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

[wooklet]

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Mid to high 40's!!!

I would die! Sounds like you really need that pool!

My chickens would probably kill each other for watermelon - don't they love it? Just had to put this in although it's not chicken related. It would only be in Australia,that people wear water melon hats to keep cool-wonder what genius thought of that first??

I guess you would wooklet but don't worry i would die of the cold their in winter lol. The hats wooklet were probably cooked up by crazy men after to many beers around a bbq in summer lol

Yes,I can picture that quite easily!

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Wow, I haven't caught up with this thread for nearly a week!

I survived the heat, so did all my crazy broodies. Did lose a roo though, not sure if it was the heat that got him or something else.

I went out to the big layer pen this morning and one of the crazy broodies I couldn't reach to move has peepers with her!

I had her penciled in for next week so she must have been sitting for a few days before I spotted her. 3 cute balls of fuzz, 2 black barred and one blue, don't think it's barred, cute fuzzy legs all round. These could well be by the roo I lost so I'm glad she was sneaky. She's been moved into a hutch I put in the main pen though as I caught the runty teen roo running off with one in his beak!

I realised when I was rounding up stuff for the pen all my chick drinkers and feeders are in use, I only have one brooder going at a time usually and only have two sets. (Just in case I end up with two like I had done

) So what to do? I thought since she only have three chicks I'd see if she'd take my NYD chicks too, even though I'd usually integrate at night. All went well, she seems happy enough with them, all were eating together when I last checked them and she had NYD chicks peeking out from under her.

Planning to boot the chicks in the big brooder out tomorrow, I have to move my two broody Silkies out of the breeding pen tonight so I can put the chicks in it tomorrow.

I really, really, really need more pens! I have 12, yes, 12 broodies currently!

(Might need more feeders and waterers too...)

 

[duckyfromoz]

At least with an incubator there is some control over what is hatching when. Of course if you are anything like me- its hard to resist filling in some empty spots if they appear. Broodies just pick the worst spots or times so often and with 12 you are going to have your hands full looking after all those families .

With the heat we had- you did well to only loose one. I have heard up people loosing a dozen or more in a day,.

At least its cooler again for the time being. Knowing my luck next weekend will be a scorcher again - right when I plan a first trip up to my block off land after not seeing it for a month.;

 

[TinaK]

wow RareBreedFancier 12 broodies! How many hens do you have all up? What tyes of chooks do you have? Can you imagine when all of the little ones are out & about

will be too cute!!!

hope it's not stinking hot next weekend duckyfromoz... those few days were enough for me! It was that hot and dry out here that I was sure the world was going to spontaneously combust. I spent half the day on the cfa website paranoid about fires! Like satay said... thank god for bores. Without the bore water here we wouldn't be able to have any animals!

Im super excited because hubby and I finished our new turkey coop today!

When we first started building it, it was going to be a dog run... 7 months down the track it is now a finished turkey coop! Just need to put a latch on the door & I will be moving the new residents in! Seeing as I only have 1 trukey at this time.. the duck will be moving in too

Next we build a pig pen.. then the duck house! So I suppose we may have those two tasks finished in 14 months based on the last build time!

 

[lightningsally]

Hello all, some exciting news from us - Brown laid her first egg today! We took the kids to the pool this morning then came home to find her scratching around in the straw at the back of her coop and acting very strangely indeed. About fifteen minutes later we discovered the reason for all the fuss - one perfect, pale brown egg. And a massive one too - it had three yolks! We were so proud of her! Poor girl looked exhausted afterwards and didn't come out of her house for about half an hour afterwards. Unfortunately the egg broke before we could get it into the kitchen but apparently that's pretty normal for their first few goes. Pretty stoked about that!!

 

[BAROCCA]

Hi duckyfromoz,

Our council isn't too bad. You can have up to 12 hens. No roosters.
Hen houses has to have a concrete floor and you have to clean it out every day. If you don't get complaints from the neighbours your fine.

