughter is too. Her nickname is 'Wednesday '.

 

[Teila]

Good morning Friends

I am not celebrating just yet but Cilla may be broken; she spent the day in the garden yesterday, not attempting to get to a nest box and when I opened up the nest boxes at breakfast time this morning, she did not make a bee line for them but had some breakfast instead. That was nearly two hours ago and I have just checked through the window and she is in the front run with everyone else, preening

I have not mentioned the Crows lately because we have been sort of at a stalemate; they still visit on a daily basis and I still chase them off when I can. There have only been a couple and they have not been too noisy; until the last week.

The couple have turned into 4 or 5 and they are back to waking me before the girls get a chance. Out of all their characteristics, it is that loud cawing that irks me the most.

Anyways, before the invasion of the Crows, when supervised free range was happening, any left over food was also popped outside the run, still in it’s container, so that the girls could chow down before bed time. Because this was an open invitation to the Crows, I stopped doing that and left the food in the run; if the girls wanted it, they knew where it was.

So, a couple of days ago one of the Crows marched straight into the run and started helping himself .. KiKi raised the alarm and Dusty sprang to action .. she raced into the run, cornered the Crow and beat the living daylights out of him. Hubby managed to get the Crow out, not because he felt sorry for it but did not want Dusty getting hurt as she is not much bigger than a Crow.

Sadly, it has not deterred him .. he has been back. I know it is him because he is missing a few feathers, limping and looks a bit under the weather

Yesterday they were trying to help themselves to the watermelon that was out for the girls.

They woke me at 05:15am and as I type there are three or four cawing up a storm .. have I mentioned I HATE Crows??? Lol

Right now I could quite happily shoot them!

 

[Fancychooklady]

I feel for you. The rotten sods are going into the coops here and hassling the Broodies off there eggs. I won't hatch any slow this season as a result of the thieves.

 

[Teila]

I feel for you. The rotten sods are going into the coops here and hassling the Broodies off there eggs. I won't hatch any slow this season as a result of the thieves.

Tut .. not good

The only good thing I have heard about having Crows is that they keep Hawks away .. obviously does not work with your Hawk and I think I may have seen a Hawk here once, very high and unconfirmed, which I think has nothing to do with the Crows but more that this is just an area that the Hawks do not frequent.

Unless there is another reason I should welcome them, right now the only good Crow would be a dead one

 

[Teila]

Also .. whoever says Crows are smart; I beg to differ

As it is Sunday, the girls are out on supervised free range with Hubby set up under the gazebo, working and watching.

Anyways, Dusty is hanging around the run doing her normal whinging and whining about laying an egg [mountain out of a mole hill … just do it! etc

].

As I was flying out of the house and hubby was flying down the path due to screeches of pain coming from the coop .. Dusty had the same stupid Crow bailed up in the corner and was beating the living daylights out of him again! Not so freaking smart!

Once the Crow got away, there was much nattering among those in the trees .. hopefully telling each other that it might be an idea to give this place a miss!

 

[appps]

I don't want to jinx myself but we don't really get crows here. I mean they are around but we don't get them in our yard ever. What I do see giving the Hawks a hard time is actually the peewees. You often see them hovering with a couple of peewee giving them a hard time.

As for the Hawks I want to open up my run to include an area under a very bushy small tree. Every time I think they will be fine if I do the **** hawk seems to read my mind and I spot him doing low circles over the yard. Ugh. It's my cool spot for summer where I have my mister set up and the leaves give them a cool spot so I'm getting rather frustrated to be honest. I'm thinking I might see if I can run some bird netting over the little patch of bare between their tree and the run so they don't have to make the dash. I'm thinking they should be okay under the tree itself though.