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Lost a chick last night, is that common?
It was the smallest one!
Cleaned out the bath tub, fresh water 3x a day, plenty of feed.
Have turned the light on this morning so maybe mum can get a rest, turning it off to go out then will check them all again this arvo... They got some more grass time this morning. So sad!
Dansta - does this look ok for the night setup? It's basically a workers light, gives off HEAPS of heat.
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The remaining 11 seem to be going well, the bigger ones with the darker feathers are getting more wing feathers through and the look so cute.
We still have 3 little yellow ones who seem to have yellow wing feathers and look slightly smaller than the others.
They are hard work, keeping up the water and replacing the feed, today i have to lift the bathtub out of the shed and hose it out while they have a bit of a play on the grass under the portacot, i really think Bella loves that time out scratching around.
Am heading down to the chicken shed today to give it a clean out, also going to try and put up some roosts for the girls, DP bought a trailer full of stuff back from his nans which had an old metal shelf (3 tier thing) - the shelves on it would actually make good little roosts so i pulled it apart and am going to TRY and rig up some way of putting them in the shed.
She also has an old cupboard in there (will get pics) that i am hoping to convince DP to allow me to cut up as the cupboard spots would actually be a good size to put in the second room for when the chicks go down there, somewhere safe and warm for them and we wouldn't need to build new nesting boxes, they would probably be big enough for our normal girls too.
Am going to charge the camera this morning and try and get some pics for my chickens album... let you all know what i'm talking about.... i could easily see myself getting caught up in these chicks and the like but DP reckons we are not keeping them all :(
Dansta a roo is yours if you want it, HotI there is a fair chance you could be getting a present for Miss A if Dp wont let me keep all the girls :p
HERE is a link to my album on FB - let me know if it's not working... how cute are the chicks?
ZF how are the chicks??
We hatched a gunie fowl out :D their name is Freddie nerks. (random pet name dad used to give stuff, lol) and they're sooo adorable!!!
another two eggs are making pecking noises... not quite cherping plus another two eggs under casper and another 4 under hudni.
This weekend im fixing up the chook run so i can have them in there with out the dog getting in or them out and crows out as well - just need to cut a few holes in the shed walls and in this hot weather i'll be able to pop a sprinkler in there to keep them cool and hopefully keep any thing i plant in their watered!
Awww Chicks! How are they ZF? Can you tell hen or rooster yet?
Gunie fowl are cute, love the name.
I have ordered two more chickens. We are adding a Leghorn hen and Rhode Island Red hen to our flock. I might even pick up an Isa Brown when we get there. He said they always have Isa's ready.
Our Australorp is still clucky. I am just taking her off the nest quite a few times a day and just hope and :pray: it ends soon. On the plus side, she is becoming very tame.
Chicks are going well, moved them into the second room in the chicken shed.
They are getting bigger & seem to be going well.
We lost a silkie last week, she was a bit slow the day before then I found her dead in the nesting box :(
Hird the bird also drowned :(
2 old girls, 1 silkie & 2 new girls plus mum & chicks.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/30/uqazyzyv.jpg
naww thats go good ZF; i lost one of my chicks; randomly two weeks ago but the rest are all fit and well...and starting to roost on the roost rails.
I now have a RIR X Bantom chick and freddie too. i have another two broody chooks sitting on eggs that should hatch out in the next two weeks, so i have to get the chook run more succured and chick-escape proof. which means i need to get it ready hopefully this week adding some more over head mesh and then some smaller wire along the bottom and shade cloth then moving a "holey hose" thats ment ot be a dripper into the run so the chooks can cool off and water what ever i plant in there too (im thinking a grape vine and passion fruit for shade and durability)
Soooo my little chicks are not so little anymore :) about 6 weeks old now and look at them:
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naww they're "ugly cute" heh
Hi everyone. We recently got some chicks too :) My friend breeds them and I got some Jap x silkies so they won't be very big but they have the fluffiest feet. I have 7 all up and 1 at least is a rooster. Hopefully I can figure out how to upload pics and you guys can see them
Hi Everyone. We are getting chickens after Christmas. Just ordered the coop so very excited!
I was just wondering if anyone had a list of what things we need to buy? I think we need:
Nesting boxes
laying mash
nesting straw
egg grit
mulch for cage floor
lime for cage floor
Feeder/drinker/bowl for grit
worming solution
Bin to store feed (is a garbage bin with lid ok?)
feed scoop
Need anything else?
TIA
sounds about right Mel.
my chooks just got an enclosed run now - and some more shade cloth to cover them in a smidge in summer!
the gunie foul is soo cute just a long neck and a little body hehe
As dansta said it all sounds good Mel... the only thing with a bin is that you really want a nice tight seal on your food storage - rats & mice are cunning and they will try and break into things.
My girls don't have an enclosed run, they have 1/4 acre (roughly) of their own which is fenced but we don't even shut the gate anymore they just wander up to the house.
They go back into the chicken hotel when it's hot and we have an old bathtub out front which is full of water with chicken wire over it (so they don't fall in).
If i had my way i would knock down the current chicken hotel and put in a concrete floor, some water tanks, seperate rooms still (but better setup) and have a run off the side that is undercover.
They could still free range everywhere but it would be accessible from inside the coop only and be able to be shut off if i wanted to put chicks out there.
At the moment out little chicks don't get to free range, i am going to start trying to let them out under the portacot a couple of times a week BUT we can't let them out alone as the hawks would probably try and get them.
I REALLY want to keep a roo and try and hatch out some chicks of our own, now we know we could setup the 'nursery' for the girls to hatch and then keep babies in there i would LOVE to...
I really wish i could get a male silkie but not sure DP will let me.
Then i could cross our female silkie with a boy and some of our backyard crosses with a boo out of these new chicks.
I have put some pics up on a poultry forum and quite a few people have suggested we lucked out (or got ripped off) and most look like boys :( got to give them a couple more weeks and see what we think :(
Oh no! Can you returrn them and ask for a refund?:
Also what does everyone clean their coop with? Do I have to buy a special spray/wash or can I make my own up?
No, we bought them unsexed under a mum so there was no guarantee. :(
I clean the coop weekly, I dust their nesting boxes but I don't spray, every now abs then I wipe down with some lavender or a bit if dish washing liquid in hot water.
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.
Added to my flock today. I picked up 1 leghorn, 1 Rhode Island Red and 1 Isa Brown. My Ancona is not very happy about having siblings at all! Had to separate them at first. Now they are just avoiding her.
The leghorn is still young and has decided to buddy up to my Australorp ( currently clucky). I am hoping she will stop my Australorp being clucky.