Hi there

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC. Can you take a video of your rooster, upload it to YouTube or Vimeo, then copy and paste the link here?

 

[007Sean]

Howdy and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[Haarlem Reset]

Carl was looking good the morning. More stable on his feet, crowing, and then joined the flock for their foray into the empty land next door to look for grubs and worms and what all else.

 

[Haarlem Reset]

I live in South Africa, on the border of the Eastern and Western Cape in a very poor community. The chickens get handfuls of crushed corn (we call them mielies) whenever they come to the veranda to ask, and in the morning and evening, and other than that, they are pasture-fed chickens who scratch around in the horse droppings and under the wattle I have left to hold the ground stable. They probably also eat a great many of the grass seeds I scatter around, and the other day, I saw a couple of them having a go at a raw dog's bone (much to the confusion of Simba, whose bone it was).

Carl seems to be recovering: More stable on his feet, crowing up a storm again, and joined the flock on their foray on the empty plot next door; his poops are also more solid. Perhaps I did manage to get more activated charcoal down than I thought.

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[ValerieJ]

Carl was looking good the morning. More stable on his feet, crowing, and then joined the flock for their foray into the empty land next door to look for grubs and worms and what all else.

That's great news!

 

[CatWhisperer]

It’s interesting to hear how people in other countries care for their chickens. Curious, is commercial chicken feed sold where you live and what predators do you have to worry about?

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for the update, glad he's doing better!

 

[Haarlem Reset]

It’s interesting to hear how people in other countries care for their chickens. Curious, is commercial chicken feed sold where you live and what predators do you have to worry about?

Hi CatWhisperer
They sell crushed corn at the agricultural stores, but at the moment there are no 50 kg bags, only 5 kg bags, apparently because of the drought: The farmers could not plant because the rains did not arrive. Predators: Dogs, cats, a hawk that almost got Agatha's single chick, in fact, I thought it had given the noise she was making and after checking on the CCTV camera, so I hoped it would choke on Tweet-Tweet, but half an hour later when I went outside, Tweet-Tweet was alive and well and standing with his/her mother. The Crows that live in the tree across the road also thought that the property was a Kentucky Fried Chicken until one them that got caught in an power line somewhere and succumbed on my property. I laid it to rest under the tree they live in, and since then, they have shown more respect. I also sometimes throw them some crushed corn, but outside the property. The most dangerous predators, however, are the local two-legged entities, but I have a lot of black wattle on my property that I am slowing thinning out, and apparently the chickens eat the seeds and that makes their flesh bitter, so thus far, no one has stolen my chickens for the pot (or to sell). The coop is also close to the house, as are the stalls for the horses, and I have many cameras and lights up to deter the light-fingered locals.