Pets chickens

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Good! We will look forward to hearing how your girls are going.

Thats a good idea- ie spacing out the new chickens. :) Even 18 months old should be ok but it depends on your egg usage. ie would you eat two eggs a day, do you bake often, etc. I used to sell eggs to a couple of teachers at my kids school- just for a couple of dollars per carton, then up to $4 more recently. I was trying to give them away but the ladies wanted to help pay for the chook food :)
It got rid of the spare eggs, so I didn't have them hanging around the house. Had 12 chooks laying at one stage. :eek:
Also I used to give a dozen or half dozen to any of my friends when they visit, or to parents of my kids' friends. It's a great payment system, particularly if my child has had a meal at someone's place or slept over or been given a lift home. Everyone loves freshly laid eggs ;)
 

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The quality of a home chicken will always be much higher.

Even free range just means the chicken can walk around and isn't in a cage. It doesn't mean they get lots of free space to roam around scrounging up bugs and pecking at the grass all day as they please which is their natural diet.

I used to wonder why my chicken would peck at the grass late in the evening before she went to bed. Apparently chickens like to get a bit of grass seed into them to aid digestion while they roost. Very quirky.
 
Just had 5 of these Sussex hatch last week, going well but probably will keep them in here for another couple of weeks at least so no crows can get a crack at them.
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Kram81 said:
The Silkies Teriyakicat kindly gave me.
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But yet even after a week the funny little things still spend 95% of their time hiding in this shrub :confused: Well unless you chuck out a couple of bits of bacon ;)
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Lol
Thanks for posting that- my daughter will love to see the pics.
They used to have to hide from hawks here, so maybe that's why they prefer the cover of the bushes?
 
Teriyakicat said:
Lol
Thanks for posting that- my daughter will love to see the pics.
They used to have to hide from hawks here, so maybe that's why they prefer the cover of the bushes?
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Yeah but I'm seriously not exaggerating in that they almost NEVER leave the cover of that shrub, I find it quite bizarre for a chicken to be that shy. What other chooks did they live with at your place and how did they go? Not that I'm going to put them in with the other bantams, I'll make them their own little cage to sleep in and they can live on their own, and hopefully they might decide to sit on some eggs for us.

Also did you say that you gave them some ivomec and a dust? I checked them and they looked like they were clean but the last thing I want is any red mites it's about the only pest I haven't had and it would do my head in to get them lol. Might just give them an extra dust just to make sure can't hurt. Their feet look fine apart from their claws might need a bit of a clip.

edit - wow they are finally coming out for a bit of a look around :eek::D
 
They were in with 4 other bantams and 2 bantam roosters. Used to be two red Hylines in there and and an Australorp but they are well gone.
They were always pretty shy. Occasionally one would give the other a little peck but never a full on fight. Very nice-natured little girls.

Yes, I dusted them and gave them
Ivomec that morning prior to bringing the over. Would've done both a week earlier as well -but didn't get enough notice. :( Sorry.

I think they will be fine- it can take over a week for them to settle in so I wouldn't be too worried. Nice to know that they'll have their own place, though. Maybe you can breed them with little Smokie and sell their babies?
 
Teriyakicat said:
They were in with 4 other bantams and 2 bantam roosters. Used to be two red Hylines in there and and an Australorp but they are well gone.
They were always pretty shy. Occasionally one would give the other a little peck but never a full on fight. Very nice-natured little girls.

Yes, I dusted them and gave them
Ivomec that morning prior to bringing the over. Would've done both a week earlier as well -but didn't get enouhttp://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/chickens.980753/page-30gh notice. :( Sorry.

I think they will be fine- it can take over a week for them to settle in so I wouldn't be too worried. Nice to know that they'll have their own place, though. Maybe you can breed them with little Smokie and sell their babies?
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Nah that's alright, I'm just paranoid but I'll give them another dust tonight can't hurt.

edit - how long ago did you have them anyway?
 
Teriyakicat said:
Maybe you can breed them with little Smokie and sell their babies?
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Not sure about a cross breed, guess I could.. Really wouldn't mind getting some pure Pekin hens though just as pets they were magnificent friendly little chickens and I'm still really pissed about the fox taking them.

One mongrel bantam jumped out of the pen he is in and laid a clutch under the house but they ended up all being duds..

edit - here are some X's http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/577625/anyone-have-a-silkie-x-pekin
 

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Juggalo Balla said:
The quality of a home chicken will always be much higher.

Even free range just means the chicken can walk around and isn't in a cage. It doesn't mean they get lots of free space to roam around scrounging up bugs and pecking at the grass all day as they please which is their natural diet.
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Seen a great episode on Landline about the battery v 'free' range egg production and how Australians are strongly moving to mainly purchasing the latter. Thing is unless it's one of those small 'mom and pop' free farms they are arguably hardly any better off, the conditions are still absolutely terrible.
 
