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

[satay]

Thats exactly why this new Aussie thread was started chickmate- the old one was very much like that and some of us in the older age bracket decided a slower paced thread was needed., someone we could drop in once or twice a week and not have to wade through 40 pages since our last post.      Anywho - welcome to the aussie thread.  I am loving your photos. 

We dont have anywhere near the numbers of predators you have over there- and are possums are much more gentle loveable creatures.   We do have a few of our own - like the dingo, Tasmanian Devil, Quolls and the odd panther that props up now and then.

I'll send you some of my possums if you like ducky. Though they don't hurt chickens they trash my choko and passionfruit vines all the time. Have relocated 10 this year so far.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Chickmate- 8 in a year isnt too bad ( of course none would be a better number ) - a friend of mine recently lost 18 ducks in one night. Foxes are my biggest fear for when I can move out of the city in a few years. I have heard one fellow near me has great success with burying broken glass an inch below ground level around his pens. Its stops them digging under the coop.
Quote:
I have to admit, the fast pace of the MI thread, as with your other Aussie thread is a bit to keep up with. It is nice to come over here and only have six or eight posts to read as opposed to 60 or 80. That takes some time!
Exactly- and thats the way we would like to keep it too,


Here is a link to the other one in case anyone forgot where it was- seems its gone from 100 posts a day to nothing lately.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/186559/australians-where-are-you-all/2920

Satay. I would gladly love any extras you had- they could live peacefully up at my block of land. I love seeing them up there- even if they do land on the roof in the middle of the night scaring me awake. At the old homestead where I grew up we had plenty- we would feed them either when they were hanging around the eves of the house or in a tree right near the gate.

 

[Ashburnham]

Hi Chickmate- yes, Isa Browns are supposed to be a hybrid between RI Red and RI Whites- if you put the right rooster over them, the resulting chicks will turn out to be "pure looking" RIR - red, and white. xx Michael

 

[Aussie Lady]

G'day Chickmate. I live on the Peninsula and my place is 700 metres from the water/sea. I haven't seen any predators around our areas. I know there are some humongous rats, as I saw one on the road near the drain pips running across the road one night as I was driving home and one in between the rocks down at the beach. I do hear a possum only on occasions when they jump on our roof and scare me half to death while in bed however the cats around our neighbourhood seem to scare them away. They are protected here in Australia however you can make stew with them in NZ. I haven't seen any snakes around here only harmless spiders. I did have an encounter with a red back spider however this was somewhere else. It was in my bathroom hanging from a vent while I was in the shower. It actually came down on its web, probably to see what was going on, maybe it was getting wet!!! I jumped out there quick smart. The owner at the time plugged up the hole and no more red back HORRAH. It was a close call. The only other spiders I usually see are pretty big ones sometimes larger than your palm, they are ugly however very harmless called Huntsmen. They are actually good as they eat the mossies. So my chicken is safe (soon will be chickens).

The only suggestion I can give and this is not a joke, this is fair dinkum, is to pee around the border of your chicken coop or whatever you want protected (this has to be done by a male, sorry ladies because of the testosterone). Any predators coming onto your property who smell this should keep away. It's a territorial thing. I have to admit, this would be funny to watch

Any takers? I am going to convince my hubby to do this when we get the other chickens (maybe at night time). I'll have to think of a nice treat for him when he completes this mission.

 

[satay]

Aussie lady I was just thinking about the size of my pens and how much water I would have to give hubby to pee that much lol. You have the right idea though for a smaller pen. I think i may have to get the 2 dogs involved in that one too lol

 

[Ashburnham]

Yep - it works with dogs too. I always walk my dog around the outside of the pens at least twice a day.

 

[Chickmate]

Thanks for the advice on keeping foxes out of the coop, I think? . . . . this is fair dinkum. . . . . have no idea what this means, but I have heard that male human urine, as well as dog's urine will scare them off. My dogs take care of that for me but have not found a
man yet who can pee that much.

Maybe after a few liters of beer!




My fence is buried 1 1/2 ft. in the ground to keep them from digging under, then broken cement is piled on top and covered with dirt. So far has kept everything out.

Take care everyone!

 

[satay]

Yeah they were being fair dinkum- Telling the truth.

 

[satay]

Yeah they were being fair dinkum- Telling the truth.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Interesting to hear about the Michigan "mitten" thing. It actually took me a few seconds to figure out what you meant, my brain isn't really functioning fully today. Good to have a rest in the house and just go on the computer for once. my social calendar has reached mind-blowing proportions (i.e. normality) lately.