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the rooster thing - i think is 6months/crowing (and a full comb my cousin told me last night)
feathers - how old are they? they kinda slowly come in. i think mine where...8weeksish when i could see some *real* fethers come in. by 3 months they had them all.
I think the rooster thing can be easier/harder to determine depending on the breed. Do you know what they are?
You can probably find a bit of info on sexing chicks on google if you know the breed.
They would be so cute. Enjoy!
Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!
the neighbour whoes dog killed the last of the fuzzbutts just dropped around 6 day old chicks...*sniff* a 5ookm round trip he took for them! it baught tears to my eyes when he told me that.
Oh Dansta, how sad for your fuzzbutts, but how nice of your neighbour. Wish whoever's dog is responsible for the loss and injury of our girls had the guts to own up. I confronted the builder down the road after I caught his cross breed once again roaming the streets and asked him but he denied it. Pretty certain it was that dog though. He can give us the $80 it cost us for vet and medication if he likes. Told him to tie up the dog and haven't seen it again. The neighbours whose house they are building loved our chooks and have also asked him and told him to keep the dog tied up. I love dogs, but if I see it wandering the streets again I'm going to have a serious word with the neighbour. I couldn't bear going through that again!
Starfish, we had our baby chicks sexed before taking them home. You could ask if they did that? The chicken ppl for DD1's preschool didn't send home roosters.
aww :( jen thats rough. he saw her do it! and was so angry at her it wasnt funny. she got chained up for 4 days and hasnt been around since. i hope that builders dog keeps clear of your place too!!
but i now have 6 baby chickens (sexed also to be female) i've named one monkey - as i had one called chippy that died 'cus of the bardy ticks so this one is monkey as she looks very simmlar! i'm letting DH name one or two of them too as he'd just started to connect with the last two fuzzbutts.
I'm not sure what i'll call this "lot" i was thinking the mottly crew - dunno why but heh. saves time in talking about them!
Both our injured girls are going so well back in the chicken hotel, both walking, running and feeding well.. :dance:
OUr silkies seem to be off the lay now and were only getting 1-2 big eggs every 2-3 days so i think winter has well and truly started :)
DP and I have discussed tinning up some of the chicken hotel to keep them a little warmer, am thinking of tinning the whole of the back 2 rooms and then maybe half of the front room - it will keep them a lot warmer and will make the nesting box area a bit darker, if we do that aswell then i might actually screw some roosts into the back room and 2 lots on half of the front room so they stop roosting on the nesting boxes and crapping all over them.
QUICK QUESTION:
Does anyone have chickens AND dogs?
In the 'burbs?
We've got a block around 1000 squares, about half of which is out back yard. We have 2 dogs (a westie/bichon frisse and a schnauser/poodle) and we're thinking of getting chickens, and a veggie patch.
TIA
My labrador dogs have always lived peacefully with my chooks. The only prob has been the dogs getting the eggs before us. Alot of other people find they have to seperate them though. Can you build a chook run?
Ours were living peacefully together (chickens in their paddock & dogs wandering around) until our border collie x kelpie decided her rounding up skills surfaced again :(
No matter how trust worthy i would still plan on having a dog proof run, if you don't need to use it then great but just in case you do.
we could build a chook enclosure - I'm guessing we'd need to have the fence go down a little ways into the ground to stop the dogs from digging under it ... ?
Yeah they say to run a bit of the wire down under ground level... some people say to dig a wider trench and run the wire on an angle away from the fence so if a dog digs they hit the wire and don't try going deeper.. IYKWIM.
I've taken to locking our dogs up when the girls are out in their paddock as we can't see them and Cassie sneaks off.
When the chickens are locked up and the dogs have free range they don't seem interested in going down there at all, but foxes are an issue but we've been lucky so far, might need to dig a trench around the chook shed and lay some wire JIC (we used an old shed & converted it to a chook hotel :p )
You could try a (dog proof) chicken tractor if you didn't want to build a run.
What are your dogs like? Do you reckon they would attack the chooks?
We keep chickens in the front yard and dogs and veggie patch out the back. Chickens have demolished my lettuce before, so they're separate from my food growing!
Our current dog doesn't bother the chickens at all (but our other girl would have killed them - she died last year), but he would eat their scraps and make himself sick.
We def live in the burbs! Slightly bigger than quarter acre block, house and granny flat take up a bit of space though.
Not sure ... they have always been very interested in the cat (when we had her) but never attacked her ...
