Hello from North Richmond, NSW (Temperate)

[Carload9973]

I've been watching Mark play in his garden for years, and Rob Bob with his fish, and wish I could do the same, then I try and fail miserably.

As a FIFO worker, I'll never have the time in the garden Mark does, and Mrs Carload is busy enough with 4 mini Carloads in the house.

Over the Christmas New Year period I felt inspired and watched a bunch of Aussie gardeners and decided to do a few small things. I bought 6 bags of chicken manure and dumped them on the grass outside the bedroom window ( I won't be doing that again), and I bought 6 baby chicks, 2 of which have already died despite the heat lamp (it was cool over New Year and I don't think the light could keep up).

Those who can't play sport watch others play sport. I think I should reside myself to live my collage gardening days vicariously through Mark and his mates.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Welcome, welcome,

We all start somewhere. It's just that the somewhere might not work out in the beginning. Heck, I thought I had a black thumb myself, as I was talented at killing plants - even those normally considered rather sturdy.

I bet that the chicken manure was rather smelly!
On top of that, chicken manure is often quite toxic, and takes a while to break down into something plants can use. If you pour it over existing plants, or try to plant anything in it too soon, it may end up burning and killing the plants. It needs to be aged or composted before you can reap it's full benefits.

The baby chicks might not have had a chance to acclimatise to those new temperatures. When you bought them, were they kept indoors? They may need time, to gradually adapt. My dad used to keep them in a rather small area, well insulated and with added straw (or other suitable bedding material, depending on what is accessible to you). Because the heat lamp had a relatively small area to heat, it worked quite well. And over time he would reduce the amount of time the lamp would be on, with the help of automatic timers.
Mind you, I only have experience from watching my father, and we didn't have chickens often. We just did it as a fun side-gig for a few years, and would sell the baby chicks once they were mature enough.

As for my experience in having a black thumb; I found out that my issue was poor soil quality. I'd kill plants left right and center. And eventually I managed to keep a cherry tomato alive, but it was hardly thriving. It was bare, hardly had any leaves and grew almost like a vine. It's like it was desperate to escape it's pot.
So, after my partner told me to go buy some stuff, I went and got me some bagged potting mix from Bunnings (the same as I'd seen Mark use). I planted a new tomato plant in it and... it grew. I honestly could not keep up with the plant. Suddenly I had to invest in a trellis as it got too big for it's own good. And I've had a lot of success growing many other plants in the same potting mix - it was wonderful!
So perhaps it may be worth trying to take a step back and go from "bare bones".