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

[LuckysMum]

I lock it up with what my hubby calls 'bells and whistles' ... which is a slide bolt, a brick at the bottom of the door, a weird looking piece of timber jammed at the top left of the door ( both to prevent rats from getting in, if there are any - haven't seen a one for ages ), and car roof elastic over the small tarp that covers part of the wired coop door - to prevent wind lifting it off and flapping it around in an overnight storm ??? Nuffin' wrong wif me !!

( little wonder some peeps think we are somewhat off the planet !! )

.... but they don't know the attachment and attraction of chookies ... do they ?

That's my contribution to weird 'lock-ups' for chickens. !!

........ Cheers .......

Haha sounds just like me bricks, planks, bungee cord, rope and tarps. When Mia said Nana your backyard is great but it looks like a junkyard, We stood back and thought yeah it is. Hence all the building and renovating. Plus Paul seems to get it that we will have more chooks. (avairy birds) Its not us it's the rest of the world.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hi everyone.

Just wondering i have a red sex link who i suspect is egg bound ..... now she has laid one egg but still seems a little sick. Should I be expecting more or should she improve?

Kat you may need to put a disposable glove on and do an internal examination . Sometimes a warm bath in Epsom salts massaging towards the vent will help her pass any poop that got trapped up behind the egg. When was the last time you wormed her ?

 

[kat79]

Kat you may need to put a disposable glove on and do an internal examination . Sometimes a warm bath in Epsom salts massaging towards the vent will help her pass any poop that got trapped up behind the egg. When was the last time you wormed her ?

Hi fancy.

I am going to worm her soon she has just started to molt and should be going off the lay so I will do the worming then. Ok as far as poop was concerned.... omg never thought a chciken could poop so much. She was going for it after that egg came out.

About 10 mins ago she was walking around the lounge talking and talking.

 

[LuckysMum]

You can't rely on the staff at your local pet produce to know much about anything. Most of them haven't got any poultry and will sell you anything.
If I'm not sure I take a pic of the ingredient panel and go home to research before I jump in.
Many brands are less than forth coming with information but I find that Laucke from SA have the best ingredients list.

Fancy I was just looking up our feed we use Red Hen form Laucke. When I looked up the chick feed it says to start feeding them pullet mix after 6 weeks. The lady were I get my feed from has chickens (you can see them) and she says to keep them on the chick feed for a lot longer she said Lucky could still eat it as that's what the other were on. The youngest chicks are about 8 weeks now. I'm now thinking of getting pullet mix for them all. Would love some input if anyone has other thoughts.
Thanks

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hi fancy.

I am going to worm her soon she has just started to molt and should be going off the lay so I will do the worming then. Ok as far as poop was concerned.... omg never thought a chciken could poop so much. She was going for it after that egg came out.

About 10 mins ago she was walking around the lounge talking and talking.

Yep it comes down the same chute. I'd put some vits in her water , check the calcium levels in her feed and worm her.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Fancy I was just looking up our feed we use Red Hen form Laucke. When I looked up the chick feed it says to start feeding them pullet mix after 6 weeks.  The lady were I get my feed from has chickens (you can see them) and she says to keep them on the chick feed for a lot longer she said Lucky could still eat it as that's what the other were on. The youngest chicks are about 8 weeks now. I'm now thinking of getting pullet mix for them all.  Would love some input if anyone has other thoughts.
Thanks

Most layer pellets contain too much calcium for chicks and Roos . Once a hen starts laying her calcium requirement increases. Feeds are specifically designed for age, so you ideally should start with a ' chick starter for the first 6 weeks, then move on to a ' grower pellet ' and then at 16-20 weeks the basic ration for hens should be ' layer ' pellets.
I personally go from starter to the laucke game bird finisher. It's 22% protein but it's low in calcium and better for a ' mixed ' flock.

 

[Anniebee]

Originally posted by MyHaven ... Re :

I believe it is more likely to happen when they are on feed that contains hormones. I was horrified recently when I was told that provided the levels aren't over a specific level hormones don't have to be declared on the packaging.

( and other posts concerning feed )

..........

