Today’s pics

Sunrise. Happening now
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Herbaceous said:
There are some higher ed institutions that refuse to put carpet in any student living space for this reason (although this one did have carpet in the rest of the room).
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I seem to remember concrete floors with sawdust when I was at Uni... :hyper: :hyper:
No, only joking!
 
17000 steps today. The last 10 at a public parc. Beautiful big old trees. Lovely wild flowers.
And then a few meters away a plastic coffee cup on the grass, discarded, an empty beer can on the ground, discarded. I just don't get it. How can one not tuck in their garbage into garbage or recycling containers? I have to immediately distract, otherwise I get really mad.
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A sudden change in direction from Sunday roast to BBQ due to unexpected sunshine!☀️ ☀️ ☀️

The boys decided they must BBQ, went foraging and came back with a pretty decent haul.
I'm not used to having packets but I have to say they chose and cooked well. Being waited on and fed nice food with no tidying up feels pretty good - even if shop bought potato salad is cr*p! 😂


The left over carnage -
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It's dog furthest away in the pics 11th birthday today (the nearest one is 12years old) so they had a slice of steak and a bit of sausage too 😊
 
4 weeks ago, this chook was nearly dead. She was that weak she couldn't stand.

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I had to take another chook (sister to above) to the vets today for the same issue, and saw the same vet, who asked after her. I had deliberately taken photos of her and the rest of the flock, so the vet could see how well she had recovered. The vet was delighted with the result because she had feared she wouldn't recover.

The redness in the wattle and comb show a chicken's health. The redder the better.

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Yes, she's a large girl. She used to weigh in around 4½kg, but hasn't yet had time to put all of that back on (honest!). She's a Buff Sussex BTW, called Buffy. She's 5½ yrs old.
 
Timenspace said:
Excellent. I had no idea they can be as old. What is their average age? Does it differ from breed to breed?(or if there is a different word for chook sorts, sorry)
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Chickens, (chook is the Aussie term for them) can live to be surprisingly old. It's only commercial chickens that die very young, usually from ovarian cancer. Commercial chickens (ISA browns) tend to live to 2-2½ yrs old. Maybe 5-10% can live for longer but it's uncommon. They'll lay for almost everyday for 18 months and then drop dead. They'll be very skinny as well because laying every day takes a huge toll on their bodies.

With heritage chickens or "backyard" chooks (backyard = mixed breeds), the story is very different unless you've got a rescue ISA Brown or other commercial breed). They don't lay every single day. Some will only lay every other day and take winter off, but that makes a huge difference to their life expectancy and overall health. I stopped getting eggs 2 weeks ago, only 1 chook was laying at that point. It will be the end of July before they start laying again. It's related to the length of the day. They need a certain amount of daylight in order to restart laying. Commercial chooks get tricked into believing it's not winter by the use of artificial daylight lights.

My oldest until 6 weeks ago was 10½-11 yrs old. I got her 8 yrs ago when we first came to Australia. My current oldest is 'only' 8½-9 yrs old. Still older than we've been in Australia. I expect my current girl to just keep on going. She's a mixed breed chook that's still laying eggs. She's happy and content. Lily is shown here. Again taken today for the vet to see. Lily is a mixed breed.

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Chooks, typically heritage breeds or backyard mixed breeds, can live to be 12 yrs old or more.

Breed is the correct word.
 
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