The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[zinia8]

First egg from my speckled sussex. Teeny tiny eggy

 

[Pozees]

First egg from my speckled sussex. Teeny tiny eggy

 

[delisha]

Delisha, you add the list of ingredients to the store bought electrolytes? your list almost seems like the recipes for home made eletrolyte solutions. At what point do you add the eletrolytes and how long do you provide them ? and is there also plain water avail or just the eletrolytes?

I mix it all together. I have to double the recipe daily. My birds drink more than 3 gallons a day in this heat. I do not have ducks anymore. I sold them. I have just the electrolytes out in this heat, in my waterers. If a bird is panting, it is stressed. Electrolytes give the birds what they need. I have a pool out too and a few other things to help keep them cooler. If they want plain water they drink out of the pool. With all of the rain there are tons of puddles too. They love the electrolytes and drink more fluids. Makes me feel better.
I have electrolytes out if it is over 90. I keep it out if the weather is bad. I offer more green leaf plants and reduce grains. I fed just baby chicks today grains, blueberries, and chicken. Everyone else got things out of the garden or found there own. I also fed a whole chicken I boiled at noon for the birds that did not leave to go range. The birds did not eat much today, or all week really. I have the same 50lb bag of feed in the container and made only two 3 gallon bucket of FF out of it.

First egg from my speckled sussex. Teeny tiny eggy

wonderful!!

 

[aoxa]

I mix it all together. I have to double the recipe daily. My birds drink more than 3 gallons a day in this heat. I do not have ducks anymore. I sold them. I have just the electrolytes out in this heat, in my waterers. If a bird is panting, it is stressed. Electrolytes give the birds what they need. I have a pool out too and a few other things to help keep them cooler. If they want plain water they drink out of the pool. With all of the rain there are tons of puddles too. They love the electrolytes and drink more fluids. Makes me feel better.
I have electrolytes out if it is over 90. I keep it out if the weather is bad. I offer more green leaf plants and reduce grains. I fed just baby chicks today grains, blueberries, and chicken. Everyone else got things out of the garden or found there own. I also fed a whole chicken I boiled at noon for the birds that did not leave to go range. The birds did not eat much today, or all week really. I have the same 50lb bag of feed in the container and made only two 3 gallon bucket of FF out of it.
wonderful!!

Del you'd be proud of me. I haven't fed my free range flock in a week. They sometimes get the remnants of the bottom of the chick feeder, but really not much at all.

Does it count that a few break into the chick pen and eat their feed?

Not many do. I'd say 3 or 4 adults know about the secret stash of feed in the chick pen. I really could care less that they are in there. They are all really good to the chicks, who are minimum 4 weeks old and range up to 9 weeks. I'm going to cut back on the feedings there once the newly added group go outside without being forced.

The reason I stopped feeding them mostly was because of the darn goats. They are a pain in my butt when it comes to feeding time for the chickens. I seriously need to make a goat free area for feeding.. and soon...

You sold your ducks? When did that happen? Why?

 

[lalaland]

I mix it all together. I have to double the recipe daily. My birds drink more than 3 gallons a day in this heat. I do not have ducks anymore. I sold them. I have just the electrolytes out in this heat, in my waterers. If a bird is panting, it is stressed. Electrolytes give the birds what they need. I have a pool out too and a few other things to help keep them cooler. If they want plain water they drink out of the pool. With all of the rain there are tons of puddles too. They love the electrolytes and drink more fluids. Makes me feel better.
I have electrolytes out if it is over 90. I keep it out if the weather is bad. I offer more green leaf plants and reduce grains. I fed just baby chicks today grains, blueberries, and chicken. Everyone else got things out of the garden or found there own. I also fed a whole chicken I boiled at noon for the birds that did not leave to go range. The birds did not eat much today, or all week really. I have the same 50lb bag of feed in the container and made only two 3 gallon bucket of FF out of it.
wonderful!!

thats good to know = I haven't done eletrolytes for heat, but being more north than you, it hasn't been that bad. Plus, the run has the pines, and there is dense shade in there and it keeps it a lot cooler.

I've noticed the hens eating less too, even the chicks. It cooled off to 55 this morning, and it feels soo good. course, I have to go to work so can't take advantage of the nice cool weather for chores. Back to the 80's tomorrow.

um LEIGH, could info on eletrolytes go somewhere in the universe?

