Poultry Keeping General Discussion #2

[Bella29]

Oh no! Mildezhowwi

[Bella29]

Oh no mildez! That's a real worry.... No idea. You could put them on your skin and then put a blanket on the other side. That would be the right temp. Depends on how many u have...

Out of the 15 that went into lockdown, I have 14 live babies. One died last night when I tried to help it out..... It was the first to pip, but then just stopped an I shoul have just left it alone . Oh we'll, live and learn. Photos soon I promise!

[Mildez]

That is an awesome result Bella. The best Ive done is 8 from 9 then I lost one today so I'm down to 7 from the 9. I only got 10 from my first effort from 17. Thats what I get from using a $47 incubator from ebay. But with this R com Ive only read good things so I'm hoping next hatch will be better. I've got 12 eggs now I'll probably incubate when I reach 24. I'm really hanging out for these speckled sussex eggs and so far Ive only got 1. I think they have gone of laying since been moved.

[Bella29]

Its ways the way isn't it. When u r waiting for something, bloody Murphy's law.

[Dansta]

bother meldez! thats not good. hope the eggs are ok (chooks get off them to eat and stuff so they might be ok?)

LOL i have snooty chooks. joy, rapture little ingrates LOL. i'll try locking them up again and see...little blighers will learn...some one suggeted a rubber snake...i think they'd try and eat it. they eat everything else even lollie snakes!

[Mildez]

Dansta any luck getting the chooks to go in at night?

Bella how are your chickens going? Getting smelly yet?

Unfortunately I did loose alot of my developing chickens with the blackout. 13 I think all up and 4 made it and hatched yesterday. My exciting news is I am incubating some duck eggs for my sister and mother. I got 10 and 3 are fertile and developing now. I was so excited when I candled them to actually see the beating hearts in the 3 fertile ones. It was just like a human ultrasound almost. I hope all 3 of them hatch and that they are all ducks not drakes. There is 1 indian runner and 2 call ducks.

[BellyBelly]

Interesting reading about a few of you incubating. We've thought about it but we need to move first I think. Sad to hear of the lost babies with the blackout Do any of the machines have some sort of back-up system?

Had a big scare this morning, was in bed and heard lots of knocking on the door, the chickens had escaped (and had before but we thought we'd closed the holes up). Went around the back and the roof had been ripped of the laying area of the chook cage, a panel of the roof of the rabbit hutch was also ripped off and two big dogs (ridgeback looking things my partner thinks) were trying to dig into the guinea pig cage. The chickens had obviously fled through the gate that the dogs had somehow opened, and even after we shooed them away, they came back. We called the council and the dog catcher called us, wasnt keen on coming from another town 30 odd minutes away as he thinks they'll be gone. But i'm worried for our girls wandering around the garden If we see the dogs again we'll have to lock them up.

[Dansta]

kell - eeep :/ thats no good. chooks can fly fairly high when needed Ive seen one of mine fly and clear the car port and shed then land on the other side of the fence. (but i dont clip my chooks wings JIC my dog goes down there they can escape)

We currently have 16 eggs being sat on between 3 chooks. i moved two from under two roosting next to each other and popped them under another broody chook to sit on. so hopefully between thursday next week and sunday i should have some bubba chooks!

Then when a neighbour gets dome gunie fowl i'll get some of them too down the track - they bail up snakes and dogs. LOL wont say no to that haha

[BellyBelly]

Awwww @ bubba chickies Dansta.

How much would you all pay to save a chicken? My family are very pro-animal and my mum just paid for surgery for her bantam for a second time for a blocked crop - $350 a time! I dont know if I could justify that, sounds awful and I have paid a fortune for cat surgery time and time again... But yeah, a bantam?! Dunno. Could just happen again too!

[Jennifer13]

We paid $80 for our poor chicken's meds and vet visit after her dog attack. Not to mention all my nursing time. But it was worth it.

I've had one blocked croup and cured it at home with the warm olive oil and massage technique. But if that hadn't worked I'd have had her put to sleep. at that vet bill! I'd say the bantam is eating too much grass if it's recurring. Maybe free range her less?

[Astrid]

I won't let DH read those posts, he just "deals" with them. I think we would only pay if one of the rare breed roosters was in trouble and we still needed him for breeding. As we are breeding, we really only want to breed from the strongest and healthiest, the ones who need too much help, could just pass on some bad genetic traits. They live a good life with us, but they are farm animals not pets.

[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.