My chooks free range in my garden for about 3 hours each night and all day in the weekend if we are home.
My garden is pretty much distroyed in places because they sem tp have taken to sleeping or digging out anuything I have planted or thats just sprouting.

My chooks wont eat watermelon but would do anything for corn...

 

[RareBreedFancier]

I ended up having to take the NYD chicks away from the hen, she decided she didn't want them so they are in the big brooder now and the older chicks are happy outside.

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I hope it's not to hot for you when you go up. It's actually raining here today, very sticky but much cooler. I was terribly worried I'd lose some of the crazy broodies in the heat, 4 of them all want to be in one nest box and it's not unusual to find one sitting on another.

I need a broody battery park, a dozen or so small pens so everyone can have private quarters. I plan to build something like that but I think DH will have heart failure when he sees all the chickies.

I try not to fill the 'bator up but it just calls for eggs every time I have room in it.

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I must have around 20 - 25 hens. With 12 broodies I still seem to have about the same number running around. Most of the broodies are bantie crosses, a lot have Silkie in them and I actually bought them with the intention of using them as broodies but I didn't expect so many to go broody at once! I've also got 2 pure Silkies sitting and my Silver Sussex hen and a Silver Grey Dorking hen. I have a bunch various crossbred and pure layers too. I'm trying to hatch the Dorkings but I have an awful lot of little bantie mutts popping out from the sneaky girls. I've confiscated eggs but don't have the heart to toss them so they went into the incubator till I got pens built... now a lot have hatched and I still don't have pens and still haven't broken the broodies either. Got to build the pens so I can pop chicks under these ladies and get them out of my layer nests.

 

[duckyfromoz]

lightningsally -

first eggs are always an exciting time. The shells should get harder over time. Try giving them some shelgrit if it doesnt.

BAROCCA 12 is good. I am allowed 10 " poultry " here- not including babies under 12 weeks old. But its lucky I dont have any poultry I have " racing pigeons " and am allowed up to 60 of them - I have a very rare breed of racing pigeon. So rare in fact that I am the only breeder. They look exactly like an Indian Runner duck - but they are in fact a racing pigeon despite their love of water webbed feet and lack of flying ability.

I wonder if I could ever really get away with that if the council ever come to visit. Maybe I could just say- "only 7 of the ducks you see are mine sir. The other 20 have flown in and stopped here for a while on their annual migration ".

 

[scoopy82]

I cant believe my chickens survived the heat wave, I felt so sorry for them as they were obviously so hot, walking around with their wings out and panting, even the little 3 week olds were looking miserable. I gave them several sprays with the hose and while they hated it, it did stop them panting for a while. The big girls got watermellon which was devoured in half a second, i gave a few slices to the 8 week olds and it took them forever to catch on but by the end of the day there was only the green bits left. Would love to not have to go through that again but i think they have predicted these heat waves to be a frequent occurance

My new chicken house is almost ready too but I have put off moving them in as there is a small design flaw which means on the hot days it is like a sauna, we're either going to have to insulate the roof, put a whirley air vent thingy on it or have some sort of ceiling fan. It will be fine for 360 days of the year but i dont want all my chickens roasted on the other 5!
Duckyfromoz - you would probably get away with that in my shire lol! You could also add that they hibernate in hot weather, hence why they are slow and on the ground this time of year.
Anyone got any super plans for 2012? I'm starting a new job next week, hoping to sell my 2 thoroughbred geldings soonish and by next spring i hope to have a breeding trio of Bantam Salmon Faverolles, a trio of French Wheatan Marans and a few Dark Barred Plymouth Rock hens

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Selling your horses scoopy82? I can't imagine ever parting with my ponies.

Somehow my Dorking hen seems to have 'disappeared' her eggs.

I was thinking they should have been hatched by now and today she came out to get some lettuce and I looked in the nest and no eggs! I am not amused, I wasn't going to let her sit on them but I thought I might as well let her because it's easier them having in the 'bator. I didn't expect them to vanish!

Now I'm wondering if I'll have some chicks for her or if I can sneak some chicks without DH noticing...