Wet, wet, wet

These are the 26 day old chicks.

After the hottest weekend this summer with days hovering around 37degrees, it has now rained for 3 days and nights.

I think they're over it.

Chooks do like the rain and it usually puts them into a preening frenzy.

Rain means lots of insects on the move -- to the chicks' delight.

Rain usually also means wasted, wet feed -- and in summer wasted, wet and mouldy feed.







So far Dine-A-Chook has lived up to all its promises and the grain has stayed completely dry.


Readers of Green Magazine might recognise this fellow.  He's in the large photo sitting on the little girl's knee.


Just to give you can idea of how radpidly they grow and change, those photos were taken about 5 weeks ago.

And here is one of the Christmas hatch pullets -- only 9 weeks old and comfortably able to use the Dine-A-Chook.

Dietary requirements of healthy chooks

These are the 23 day old chicks.





The girls are having some watermelon to stay cool. It seems the boy is too cool for watermelon!

But he was up to his ankles in breakfast. This is boiled up veggie peelings with Swisse Wild Krill oil capsules, organic linseed (flax), egg, lavender leaves and spiralena powder (which explains the green tinge their food always has).

These chicks will grow up with glossy feathers, strong bones, good health and when the girls begin laying their eggs will be loaded with Omega 3.

These chooks will also know to seek out medicinal plants in their garden because they were introduced to them when they were only 4 days old and are used to eating them  even though they have strong scents and flavours. 

Key plants to make available to your chooks include tansy, lavender, wormwood and comfrey.

Ready for rehoming -- are you ready?

These are the 3 week old chicks.

This is how they start their day. Not quite tall enough for the Dine-A-Chook feeder just yet...

Most of the bigger chicks head straight towards it in the morning when they are let out from their fox-proof henhouse.

Today they spent most of the day pecking at watermelon to stay cool.



 So with Green Magazine now on the shelves in newsagents and available to subscribers on-line there has been a burst of interest in who is available for rehoming right now.

To make things fair for you and easy me, below are some photos.

To have them at your place you must commit to the following:

• The chooks will be provided with a suitable area where scratching and digging is allowed and encouraged.
• They will have permanent access to areas of dappled light and deep shade.
• Fresh tansy, lavender, comfrey and wormwood will be grown and made available for the chooks to eat.

Regulars to this blog may recognise her... yes, it's the adorable NQR.

Very few of our "not staying" chicks get names but she is especially special -- possibly the most special chick we've ever had, and certainly the most asked after by readers!

There are two groups of sisters available for rehoming right now.

I don't break up sisters who were hatched and raised together. This is how their family structure would operate in the wild, think how lion prides work and it's pretty much the same deal with chickens -- girls stay together and all the boys other than the alpha male move on once they near maturity.

One group hatched on Christmas Day

The other group is 2 weeks younger.

1 group is 3 sisters, 1 group is 4 sisters.

OK it was 38 degrees today and both the chicks and I weren't really managing the photos very well so I've cheated and given you this group shot!  This will give you an idea of what your flock will look like!  Pretty huh?

And then just to confuse everyone here is one of Miss Lilly's lovely chicks.

She is turning out to be stunning and has a sister who is identical.

There are only 2 girls in that hatch so they will probably stay here with their mother and aunties... or sometimes groups of 2 go to very small gardens (but it's not ideal as they can become anxious when there's only a pair of them).

The alternative is that Salt and Pepper also only has 2 girls in her hatch so perhaps we'll team the cousins up into a gorgeous group of 4.

What a difference a day makes.

These are the 3 week old chicks. Up until yesterday I was confident we had 3 girls but what a difference a day makes!

Look at the comb on the chick at the top of the photo compared to the comb at the bottom. The plump and slightly redder one is now looking like it's a boy.

The eggs hatched 2 days apart so hopefully the other 'girls' will not look like this tomorrow.

The chicks are loving and thriving from free ranging.

Salt and Pepper spends the day showing them where to find insects.

At the moment there are spiders of all shapes and sizes all over the yard -- but in a few more weeks I think it will be difficult to find one.

When I go out to feed them in the mornings or collect eggs in the afternoon I am always walking through cobbwebs so I for one will not miss the spiders!




