GottaHatchAPlan
Chirping
So, funny story.
About a week and a half ago my mum goes out to market; 'I'm just going to buy some eggs!' she says.
About a 3 hours later she calls my phone; 'I've bought a chook!' she says.
Half an hour later I help get it home. I ask how we're supposed to look after it; 'It can't be that hard!' she says.
So.
We now have a new addition to the family: Peggy is a 6-month old Australorp/Barnevelder hen. She likes grapes, celery leaves, clovers and purple flowers petals google assures me are non-toxic, among other things. She's fairly chill, loves to sass the native birds (who mostly just ignore her), chat with us and has already gotten into the habit of eating out of my hand. Petting is still a no-go zone, but it's a work in progress and I'm nothing if not patient.
We've already built her a coop, and a run is on the way. We let her out every day at least once and she's already learnt to return to her coop after a few hours and has a fair idea of what her boundaries are (there are certain areas of the yard she's not allowed to go to, mostly because they're out of immediate eyeshot from the kitchen/bedrooms windows).
This site has been a godsend over the last week or so and I've been reading up as much as I can whenever I get a free moment from uni. I finally decided to sign up as I felt being able to have conversations with other chicken owners might benefit me better than just research and google.
We're sticking to just the one chook for at least another few weeks. Turns out Market Chicken Lady who sold Peggy was super shady; by day 2 I realised Peggy had both lice and coryza. So we're keeping her quarantined while we're treating her until she's better. I think she's making progress. I suspect she might have another illness as well, but I'll post that elsewhere.
Thanks in advance for any and all advice you guys give me!
About a week and a half ago my mum goes out to market; 'I'm just going to buy some eggs!' she says.
About a 3 hours later she calls my phone; 'I've bought a chook!' she says.
Half an hour later I help get it home. I ask how we're supposed to look after it; 'It can't be that hard!' she says.
So.
We now have a new addition to the family: Peggy is a 6-month old Australorp/Barnevelder hen. She likes grapes, celery leaves, clovers and purple flowers petals google assures me are non-toxic, among other things. She's fairly chill, loves to sass the native birds (who mostly just ignore her), chat with us and has already gotten into the habit of eating out of my hand. Petting is still a no-go zone, but it's a work in progress and I'm nothing if not patient.
We've already built her a coop, and a run is on the way. We let her out every day at least once and she's already learnt to return to her coop after a few hours and has a fair idea of what her boundaries are (there are certain areas of the yard she's not allowed to go to, mostly because they're out of immediate eyeshot from the kitchen/bedrooms windows).
This site has been a godsend over the last week or so and I've been reading up as much as I can whenever I get a free moment from uni. I finally decided to sign up as I felt being able to have conversations with other chicken owners might benefit me better than just research and google.
We're sticking to just the one chook for at least another few weeks. Turns out Market Chicken Lady who sold Peggy was super shady; by day 2 I realised Peggy had both lice and coryza. So we're keeping her quarantined while we're treating her until she's better. I think she's making progress. I suspect she might have another illness as well, but I'll post that elsewhere.
Thanks in advance for any and all advice you guys give me!
hello, and welcome to BYC.
We are glad you joined our flock.
wink, wink. Kinda like the store front puppy kennel (?) that sold us a black English cocker, that never laid near one. Long tail, short ears. Turned out to have fleas, worms and "vet recommended to us" said a cold.
):
