The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

LOL - Hopefully this spring I'll be adding some BAs, WRs and RIRs for my layer squad!

It's been raining and dreary here since we brought them home. They're also in the quarantine coop and it is a bit harder to get decent pictures in that coop... but I'll try tomorrow if its sunny. Both are finishing up a molt - the black ones head looks like a porcupine - LOL! The white one has a bald head from an amorous roo. They look funny right now, but they're growing on me. Not at all like my other chickens, but neat little birds all the same! Hopefully they'll be hatching SFH eggs for us this spring!

That you can pretty much take to the bank

Silkies are weird creatures, and are definitely different than any other chicken I have. Characters though. When they get running they hop like rabbits.

 

[Bulldogma]

Silkies are weird creatures, and are definitely different than any other chicken I have. Characters though. When they get running they hop like rabbits.

LOL - I look forward to seeing that! I forgot to add we're toying with the idea of getting some Cornish X this spring too.

 

[lalaland]

Originally, I was thinking I would get fathead minnows because they seem to be the perfect fish for my needs but apparently they have a lot of thiaminase in them - inhibits the absorption and/or production of Thiamine which the body really really needs.

kind of off topic, but in the summer my fishing friends drop off left over minnows You haven't laughed enough if you haven't seen hens diving into a pail with minnows in it, and the resulting chase with the minnows wiggling in their beaks. sigh. summer is a long ways off.

 

[delisha]

I have:


1 Imported Black English Orpington hen
1 Imported Blue English Orpington hen
1 Imported Blue English Orpington Cockerel

2 Cornish/RIR hens
2 WR/Cornish hens
1 Mutt Cockerel
1 RIR
7 Muscovys
2 Giants
8 Heritage RIR eggs in the bator
8 Mutts RIR/Mutt Cockerel

 

[delisha]

Quote: I feed minnows to my ducks and chickens..I love to go buy a bucket of them and toss them in the pool..my Muscovy's are still swimming and just had the treat last week.

 

[aoxa]

I have:


1 Imported Black English Orpington hen
1 Imported Blue English Orpington hen
1 Imported Blue English Orpington Cockerel

2 Cornish/RIR hens
2 WR/Cornish hens
1 Mutt Cockerel
1 RIR
7 Muscovys
2 Giants
8 Heritage RIR eggs in the bator
8 Mutts RIR/Mutt Cockerel

For some reason I thought you'd of had a lot more.

I sure hope you get a good hatch out of your incubated eggs.

I need to do a small test run in my new Sportsman before spring. Think I'll add in all the BBS Ameraucana eggs I have.. Maybe a few barred rocks.. I just find bantams so much easier to house in the winter.

 

[aoxa]

I feed minnows to my ducks and chickens..I love to go buy a bucket of them and toss them in the pool..my Muscovy's are still swimming and just had the treat last week.

I have never given fish to my birds. Fish is one of the few meats we eat and there is never leftovers. We just love it too much

 

[delisha]

Quote: Can you tell me why?
I have been considering getting silver laced wyandotte

 

[delisha]

I forgot my buckeye and NH on my list

 

[aoxa]

Can you tell me why?
I have been considering getting silver laced wyandotte

Poor egg quality. Slow growing. Crazy. They were the most timid birds I have ever encountered. All 3 developed issues (2 from one breeder, 1 from another). I culled all 3.

For the Orp - Loved the look, I just didn't feel like the feed was worth the eggs I received. She suffered from egg binding and died without me even knowing there was an issue. Poor thing.. I'd get Orps before getting Wyandottes again.