But there are bigger dangers lurking than spiders.  To chooks, spiders mean a tasty protein morsel. 

Tiny was curious about the new chicks but showed some self control and didn't chase them.

Salt and Pepper is friendly but I imagine she would turn fairly fierce if danger leapt out.

She is such a lovely chook. My little girl could pat her and touch the eggs under her when she was clucky without even the threat of being pecked. When we pick up the chicks she watches but doesn't get anxious. As a result her chicks are calm and relaxed.

This pretty girl is out enjoying the last rays of sunlight at dusk, which reminds me I haven't closed the chookhouse... got to go!










Dine-A-Chook perfect timing and already saving me $

These are the 2 week old chicks.

I don't want to get ahead of myself but I do think we've managed to hatch 3 girls.

After days of soaking rain, their mother ventured out before deciding to call them into the garden for a scratch.

They were very good and listened to her "Wait here" cluck before coming running for her "Come here now" cluck.

She is one of our best mothers.








The yard is muddy and everything is sodden. I am soooo am glad the Dine-A-Chook feeders arrived before the rains. 




Usually these weather conditions would mean lots of wasted pellets and gain, and what managed to stay dry while it was actually raining would be mouldy within days because of being close to the wet ground.

After reading that sprouted gain has 4-5 times the nutrient value as the original gain I am trying out wheat grass.

This is my first go.  If it is successful and the chooks seem to like it I will buy the proper growing trays. 

Right now I'm making-do with a foam box from the green grocers and stuffing from inside an old pillow.

In theory, the wheat grass should mean I use 3 bags of wheat a year instead of 1 a month -- for exactly the same nutrition for the chooks.

The combination of saving waste through the Dine-A-Chook feeders (the wild birds have had their free feed effecitvely cut off, as have the vermin), plus the wheat grass -- my local stockfeed place will wonder where I am.

Perhaps I can spend all that extra money on a new chookhouse!

Dine-A-Chook to the rescue

This is an 8 day old chick.



Life looks pretty sweet for her, snuggled up warm underneath her mother's wing with the constant reassuring sound of her mother's gentle purring.

Unfortunately it rained all day so no venturing outside.

The rain did not stop the delivery of this lot though! I can't wait to see it all up and running. The magpies are becoming quite aggressive and territorial with the chooks so the sooner I can cut off their food supply the better.

The Wet-A-Chook water system will put an end to having to deal with those moudy, clumsy, flimsy green waterers that fill up around the rim with dirt and debris... 

And the Dine-A-Chook will reduce the amount of feed currently going to wild birds and mice.

This equipment will pay for itself in a month just by the amount of waste it saves.

Just when you think you know your chooks and their behaviour is predictable they do something you've never seen before...

This lot, who usually roost in the main chookhouse, decided to sleep together sitting down in the nursery area above Miss Lilly and her chicks. I know it's a bit cold today but this is ridiculous.

Tomorrow I will try to get photos of the Dine-A-Chook feeder in action.

Cuckoo, cuckoo

This is a 7 day old chick.




That white patch on the top of the head suggests cuckoo colouring -- like its mother.

Notice how their mother has bands of grey and white forming stripes along her feathers.  That's called 'cuckoo'.

Here's the tiny bit I know about genes and colours in chooks...

Because the chicks' father is not cuckoo, if the chicks turn out cuckoo they must be boys.

To get a cuckoo girl both parents must either be cuckoo, or the father cuckoo and the mother carrying but not expressing cuckoo. There, that's everything I know!

If the rain stops tomorrow they may get outside for their first walk on grass and some fresh air.

They will stay close by their mother and learn about the world from her.








And hopefully my new Dine-A-Chook feeding and Wet-A-Chook watering system will arrive!

Celebrating our sustainable future

For those in the Gippsland region, you may be interested to know that Earth Fest is shaping up to be a great three day event in 2012.


The workshops program includes a session on keeping backyard chooks, run by... The Chook Chick (that's me!)


It will include a display of all the latest equipment as well as information on diet, environment and everything else that is necessary for keeping happy chooks.


