Anniebee
Crowing
To : Smoothmule - thank you so much for your welcome.
I enjoyed very much your reply and you certainly take great care of all your animals / pets. I am sure they are more pets to you than anything else, and you love them. I am not set up to turn lights on and off - and would never consider such a thing, even if I could afford it. My hens live in their coops during the night and are allowed out to scratch and forage from about 10 am until early evening - which in Australia at present with daylight saving time is around 7 pm. They get a variety of daily treats. 3 times a week, a chicken mix of grains - wheat, sunflower seeds, dried grass, millet in season etc. etc. . ( out of which I laboriously remove the hard corn kernels as I've read corn kernels are not good for them - nothing wrong with me !!
) Am deliriously happy if I get an egg a day from the chickens who are laying at present as they have been in a heavy moult in recent weeks and are still only quite young. Other treats ( daily something ) are water melon which they absolutely adore, good greens from the kitchen - I grate things like zucchini and apple ( no seeds ), and chop up finely any cabbage, lettuce, broccoli etc., crumble breads. Occasionally I hang a birds netting bag of greens that they can pick at, when they remain in their coops because of heavy rain.
My girls ( no roosters - I don't want to raise chicks ) .... are wormed every 6 weeks while young - but will probably back off to once every 4 months when they are fully mature ..... or if I see any signs of worms which are easily detected.
And YES, I have one Araucana - a sweet cuddly little chicken - one of the two younger hens ( or chooks as we call them here ). I will insert an image of her [ Mindy ] and her little mate Moppitt, the Silkie at the bottom here. We don't have the Ameraucana here, that I know of. Ours are different as you will see, with a crested top and good upright tail, and Mindy has some splashes of colour - light tan, throughout her feathers, which I think is referred to as 'cuckoo' or 'brandy' coloured ? Not sure about that. Neither of the two littlies are laying yet - a bit too young to expect that from them. The Silkie is not especially cuddly at all - and I was told she'd be the one looking for petting and close encounters with humans. She stands up for herself too ... unlike Mindy who is very submissive. One of my older girls is a bit mean, so I keep her away from the two littlies - as she tends to want to at least harm them, if not outright murder the poor little souls. But she's ok with the other two older birds, who are as big as she is, and stand up to her. She doesn't mess with them - for sure. I am currently picking her up once a day and giving her a cuddle - hoping !! it will soften her up a bit, but I doubt things work quite that way ... LOL. She will ultimately ( if necessary ) be a mostly caged bird - with a few outings a week in a small run, as the remaining two older birds get along nicely with the smaller light coloured youngsters. At present I have two large separate runs.
Oh how I wish I could have an Arabian mare - an Arabian anything would do. They are wonderful, very beautiful and so intelligent, but we only have a small property. I miss my riding, but am now too old and arthritic to sit astride a horse. It's enough with 5 chooks, a 4 month old Golden Retriever puppy called Miss Ruby who loves the 'girls' but is not allowed in with them ... they come over to the fence and are very fond of her. And a 17 year old cat, Felix. He's priceless for his age, and has never not had a dog for company, except for a year after we lost our precious GR - Gracie, so he just loves to 'play' with Miss Ruby. Tends to take a running charge at the chickens though !!!
Must get some better photographs of the other 3 and post them some time. And I agree with you, this site is absolutely full of such interesting articles and there is much to learn.
Here's a photograph of Mindy and Moppitt ... they were only about 11 weeks old when this was taken.
All the best, and have a great week.
Regards, Anniebee.
I enjoyed very much your reply and you certainly take great care of all your animals / pets. I am sure they are more pets to you than anything else, and you love them. I am not set up to turn lights on and off - and would never consider such a thing, even if I could afford it. My hens live in their coops during the night and are allowed out to scratch and forage from about 10 am until early evening - which in Australia at present with daylight saving time is around 7 pm. They get a variety of daily treats. 3 times a week, a chicken mix of grains - wheat, sunflower seeds, dried grass, millet in season etc. etc. . ( out of which I laboriously remove the hard corn kernels as I've read corn kernels are not good for them - nothing wrong with me !!
My girls ( no roosters - I don't want to raise chicks ) .... are wormed every 6 weeks while young - but will probably back off to once every 4 months when they are fully mature ..... or if I see any signs of worms which are easily detected.
And YES, I have one Araucana - a sweet cuddly little chicken - one of the two younger hens ( or chooks as we call them here ). I will insert an image of her [ Mindy ] and her little mate Moppitt, the Silkie at the bottom here. We don't have the Ameraucana here, that I know of. Ours are different as you will see, with a crested top and good upright tail, and Mindy has some splashes of colour - light tan, throughout her feathers, which I think is referred to as 'cuckoo' or 'brandy' coloured ? Not sure about that. Neither of the two littlies are laying yet - a bit too young to expect that from them. The Silkie is not especially cuddly at all - and I was told she'd be the one looking for petting and close encounters with humans. She stands up for herself too ... unlike Mindy who is very submissive. One of my older girls is a bit mean, so I keep her away from the two littlies - as she tends to want to at least harm them, if not outright murder the poor little souls. But she's ok with the other two older birds, who are as big as she is, and stand up to her. She doesn't mess with them - for sure. I am currently picking her up once a day and giving her a cuddle - hoping !! it will soften her up a bit, but I doubt things work quite that way ... LOL. She will ultimately ( if necessary ) be a mostly caged bird - with a few outings a week in a small run, as the remaining two older birds get along nicely with the smaller light coloured youngsters. At present I have two large separate runs.
Oh how I wish I could have an Arabian mare - an Arabian anything would do. They are wonderful, very beautiful and so intelligent, but we only have a small property. I miss my riding, but am now too old and arthritic to sit astride a horse. It's enough with 5 chooks, a 4 month old Golden Retriever puppy called Miss Ruby who loves the 'girls' but is not allowed in with them ... they come over to the fence and are very fond of her. And a 17 year old cat, Felix. He's priceless for his age, and has never not had a dog for company, except for a year after we lost our precious GR - Gracie, so he just loves to 'play' with Miss Ruby. Tends to take a running charge at the chickens though !!!
Must get some better photographs of the other 3 and post them some time. And I agree with you, this site is absolutely full of such interesting articles and there is much to learn.
Here's a photograph of Mindy and Moppitt ... they were only about 11 weeks old when this was taken.
All the best, and have a great week.
Regards, Anniebee.
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