Kram81 said:
Not sure about a cross breed, guess I could.. Really wouldn't mind getting some pure Pekin hens though just as pets they were magnificent friendly little chickens and I'm still really pissed about the fox taking them.

One mongrel bantam jumped out of the pen he is in and laid a clutch under the house but they ended up all being duds..

edit - here are some X's http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/577625/anyone-have-a-silkie-x-pekin
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Gorgeous pics, aren't they? Mostly ended up with Pekin feathers though. Gee, I just move those frizzles. :D

The silkies should lay a few eggs - hope you're keeping an eye out :)
Not sure if you'll get a batch to hatch but even 6 between them would be good, I reckon.
 
Teriyakicat said:
I think they're 4 in December. I meant to look it up via photos but forgot. Will check in the morning.
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I meant when you had the red mite bug problems. I remember you said one was 4 and 3 years old I think. Don't worry I'm sure they are 100% fine I just have borderline OCD lol. Gave them another dust tonight and will give them one more before they go in their new pen.

What's their names again? Although maybe it's not worth knowing because I can't tell them apart anyway to know who is who :$
 
Kram81 said:
Seen a great episode on Landline about the battery v 'free' range egg production and how Australians are strongly moving to mainly purchasing the latter. Thing is unless it's one of those small 'mom and pop' free farms they are arguably hardly any better off, the conditions are still absolutely terrible.
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There was one mob hauled over the coals fairly recently for not complying with the amount of space per chicken rule, or something.
 
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Kram81 said:
I meant when you had the red mite bug problems. I remember you said one was 4 and 3 years old I think. Don't worry I'm sure they are 100% fine I just have borderline OCD lol. Gave them another dust tonight and will give them one more before they go in their new pen.

What's their names again? Although maybe it's not worth knowing because I can't tell them apart anyway to know who is who :$
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I can't remember about the mites. A few months I think. 4?
Haven't seen any bugs on them since I dusted.
Both are the same age. One has a bigger puff ball on her head- Puffy. The other is Pinky. You'll know it's her when she pecks at you if you try and steal her eggs. ;) I used to call her Pinky Pecker. She got the name Pinky because she was attacked by a hawk once and ended up with big scratches on each side of her body, so I sprayed her with Cetrigen, which turned her feathers fluoro pink. ;)
 
PastiesPeake said:
http://www.news.com.au/national/wes...s-backyard-roost/story-fnii5thn-1227555573871
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I had to laugh at "Mrs Fox"! :eek:

Yeah- backyard chooks are certainly becoming fashionable again, aren't they?
My daughter's schoolfriend is keen on taking a few of our old red hens, even though they no longer lay. He says he loves chooks- I reckon he's better off getting a laying hen. They don't cost much. I was going to offload all my hens to a friend who is on 10 acres. She can afford to have hens that don't lay, running around her yard. The sad thing is that her henhouse routinely gets emptied by foxes most years. :(
I don't like that idea so much - one reason I was happy to give two girls to Kram81. I know he would protect his chickens with his life- won't you Kram? ;)
 
Ok so our chooks have been going well for over a year now.

A while back the daughter (15 yo) of a family friend bought two chicks from Petstock as a suprise for our now 3yo daughter.

Now one is a rooster. It started to crow last night. It's voice hasn't broken yet and sounds like some kid is getting strangled at 4am.

So it has been listed free to good home on gumtree and someone is going to pick it up tomorrow. But I need to do something about the crowing.

So if I put it in a moving box to keep it as dark as possible will it delay the crowing to a more civilized hour, when the neighbours and us have woken naturally after a good night's sleep?
 
Teriyakicat said:
I don't like that idea so much - one reason I was happy to give two girls to Kram81. I know he would protect his chickens with his life- won't you Kram? ;)
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The 'Fox' family keeping chickens.. surely that's a pisstake!

I think they are finally settling a bit, this arvo they actually went about for a wander about 10 metres away from their hiding spot and 1 had a dust bath! Only took 9 days :rolleyes::p

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Kram81 said:
The 'Fox' family keeping chickens.. surely that's a pisstake!

I think they are finally settling a bit, this arvo they actually went about for a wander about 10 metres away from their hiding spot and 1 had a dust bath! Only took 9 days :rolleyes::p

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Since I have let my red hens out from their HUGE coop in the backyard, they have lost most of their fleas :) I did give them Ivomec on the weekend to help them ditch their last couple but I think it's the dustbaths that are helping keep them free of fleas.

Don't be worried if they get into the sand and come out all filthy. It dries off quickly and drops off ;) I had almost a dozen filthy little black chickens running around at one stage :)
 
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