Ribh's D'Coopage

[rjohns39]

Good evening folks

Thanks for the B-day wishes... But Easter falls on a different day every year, so I'll be in my 70s when it actually lands on my B-day again.

Happy Easter to everyone!

 

[Ribh]

BLUE EGGS ARE A THING.

I give away a lot of eggs.
For the most part the receivers are city sorts who barely know one end of a chicken from another so when we got our 1st blue eggs to give away I made sure everyone knew they were good to eat & not blue inside.
Nothing funny here.

Youngest is something of a Ditz so even though we had chickens when she was little it wasn't unexpected she would question a blue egg. Really. Sometimes she's just not all there.

My mother, however, is a farm girl. Her grandfather raised prize winning Australorps. The last thing I expected to hear out of her mouth was: The blue eggs, they're ok to eat? And, I take it they're not blue inside?
Mum. Mum. Mum.

Now we've surmounted that little hurdle the eggs were much appreciated.​

 

[Shadrach]

Happy Birthday @rjohns39

 

[Ribh]

This is Mhari.
She has been broody practically from the moment she dropped her 1st egg.
I haven't had the time to deal with her so she has been shooed off the nest when I've egg checked but between weather & renovations I've pretty much had to leave her be.

Well, I've had enough. Two days ago I decided it was time to bite the bullet properly & deal with the girl.
Into broody jail she went!

I don't have a dog crate so just use the small coop with access cut off to the nesting boxes & so far it has worked a treat. Mhari hates it. She spends all day pacing, beeping sadly. It's pathetic.

The little coop is getting a bit dodgey so rather than constantly wrestling with the latch when I'm feeding & watering I just push the door shut. It wedges tightly & I don't have to worry about an escaping chicken ~ until last night.

Mhari gets frantic as the sun goes down & she finds herself on her own in the small coop without an available roost. I feel dreadful for her but I am over broody.

Last night I went out just after the sun set to make sure everything was latched & secure. I went to the big coop 1st because if there's trouble, that's where it'll be. Odd arrangement but everyone was roosted except for the frantic cackling coming from overhead. I looked up to find Mhari had managed to escape the little coop & was trying to roost on the roof of the big coop, as close to her sisters as she could get! Not a safe alternative @ all!

The dark was my friend. I was able to grab her feet & hoy her down without trouble. She is so used to being handled now she's not usually difficult once I have her. I was so sorry for her I put her on a roost with her friends. Lesson learned. Won't be doing that again!​

 

[WhoDatChick]

A bit of cooked pork and cracked corn as @Ribh mentions would be a good choice for a few days. What the corn provides is easy burn carbohydrates and that provides calories to help keep her warm.
The pork will provide a complete protein but even more important, it is apparently easier to digest than a complete protein provided by mixed grains.

There you go, @Aussie-Chookmum, Shad's provided the science!
[/QUOTE]

Will sardines do any good? I don't have cracked corn or pork at the moment but I will keep it in mind. Thank you both for your advice.

We did a shopping trip today and although I didn't find cracked corn, I found live crickets!
The girls had a very exciting time chasing them around the run.

Except Alice.

Alice ran away

Before I adopted chickens I had no idea about moulting or how feathers grow back. I'm finding it a fascinating and worrying process.

Alice's feathers are coming in apace. She looked even more like a porcupine today. It looks painful too.
View attachment 2084380

And a closeup to see how they come in. (in a thumbnail for the squeamish)



View attachment 2084381
[/QUOTE]
She looks like a dinosaur!

 

[WhoDatChick]

Hope everyone had a very blessed Resurrection Sunday indeed!!!
I did .... we finished my little garden pond!

 

[Shadrach]

You're a very horrid women. How could you do that to her.
I confiscated Brackets eggs this morning. Talk about foul language.
She did go into the tribe's coop this evening with the others. No doubt she will sit on the nest tomorrow for a while sulking.
I've got Tackle in the maternity coop sitting. I'll give her three days and then confiscate here eggs as well.
Then it will be time to deal with Nolia who is ready to sit. She's another one due for the switch off laying cycle treatment.
And....Donk is getting ready to sit on this lot in a couple more days I estimate.

Knock has a nest on the West bank somewhere which I have yet to find.

 

[Shadrach]

Tribe 3. The youngsters are in the bamboo clump a bit further up the track.
Myth, the slightly puffed up grey hen is still getting over being evicted from her nest.

 

[BY Bob]

Hope everyone had a very blessed Resurrection Sunday indeed!!!
I did .... we finished my little garden pond! View attachment 2086742

That looks wonderful. Very pretty.

 

[BY Bob]

You're a very horrid women. How could you do that to her.
I confiscated Brackets eggs this morning. Talk about foul language.
She did go into the tribe's coop this evening with the others. No doubt she will sit on the nest tomorrow for a while sulking.
I've got Tackle in the maternity coop sitting. I'll give her three days and then confiscate here eggs as well.
Then it will be time to deal with Nolia who is ready to sit. She's another one due for the switch off laying cycle treatment.
And....Donk is getting ready to sit on this lot in a couple more days I estimate.
View attachment 2086739
Knock has a nest on the West bank somewhere which I have yet to find.

That is a lot of broody fun. Yikes!