Question Answered for Karen

Three Stooges :D

Karen recently asked a question, and my reply was turning into an essay so I thought I would make a post about it.

Karen asks:
I stumbled upon your blog this morning, sadly im looking for some chickens as mine dissapeared last night leaving behind just a few feathers, it looks like a fox may have been the culprit. I noticed that your chickens seem to be quite friendly, do they let you pick them up? if so what breed are they? (im deciding what type of chooks to get, looking for a friendly/docile breed that would be fun for kids)

Thanks for the question Karen! Sorry about the fox. My mum unfortunately had a fox incident herself recently and lost hers too. Heartbreaking! :(

My girls are Isa Brown hens. They are very laid back, though a couple of our girls are much more friendly than others. You need to spend a lot of time handling them - hand feeding, patting and picking them up - to get them used to the treatment, but it is worth it.

We try to remember to give everyone a cuddle every day even if it is only a quick one. All their little personalities are so unique so a couple of the more outgoing ladies ended up with more attention than the others and love a longer cuddle, sometimes sitting on a lap for up to 30 minutes! If you listen to their body language you can guage when they want the attention to stop so they don't get too stressed and gradually increase the time they're held. If you can start the handling when they're chicks or pullets you'll have more success too, and take them little nice treats like sunflower seeds to handfeed them.

I think my girls would be great with kids, with supervision of course, as chickens do love to peck at spots or shiney things and still give my earrings and freckles a go if they notice them. I always loved my parents chickens when I was a kid.

Just today I had a lovely cuddle with one girl purring in my lap and another came over and snuggled beside us. We have one girl in particular that will gently peck our pants or shoes to be picked up for a cuddle if she wants it. But of course, they'll all try to avoid a pat if they're too hungry or busy to be bothered too. It's quite amusing having a flock of hens following you around the backyard hoping for a treat.

I'd say that most chicken breeds can be tamed with patience. When I was a kid I loved chickens and would spend a lot of time with my parents hens and the favourites of the bunch would end up being tame enough to pick up and carry around.

Chicken cuddles are the best kind of cuddles!!

How Much is the Chicken in the Window?

Nice Perch...

Standing on the cupboard wasn't good enough for our Purple to watch their dinner get mixed... She decided to check out the little rooster on the window too.

We're still experimenting slowly with what it is the girls need. We've switched back to a part pellet diet incase the mixed grains are not enough now that there are no greens at all for them to eat. I'm making my own pellet and grain mix because of previous experience with the pre-mix from the fodder store.

The girls are loving their sand pit and spend most of their time in it. Harriet is still the one with the most issues, spending most of her time sitting in front of the food bowl, but surprisingly usually also the one with the least in her crop at the end of the day. We've been thinking about them when it comes to our own meal planning - ie. If we make a stir-fry we can give them some carrot and cabbage scraps!

We've got no other ideas what to do at the moment. Most places seem to suggest a calcium deficiency, however adding calcium suppliment didn't seem to pick them up. The liquid multi-vitamins had the most positive effect, but I am hoping the pellets have some of that stuff in them too. I'm looking forward to winter when we have more greens to give them!

Chooks up to scratch as pets?

Chooks up to scratch as pets? Yep, I think so and so does the local paper! To read the whole article click here.

I'll be doing a bigger update soon. We've been trying out a whole lot of things to help out our girls through the summer. You can see their new sand pit in the background behind Gladys.

Grape Season

Delicious Grapes

Here is the latest obsession for the girls. Everything that is up to a certain height has been eaten. They have been jumping up to reach the lower grapes with no thought for whether they will land on two feet or end up caught in the fence instead. This is possibly how the girls are hurting their feet, but how I can stop them when they're growing up their enclosure is beyond me.

The grapes are delicious though. I have been spending the evening eating them straight off the vine, spitting out the seeds and the few sour ones for the girls to eat. They'll be getting all the small ones as we reach the end of grape season as well, so it is a good thing they like them so much.

Harriet Rejoins the Coop

Harriet eats an apple

So you can see that Harriets week as an indoor chicken has done her very well. She told me she was ready to go back outside on the 11th when she jumped out of her little cardboard surrounded corner, however since it was over 40°C we kept her inside until the cool change came through the next day.

She continued limping for a couple of days and slept on the floor of the coop for 2 days before hopping back to the perch. Her toe is still a little fat, but not as swollen and the scales are flexible again now. I believe the problem was a broken toe.

Today I haven't noticed her tiptoe and she runs around and is inclusive with the other chickens. She is so fast now that she is usually hard on the tail of Gladys who squeezes through the backdoor when we come inside. I think she wonders why she can't come back to her inside area whenever she wants to.

Hazel has also been a worry for a couple of days as she now has a limp. She has a sore on the bottom of her foot so she is getting the foot baths now. It is healing up nicely and she still wants to perch with the others. I don't know what she has managed to hurt herself on, but I don't think it is anything to worry about.

Elsie eating an apple

Today I cut up an apple and the girls are trying to work out how to eat it. They absolutely love fruit. Infact I've found that all of the lower grape bunches on our vines have bite marks and I caught Doris jumping up to get at them yesterday.

Inside Chook

The Patient

Harriet was isolated yesterday so we could keep an eye on her. After a couple of hours she seemed to feel better and was trying to walk around so we put her back with the girls in a shady corner of their pen where she could still be isolated but close to the others.

After researching just about everything that could be wrong with chicken legs over the last couple of days I had a terrible thought that perhaps she may be egg bound and was ready to take her to the vet. Isolation was initially to see if she would lay an egg which would cancel that out. From what I've read and from what others have said I don't think that is the case though. She is bright enough and is eating (and pooping). She doesn't have a swollen abdomen or any mess around her vent.

This morning I don't think she'd moved, but when I offered food she was interested yet the others got over enthusiastic through the divider fence. I brought her inside where she ate and drank under the airconditioner and noticed that her middle toe on her left food is swollen.

She is now camped out in the corner of my sewing room happily sitting in a box with straw. She has also had a foot spa (soak in warm salty water) and aloe applied to her sore foot.

I hope that is the issue and we can get her back on two feet again soon!

Happy New Year!

Gladys having a Cuddle

Happy New Year everyone!!

It was over 40 degrees yesterday, but it is much cooler today so the girls are busy enjoying themselves in the nice weather... except for Harriet who seems to have done something to her foot/feet and is limping around though I can't see anything wrong from the outside. She is spending a lot of time sleeping under the tree and won't move so I guess I will be checking on her every hour today to make sure she has enough water and she may get a special meal seperate from everyone else today.

Hazel surprised me when I was patting Gladys. She came up to me clucking and had a lovely pat while standing super still and lapping up the attention. Usually everyone except Gladys will want to walk away after a couple of strokes. She got a lovely cuddle and even closed her eyes while in my arms. They're all very cuddly chickens today.