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

[sjturner79]

I'm egg free here now also. Only a few days left for the last chicks in the nests to hatch, and the last of my eggs I had left I just for the Easter HAL.
I think streaks might be starting her first molt as she seems to have less tail feathers , although I haven't seen a lot of her lately, she's been busy with her bubs. It's also possible that they've just been pulled out by the over abundance of roosters. I hope to be feeling up to converting one to a roast soon.

 

[sjturner79]

I'm egg free here now also. Only a few days left for the last chicks in the nests to hatch, and the last of my eggs I had left I just for the Easter HAL.
I think streaks might be starting her first molt as she seems to have less tail feathers , although I haven't seen a lot of her lately, she's been busy with her bubs. It's also possible that they've just been pulled out by the over abundance of roosters. I hope to be feeling up to converting one to a roast soon.

I should say I've never actually had a chook go through a molt before, the ones I had growing up never seemed to do it, or at least not visably

 

[Anniebee]

Her eggs mostly don't have proper shells, they just have a weak shell and often are broken. I don't know where to get oyster shell, my grit is just little seashells. I'd read that it can be due to calcium deficiency or just a shell gland defect.

potato chip ---

My Mindy Araucana was laying soft shells a while back - here and there. One of them was like a water balloon, a few broke on being 'dropped' from the end push position, which is usually done when a chicken is standing up.

I gave her [ordinary 'horse'] calcium powder ( only a small amount ) ... but not the calcium carbonate, as she would not touch, as mentioned before, the oyster shell grit. I could not find calcium carbonate in powder form except on-line ( reasonably priced ) ... but I don't buy anything on line. AND, as Fancy pointed out, calcium and phosphorous should be in proper proportions to one another - to be effective and not cause problems.

Also, my thought is seashells ground up is probably adequate to offer, along with ground up finely - egg shells after cooking to hard boiled.

( Fancy or anyone else - please correct me if am wrong ).

Also found that Miss Mindy delighted in the fact that an egg 'broke' on landing on the ground, as she'd hurriedly eat the yolk - even before I could get to her to stop it.
Thought I might have a problem there of an egg eating chook, but that was not the case.

I brought her inside, clipped her very dirty butt feathers, washed her down thoroughly, pulled a few rogue feathers out - and after that, only had the problem once more. 99.9% of her eggs from thereon in, were perfect. My thought was the egg may have been impeded on its way south, by the pooey bottom --- getting caught somehow and then dropping as she walked. ( weird thought, I know ) Anyway, she performed beautifully - until going into a heavy moult which she is in now.

I don't know anything about shell gland defects. Maybe sometimes a chicken does not metabolise the calcium in layer pellets, properly. All a bit of a mystery, isn't it.

Just a few extra thoughts here. ....

Cheers .......

 

[sjturner79]

According to Facebook it's KC's first birthday today. So I guess that means that 3 of my chooks are now hens instead of pullets as streaks and shadows are a few weeks older than her.

 

[Fancychooklady]

potato chip --- 

My Mindy Araucana was laying soft shells a while back - here and there.   A couple of them were like water balloons, a few broke on being 'dropped' from the end push position, which is usually done when a chicken is standing up.  

I gave her [ordinary 'horse']  calcium powder  ( only a small amount ) ... but not the calcium carbonate, as she would not touch, as mentioned before, the oyster shell grit.  I could not find calcium carbonate in powder form except on-line ( reasonably priced ) ... but I don't buy anything on line.  AND, as Fancy pointed out, calcium and phosphorous should be in proper proportions to one another - to be effective and not cause problems.

Also, my thought is seashells ground up is probably adequate to offer, along with ground up finely - egg shells after cooking to hard boiled.  

( Fancy or anyone else  - please correct me if am wrong ).

Also found that Miss Mindy delighted in the fact that an egg 'broke' on landing on the ground, as she'd hurriedly eat the yolk - even before I could get to her to stop it.  
Thought I might have a problem there of an egg eating chook, but that was not the case. 

I brought her inside, clipped her very dirty butt feathers, washed her down thoroughly, pulled a few rogue feathers out - and after that, only had the problem once more.  99.9% of her eggs from thereon in, were perfect.   My thought was the egg may have been impeded on its way south, by the pooey bottom --- getting caught somehow and then dropping as she walked.  ( weird thought, I know )   Anyway, she performed beautifully - until going into a heavy moult which she is in now. 

I don't know anything about shell gland defects.   Maybe sometimes a chicken does not metabolise the calcium in layer pellets, properly.   All a bit of a mystery, isn't it.  

Just a few extra thoughts here.  .... 

Cheers ....... 

While seashells contain some calcium , they are only useful as ' grit ' which helps to grind food down , in the absence of teeth. Oyster shell on the other hand is calcium carbonate and is more readily absorbed into the birds system , in other words not just sent through the system via ' express post ' .

 

[User395221]

I haven't seen oyster shell at the shops, I'll see whether they have it at the "horse place", they have more "stuff" than the normal petshop does.

Mindy Araucana sounds like a real character.

 

[Teila]

Top o’ the morn’n to ya

Anniebee I know I have mentioned this before, but I just wanted to let you know that your comment “My thought was the egg may have been ….. getting caught somehow and then dropping as she walked”, was not a weird thought at all and that happens quite frequently here.

Having a high ratio of fluffy butts to non fluffy butts, I am frequently finding eggs at the bottom of the ramp, in the run or on the coop floor. I think it was Blondie I bailed up in the garden one day, still dragging her egg around with her, stuck to her ‘skirts’.

I have found that if they linger in the nest box while the egg dries, it sticks nicely to their fluffy feathers.

So, we had a mini drama here yesterday. As I was watering, I spotted what looked like fresh blood on the small retaining wall. I called hubby over and he thought that it looked more like red berry juice from the tree. Anyways, turns out it was blood .. who knew chickens had such bright red blood? I didn’t, as this is the first time I have had to deal with a seriously bleeding chicken.

Of course I was beside myself with worry and frantically trying to locate everyone and suss out who was bleeding. I easily spotted Crystal with blood all over her underbelly. She looked like someone or something had sliced her open.

On closer inspection, through tear hindered vision, she had a bleeding toe

.. who knew that one bleeding toe could bleed quite so much? I didn’t

Anyways, it looks like she has knocked the claw on her 5th toe as the blood was dripping from there and then, as she walked, managing to spread far and wide across the garden and on her belly. Didn’t help that she still thought it was a good idea to use that foot to scratch her head

I managed to stop the bleeding and clean her and the toe up but she managed to knock it again and cause it to bleed. It did not seem to be bothering her and as, after the second clean up, the others were not paying attention to it either, I popped some Betadine on it and left her with the flock; no rebleeds for the rest of the afternoon.

I have not had a chance to inspect it closely this morning but there was no blood on or under the roost and she was happily dust bathing at breakfast time.

Of course, I will be checking it out later today, re-treating and keeping an eye out for any signs of infection.

 

[FarmPetsGirl]

Cool I hadn't seen anyone with jersey giants here in aus. Where did you get her?

Actually I live in the States. I just saw the post and figured I'd answer, as no one else seems to have. Sorry.

 

[appps]

Actually I live in the States. I just saw the post and figured I'd answer, as no one else seems to have. Sorry.

That's ok, as she is named Emu we shall accept her into the Aussie flock as an honourary member

 

[satay]

Actually I live in the States. I just saw the post and figured I'd answer, as no one else seems to have. Sorry.

I figured you must be. There are jersey Giants in Aus now but they are the imported ones and as far as i know not released to the public yet.