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

[Anniebee]

To appps ..... so glad your girl Carl has had the surgery and pulled through. That's one helluva mess she had in there. Guess she will continue a/b's to kill off any remaining bacteria --- and I would suspect there would be plenty of it in that mess that came out of her crop. What remains behind on the crop walls ( I am thinking ) will be dealt with well, with anti-biotics. To prevent sour-crop, as fancy had mentioned in her post.

..........

To All .... I am having trouble with this site - is anyone else encountering problems ? Shockwave Flash continues to 'crash' requiring re-load. I ignore it, post successfully my comment and then re-load. AND the ovation thumbs up icon no longer works for me, which is a bummer as there were many comments here I'd have liked to give an ovation to.

So ------ an ovation to all.

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appps - There was some discussion about Carl and massaging the crop. I have read various articles about it for myself ( when I thought Mandy might have had an impacted crop - but didn't ) .... and it seems there are two ways at least to massage. One is from down > upwards, and the other is the reverse - from up > downwards.

Does anyone know the correct way to massage ? from what I have read. I would have thought just a soft round-about massage would give the desired results ( if massage were to be enough ) ....
but there seems to be rules to everything - plus the inevitable differing opinions on various sites. ??

Anyway - so glad to hear that Carl is improving appps, and I hope all here have not got any further problems at present.

AND that the Queensland weather becomes kinder to you all up there. Having had tropical type humidity in Victoria in recent summers ( and this one ) although nothing anywhere near as high in humidity as you all have suffered, I can understand ( to a degree ). So far ( there's the rest of February to get through yet ) .... our summer in Victoria has been mildish,. sometimes wettish, and with some high-ish humidity - - - - with many hints of an early Autumn. ( praise the heavens ).

And Fancy ... the photos of the ship you have posted are fantastic. Great to see.

Anyway - cheers to all .......

Have a great weekend, everybody ........

 

[Anniebee]

Even the dangly bits?

I found another egg in the bushes (other side of the "garden"/wilderness). It could have been there since the big girls first moved in, because there was another one nearby "back then". How did I find the egg, I hear nobody ask? My little girls went on a "nature hike" in the bushes.

I think the only way you will find the 'dangly bits' is to wet thoroughly, her head - which is something I wouldn't do. If ever she gets really wet from rain, you should be able to pick her up - part the wet feathers and find the wattles, her ears - and her most expressive eyes. They seem to have different eyes to other larger chickens .... soft and large. You won't find anything much different in her comb though. They are small, scrunched up little things.

Cheers ........

 

[Fancychooklady]

Annie, the direction in which you massage depends on how early in the piece you notice the blockage and how big it is in size. Sometimes massaging towards the beak will help the bird to regurgitate the food and massaging in the opposite direction might help dislodge the foodstuff and send it down through the gizzard. Unfortunately grass mats together and everything they eat from then on is trapped up and begins to ferment.
Got some pics of little BB ( blue butt ) and my lovely little splash pullet. They are approx 14 weeks and you can see her face is getting a red glow too.

 

[User395221]

They are beauties, your girls.

 

[appps]

My daily Carl update . Still with us this morning. Bit nerve wrack that first peek under the cover in the morning. She is drinking well though quite noisy, almost like her beaks clacking all the time and I gave her some of her crumble that had been moistened first. She was eating it but would dribble watery saliva out her mouth now and then. I just let her eat for a couple minutes then have taken it off her to let that settle so it doesn't all come back up like the water seems to be and will just feed her in small goes today I think. Don't want to stretch the crop too much today either I'd think.

Vet wasn't there when I picked her up, they gave me antibiotics (oh joy love trying to get those down her) but last time they also gave me straight probiotic powder so will chase that up this morning.

 

[Deej211]

Some new pics as its been a while since i put any up. 1st one is a blue red ara x i bred, 2nd is a silverlaced wyandotte i got for free as she was going through the most atrocious moult. 2nd is my new very imperfect araucana roo as i lost my stunning boy. the new ones colour however is better for what im aiming for. his name is Beelzabub. 4th pic is crele and cuckoo araucana pullets i bred here the creles have white legs

5th is a blue red cuckoo i bred also. hes stunning but not a standard colour. his type, comb and eyes are perfect and im going to have a play with his colours. need a name for him, any suggestions??

 

[User395221]

Lovely chookens. I love the silver-laced wyandotte, she's very pretty. And I love the little sticky-up hairdos. And I love the beautiful burnished copper colour on the last one. And I love....

 

[Fancychooklady]

I just had my first snake encounter for the season. Went up to my girlfriends place to pick some cherry tomatoes, stepped into the geraniums , herd something rustling in the bushes
Poked around a bit and then out he came 4 foot tiger snake, eek I was standing on the verandah by then and he slithered right beneath me. The girls had better enjoy those tomatoes cause there won't be anymore.

 

[Fancychooklady]

The flock will be happy to get their sardine surprise , even if it is a day late. I haven't been able to get the woolies ones so I found these in IGA.

 

[Anniebee]

Annie, the direction in which you massage depends on how early in the piece you notice the blockage and how big it is in size. Sometimes massaging towards the beak will help the bird to regurgitate the food and massaging in the opposite direction might help dislodge the foodstuff and send it down through the gizzard. Unfortunately grass mats together and everything they eat from then on is trapped up and begins to ferment.
Got some pics of little BB ( blue butt ) and my lovely little splash pullet. They are approx 14 weeks and you can see her face is getting a red glow too.

Thank you Fancy, for the explanation about up or down massaging - which now makes sense to me. Pity the sites I visited, didn't bother to explain all that !!

I hope I never have to remember it though. What a dreadful mess that was in appps Carls' crop. A huge amount of garbage.

There is a wide bladed grass that grows through summer here in Victoria - and most likely everywhere else. ( don't know what it is called - but it's very big ). I hand pick that in summer and scissor it up finely for the girls, rather than let them feed themselves on it, too much. That dies back around April, and when the rains set in, some lovely fine grass / lawn grows and I let them at that. I never trust seeding grass - I figure that could get caught in crops big time --- it is tough and rough almost prickly stuff - and grows at this time of year from the wide bladed grass mentioned.

The photo's you have posted here are just beautiful of little BB - and your lovely splash pullet. What gorgeous colours in them both.

Must start looking for some good cheap sardines for my girls too - they have never had them except mixed in with a 'Mums' rice mix, now and then. I think that will be funny to watch, somehow.

( I hope ).

Cheers .......