I Built A Bridge!

[Teila]

I thought you might appreciate this one Diva (I remember your earlier avatar)

Dusty's eggs have always tended towards being pointy but this is a new level of pointedness, even for her!

And here it is sitting next to a shop bought egg .......

 

[drumstick diva]

Coneheads are usually born with pointed heads, makes it easier to play ring toss games, later in life.- which can lead to marriage and yep, more coneheads.

 

[16 paws]

On dear, what a day yesterday was, we had a major issue at work and I was still replying to Helpdesk tickets at 11pm last night.

The timing could not have been worse because I could not get two seconds to log in and say:

“The Drought Has Been Broken”

Dusty laid an egg yesterday! Woot Woot!

I think the final tally was 49 days.

Awesome Teila!!!!!! A small omelet for dinner I suppose

 

[Teila]

Howdy Bridge Club

Just a bit of an update, it has been quiet in here lately.

Dusty donated another pointy egg yesterday

Crystal and KiKi turn 9 weeks old on Monday and Cilla is still being a wonderful mumma, it doesn’t look like there is going to be any cord cutting in the near future.

As you may remember from photos, the broody coop and run back onto the main coop and run and when I have no little ones, they all open up into one big coop and run.

For the last couple of weeks, when the aunties are out free ranging, I have been opening it up into one so that Cilla can give the bubs a grand tour without any hassles from the aunties. They have been exploring and learning where the hiding spots are for when full on integration happens.

During free range, I have been putting up a temporary fence in the garden but still attached to their coop, so that while mum and bubs are technically coming out of the coop/run and in the garden, socialisation is still through wire and they are learning to run back to their coop if spooked.

Today, the little ones are going to get a couple of hours complete free range in the garden while the big gals are still in the run. This will give them a chance to get used to the big wide world without containment and also learn where the hidey holes are and when to run back into the coop.

The plan is to do this for a couple of weekends and then hopefully, when they are comfortable in the garden, everyone can come out at the same time.

Everyone has plenty of room at the moment in their separate areas so integration does not need to be done in a hurry.

My only problem is that I do not have ear plugs which I will need when the aunties are bitterly complaining “how come they are free ranging and we are not”

It is going to be fun watching Cilla show her bubs all her favourite spots in the garden .. "and this is where you can have a nice dust bath" .. "over here is a good spot for grubs" .. "if you stand over there on the deck and look cute, you get meal worms" .. "over there is the fish pond, best not to try and fly over it cos us little bantams fly like rocks and sink like them also"

Hoping it has been quiet in here because everyone is out having a wonderful time and not because of any dramas

 

[drumstick diva]

I love the way you raise your chicks(with Mama) so they learn all the good hiding spots before they need them. Chicks need to know so much more than where the water and food is.

 

[16 paws]

Hi Bridge Club

This is whats new here.....

The final report came in for Faith. It looks like they do not really know the cause of death after doing a lot of research on her.

05/11/2015 Cholinesterase activity in brain was within an acceptable range for chickens, indicating that the exposure to
malathion was most likely not clinically significant in this case. As such the cause of Faith’s death remains undetermined after
the conclusion of testing. No evidence of an infectious disease was identified, and the possibility of some form of acute toxicosis
has not been ruled out, as we are unable to test for all potential toxins. Alternatively it is possible that focal upper airway
obstruction caused by aspiration of ingesta (usually a large seed/grain kernel that lodges at the tracheal bifurcation) was missed
at necropsy. This phenomonen is more common in pet birds, but occasionally occurs in chickens.

I am not sorry I called the police out. My bully neighbor needs to know that I am watching out for my chickens. Even though she may of not poisoned them just her threatening me like that is not going to fly.

Teila it sounds like you have a good plan of action in place when it comes time to place everyone together. Good job. Love to hear what mama will be showing them....

Love the pointy egg and so glad the drought is over.....

I have a question for everyone...
Does this brabanter look like a pullet?

 

[mo clo]

It's beautiful. Love the wood color.

 

[Teila]

Hey there mo clo

Thank you and welcome to BYC also.

That was a while ago now, the bridge does not look quite so good; the sun and rain has faded it, a vine has taken over (which I do not mind) and somehow it has chicken poop stains!

 

[Teila]

Hey 16 Paws I am sorry the report was inconclusive and you are really none the wiser

Up until now (

) I had no idea what a Brabanter looked like so any guesses on gender would be just that, a guess and uneducated at that.

Cilla gets the Chicken of the Day Award at Bambrook Bantams today.

This morning she ‘raised the alarm’ and I raced out to see which of the neighbours cats was stalking them and found a stork-like bird on the fence, eyeing off the goldfish. I chased him off.

10mins later, Cilla ‘raised the alarm’ again and back out I went to find the same goldfish predator, back on the fence, sussing them out. Chased him off yet again.

5mins after that, she lets me know, once again, that he is back and this time he was on the lawn, next to the fish ponds obviously picking out which fish looked the most appetizing.

I chased him off and he has not yet reappeared … thanks to Cilla, I did not lose any of my three humungous gold fish in the middle pond or four in the bottom pond. 5 of the 7 fish I have had for 5 years now and I am very fond of them.

Good girl Cilla!

So, the rain coats are back on the runs and by the looks of the forecast, might be staying for the rest of the week. Using the deep litter run method, wet runs is not ideal.

The good news is that while we have rain, I do not believe it is expected to be torrential, just showers now and then so hopefully no flooding this time around.

Cilla and the bubs spent a good two hours exploring the garden yesterday and as predicted, much to the aunties disgust which they had no qualms announcing! I had one eye on the bubs and the other on the driveway, half expecting an RSPCA van to pull up .. with all the complaining going on, I felt sure someone would have reported me for torturing my chickens.

The first 30mins or so the bubs were freaking out at everything .. wind, wild birds etc but it didn’t take them long to learn that fun was to be had. It was good to see that when spooked they legged it back to the coop, granted Cilla was looking at them as if to say “what is your problem?” and encouraged them back out again.

A couple more weekends of the above and they should all be able to free range together. A couple of weeks of free ranging together, we should be able to open up the segregated coops/runs and be back to one flock

 

[drumstick diva]

Teila now I'm worried about your gold fish. Maybe you could hurriedly put a hardware cloth cover over the pond. I think you need a goldfish protection dog - Cilla can't watch them every minute of day. But good for her for trying.