Australorps breed Thread

[MeanV2]

Congrats Dee!! I found my 1st egg yesterday. My pullets are 20 weeks old.

Dan

 

[RoseMarie1]

Congrats Dee!! I found my 1st egg yesterday. My pullets are 20 weeks old.

Dan

ohhhhh so mines getting closssse!

got their nest up just a waitin'.

 

[DeesHens]

Thanks Kurt, Dan & RoseMarie1.

Kurt, I agree it will be great when they learn to use the nest box so I don't feel like I need to look high and low just in case they may have used a different spot. LOL Great reminder. Thanks. I will use some old golf balls tomorrow.

Dan, Congrats to you as well!

I know you agree it is very gratifying to finally get an egg from our wonderful BA girls. Did yours use the nest box?

RoseMarie1, may you soon find your first egg. Please share with us when you do. It is so fun hearing others enjoying the experience.

You are all good sports to share in my joy today.

~Dee~

 

[MeanV2]

Thanks Kurt, Dan & RoseMarie1.

Kurt, I agree it will be great when they learn to use the nest box so I don't feel like I need to look high and low just in case they may have used a different spot. LOL Great reminder. Thanks. I will use some old golf balls tomorrow.

Dan, Congrats to you as well!

I know you agree it is very gratifying to finally get an egg from our wonderful BA girls. Did yours use the nest box?

RoseMarie1, may you soon find your first egg. Please share with us when you do. It is so fun hearing others enjoying the experience.

You are all good sports to share in my joy today.

~Dee~

O No! She just found a corner in the coop. She has now used that same corner 2 days in a row.

Dan

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote: my white rocks started laying at 4 1/2 months ..they have always had fermented feed .
I usually start layer at 4 1/2 months ....so they beat me to it .
it wouldnt hurt to add fake eggs now .
Chicken see chicken do ..it may help them to know what to do with it when it comes .
You do know they do a egg song after laying a egg ? Listen for that also ..
Sometimes they will all share the song .

Quote: Got a corner nesting box ?

 

[DeesHens]

Quote:

Better than out in the dirt like mine.

'

So this AM I found another small egg but in the coop in the pine shavings on the floor about 8 inches away from the nest box. Getting closer!

Thinking it has to be from the BA that did not lay yesterday because it was cold to the touch and I found it before 24 hours were up. Correct me if I am wrong but I think I did read several times that they lay the eggs in 36 hour spans which seems to be my experience with my Barr Rocks. I've read 24 hours also but I believe the 36 hour span is correct. I have a terrible memory. Thoughts?

I'll post today's egg pic just for fun in a moment. ~Dee~

 

[DeesHens]

Here is today's egg. (bottom right) Larger than yesterday's egg but still smallish. But another beauty! Nice brown color and smooth hard shell again.
So I think both of my BA's are laying now as I said in the previous post.
I am so happy!

~Dee~

 

[DeesHens]

Quote:

Quote: my white rocks started laying at 4 1/2 months ..they have always had fermented feed .
I usually start layer at 4 1/2 months ....so they beat me to it .
it wouldnt hurt to add fake eggs now .
Chicken see chicken do ..it may help them to know what to do with it when it comes .
You do know they do a egg song after laying a egg ? Listen for that also ..
Sometimes they will all share the song .

Yes, I am in tune to hearing the wonderful egg song my hens have done in the past. I really do enjoy hearing them communicate in all their many ways. I think it was why yesterday's event was so humorous to me. It sounded more like they were having a discussion over "what in the world was that small oval object laying in the dirt" while mildly pecking at it from time to time to explore it. I felt an urgent need to recover it from them before they decided to get serious about pecking it hard enough to eat it. I DO NOT want egg eaters!

Got the golf balls out today.

~Dee~

 

[vickiw]

My Black Australorp, the poor dear, was getting attacked by my two female turkeys. After months of no one picking on anyone, this just started happening out of the blue. I had her in one area separated from them, but someone jail broke her. Moved her to another area and she got out of that by herself (who knew these birds were so smart?) and I now have her camped in the breezeway between the house and garage that is fenced in because of our dogs. She has been staying in there and I am mending her the best I can. When I first saw her after the attacks I thought I would vomit. The whole top of her head was laid open. A chicken that was one of the stronger girls of the flock has turned into a timid, way-too-easy to pick up bird. A couple of the other girls hop the fence and come visit her and I think she likes that, as long as the turkeys stay out. It's a bad picture, and this looks better than a week ago. Scabs are starting to form. She will be missing part of her comb and I don't know if feathers grow back or not after something like that. She's a fighter though. I thought I would give her a couple weeks before I put her down or something. And through all of this, she is still laying eggs!!

How's she doing?

 

[vickiw]

Thanks everyone for all the great tips!!! I tried scrambled eggs and they looked at me like I was crazy!! Going to give the hard boiled a try today. Also love the tip about the calf manna. Thinking my three sex links that just started laying could benefit too! One medical question for you all please. Are Aussies more prone to intestinal sheds than other breeds? Found what appeared to be a shed last Saturday in their roosting cage (where they sleep) and then another one this morning. No way to tell if from the same bird. Just finished a 5 day treatment of ampro because I found more blood the next day after the first (none since) and didn't want to take chances. Birds are otherwise doing well and still in a divided run from the older girls. (They are inside the same coop but have their own pophole which lines up to their private "suite" ). I will being supplying the requested pics as soon as my camera recharges. Thank you all again for being so generous with your help!

here are the pics. I am hoping you knowledgeable folks tell me they are both (14 wks tomorrow) pullets. They look a little beat up because the lady I got them from said she had them in a brooder with older birds and I am assuming they spent a lot of time in a corner. They already look A LOT better than when they arrived but still have a ways to go. Hard to get good pics. Had to distract them with their first taste of hardboiled egg. They are slowly taming down but still fairly skittish and tho you can pick them up without any flailing about, they scream like banshees!!! bird on right above is same one as bird below. hard to tell at this angle but bird on right is larger than one on left tho not nearly the size difference as when I got them. Guardedly certain the one on the left (the smaller) is one that did at least one, maybe both of the intestinal sheds. above and below clearly same bird.

ANYONE ELSE HAVE A GUESS FOR ME ON HEN? ROO? BTW - one of them (pretty sure the smaller one) is still dropping intestinal lining and/or blood in the poo. They finished their treatment dose of corrid on Friday. On Saturday the sheds started again this time it's been at least a little every day so I've decided to go ahead and follow the advice that dawg 53 gave someone in a similar situation which was stop the maintenance dose of the corrid, give probiotics and protein for three days then worm. If that doesn't do it I'm lost.