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

[Anniebee]

OK .... I am now at page 3397, after cruising from some 14 full pages back. !! ... Not getting any notifications, which annoys me very much. Guess others are having problems with this site as well.

Fancy ... I am sorry to hear of the loss of your 3 chickens recently. And while here, addressing you, I still have some pestcene powder which I still use - although ... I do it this way - - - - lock the chookies out of their coops while I sprinkle the dust in their nesting ( read sleeping ) boxes and elsewhere, and I wear a mask while doing so. Even then, I inhale, hold my breath and sprinkle, walk away and exhale, so that nothing gets to me - even through a mask. So far, this has never upset my chickens, but as soon as I am out of the Pestcene, I will go to the Tomato Dust type pesticide you have recommended. ....

A BIG HELLO to all the new people I have seen here. There seem to be so many, over the many pages, that I will not list you all. Just will say a big "Hi" and "Welcome" to this good Aussie thread.

More in a moment - - - -

 

[Anniebee]

Very sadly, I lost Molly Rhode Island Red a couple of weeks ago ( by Vet euthanasia ). I didn't know she was having a battle ( and I don't think she was overall, as she was sprightly, full of vigour and strength, and interested in everything ) .... but at well past 5 years of age ( as the other two remaining are ) ... anything can be expected. It was Molly I suspected had laid / passed ( from oviduct or bowel ??? ) two strange looking "lash" (?) things. Nothing was in them, except in one - a tiny centred pink smudge, upon opening them up ... and that was months ago. 4 days before she was euthanased, she was hale and hearty, dust bathing, sun bathing, eating ( but not a lot ) and enjoying grass.

Then on -3 morning Neil found her up on a ladder which none of them have ever used. He got her down, but she seemed to have become blind - almost over night. From then on it was downhill fast. She faltered in walking, finally unable to walk much at all. She seemed unaware of her surroundings, and if she did manage to walk ( on grass - she managed that carefully ) ... she would walk into bushes and the fence, and decide 'ooops - that's wrong'. I think she could see perhaps out of one eye, but it was sad, so I did the only thing I could, and had her put to sleep. There was no quality of life left for her, as she could not find her food or water, and she would have starved to death. She ate only a little of what I hand offered her.

I was worried about Mandy who still flaps across the ground, falling over her huge inturned feet, but is still in good fettle. I thought she would fret. So I devised a towel stuffed perfect ( RIR ) coloured blouse I had, and scrunched that up, to look like a hen in a corner. ( nothing wrong with me !! ) .... and when I found Mandy sitting on it one morning, I figured she might be over it all. And I believe she is.

Since then however, I have made a rod for my own back. Both Mindy Araucana and Mandy Welsummer are moulting ( which means they are eating less ), so I have taken to hand feeding Mandy. She sits and waits each day for my goodies in a bowl - which includes finely ground layer pellets ( for vitamins etc. ) mixed in with rice and other good protein stuff as the mood takes me. She loves to be hand fed, and enjoys my poking around in the bowl ( it stimulates her to eat faster ) ... I think she is trying to beat me to the punch for tucker. However, as they are both very 'aged' I don't expect much of them in the future. Certainly not too many eggs, for sure.

It is strange that they are moulting so early ( January 2nd Mindy began ) so I am hoping it is a sign that an early Autumn is on its way. Sure hope so. Been sticky heat and nasty here in Victoria. ......... Queensland has moved south.

Hope Queenslanders are getting some well deserved rain at this time. The weather is weird all over, isn't it.

Cheers to all ~~~

 

[SarahMonique]

We haven’t had any decent rain here in SEQLD since Christmas unfortunately. Been a hot & humid few weeks.
I’m wondering if anyone might be able to tell me what breed this little lady is. Her name is Evangeline. We got her as a random black chick from a local farm and I thought she was possible a black sex link or maybe a Australorp hybrid of some sort. But she isn’t showing any colouring anywhere at 16 weeks while her friend Stella the light Sussex is starting to get some red in her face. Evangeline has a very interesting tale shape and her feathers shine green in the sun.any ideas?

 

[Sparky74]

Sparky74 ... been ages since I visited here ( not getting notifications at all now ) but want to say I feel for your loss of chickens to foxes. ... These cunning, ( but beautiful looking ) creatures, do hunt during the day time, so chickens are always at risk. As for 'marking your territory' ... if you are a man ( I have no way of knowing what your gender is ) ... then go for it. They usually avoid the smell of human male urine - however, female human urine is ignored and of no use. I have no idea why that is.

