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

[sjturner79]

New babies today. I was wondering when they were due.

 

[satay]

New babies today. I was wondering when they were due.

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[satay]

they are....and so friendly with the silkies. hey when were you able to sex them... read so many sites saying feather sexing about 4 week and a half weeks where others are saying you cant and have to wait til they are older or the boys go through a growth spurt.I really dont mind either way but apparently 2 drakes to 2 females are to stressful for the girls.

I could always tell with mine from the day they were born. I found the drakes were always bigger but if you can't tell that way i would say give it 8 weeks to be sure.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I don't know what that costs where you are - but that one is 29-32$ a bag here.

It's about $38 here but believe me once you break it down with a 20 k bag of mixed grain , it goes a long way and the best thing is there is no wastage. When I offer mine normal size pellets they turn their noses up at it.

 

[vehve]

We just mix our own feed, so far the chickens have been doing well on it for two years. They do get a lot of kitchen scraps too though. Calcium we feed on the side.

 

[Fancychooklady]

The feed debate depends largely on what your expectations of the birds are. If you are growing them out to eat , then any old feed that is high in fat and protein with a moderate fibre level will fatten them up. If you are wanting high fertility and healthy offspring then you need to look a little closer at the feed label. My birds live, on average , about 8 years so it's important to me to ensure that they are fed a diet designed for longevity and hopefully avoid organ damage , perosis and visceral gout. Mine had sprouted barley today , along with cherries , plums and pears. Planting fruit trees in the yards keeps them entertained for hours on end. The Ravens were even in for plums this morning.

 

[sweetbeak]

Hi all, I live in Trentham Victoria and have a lot of fertile eggs for sale. Lavender arancuna, black orphington, olive eggers, silkie bantams, Plymouth rock and rhode island reds. Eggs are $2 each and sell minimum of 6, happy to post or drop off in the Trentham, Daylesford and Macedon area. Contact me at [email protected] if you are keen. I have about a 95% success rate. Attached are some photos, would love to share some of my beautiful babies with others!

 

[vehve]

Fancy, yeah, I did calculate the approximate makeup of my mix, I try to balance it pretty close to commercial feed.

 

[Deej211]

On the subject of broodies. Has anyone else noticed that your hens yolks go really pale just before going broody?

 

[Teila]

Morning Peeps

Stay safe QLDers and lets hope the possible super cells do not eventuate

Stay safe everywhere else also; mother nature is definitely in a mood

Fizzybelle keep up the good news on Aggie’s improvement.

Fancy good to hear you got some rain.

Congrats on the bubbers sjturner79

Deej211 I have to be honest, I have not noticed paler egg yolks before broodiness but then I have not really paid much attention. I will suss it out next time I have a broody, which probably will be soon

, and let you know.

On the subject of feed, I buy Country Heritage Organic Coarse Layer which is about $32 per 20kg bag. Yep, it is a little on the expensive side but is recommended for a small backyard flock and being a small backyard flock, we do not go through heaps. The girls seems to like that one the most and it varies with each bag depending on what organic grains are available. It also has nice bantam sized ‘protein pellets’.

On the subject of cheese, the gals share a very small slice between 6 of them on Sunday’s. They seem to know when it is c-h-e-e-s-e day .. yep, we have to spell the word because I swear they know what it means

Edited to Add: After her soft shell egg on Monday, Dusty laid a perfect egg yesterday so I am thinking, as in the past, it was related to her moult.