But it sounds like it can work :)
we have a dog and chooks. and the dog gets locked up when the chooks are out and if the days boof gets free range the chooks are locked up - i have to peg down the run again so he cant get into it and make it boof-proof. he is getting better at not chaceing them - and comming back when he see's them. its a game to him but he is gettng better, slowly.
we where getting one egg every few days but not now (how we dont get more with 12 chooks dont know - even after locking them up for a week!!)
Mottly crew are going well. getting bigger and loving their chick pattot thingys. and apple. they love apple. i they wont be out side for a few months yet - but they are cute. we've got most of them named - monkey, jackie, sparrow, bully and the 5th i havent named yet. monkey is the tamest out of al them. she's a cutie.
I'm also worried about barking ... the puppies (well, dogs ... they're 7 and 8!) bark and bark at possums - though are much better now than when we first moved here - and I'm worried that either the neighbours will go bezerk, or the dogs will scare the chickens to death with their barking ...
And then the digging in thing - but they don't dig all that much, so as long as the fence goes a little ways under the around, we should be ok with that one ...
How has the barking thing gone for other people?
We don't have dogs but our free range chooks have decimated our garden and my veges despite the garden being fenced off. I wish we could have gotten a chook tractor but the cost of freight made them ridiculous.
We have 2 dogs. One's a real barker. He barked at the chooks for a day or two and soon got used to them. He doesnt bark at them now. I tie the dogs up when the chooks are out. Just in case. It is a natural instinct for them to kill something like a chook so I remove the temptation! We live on a huge block, about an acre so we don't notice that the chooks cause any garden damage. I do have the veggie garden fenced off though. (that was because a horse ate my pawpaw tree though!!) we love put chooks the girls collect the eggs everyday and spend hours chasing the chooks around trying to pick them up. :-)
Eta: our dog is a bit of a digger but not too bad. Our coop is not dug into the ground we just put logs and stones around the base and we've not had any problems yet.
Just wondering if anyone has brought or used one of the cheaper eBay incubators? I'm considering buying one but not sure if it's a waste of money. I have a trio of buff orpingtons which I desperately want to breed from to increase our numbers plus I have 4 other crossbreed for eggs to eat.
Our coop is dug into the ground thank God as foxes here are a problem. We only recently got a rooster and our dog goes nuts when he crows. Poor dog obviously had no idea what it is as the hens have never worried him.
Our Gemma chicken is back to her normal self and laying every day again! Bigger eggs than before too. She wants to be picked up whenever I see her and seems so happy. She still has a very slight limp, but other than that, no signs of her brush with death.
It is slightly ridiculous how delighted I am to pat her and talk to her, but there was some fairly intensive chicken nursing involved. ;)
Just curious to know who's hens are laying this time of the year and who's aren't? Mine aren't which I expect this time of year. Hopefully it's only another 5-6weels before they start again.
whoot we having been getting an egg a day finally from our chooks since wednesday last week and today there were 2 eggs!!
First eggs we have gotten!!!
and they taste soooo yummy and creamy mmmmmm
so excited that we are finally getting eggs lol
love love love this chicken thing!!!
Mine are in Central Australia and yes it's pretty cold there. They aren't as regular as every day, most days though, but we only get say 6 weeks of really cold.
So happy to be back on the chicken thing again! We've had ours for about 3 weeks now, and they have been out and wandering the back yard for 2 weeks. They are very used to being handled and are so very funny and cheeky. No eggs yet, they are younger anyway, but loving having them again.
For those whose hens aren't laying because of the cold, I remember what my grandfather used to do - cook up a batch of chicken feed which consisted of potato peels and something else (possibly oats?) all mushed up - feed it to them warm. Apparently this helps to keep egg production up due to the warmth in their bellies, have heard it from a couple of other people now. I will have to do some googling and find out about it and what goes in it, but the chooks used to LOVE it. Might be worth a shot.
Our silkies have stopped and we weren't getting many from the Isa's for about 2 weeks but now we are getting 2-3 eggs every 2-3 days.
I''m thinking about enclosing half of the shed to keep them a little warmer as it's basically completely open, so it's a matter of either catching DP with some time off (:rofl:) or figuring out how to get the tin up myself :p
Yay Kel! The hen we've had since point of lay is laying six days out of seven, as per usual. The hen we got from the neighbours is on strike. So I'm not sure about the diet thing, since they both eat the same stuff. If anything, the second hen gets more as she's more dominant.
They do love oats though! I'm hoping that longer with us and on our diet the second hen will step up to the plate and provide more eggs. She was laying until it got cold.
Hahah we have just two to start with, one is definitely more bossy and hogs the food - even if we throw a heap of stuff to them, whatever the other hen runs off with, the bossy one drops what she's got and chases that one! Speaking of which I better go let them out for the day :) How many does everyone have? I guess you've all been over this a few times already, maybe we can collate some info at the start of the thread, like number of chooks, breed etc? :)
How old are chickens when they first start laying eggs?
