A New Experience

Well this week we have had a whole new experience and that is a very sick bird.  Abbey, our champion egg layer, came down with a bout of diarrhea about a week ago and I have been keeping an eye on her hoping it would clear up.  Unfortunately on Saturday morning she was sitting away from the other birds with her head down and her eyes closed, I got a real fright, she was obviously very ill.

I did not think our vet would treat chickens being a town vet who mainly deals with small fluffy dogs but we phoned him just in case and no, he does not treat chickens so we were on our own.  I immediately went to the internet and searched through many blogs and articles on treating sick chickens and came up with a cure (I hoped). 

Whole, bio dynamic yoghurt with rolled oats added - so up to Woolies we went.  Abbey loved the yoghurt and oats - as did the other chickens and later that day I gave her a second dose.  I was sure she was brighter already.  Yesterday (Sunday) I repeated the process and she was alert and seemingly back to good health! 

Now I decided it was time to give her a little wash as her "petticoat" was soiled and she couldn't clean all those soft feathers properly and it was upsetting her.  So we gave her a little wash which she didn't mind at all and I also had to clip some of the little feathers.  Well, when we took her back outside she was a sight to behold - I said to Greg "Her petticoat is ruined!"  Skeeta was aghast and tried to restore some dignity to Abbey by helping her preen her feathers!

I checked on Abbey about an hour later and was very pleased and relieved to see that her feathers had dried white and fluffy and her petticoat was pretty again and being ruffled in the breeze as she walked.

                                                                                 

I am still giving them the yoghurt twice a day and this morning Abbey was the first out of their pen. : )

Chickens And Other Things!

Last weekend we put an iron roof on part of the chicken pen plus a bamboo perch so they have somewhere to sit when it is raining.  They usually sit down the other end but that roof covers their night time coop and is not really big enough to sit under when it is raining.  We had the old iron in our shed and the bamboo is from our garden.

The pecking order is clearly visible here - the last arrivals sit on the ground! : ))))  They love it and sit there whenever it is raining - we have had 140mm (nearly 6 inches) in the last three days with a lot more rain and flooding forecast for the weekend so it will get a lot of use!

Well we also had another visit from a snake (Carpet Python again) and as Greg was not at home this time, I called the local snake catcher.  He coaxed it out of it's spot above the chicken pen and took it away to relocate it.  I let the chickens out in the mornings and always go in just to check on things and I happened to look up - ahhhh!   No again!  But really Carpet snakes are harmless, docile creatures and this one lived in the ceiling of our house but because he likes chickens we had to have him removed - I hope we don't get mice in our attic now! 

                                                                              

It's really raining hard now and I just ducked into the kitchen (no pun intended : ) to have a slice of cake I just baked - yum, it is amazing!  Orange and walnut cake with yoghurt and rice bran oil instead of butter and honey instead of sugar - it is really good!  I love to cook or bake when it is raining. 

                                                                               

There we go, thought I would share it with you. : )

   

This is a scarf I knitted during the last few weeks, I must be dreaming of winter!

Have fun guys and stay safe and warm. ☼                                                                       

                                                                              

We Are Not The First

I found this old green bottle and the beautifully proportioned stone axe head on our property.  I have also found old broken glass, pieces of farming equipment and quite a few other old bottles and jars. 

The axe head could be hundreds or even thousands of years old and is made from our local volcanic stone.  The glass bottle dates back to about 1910 and was owned by the people who farmed our land, which is hard to imagine as where we live is now covered in large trees, although the ginger that was farmed can still be found growing along parts of our driveway and on the edge of the forest.    We are certainly not the first to live here!

The axe head is beautiful.  It is perfectly weighted and fits snugly into the palm of your hand.  There is even an indent on the side for your thumb and a flat spot for your finger to sit on top.  You can imagine my surprise when I found it a few years ago when I was walking beside our creek.  It really brought home the fact that we are not newcomers and people have been walking through exactly the same bush long, long before we came along.

The chickens are all doing fine, although a little spoiled!  I have to cut back on their treats e.g. sunflower seeds and unhulled oats so they eat more of the mix that is a balanced food.  Of course they prefer to just scratch around the garden for their own food which they do all day in between complaining about the lack of treats! :)

                                                                               

    

A few more items I found under the soil on our land.  The little glass ink bottle has a rest for the nib.  The glass stoppers were used before screw top bottles.  I have a box of coloured broken glass in our shed waiting for someone to make a mosiac out of it. : )

  

    

         

                                                                              

This Week's Random Photos

                                                                      Leo yesterday -                                    

                                               Leo today after his clip - is that the same dog!

                                                                       Sweet Skeeta

                                                        Abbey - our champion egg layer!
                                                   

                                                                     Our daily visitor!

                                             Raisin Rolled Oaties still warm from the oven.

                                                        Cute squirrel I knitted for Isaac.

                                                               

                                                                     Beautiful Ruby                         

 

Enjoy the snow guys. : )

Oil of Cloves

Loved your photos of Deep Winter in Whistler Chelsea so I thought I would do the same only we are in deep summer and that means rain, mould, humidity and gorgeous gardens!  Oh and when I took these photos just then, I got a leech on my leg. : )))

Well I have joined the Oil of Cloves revolution here in Queensland.  Following the terrible floods last summer mould was a huge problem in homes and as chlorine bleach doesn't kill the mould (and is toxic) a new remedy was found and that is a diluted oil of cloves solution.  So yesterday after wiping the mould off all the internal doors and the leather lounge I then sprayed the solution on these surfaces and it is supposed to stop the mould coming back.  I have to reapply in about 4 weeks but that is a lot easier than cleaning off more mould and now the house has a lovely mild smell of cloves.  Let's hope it works!

Western Queensland is experiencing the worst floods on record at the moment, even worse than last year.  Mitchell and Roma are flooded and Charleville is bracing for "catastrophic" floods if the water breaches the towns levee.  Would you believe this is the third year in a row these towns have been flooded.  To answer your question Chelsea, apart from the 16 inches of rain we had in a few days last week, although there was flooding, it was not on a major scale.

Our garden looks exuberant, bursting with life! : ))  Here are a few photos, one is our little friend the baby Eastern Water Dragon.  He has three little mates also, they are very cute.  We are hoping Leo doesn't chase them and they grow up and stay around the house - hmmmmm.  Already Leo lies on the veranda eyeing them off!

Stay safe and warm guys, I will get that Care Package together. :)