Ribh's D'Coopage

[LozzyR]

I lost Sweetpea yesterday. Not really a surprise. She never regained her mobility despite everything I tried. I think she enjoyed her life, such as it was. She had a good appetite & was always excited for me to lift her out of her crate & settle her somewhere in the pen with food & water close to hand. Even though she couldn't keep up with the flock she would shuffle herself around so when I didn't immediately spot her in the spot I had left her I wasn't worried. Sometimes she managed quite a distance. She could still sunbathe & dust bath & she was undeterred by her disability.​

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I am down to 7 hens & Henry. Wrold is sitting. The chicks are due over the weekend. Hopefully they will be hens. If anyone was going to sit, Wrold would have been my pick. She knows what she's doing. Tootsie & Alpia have both had a half hearted attempt but it is still early in the season & they discouraged easily.

Meanwhile I am still battling stick flea. I was getting really discouraged but I went to pick up more Pestene from our hardware to find they were out. Everyone is battling the horrid things. So when I went into Rocky for more feed I had a chat about the best way to deal with it & make sure I'm doing the right things. I am. I do love a rural produce store. Everyone has animals. Everyone has experience. Everyone is willing to share. I love watching people pick up their bits & pieces for horses or turkeys, chickens, guinea fowl, even pigs!

So under Wrold is one blue egg [hopefully an easter~egger chick & a blue green egg], one Wyandotte bantam egg & a Jap ~ goodness knows what that will look like! I don't know that I'm all that hopfull about Wrold's parenting but @ least she doesn't have the chick killer to contend with.​

I’m so sorry Ribh, you are having such rotten luck at the moment.

 

[Shadrach]

 

[Ribh]

My resident currawong has built her nest in the ficus that overhangs the chicken coop.
She is fiercely territorial but seems to understand the chickens, the cats & I are now part of her territory. She does not harass us. She does steal the occasional egg but what's an egg or two between friends?​

 

[drstratton]

My resident currawong has built her nest in the ficus that overhangs the chicken coop.
She is fiercely territorial but seems to understand the chickens, the cats & I are now part of her territory. She does not harass us. She does steal the occasional egg but what's an egg or two between friends?​

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Do you feel her presence will discourage other predators?

If so, it's definitely worth an egg now and then.

 

[Ribh]

Do you feel her presence will discourage other predators?

If so, it's definitely worth an egg now and then.

Probably. I watched her send 2 kookaburras off. Too near her nest. Q

 

[drstratton]

Probably. I watched her send 2 kookaburras off. Too near her nest. Q

Hopefully she keeps hanging around and never goes after your chickens or chicks when they hatch out.

 

[Ribh]

Henry is the most wonderful rooster!
I am, as I have said, battling stick flea. Today there were very few on anyone & few running round ~ until I came to Henry.
Now Henry doesn't like being grabbed anymore than any other chicken but he is docile once nabbed & He settled into my lap prepared to doze, as he usually does while I check his comb & wattles. Both seemed clear until I checked the tiny flaps around his beak Impossible to get Vaseline there. Too near his nostrils. So I got out my tweezers. He must have hated it but he was as good as gold while I fished a whole family of big fleas out. Most of my birds would have tolerated that but Henry is male & still fairly new & I rarely handle him. I was so impressed. He really is a wonder & a joy.