For full program details see: http://wellingtonsginc.blogspot.com 


Or "Like" the Wellington Sustainability Group Facebook page to keep up to date with all the Festival news, checkout their website, or become a member and receive regular email updates: wellingtonsustainabilitygroup@gmail.com

Meet the new family

This is an almost 1 week old chick. One of three in the eggs hatched by the lovely Salt and Pepper.

She is a great mother; So attentive that after 7 days they are still relying on her to place down each morsel for them to eat -- even when they are literally standing ankle deep in food.

They would usually be feeding themselves by now but I suppose when you only have a small number of chicks to care for, they each get lots of attention and don't have to learn to fend for themselves as quickly.

Poor chicks hatched in incubators and raised in brooder boxes have to fend for themselves or die of hunger -- they usually start pecking at anything after 2 days, hopefully only food is available to them.

Mother hens teach their chicks what is on and off limits. 

Mother hens are teaching their chicks while they are still inside their egg. She uses different little clucks and clicks to communicate and encourage them out of their eggs when it is time to hatch.

She has a specific sound to urge them on when it is all seeming too hard.

The best an incubator chick can expect is the constant whirl of a fan.

This little family are living indoors at the moment because the garden we have moved to has lots of magpies and they make the chooks nervous.

I have ordered some new feeders that will hopefully make this place less attractive to the interlopers -- I think I'm feeding all the wild birds across central Gippsland at the moment with grain.

This is a 42 day old chick.                      

The past six weeks have flown with the chicks going from this (see left)... to the handsome boy above.

They spend a lot of time these days foraging and hunting alone.

But when it is time to rest, bathe and preen during the day they flock together.  The only real time any of them spend with Alice is when it's time to roost. The boys from the different age groups hang out together in little groups. 

The girls tend to stay with the sisters they hatched with and were raised with. That's why I rehome the girls as groups of sisters and don't like to break them up.

And it's all about to start again.  With her chicks reared and confidently moving into the world alone Alice has started laying again.  Some hens go broody again quite quickly, others will lay through until next summer before deciding it's time for another clutch of chicks; Or like Miss Lilly they will moult and have a rest from both chicks and laying.

If you saw how many feathers Miss Lilly has dropped over the past 10 days you would think she would have to be bald.

This evening there were some high pitched peeps coming from deep inside Salt and Pepper's barrel. So tomorrow -- the new set of chicks will make their blog debut!



They have managed the relocation well.

I do have to do something about the food situation though, since we moved I think I'm feeding every sparrow, dove and miner that lives within 20km of this place! And it is important to always have food available.  Chooks that are fed only once or twice a day tend to gorge themselves and become prone to sour crop -- which is fatal.

See you at Earth Fest 2012!

This is a 38 day old chick.



Either they're getting faster or my camera is getting slower, I've never had so many empty frames.



We have relocated about 150km west of where we were situated.

Moving with 40 chooks is not easy but it has given me the opportunity to rethink a few things with their living arrangements and see things with fresh eyes.

I am now on the hunt for a better food container system. 

My chooks eat very little in the way of pellets -- they prefer to forage.  So what is in feeders can be there for quite a long time. 

In humid weather pellets and grain can go mouldy and food sitting around is surely a lure for vermin -- not that I've ever actually seen any.

In the middle of summer water is also an issue. The cooler the water remains, the better it is for the chooks.

I know the water must get warm in the standard style containers because in summer there is more of that green slimy growth that needs to be scrubbed away whenever they are empied for refilling.

If anyone knows of a great water and feed system that addresses these issues I would love to know about it.

This little girl looks as though she might be missing home -- but in actual fact the cat just went by the window.

I've been invited to give a presentation on  "keeping backyard chooks" at this year's Earth Fest.

If anyone is in the Gippsland region in late March there's going to be plenty on the workshops program and it kicks off with a film night, plus nude food and entertainment (not nude -- I hope).

On the Sunday there is a tour of veggie gardens across the region featuring different styles and approaches ranging from wicking beds to permaculture.

The Wellington Sustainability Group have a website and fackbook page with all the details.  I'll chase up the links and put them on here next week so you have see the entire Earth Fest 2012 program.