Re: Brooding hens that won't let me near the eggs

Farm1 wrote:


What sort of cattle did you run?

Mostly shorthorn in those days but we do angus now. How about you?

Sigh. Bloody global warming. It's hit this area very badly and each
year just gets worse. I'm so sick of the anticipation of Spring in
the garden which is then followed by the realities of a rotten dry
summer and the plants just hanging in there by the finger nails. This
year I've issued an ultimatum that the water sytem is to be upgraded.
We, luckily, have plenty of water but it's all about the delivery.
Low pressure sprinklers going at the most optimum time of the day just
can't get around such a big garden effectively.

I just finished watching Krakatoa (the movie) and it supposedly cooled global temperatures down well into the 20th century just when modern records were getting cranked. Water will be a big issue for us as we have had no runoff into dams this winter. Even rainwater is scarce too. I am waiting for a better water delivery too - one that doesn't rely on a pressure unit to water everything.

At least your summer temperatures sound tolerable. Not too much
humidity I hope as this, combined with the heat can really knock your
chooks about especially if you have them brooding at the time.

Yes we get the humidity but I can survive if it doesn't get over 40°C. After that I jump in the pool LOL

I have Silver Grey Dorkings which I don't want to go broody so I incubate their best eggs. They are fairly rare which is why I went for them. I have had 'mongrels' and they were fine, just wanted something different for a change. They and the 3 indian runner ducks are just delightful walking around the garden. The rooster is a different colour from the hens so a nice variety.

I've always wanted to try guinea folw I've alwasy liked their strange
little faces but they sound a bit flighty. How do you find them?

If you have the room you should try them. They are flighty - not tame like chooks - but they will gobble up your grasshoppers in season. They can be noisy and they don't incubate their eggs very successfully but a hen can do it no problems which also encourages them to stay near the chook yard as they get older. Mine roost in the gum tree over the top of the yard, about 15m off the ground. Foxes like them if they fly down before sun up and dont land in the yard. They need high protein turkey crumbles and/or meatmeal as chicks.
Good luck! Last year I had to lift a particularly good rhubarb plant
which is much better than all of the others I have out of the garden
and put it in a pot. The hoppers were eating down into the swollen
buds before they could even burst. I've saved it thankfully. this
year I've decided that if we get them as bad as last year, I'm going
to acheap curtaining place to buy those massive widths of terylene
curtainign and I will just cover everything and tape it down. It may
look funny but I don't know that many of the plants could stand
anohter season of the sort of ravages we had last year.

Good luck to you too. The locusts don't eat mulberries, the only green thing in my yard last time we had them. The curtaining is a good idea. I'll keep that in mind. I wouldn't have thought they would go for rhubarb though. I'm planting out pistachios this week to start the nut orchard. The mulberries and citrus are all I have in so far and the vegie garden is waiting for manure.

Never a dull day on any sort of farm :-))

LOL I have a stone wall to finish, 9 sheep skins to tan, trees to plant and pavers to lay along with more mundane things. Which to start first. And the BAS is due at the end of the month just to make it interesting.


--
Ginny - in West Australia

If you see the sun rise, remember,
it's a good day - you're still alive!
.

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