Poultry Keeping General Discussion #2

[BellyBelly]

Thats what the vet said Jen, but shes not free range, they have a cage and a run. Mum chucks grass in sometimes but not alot.

[Dansta]

I think i paid about $45 for one of my chooks - she had ticks and i wanted to know what was wrong with her/how to treat them ect.
but if any came down again I'd "take care of it" my self i think. all bar four of my chooks their ages are unknown. and hopefully down the track i'll look at getting chooks to breed and eat.

Kelly i cant wait for bubba chickens...they look soo ugly when they first hatch (think rat chick LOL) then get soo cute and fuzzy...then get ugly again then cute when they're minni chickens heh.

[BellyBelly]

So true lol! As a kid we lived on a farm for a couple of years and we had both layer and meat hens (the poor things with such big legs they sit down alot). We had chicks all the time and I used to love going into the layer chicks pen after school and sit amongst them. They were so cute, so many chicks all together (around 50 at a time I think), different colours. Such a great experience for a kid too, learnt so much. I forget my own kids havent experienced that life before - so much is new and unknown to them.

[Tanya]

Getting my new family members tomorrow from the violet town market... Bit excited! Getting two chickens, will see how they go before getting any more. Can't remember their breed, but can't wait for home grown eggies!

[Dansta]

Vilot town? thats an hour away from me Tanya! ha sorry :P

I swear my chooks are slightly nuts.
I have two shareinge eggs so i candled them and three where "newer" so i put them under a third that had been smooshing herself in there - she then wouldnt sit on them so i put another box on her brooding space for two hours, she now seems settled (she want to brood with my other two) PLUS i have another who is broody and sitting on one (maybe 2 now) eggs. hopefully soon we'll have some new babies.

What kind of breed make good eating chickens? im starting to look into it...

[diva det]

question girls
Royal Rooster or Dine-a-chook
gonna invest in a feeder- loosing too much seed on the ground!!

what feeders have you girls got and what works/recommend etc??

[Mildez]

Dansta I don't know whats a popular eating chook. I plan on eating my buff orpington roosters and plymouth rock roosters that I can't sell before hand. I think Rhode Island reds are good as they are a big bird but not fast maturing so they are older by the time you eat them. Sussex are suppose to eat well and mature quicker.

Det I dont have a feeder as such I use a large aluminium old cake tin. For the chickens (I have 30) I use empty butter containers. I was told by a breeder of 50 odd years to put their laying pellets or what ever you feed them in their feeder and then throw 1 handful of wheat/oats or barley to each bird daily as they love to scratch and if they aren't free ranged that this will give them something to scratch around and eat. I tend to do abit of both. I mix meatmeal, wheat and a laying pellet and put it in their dish and often throw a few handfuls in their cages also. Mine were free range everyday until the little desimaters desided the vegie garden is the place to be so now I dont let the roosters out as they were the main culprits except they are paying me back now with not 1 fertilised egg. I'm sure they are seeking revenge on me.

13days to go until the 3 ducklings hatch and I have definateky counted my eggs before they hatch. Will be devastated if they dont all hatch and be in perfect health Ive got 9days left I think until the speckled sussex hatch. I can't wait for those. And I have 1 broody hen. She has been sitting for a few days now on a few eggs (plymouth rock, buff orps and speckled sussex) surely out of them all some are fertile.

[Mildez]

Det Ive seen those conduct pipes the plumbers used for feeders they look good. You use a long straight bit that you can fill up at the top (so no screw on the top) and then a bent elbow thing with a whole in the bottom so as they eat the food the stuff up the pipe keeps filling the bottom. I will have to get DH to make me some for them when time permits.

[Tanya]

Dan, I am in Shep, so Violet Town a good part of an hr from me too

Chickens have settled in well, they don't want to come out of their pen even though it is left open. I guess with the kids chasing after them all the time they feel safer in there. I hope the kids get used to them quickly so they can roam the yard without being chased. They are isa brown cross leghorn and are only 7 weeks old. They love each other and get a bit distressed when separated

I assume it will be a long while before we get any eggs... Any idea?

