- Jul 20, 2013
- 6
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Hi Guys, just found the forum when I was looking for answers to a question or two and thought I'd join to get some info and have a look around. 
The wife and I have just bought 5 acres outside Sydney and are slowly stocking up with a few animals to make the place look 'farmy'. So far we've got 2 alpacas (with 6 more on order), 4 geese, 5 rabbits (2 x Netherland Dwarf, 2 x Mini-Lop, and one normal size called 'Liquorice') 2 guinea pigs, 2 dogs, 2 children and (until this morning) 15 chickens... out of them all the children are easily the hardest to look after!!
The geese are Chinese, but the chicken varieties we have are as follows. We've 2 x Buff Orpington, 3 x Black Australorp (one adult, two POL), 2 x White Leghorn, 2 x white/brown cross leghorn/ISA, 2 x white/brown cross Leghorn/Australorp and 2 x Sussex. Only one of them is laying at the moment (one of the brown ISA's) but the rest are 'point of lay' so we're expecting a flood of eggs when the weather warms up. Being Sydney of course it's winter down here currently so they're a bit backward in coming forward. As you might expect with the space we have they are all free-range tho, as they are still youngsters, I do feed them a 'scratch mix' to help their growth.
Sadly I gt up this morning and found one of the Sussex chickens had died overnight. I was fine yesterday morning but in the evening when I rounded them up into their pen as I usually do towards dusk (they get locked in their coop when it's dark) I noticed one Sussex was sitting under a tree so went over and picked it up. This itself was unusual because they normally head for the hills when they see me coming in the evening. Anyway, I put it in a nesting box in the coop on some warm hay and left it. I checked later and it was cuddled up to the two Orpingtons and one of the Black Australorps seeming to be ok. This morning tho... cold and stiff. No obvious symptoms, no loose stools, no feathers missing, no unusual swelling... nothing amiss as far as I can tell.
We lost an ISA in similar circumstances a month or so ago as well tho I think this one was chased and grabbed by a dog. It lasted with no obvious problems for a few days than as with the Sussex became listless and 'disinterested' then sat on the lawn and just died!
I checked the threads on 'why did my chicken die' but it seems there is no real answer to the question short of seeking ou tan avian vet which I would do if this happened again. It's not just the loss of the birds which is sad enough, but the cost involved. Some of these birds are quite expensive, the Sussex particularly.
Anyway... this quick 'hello from Sydney' has turned into a long story so I'll leave it there and hope I didn't bore you all to tears with my ramblings.
The wife and I have just bought 5 acres outside Sydney and are slowly stocking up with a few animals to make the place look 'farmy'. So far we've got 2 alpacas (with 6 more on order), 4 geese, 5 rabbits (2 x Netherland Dwarf, 2 x Mini-Lop, and one normal size called 'Liquorice') 2 guinea pigs, 2 dogs, 2 children and (until this morning) 15 chickens... out of them all the children are easily the hardest to look after!!
The geese are Chinese, but the chicken varieties we have are as follows. We've 2 x Buff Orpington, 3 x Black Australorp (one adult, two POL), 2 x White Leghorn, 2 x white/brown cross leghorn/ISA, 2 x white/brown cross Leghorn/Australorp and 2 x Sussex. Only one of them is laying at the moment (one of the brown ISA's) but the rest are 'point of lay' so we're expecting a flood of eggs when the weather warms up. Being Sydney of course it's winter down here currently so they're a bit backward in coming forward. As you might expect with the space we have they are all free-range tho, as they are still youngsters, I do feed them a 'scratch mix' to help their growth.
Sadly I gt up this morning and found one of the Sussex chickens had died overnight. I was fine yesterday morning but in the evening when I rounded them up into their pen as I usually do towards dusk (they get locked in their coop when it's dark) I noticed one Sussex was sitting under a tree so went over and picked it up. This itself was unusual because they normally head for the hills when they see me coming in the evening. Anyway, I put it in a nesting box in the coop on some warm hay and left it. I checked later and it was cuddled up to the two Orpingtons and one of the Black Australorps seeming to be ok. This morning tho... cold and stiff. No obvious symptoms, no loose stools, no feathers missing, no unusual swelling... nothing amiss as far as I can tell.
We lost an ISA in similar circumstances a month or so ago as well tho I think this one was chased and grabbed by a dog. It lasted with no obvious problems for a few days than as with the Sussex became listless and 'disinterested' then sat on the lawn and just died!
I checked the threads on 'why did my chicken die' but it seems there is no real answer to the question short of seeking ou tan avian vet which I would do if this happened again. It's not just the loss of the birds which is sad enough, but the cost involved. Some of these birds are quite expensive, the Sussex particularly.
Anyway... this quick 'hello from Sydney' has turned into a long story so I'll leave it there and hope I didn't bore you all to tears with my ramblings.
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