The life and times of spanners meat chooks

spanner · **Joined:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:42 pm **Posts:** 91

the little birds are so big and ugly now.... poor things. There is a real inbetween time for chooks isnt there! A time when they have not got their real plumage but are showing signs of semi adulthood. They are just plain ugly at this stage of their life.

Any way I have made a seperate pen for them so they get used to dust bathing in the real dirt and the older girls I laready have can get used to them. I have transferd them to and from their night time cage to the "day-care" cage ( just like my daughter really ..lol..) and they sound like a heard of elephants in the box I transfere them in.

The older girlsa have been quite non-plused about them until I gave the kids some food ..... then by god were they interested!!!!

I think by the end of this week I will be leaving them in their own little day pen for a 24 hour trial period to see if they are ok with it as it is not too cold up this way. I hope they will be ok but the stnky poo mess they make in their noight time cage is getting a bit much for dear wife. lol

silver duckwing · **Posted:** Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:12 pm

Spanner, we just bought one little day-old meat chook (a Cobb 500, apparently) from a major hatchery to keep our little abandoned chicky company. The woman literally lifted it out of the tray as they were being packed on the truck; cost us all of 60c. It is twice the size of its companion, who is half Wyandotte bantam, half Araucana and the same age. My son wanted to name it "Meat", but we settled on "Nugget". As in, McNuggets! I can't believe how loud he is! Or she, if we could be so lucky. They are 4 days old now and growing as we watch.
I'm impressed that you have managed to introduce the concept of chooks as food to your daughter. My daughter (9) says, Yes, I like to eat chicken, but only ones that aren't my friends.

spanner · **Joined:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:42 pm **Posts:** 91

hee hee .... yes well dear Daughter is very particular about that ... she has her freind chooks who are the egg layers and was most upset when I mistakenly said to some one that we were going to eat the black one not the yellow ones. It should have been the other way round as the meat birds are yellow and the eggers are black. She was almost in tears but is really keen (almost too keen i think) to "knock the meaties on the head".

spanner · **Joined:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:42 pm **Posts:** 91

well today the neighbour came around to tell me there were some big birds of prey sitting on the fence looking in at my little kiddies!! woah!!!! so I went out there post hast and hthere was this big sea eagle looking very hungrily down into the smaller part of the big pen. Lovely as s/he was I had to shoo it away. I then constructed a very basic shelter that will stop the bib birdies from getting intot he little pen.

Close call Tonto I say!

spanner · **Joined:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:42 pm **Posts:** 91

this morning I thought I would see how the old girls would take to the new kids on the block comming out for a play. As they had been in the big pen easily seen by the old girls I thought that maybe there might be some ...... if not lurve then maybe tolerence shown by the old girls. No such luck!! they bloody near pecked em to death!!! well slight embelishment there but the old girls were most definitly not happy cluckers and were pecking them with enthusiasm.

Any ideas on how and when I should introduce the new flock to the old flock? its a 13 to 2 ratio. 13 new chicks to 2 old girls.

spanner · **Joined:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:42 pm **Posts:** 91

One of my little black girls seemed very off colour this afternoon. She was standing very still and very quite. eyes closed and such like. I do not have high hopes for her surviving till the morning.

I think they were all really dehydrated as when I got home this arvo they had knocked over teh water container ... how on gods earth I have no idea but there it was all dry and when I filled it the kiddies all came a running !!!

Well I guess we will see tomorrow morning if we have one less.

spanner · **Joined:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:42 pm **Posts:** 91

sadness in the spanner household this morning. We went out to see if poor little black girl was still alive this morning but alas and alack she was not. [smilie=a_damnit.gif]

there was a beautiful ceremony [smilie=pope.gif]

out in the front garden for the baby girl as we buried her near the passion fruit vine and rosewater apple tree ... both of whom like rich nutrients.

I think there is very little that could be as sad as seeing a baby animal lying on the floor of the pen with no life force left in her little tiny fragile body. [smilie=a_angel.gif]

I am hopeing it is not a diesease that is going to run rampart throught he flock and only a case of a single isue. I was thinking it was either dehydration or maybe shock from a hawk attack.

Any way .... DD (4yrs old) was suitably sad :cry:

but was also pragmatic in saying at least it was not one of the meat chooks! :shock:

The pragmatism of children is really quite amazing. I think we often shelter our children from the reality of life and death in our culture. bith of animals and humans. ........ but this could be a philispophical chat on another thread at another time.

CHeers,

a sad sack spanner this morning. [smilie=a_whyohwhy.gif]

spanner · **Joined:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:42 pm **Posts:** 91

What a funny lot young chooks are.

This morning I was down at the pen with DS aged 15 months and loving life. Well the young meat chookies are very freindly. Kind of sad in a way knowing they will end up on the dinner plate.

Well watching these fat little lumps waddle arounf chasing flies and moths etc was so funny. but what was even funnier was that baby spanner started imitating the chooks by digging his feet in and running around. Needless to say baby spanner can not yet talk but it was so universally funny that we were in gails of laughter and I started to imitat him and we had so much fun. When we stopped due to shortness of breath the baby chooks all came and sat down around our feet and clucked and carried on in such a nice harmonious way.

much cheerier spanner tihs morning after yesterdays somber events.

County Lodge · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:18 pm

Sounds like a lot of fun was had at your place today. :-D

Wish I had be there to see.

spanner · **Joined:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:42 pm **Posts:** 91

today was so fuuny yet so sad.

little boy spanner is 15 months old and loves the chickens. He can not wait to go down to the "took tooks" and roll in the dirt and eat the grain and generally have a grand old "boy" of a time....but today was different! .. today little spanner decided that he did not want to wear any pants! yes yes ...you can ALL see where this is going!! I wont go into the gory details but suffice to say that once one had a peck at his "boy hood" they all thought it was theirs for the taking and as he was running away screaming and the little thing wobbling away .... it looked like some sort of tasty grub I guess. Poor little sod was devestated and daddy spanner was crying so hard with mirth and horror at the same time.. well we got some pants on and then went back down tot he chooks to "get back on that horse" so to speak.

end of the story is that he is back to loving the tooks but will not go anywhere with out his strides on!

:lol:

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