[Mildez]

isa brown cross leghorns should be very good layers Tanya. They probably will fly well too. Some chooks will lay as young as 20weeks but probably not until about 26weeks. I have one thats over 8months old thats still not laying and a 7month old thats not laying but the bantums started laying at 6months old and laid a good 6 eggs a week right from the day they started laying.

[Tanya]

Awesome, thanks
We have already clipped their wings after one jumped up onto the fence and we couldn't find the other. We thought she had flown over the fence but she was hiding beside the house. I was angry thinking I had just bought two chickens and one has escaped and the other almost! But they are still here

[Dansta]

Tan I'm Just outta wang heh. small world!

I dont clip my birds wings - mainly so they can escape the dog LOL that said all bar my three big red girls are broody

I;m thinking if i cant find homes for the roosters of this brood i'll use them - but i cant think bantoms would have much meat on them - LOL

As for feeders - mine free range - but i throw grain and layer pallots around each morning and they currently have two large piles of weeds in their shed too
...cannot wait for thursday - sunday to see what eggs hatch out hehe...

[Jennifer13]

We don't clip our girls' wings - they could easily escape (one of our first did so regularly and then the two we lost did when we had the dog attack). These two have it too good to bother.

They are pets, but tbh if we had an illness under different circumstances we probably wouldn't have spent $80 at the vet. It was more because we only had her left of the three from the dog attack. She had to make it for 24 hrs on her own too.

How long do you expect your girls to lay for? I read a book that said I should expect one to one and a half seasons from an ISA because they're such prolific layers. Well, the girl we've had since point of lay two years ago still lays about six eggs a week, two yrs later. She stopped for a few mths after the attack but that's it. Might explain the other one's haphazard efforts, but just wondered if that was normal? Our other girls we lost were equally productive. We did source them from one seller.

[Tanya]

I was born in Wang, Dan

Not sure if we will continue to clip their wings once things settle. But I definitely don't want to be chasing them around the neighborhood or flying into the neighbors yard where there are dogs.

[Dansta]

tan heh i sent you a PM

As for laying - i dont really mind how long they lay for. they're keeping bugs ect down and mine (well mainly badit) is nice to look at lol she's a bandtom perkin (worked it out from a friends chooks) and she's a lovely dusty brown and dusty gold...and a ball of feathers!

I cliped my roosters wings a few times but now let 'em go. neather of my boys are aggressive - dusty my younger rooster was...til i walked into the shed where he was roosting a dusk he went to have a go so i grabed him by the throat then his legs, tucked him under my arm and gave him a cuddle..sorted that issue out

I cant wait until this weekend...hopefully some cherping eggs! plus i have two other girls on the lay...so we'll see what happens there in three weeks...

[BellyBelly]

The woman at the stock feed supply place said she had hens lay for many more seasons! I think you can definitely expect more than 1-2.

I need to put a photo up here somewhere, I am trying to work out what breed one of my chooks is. I have seen some pics doing a google images search, but I am not sure she's exactly the same. Her comb is different to the others and she lays different eggs to the Isas. She's a pretty thing, but she's the bossy grumpy one of the lot lol.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Getting quite a few eggs from the girls again at the moment, 1 or 2 of the silkies seem a little broody so i am not sure what to do with them, she sits on the eggs which is no big deal but can get a bit pecky when the girls or i go to get them out.
I tend to just lift her up, grab the eggs and then put her down again. Not sure if maybe i should lock her in the seperated section of the hotel for a couple of days with her own food and water and see how she goes?

I am hoping to convince DP to let me get the girls some little chicks now the weather is warming up. but i doubt it

[Mildez]

Kelly one of my girls is atleast 8yrs old and still laying. Although she goes clucky quickly so lays basically daily until she has enough to set. She is setting now on some orpington and speckled sussex eggs so FX she hatches some out in about 14ish days