 

[aoxa]

thats good to know = I haven't done eletrolytes for heat, but being more north than you, it hasn't been that bad. Plus, the run has the pines, and there is dense shade in there and it keeps it a lot cooler.

I've noticed the hens eating less too, even the chicks. It cooled off to 55 this morning, and it feels soo good. course, I have to go to work so can't take advantage of the nice cool weather for chores. Back to the 80's tomorrow.

um LEIGH, could info on eletrolytes go somewhere in the universe?

It cooled off to 65 this morning. Boy did it feel nice.. Five LONG days in the upper 90s is tough on a Canadian.

Susan and I cleaned out pens in the sweltering heat yesterday. It had to be done. We took breaks and hosed down with the garden hose.

 

[wlhtx]

The reason I stopped feeding them mostly was because of the darn goats. They are a pain in my butt when it comes to feeding time for the chickens. I seriously need to make a goat free area for feeding.. and soon...

Glad to know that someone else shares my woes in feeding chickens with goats in the way. My goats have decided that they LOVE the FF. I mean - of course they will eat anything - but they seem to have developed a special liking for the FF. They tear into it about as serious as when we bring them the occasional butter cookie snacks. The matriarch will even "growl" at the others to try to keep them away so she can try to eat it all. Trying to keep them out of it truly brings out their "stubborn old goat" mentality. I must brag on my goats though. Two days ago we saw them hoping around fairly close the pen they share with the chickens. We went out to check on what they were doing and found a large DEAD water moccasin. Good goats.

I've begun feeding my free range flock the FF every other day (with the exception of the younger chicks). I'm really trying to encourage some of the older (spoiled) ones to do a better job at free ranging. I have a group of Ameraucanas that seem totally content to hang out in the pen all day (while the door is wide open), and just wait for feeding time in the early evenings. I'm not having it. GO EAT SOME BUGS!

 

[armorfirelady]

I had lice once, and to be honest I do  not remember them scratching. I also have ash dusting areas, I still got lice. I clean my nest boxes daily, I still got lice. I DL, I still got lice. My coop is dry as a bone, I still got lice. I add ACV to my waters, and yet I still got lice. I gave them the lice by not treating the wood chips and straw I think. I am not sure. Or it could have been when I brought in a new roost branch with out treating it. I do not know and I can't even hazard a guess why my birds got it. They just did. I did something wrong. I fixed it. Lice and there movement and why they do what they do is a mystery to me. I am itching now just thinking about it. I never emptied a coop so fast in my life. I went threw a whole bottle of neem oil and a gallon of bleach before I was done. My birds were stressed from the move and the constant dunking. It took them a month to forgive me. I do not have lice and I check them often now. I do have my new bird with the start of a leather pad on one of his feet. Was digging at that today. If no improvement tomorrow I am going to pack it with iodine and sugar. (love the help on here)

Do you know if all the shafts of their feathers would have lice eggs? I usually only check their vents for them.
I'm going to look to see where I can get neem oil & do some more research on lice since I have another long day at work. And I am like you it makes me itch talking about it lol

I was just looking at my kiddos and several of them have foot pads w/small black beginnings.  I still think this is due to scratching and having slivers or small cuts as they're foraging around.

They all seem so small and I'm thinking that I don't really want to disturb them.  Not sure what I'm going to do.  Just in the thinking about it stage.

I have several that have the little black scab as well, so I started putting a salve for minor cut and scratches, it has vitamin A & D in it as well. After the third treatment, I just rub it on the foot, it is almost gone.  They barely fight me when I pick them up because it is a quick rubbing on the bottom of the feet and down, so they don't get upset. 

I was wondering if just covering small ones with blue kote would work to help heal them quick? I need to see if the ingredients are close to what is in nu stock

 

[hotrodflash]

I was wondering if just covering small ones with blue kote would work to help heal them quick? I need to see if the ingredients are close to what is in nu stock

The ointment that I am using is a petroleum jelly like substance that has lanolin, petrolatum, and added vitamin A & D added. It is a "skin protectant". I think even petroleum jelly would work to soften the skin and let the wound heal faster and easier.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Would a large table very low to the ground help, for feeding chooks underneath? Depends on whether or not you have huge chooks or tiny goats I guess.

Quote: Advise against it. Plain petroleum jelly toughens injured skin and by itself impedes the healing. It may soften uninjured skin, I don't know, but I do know it's not good for damaged skin. I have used it on wounds once a preliminary layer of pawpaw ointment has been laid down, but using it as a first layer is counterproductive.