I'm fond of eggs. I love the shape of them, the colours, the feel of a freshly laid egg and of course the birds that lay them! One day some one showed me a really cool egg that I hadn't seen before. It was tiny and speckled and so, so so cute! I thought it was laid by a wild bird but it turned out to be laid by a quail! Well - I just had to get me one of those birds! Or nine as it turned out! Here's what happened... Instead of doing the sensible thing and spending weeks researching quails and the many different types, I hit Gumtree and bought a trio for $15 - A bargain really! and so tiny. They are really just heart beats covered in feathers compared to the 3.5 kg chooks in the back yard! I did organise a cage before getting the birds and I did spend a bit of time sorting that out but Quail Owning Tip #1 is to research the type of Quail you are getting and what their eggs look like before you purchase!! I set up an old Guinea pig cage for my new b...

Since we moved to the Hinterland we have noticed the amazing and very abundant  birdlife. We are really enjoying seeing the tiny Yellow Eastern Robins, the curious Crimson Headed Rosella's, the noisy and completely unafraid Cockatoos, the bright red headed King Parrots and even the bold but boringly colour Shrike Thrush...  Yellow Eastern Robin Sulphur Crested Cockatoos  Crimson Headed Rosella Sleeping Tawny Frogmouth Now identified, Lewin's Honey Eater And so is our 14 year old cat... She is far more interested in the birds here than she ever was back in Brisbane. I thinks its because the Robins flit around in the front yard and come right up onto the windowsills and jiggle and twitch in a very eye catching and enticing way that push all her predatory buttons. Our cat hasn't caught one up here but with all the renovations and missing and left open doors as we fix up the new house, we found her outside yesterday half heartedly crouchin...

We have an Australian kelpie called Tia. I think she is a red kelpie crossed with a normal kelpie but at any rate - she is a kelpie through and through. She gulps her food like she has never been fed and also like to bury bones and other bits and pieces to the delight of the chickens who promptly dig it up and eat it themselves. In order to give her a treat that she cant bolt down in a half second and also to be able to leave something for her to find later - we created a time lapse capsule dog toy for her! I had seen something like this at our dog sitters place but it was free standing on a frame and moveable. I didn't have the skills, time or patience for something like that so decided we could use the same principals and make something similar with what we had. Once you've seen it - you don't really need instructions but I'll run you through what I did so you at least know the pitfalls to avoid and the improvements to make! Here's what I ...

Our chickens are creatures of habit! They like you to come and take the lids off their food hoppers before 7am (or they let you and the neighbours know you have forgotten), they like to be let out at 3pm when I get home from work and they like to have a treat every time they see you! After all, why else would I be in the yard except to bring treats to my favourite girls? Hanging out the washing? Nah! Not in a chickens world! I have found that when it comes to changing things, chooks aren't fans of the latest and greatest - no matter how much the husband thinks they will "just love it!" Some of the chooks were having trouble flying up to the perches we had in the coop and the ones who decided it was too much trouble and roosted on the floor, got pooped on each night. So we lowered the perches. It didn't make a scrap of difference to the ground roosting chookies. So we changed things around... Here's what we did...   First - we cut a new entrance hole l...

We have a couple a native bee hives in the back yard and in the winter its a good idea to give them a bit of extra insulation. From the bee's perspective, they don't have to waste valuable energy or resources keeping the hive warm if you help them out during the colder months. We subscribe to the Zabel's newsletter (Brisbane and possibly Australia's leading bee sellers) and a couple of weeks ago they sent out a newsletter advising us that it was time to insulate your hive if they are in exposed area's. Here's what I did... This is our Trigona Carbonari hive set up for summer. We have a tropical lid on it, designed to keep the hive a little cooler in the hot Queensland summers. Last year we got a polystyrene vege box and cut it down so that the back half slides onto the hive.  As it wasn't the perfect fit, we used a panel to slide into the side (see it pulled down on the left hand side of the hive in this photo?) so that the box fits more ...

A few weeks ago we got ourselves a new (to us) dog! She is a 12 year old Kelpie happy. They called her a Kelpie cross in the ad but she wags her tail so much that she must really be a Kelpie happy! Sue is a rescue dog and had spent 12 years tied up in some ones backyard before she went to some carers who helped her put on a bit of weight and learn a few manners before we came along and she chose to live with us. For her first few days with us, she didn't want to eat much as she was pretty anxious. Everything was strange and exciting and she had so much to explore. Cupboards that needed examining, chickens that needed to be sniffed, drawers that needed looking into and mirrors that needed to very cautiously checked out. She needed to learn to walk on a lead (she still needs to learn to walk on a lead mind you!) and be friendly to other dogs. She is getting there but its a slow process but fun to be part of. The other thing that needs t...

Just before Christmas I got a call saying my wee Barnevelder chick was ready to pick up and so we made the hours drove out to the breeder and picked up wee Autumn. Once I got her home I realised just how big her sister was compared to her. In fact we were still calling Dusk "bubbychook" when it turns out she is the second biggest chook in the pen! Dusk at about 5 months is going to be a beautiful large soft feather chookie. Not the best comparisum - but she is bigger than the bantam and the arucana as well. And this is her wee sister, Autumn! Recently arrived and ensconced in the isolation pen close enough to see the big chooks but not close enough to share any illnesses! And then on the Friday after Christmas when I was at work - the teenager called to say that there was something wrong with one of the chooks and I had to come home and see if it needed to go to the vet. When I got home (I was more or less on my way anyway) He presented me with this! N...