One of our girls passed away in the weekend. :( She had been limping for a while, but looked otherwise healthy, so I didn't think that anything was really wrong, but last week she started getting worse. She was booked to go to the vet tomorrow, but didn't make it...
So now we have one left. Do chickens get lonely? Wondering if we should get another one...
Have a question too - the girls seem a little snuffly like they have colds but seem healthy otherwise. They kinda cough/sneeze... any tips?
Starfish I would get a 2nd again for company and warmth in this cold weather. Kellie I have 7 chooks at the moment. 3 are buff orpingtons there really large chooks then I have 3 chicks that are austrolorpes (I spelt that wrong) but 2appear to be roosters so I'll have to get rid of those cause I can't have 3 roosters living together and then one old silkie cross Isa brown who goes clunky all the time so I'm hoping she will hatch some of the pure buff Orpington eggs out. I'll eat the bantum eggs and keep the big ones to use to run into chicks. The buff orpingtons are hard to come by so I'm hoping to sell a few also. Just need to build a 2nd pen. We are on 70acres so have plenty of room and free wheat. That brings me to what does everyone feed there chooks? Mine get bread daily and a few scraps, wheat and a laying pellet but pay day I'm going to buy some meat meal for them. Kelly I'd be keen to know the remedy for making them lay again faster. It's freezing here we are in central west NSW and it has been in the minuses overnight almost every night with heavy frosts
Seems to be something common our fathers and grandfathers knew :) Here's a link I found, seems to be lots of different ways to make it.
http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.c...en-layers.html
:
Winter Mash - Homemade Chicken Layers Feed
A recent query from keeping chickens newsletter subscriber Staci : "Thanks for the newsletter. I have enjoyed it very much. I did a little searching through it, but have not seen mention of 'winter mashes'. A friends' mother told me she remembers that her father used to feed his hens a mash of some sort to keep them laying through the winter. If you have any recipes for such a thing (the mash), I would love to see them."
yay Kelly for chooks!
we have the 5 8(ish) week olds in the kitchen still. roosting on a shoe rack they're figureing out how to fly so we now have an old sleeping bag over the top (also keeps boofhead out)
But it looks like one of the chooks in the chook shed is going to kark it soon - she's lethargic and not really moving much. but she was given to us by a neighbour who has no idea how old she was when she got him. hopefullly she passes in her sleep as i'm not really looking forward to chopping heads off.
Another chook is sitting on eggs (around 6) so we might have more babys with her next month (and i am dusting her with flea poweder once a week just to be sure!!!)
Hi all, just looking for some advice. I have previously had chickens but am chook free at the moment.
My dad has five isa browns and due to health reasons, can't look after them anymore. I told dad I would take them but I'm worried about getting them to my house. My dad lives 3 1/2 hours away.
Normally for a much shorter trip, I would put the girls in a well ventilated, dark box. I am inclined to do the same, but will the girls be okay without water for that long, particularly given they are likely to be stressed?
Thanks in advance.
NN I think they would be fine as long as its not to crowded the box they are in. And well ventilated like you said.
Thanks Mildez- i'll give it a go and keep a close eye on them.
yeah, space and air and they'll be fine. my 5 baby chicks came from 3hrs away in a cardbord box! on the day the hatched!
AFM Little S died not last night the night before. i knew it was comming. so not sad as such. im glad that she got a few good months with my flock
the 5 in the kitchen are going well. Monkey and Sparrow are the tamest. sparrow more so then monkey.
Girls are well & truly back to laying. Check out this egg we got the other day.
2584
Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!
Wow Zarava!! Nice sized egg!
We have eggs! Two days in a row now, and ironically the younger of the two. My daughter is like a proud mother.
Question - we had the option of getting more chooks today but they were a year old, and also they are previously caged animals - they were bought by a stockfeed shop on consignment and she said the poor things were almost bald when she got them, but are getting lots of feathers back now. They are Isa Browns and the owner said she has an 8 year old who still lays. I'm a bit worried about health and disease issues - what do you think? Feel sorry for the poor things, but don't want them to be picked on by our other two or worry about disease. Other option is to get more from the original supplier, been very happy with these girls.
Gemma the limping chicken can finally get up into the coop at night if I leave her a wooden box as a step (she can't use the ramp). I think her limp is here to stay, but she seems happy and even friendlier than before the attack. Her eggs are bigger too, which is probably because she's getting a bit more food since there's two instead of three.