Just have a pee or ask ( if a lady ) someone willing, to provide some good sized samples, and spray it around all areas that a fox might climb, burrow, or dig around ... fences / gates in particular.

Good luck in the future. You have to 'out-think' a fox.

Thanks, Annibee.

Yes, I am a man. We haven’t seen anything of the fox recently so here’s hoping.

I've been having a few issues with this website and wondered why everyone had gone quite, lol.

In the meantime I’ve managed to rehome my Wyandotte X cockerel which we’d hatched in early October. I’ve also acquired 6 free chicks of indeterminate breed and gender. I can hardly wait to see what they grow into.

In other news egg production has slowed a bit but I think the blue tounge is still getting a few of them. We only have 4 layers at the moment but this afternoon the wife found a stash of 7 eggs in another spot. This is helpful because I’ve been using quite a few. I’m entering a Jam Sponge Roll in the Royal Easter Show and have been practicing by making one most days.

 

[Anniebee]

Thanks, Annibee.

Yes, I am a man. We haven’t seen anything of the fox recently so here’s hoping.

I've been having a few issues with this website and wondered why everyone had gone quite, lol.

In the meantime I’ve managed to rehome my Wyandotte X cockerel which we’d hatched in early October. I’ve also acquired 6 free chicks of indeterminate breed and gender. I can hardly wait to see what they grow into.

In other news egg production has slowed a bit but I think the blue tounge is still getting a few of them. We only have 4 layers at the moment but this afternoon the wife found a stash of 7 eggs in another spot. This is helpful because I’ve been using quite a few. I’m entering a Jam Sponge Roll in the Royal Easter Show and have been practicing by making one most days.

****

Good luck with the fox situation.

And since this website changed its format, many have complained, and I haven't been getting any notifications - have to keep a very old link handy to get here, when I have time. I'd be here much more often if each day I had some form of reminder in my inbox. iPad doesn't like this new website, the old one was ok on there. Grrrr ...

Best wishes for your entry into the Jam Roll comp at the Royal Easter Show. They are not easy to make ( well, I have managed to mess up all my efforts anyway in the past). Glad to hear you were able to re-home your lovely Wyandotte X cockerel. Hope your 6 new chicks are all hens

Cheers ~~

 

[satay]

Very sadly, I lost Molly Rhode Island Red a couple of weeks ago ( by Vet euthanasia ). I didn't know she was having a battle ( and I don't think she was overall, as she was sprightly, full of vigour and strength, and interested in everything ) .... but at well past 5 years of age ( as the other two remaining are ) ... anything can be expected. It was Molly I suspected had laid / passed ( from oviduct or bowel ??? ) two strange looking "lash" (?) things. Nothing was in them, except in one - a tiny centred pink smudge, upon opening them up ... and that was months ago. 4 days before she was euthanased, she was hale and hearty, dust bathing, sun bathing, eating ( but not a lot ) and enjoying grass.

Then on -3 morning Neil found her up on a ladder which none of them have ever used. He got her down, but she seemed to have become blind - almost over night. From then on it was downhill fast. She faltered in walking, finally unable to walk much at all. She seemed unaware of her surroundings, and if she did manage to walk ( on grass - she managed that carefully ) ... she would walk into bushes and the fence, and decide 'ooops - that's wrong'. I think she could see perhaps out of one eye, but it was sad, so I did the only thing I could, and had her put to sleep. There was no quality of life left for her, as she could not find her food or water, and she would have starved to death. She ate only a little of what I hand offered her.

I was worried about Mandy who still flaps across the ground, falling over her huge inturned feet, but is still in good fettle. I thought she would fret. So I devised a towel stuffed perfect ( RIR ) coloured blouse I had, and scrunched that up, to look like a hen in a corner. ( nothing wrong with me !! ) .... and when I found Mandy sitting on it one morning, I figured she might be over it all. And I believe she is.

Since then however, I have made a rod for my own back. Both Mindy Araucana and Mandy Welsummer are moulting ( which means they are eating less ), so I have taken to hand feeding Mandy. She sits and waits each day for my goodies in a bowl - which includes finely ground layer pellets ( for vitamins etc. ) mixed in with rice and other good protein stuff as the mood takes me. She loves to be hand fed, and enjoys my poking around in the bowl ( it stimulates her to eat faster ) ... I think she is trying to beat me to the punch for tucker. However, as they are both very 'aged' I don't expect much of them in the future. Certainly not too many eggs, for sure.

