Bender's Backyard

Bender · **Posted:** Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:31 pm

Someone was curious as to what was going on...

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Simo · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:31 am

I love the personality of Isa browns, they make great pets for kids because they will just walk right up to them like the one you pictured, my kid's last Isa Brown, Winstan Clucky II, passed last week, tossing up getting two more for the kids or trying a male and female silky to breed and sell as pets and to sit on my Australorp eggs.

Magnificently healthy looking individual too, must be getting a lot of fresh greens :lol:

As to the perch situation I know that uniformly round perches like pipe or round bar hurt their feet becaue they are locked into the same position all the time so it maybe the same for the square timber but It sound like your girls won't even try the new perch. Try a small ladder or step to encourage them to use it, if that fails switch to a ~30mm diameter stick from tree which is what I use, they like the roundness but being a nature structure there is variation in size and shape so eliminating the feet problems.

By the way love the nest draw idea good use of recycled materials too with the drawer runners :thumb:

RIP Winstan Clucky the Second, beloved pet and sister (adopted) to Blacky Chan, Princess Meredith Grey, Chirpy, Pecky & Micky.

Bender · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:18 pm

Thanks Simo. Isa brown certainly are characters. So inquisitive about everything. Sorry to hear about Winston Clucky II. How old was she? I bet the kids would love to keep silkies.

I think I'll try picking up a nice natural stick around 30mm diameter for a perch next time I see one :cheers:

Peasants · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:33 pm

Hi Bender
We also use natural branches as our perches........we also train the chooks to roost if they don't do it themselves! It is much better for them to roost off the ground. What we do is go out to the chook house every evening (usually only takes a few days, but sometimes longer) and pick them up off the ground and place them on the perch. Provided it is nearly dark, they are easy to pick up and stay on the perch. If it is too light they will jump off again!
Also a ladder or stick from the ground up to the perch can help too, as Simo said!
We don't have Isa Browns now, because we want to breed, but we really enjoyed them too! They are such a friendly chook!

Simo · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:44 am

Winstan Clucky II would have been 3 plus years old, seemed to lay eggs quite well until just a few month before departing this mortal coil. Wintan Clucky I lasted 5 years from memory which is good for an Isa Brown. Isa browns are the best suburban backyard egg laying chook in my opinion.

Bender · **Posted:** Wed Sep 26, 2012 11:35 pm

Cheers peasants :cheers:

I'll try 're-training' them to sit on the perch for a while and might build a ladder to the perch on the weekend.

Thats interesting Simo. I thought they may live longer than that. We were given our 3 from someone else but they are originally ex battery hens. I have no idea how old they area :dunno:

Two of the three lay almost every day but the third has never laid since we got them. I am happy with Isa browns at the moment for simply a laying chook but would love to breed a multi purpose chook like australdorps one day when we have more space (and are allowed a rooster :anger:

).

Peasants · **Posted:** Thu Sep 27, 2012 11:29 am

Because Isa Browns are bred specifically as egg laying machines, they have a much shorter life span then chooks generally. We have now swapped over to Australorps for that reason as well as wanting a more multi purpose chook.

Bender · **Posted:** Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:14 pm

Thought I would share some pics of my kennedia lateritia's first flowers. This species is endangered in the wild but is grown and sold commercially.

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it used to be called k. macrophylla due to its large leaves but was changed to lateritia recently

Bender · **Posted:** Sun Nov 11, 2012 3:15 pm

These are the latest additions to the household.

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Another isa brown and an Australdorp. We did initially buy two isa brown chicks but unforunately the dog decided one of them looked tasty. The remaining isa brown is aptly named 'lucky'. Lucky was pretty lonely when left all alone so we had to find another chick from somewhere. Found a local breeder of Australdorps so picked one up. Will see how these go and might go with Australdorps in the future.

Simo · **Posted:** Mon Nov 12, 2012 10:40 pm

Once you go black you never go back!

Bender · **Posted:** Tue Nov 13, 2012 10:28 am

Bender · **Posted:** Sun Jun 30, 2013 3:03 pm

Have done a bit of a revamp on the front yard to make it a bit more wildlife friendly and less water hungry. Have ripped out all the weeds :devil:

and planted out lots of local native species some of which I have grown myself from seed.

This is what the front yard looked like when we bought the property in 2011.

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and this is now following the transformation.

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The seedlings we put in are still pretty small so it looks a bit bare at the moment but before we know it hopefully it will be a forest

I am hoping the two peppy trees will be big enough one day to attract ringtail possums to the front yard.