Poultry Central - The New Zealand Poultry & Chicken Forum

Yes there are Magpie's - but with any breed, there's a reasonable chance that something else has been added in the mix That comment may stem from the fact we didn't import Magpie's at any stage - so the Magpie's here have been developed If you get hold of any really old information on poultry, you c...

re the light issue - I had a block of four runs built, with half covered in ply with a clearlite roof extending over the whole thing - it made the middle runs quite dark in the house part I found some of my bantams refused to go into the house part & nested out in the run! (I had ply partitionin...

That's great they're mothering together okay - I've found 2 hens in one big nest certainly doesn't work (pinching eggs & losing them out the side & getting cold)

I've got Pekin bantams & if you want to get fertile eggs you have to 'crutch' them - I trim, as I am pretty sure it hurts when you pull the feathers out - the trouble I have is to make sure they don't end up with prickly bums!

mash (if its a starter mix, rather than a layer mash) or crumble is great for the ducklings but I would mix it with water - they can eat it dry and its better if they do, as it goes rank/rotten quite quickly when its wet I normally put the crumble at one side of the pen and the water at the opposite...

that's frustrating where do you have the incubator sitting? sometimes the cheaper ones struggle to respond to outside fluctuations, so its best to find them a room that changes the least in temperature from day to night - preferably no sun shining in the windows etc (go as far as closing the curtain...

The only thing that the Chick starter will have that the meat crumbles doesn't will be the coccidiostat (pretty sure the meat crumbles doesn't have it in it) - which is fine if you're keeping your little chicks inside (or at least off the ground - as that's where they'll pick up the coccidiosis) So ...

exciting stuff! stoats aren't good - I tried buying one of those bright yellow plastic traps (looks a bit like a possum trap with a tunnel on the front) to try & catch them (had a whole lot of birds killed one night) - caught precisely nothing with it, but Marina made a very good point that they...

that is essentially what my younger son did do

he has a flock of 12 children!!?!

never seen that on a chook, on a sheep yes - and that was unpleasant

Cute!
what colours?
we've got some young Silver Appleyards that look a bit like that - yellow with a hint of striping on the head
ours are getting darker now though

Liquid Methionine in their water helps with feather pecking - sometimes the feather pecking becomes a bit of a habit, can be triggered by boredom, bit of overcrowding and the protein they're getting

yeah, I'd like to know the answer to that - we've had ducks show up with a swollen leg/bad limp from time to time
they free range and we've got wild cats on the property, I'm starting to wonder if there's a connection

Liquid Methionine is what I normally recommend - also known as Alimet feather pecking can be due to a deficiency in their feed - so they're eating feathers to make up for it - the Methionine gives them what they're after see if you can find someone local selling that? you're in LA? it can also be tr...

I reckon it won't do any harm - it will just buy you more time before the mites get a hold
Maybe lift a corner every couple of months just to see if you can see any crawlies - if you do, then you need to get onto asap!