Poultry Keeping General Discussion #2

**Dansta** · January 5th, 2013, 05:53 PM

hope every ones chooks are going ok in this heat!! mine are panting heaps and have extra water bowls out ect and sprinkler has been going for them too...poor babies! hit 44.5 on a neighbours back veranda (shaded) today 0.0

**~ Zarava Flutterby ~** · January 5th, 2013, 09:01 PM

It got to 45 here yesterday too, extra water given along with some shallow water in an old baby bath & shell pool.
Our tanks are low and we desperately need some rain so no mister or sprinkler here

Fairly certain almost all chicks are roo's

going to keep 2 (patch & tiny) and see how we go. If both are roo's we will get rid of patch later.
Have put an add in a local BSS on FB so hopefully the roo's can go to good homes or a pot for someone who knows what they are doing.

Hoping to breed from our boys and try raising our own with hopefully better ratios

When can roo's start to breed (age wise) does anyone know?

**Dansta** · January 5th, 2013, 09:28 PM

when they start crowing...so about 6 months...they sound so funny when they start crowing!

**BellyBelly** · January 6th, 2013, 07:32 AM

Our barnevelder is broody, argh! She was hogging the two nesting boxes but now is just sitting in front of them both. Hope it wont stop our other three from laying - or laying somewhere else...

I was so worried about them in the heat yeaterday too but they've coped well. Poor things

They hate water so thats not been an option.

**Dansta** · January 6th, 2013, 08:21 AM

kelly i put more water bowls out for mine - and wet down the ground around them - to try and cool the air temp for them...
i have three broody...and one lot is about to hatch it seems 0.0

**BellyBelly** · January 6th, 2013, 08:32 AM

Do you have a rooster? We dont, but she is the dominant female. I think the other girls are happy shes out the way. Lol! Ive been wetting the ground too, when my bubs gets cranky she seems to enjoy watching me do it in the HAB!

**Dansta** · January 6th, 2013, 09:03 AM

I've got two kelly. c 0 ckrell head and dusty. and dusty is a big bantom - he seems to be able to mount the RIR i have haha so i have some bantom X RIR and any roosters will end up in the pot...eather mine or my neighbours or both - he's going to show me how to "dress" them when they get big enough.

**BellyBelly** · January 6th, 2013, 09:15 AM

Lol he must be a big rooster for a bantam lol!!

**~me~** · January 6th, 2013, 09:32 AM

Girls coped well in the heat. They had their beaks open a bit and hung their wings down. They sat in the shady in areas and I took iced water out to them which they loved.

They have settled down nicely with the new additions. The leghorn which initially was the smallest has helped my Australorp go off being clucky..Yay!!
So we now have 1 Australorp, 1 Ancona, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Leg Horn and 1 Isa Brown. The Isa is so tame, she will come up to me and DD to be patted. She will almost jump into our laps.

They are all off the lay at the moment, the Ancona was the dominant one while the Australorp was clucky, now the Ancona seems to have gone to the bottom pecking order, taken up with the Isa (older of the new ones) while the Australorp takes the Rhode Island and Leg Horn as her own...funny creatures.

**BellyBelly** · January 6th, 2013, 11:36 AM

Thats a very complicated social circle, lol. Girls can be such funny things sometimes

**Dansta** · January 6th, 2013, 04:04 PM

he is a good size - its funny but i know c 0 ckrell head is his father so he must have got it from his mum LOL

My girls have been panting away too with their wings hanging i feel so bad for them - yesterday it got to 48 - in the shade and thats not my temp four other neighbours had the same (we dont have one yet, lol) i'm lucky as thus far i havent lost one - where as a neighbour (who breeds them kinda) lost 10 in three days from heat

two days down 5 more to go of this stupidly stupid heat

**~ Zarava Flutterby ~** · January 6th, 2013, 05:27 PM

3 chicks gone today, bitter sweet really!
Going to keep 2 & get rid of the rest then try our luck breeding once the boy/s (??? If they are boys) get bigger.

Had a lady ask for the last 6

but

**Dansta** · January 8th, 2013, 07:07 AM

aww

i have a few roo's this time around... just waiting to see is they are roo's or not...i'll be putting some on the table/dog meat this time around...might be getting some ducks down the track too - my neighbour has two that hopefully will be a breeding pair.

**mel_cur** · January 10th, 2013, 09:15 AM

once every two weeks here - as they're only in their roosts til about 8am.
I need to put lime around again and get that ivmex stuff too...(but its bloody exxy for some one like me >.<) and i just put fresh straw/hay in their boxes/on the floor for them...then hopefully next year i'll have some cucumber and mayby pumkins growing in their run.

Is there any benefit for growing cucumbers and pumpkins in their run?

**Dansta** · January 10th, 2013, 01:33 PM

keeps the bugs away from them and fertlise them too...

**mel_cur** · January 10th, 2013, 04:07 PM

keeps the bugs away from them and fertlise them too...

wow that is great! Isn't nature clever

**Dansta** · January 11th, 2013, 11:50 AM

naww we lost a chook to the heat

Badit - my fav one too

seeing as its total fire ban for the next few months i've taken a bunch of her feathers to cremate in our first bonfire.... and make a smudge wand out of too..
and monday c o ckrell head will lose his head and go into a pot for soup...(hes getting old and i think wont last next winter) then it'll just be dusty rooster.

That said we have another three chicks hatched and more to go...so thats something....

**~ Zarava Flutterby ~** · January 11th, 2013, 12:17 PM

Hun. We lost one this week too.
Had her in the shower resting up but looks like she got a respiratory infection, she wouldn't eat or drink and lost too much weight we had to put her out of her misery.

Chicken hotel guests:
Isa's / Backyard Crosses
Penelope
Charcoal
Rockstar

Silkie
Elina

Old English Game
Bella

9wk chicks (believed to be roo's)
Tiny
Patch
Bernard (If its a boy)

The other 8 chicks were given away last week.