AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

i'm not quite sure what happened. one chicken (big brown) was looking poorly and now nothing. the other one must have just brushed her beak on her back where they use to wipe the discharge on their feathers when they were irritated and unwell. because the crusty mess, it went away and didn't happen again since.

I didn't get around to cleaning and disinfecting coops as it has been raining pouring and life is SUPER busy at the moment. i was going to separate the 2 and do all that cleaning and put the other back but again didn't get around to building another temporary pen for them.

But i have been feeding REALLY good the majority of the days in the last few weeks, quality food and giving cheese and protein and lots of corn and veggies.i even gave them some of my aged vintage cheddar which i love and costs more than cheese should. they like parmesan too. (BLEH!) even some mince. rice. grated vegies of all kinds. dinner scraps. tubs of meal worms tomatoes and i purchased a whole watermelon just for them ! because they like it so much. and every time i open the freezer i would defrost handfuls of corn for them. on the cob and kernels. they have been eating better than me and my son lately. i've been mixing minced fresh garlic mixed in to most of their food often.
and 2 days i spend a couple of hours with them to monitor sneezing and running nostrils and wiping of the beaks on her back. and didnt see anything. and only heard 2 sneezes which i think are normal sneeze but not sure, in about 2 hours straight. the 2 sneezes did come from big brown though. so still unsure of she's as good as she really looks. she's much smaller than the others who are ENORMOUS now.

For the obvious reason of costs and me not going to be able to sustain this effort and money for chickens to eat like that or the time it takes to prepare their food. it is eventually going to have to stop or at least cut down to a more sustainable level. Their chook food is almost completely untouched and more than half the time i didn't even bother giving it to them because it is just not being eaten anymore. even on the days i didn't feed them prepared meals i would defrost a huge plastic cup of mixed peas corn and carrot and serve while still warm. sometimes they stole some because they get so excited when they see the big pink cup, before it had a chance to cool down. i'm sure it would have been HOT going down !!!

Well in result the chickens are BIG and fluffy and are crazy mad birds who think i always have food now and attack my feet and try to fly up to my lap or sometimes even aiming for my shoulder to see if i have food or meal worms for them.


So i think for now i wont do anything and see what's going to happen......... they should be laying soon. 19 weeks old !!! big girls now.

Just the stress of always being worried for them and forever just feeling like i a waiting for the next hurdle to come isn't fun. i still hold hope that they will be normal chickens and can lead a normal life and don't stress me out... but i guess so far so good this time.

Phew...

Well that sounds great. You're a great mum BFLF. The girls are so lucky to have you as their mum.

Updated photos of the girls is overdue.

Look forward to some picys.


Cheers
Chicka-Dee

Wonderful news, BFLF

I get similar complaints from my hubby, that the chooks get better fed than he does and get more attention. The kids are happy to share with the chooks, there is plenty for everyone.

i'll defiantly take some photos once the rain stops. Were having lovely non stop rainfall and crazy winds here. not even the chickens are dumb enough to go out in this weather. They are keeping high and dry up in their roost area where things are dry and warm.