It is strange that they are moulting so early ( January 2nd Mindy began ) so I am hoping it is a sign that an early Autumn is on its way. Sure hope so. Been sticky heat and nasty here in Victoria. ......... Queensland has moved south.

Hope Queenslanders are getting some well deserved rain at this time. The weather is weird all over, isn't it.

Cheers to all ~~~

Sorry for your loss.
It is hard to loose them at any age.
Not a lot of rain here but i would be thinking Teila should be getting a nice bit up there in the North of the state.
The heat you are all getting down South was what summer was like here last year continual days over 40c. Think we have only had one day over 40c so far but quite a few up around 37c or so so I am not complaining

 

[satay]

View attachment 1246443 View attachment 1246444 View attachment 1246445 We haven’t had any decent rain here in SEQLD since Christmas unfortunately. Been a hot & humid few weeks.
I’m wondering if anyone might be able to tell me what breed this little lady is. Her name is Evangeline. We got her as a random black chick from a local farm and I thought she was possible a black sex link or maybe a Australorp hybrid of some sort. But she isn’t showing any colouring anywhere at 16 weeks while her friend Stella the light Sussex is starting to get some red in her face. Evangeline has a very interesting tale shape and her feathers shine green in the sun.any ideas?

Not sure but would guess your black one is a cross of some sort.

 

[satay]

I've already posted this on the random ramblings forum but I was suggested to post it here too -
So I've been moving around a lot and Baffy my rooster lives at my grandparents in the coop with the other chickens and is angry that I don't live there anymore and he's forced to be an actual chicken (he was hand raised by me and dislikes coops).

He gets very excited when I come visit of course but when I put him back in the pen he pecks me (I actually have a scar on my face now cause he got me good and I lost a chunk of my ear another time) poor (violent angry) baby

So, I'm moving to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia soon and was looking into boarding him on a property near by cause ya know, he crows all day everyday and it's noise pollution

(why must he be a boy).
If anyone reading this lives in the Brisbane area and is willing to take him in for a while I would be INCREDIBLY grateful <3

I did look into possibly getting him caponized (basically desexing for roosters) but apparently chicken testicles are located inside their body (under the backbone between the lower two ribs) and the operation has a 5% death rate and the birds rarely are but under anaesthetic and infection are common that it stops the crowing AND it's banned in the UK because of the cruelty so, yeah, I scrapped that idea unless I can get a trained vet to do it safely and with low risk and anaesthetic. (http://www.humanesociety.org/…/HSUS-Report-on-Caponization.…)

There's also decrowing which works by severing the vocal cords but this also has a high death rate and heaps of complications post surgery and only works some of the time as well not to mention the mental toll a rooster that can't crow is not worth it and it just seems incredibly cruel. (think of it like de-barking a dog) (http://animals.mom.me/how-to-stop-a-rooster-from-crowing-27…)

BUT

While I was looking up chicken sanctuary's tonight, one lady told me about Cock-Collars (insert inappropriate joke here)

They basically work by being "worn snug around the rooster’s lower neck without altering their ability to communicate or behave in any other different way except lowering their crow in the morning and throughout the day. rooster collars prevents roosters from pushing out contents they have inhaled all at once, which produces a softer less powerful crow, while still allowing your rooster to function and perform normally" (http://www.cockcollars.com.au/)
So yeah I'm gonna give that a try and if it works i may be able to keep Baffy in the city with me if I can find a suitable place!!!

If you guys have any suggestions it'd be greatly appreciated!

Thanks if you got through this incredibly long and over explained post, I originally posted it on Facebook on Baffy's page (https://www.facebook.com/pg/baffythechicken/posts/?ref=page_internal) so I explained a lot of terms that people not part of a dedicated poultry forum possible wouldn't know

I guess you would be better to wait til you know the suburb you are moving to and then ask about.. I'm a bit to far from the city but there are many sites on Facebook where you can pop up and add and see if you get anyone that can help you out.

 

[Sparky74]

What have I done?!

This evening I picked up 11 more chooks, thus doubling my flock in one fowl (sic) swoop. Unfortunately these new chooks have scaly leg mite, so I’m off investigate treatments.

 

[Sparky74]

What have I done?!

This evening I picked up 11 more chooks, thus doubling my flock in one fowl (sic) swoop. Unfortunately these new chooks have scaly leg mite, so I’m off investigate treatments.

It seems that the best treatment is to dip their legs in petrol (!) and then apply A & D ointment, reapply the ointment on day 2, and repeat the whole process on day 3.