Was always under the impression that hormones are not permitted to be fed to chickens here .... and according to this link, that is so :

http://www.chicken.org.au/files/_system/document/faq.pdf

and - from Lilydale Free Range Chickens ( a company I mostly trust ) ... this link : http://www.freerangechicken.com.au/frequently-asked-questions

If you go there, jump down to " Are the chickens given anti-biotics" .... click on that and the answer appears. ( which is 'NO' ), however - - -

" If chickens are treated with antibiotics for welfare reasons then they cannot be sold as free range. " ( that's as they say - I can only hopefully trust, that is the case in truth ). Much as I trust the company to produce really good food for us, they are in fact a company, and organisation built to make profit ... so ???

The above might answer some of your queries, but does not address the content of varieties of feed for chickens, and what they might contain.

I have always stuck with Barastoc ( various stages of chicken feeding ) through to layer pellets, which my chooks have been on from the time they could be, from becoming POL chickens.

I read of various chicken pellets here used ( so many ? ) .... the Laucke sounds good. But at this stage I would not consider changing my chicken feed. They still seem to love their Barastoc, when they want or need to eat. And of course, they get "Mum's treats" ... which at times defy description ( but always good tucker for them which they adore ).

Hope this helps a bit ........

Cheers ....

 

[LuckysMum]

Most layer pellets contain too much calcium for chicks and Roos . Once a hen starts laying her calcium requirement increases. Feeds are specifically designed for age, so you ideally should start with a ' chick starter for the first 6 weeks, then move on to a ' grower pellet ' and then at 16-20 weeks the basic ration for hens should be ' layer ' pellets.
I personally go from starter to the laucke game bird finisher. It's 22% protein but it's low in calcium and better for a ' mixed ' flock.

Thanks for that I will go tomorrow and get the grower. The lady said the chick starter had the coccidiosis preventer in it. But I have always cleaned up the poo regularly right from when they hatch. So really they should be alright.

Thanks Anniebee I will check out the link.

 

[Anniebee]

p.s. ... to the above re : ( MyHaven's post ) ....

Just noticed that Fancy has posted at the same time I did ........ and I agree with her.

Fits in with what I was saying about 'various stages of feeding' ... which Barastoc seems to have a good handle on.

If ever I were to change my chicken feed ( for my 3 laying chickens - whenever that might happen again after moults ?? ) .... I would consider the Laucke. Sounds good.

Meanwhile, being my 3 are all in their own version of moulting !!

which is difficult to keep tabs on, even with only 3 chickens !! .... I up the protein for them ... not overly, but a few times a week ( a smallish amount of hard cheese grated, plus cooked, roasted or baked goodies containing protein, plus yoghurt, cottage cheese etc ). Just purchased today, some dog food roll ( no preservatives ) to give to Ruby, which is lamb and vegies. A top of the range product, not cheap - (Ecopet), and my 3 girls will get small amounts of that in the coming weeks as well, mixed with rice, oats and greens. Just enough ( I hope ) to maintain more proteiin in their diet.

Cheers ....... ( more shortly which I hope gives a few people some giggles ).....

 

[Anniebee]

I have read much much here about mealworms.

Was having trouble finding the ' real deal ' .... ( live meal worms ) .... and my stock and produce agent did not stock them.

hmmm .... but today I found that they DO stock dried mealworms. Lots of lovely packets of them ?????

New in, and I had never asked for dried mealworms before. ........... My bad, I guess.

So I paid X amount for them ( expensive, but substantial in quantity !! ) .... and excitedly brought them home to give my girls all their Christmas's and birthdays at once.


Wow ... mealworms at last. ??

Mindy Araucana, who cannot at present see enough to distinguish much at all with new feathering growing over her eyes, knew EXACTLY what they were for ...... to be eaten .... yaaaay. "Thanks heaps, Mum ".

The two big girls ???

They did NOT have a clue. Mind you, to be fair to them, they had never seen them before. And as they didn't 'wriggle' ... they apparently appeared as bits of strange tiger striped sticks to them. I had to plonk a little scratch mix over the dried mealworms, so's they would eat everything. ??? Well, they did eat them eventually, but I doubt they knew any difference from the scratch mix to the dried mealworms. All part of the same goodies Mum has chucked over the fence. "Thanks heaps, Mum" ??

I am going to put a few in hot water to 'plump' them out - much the same as plumping sultanas back to original fat size, and see if that attracts my two silly big chooks. ( that's if that plumping out theory works ) ...

Well - heck - I can only try. ....