The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[bbsnooks]

Hello everyone bbsnooks let me know about this wonderful forum - so, here I am! I live in south-central Kansas.. have a variety of the usual chickens, some guineas, ducks, goslings, cats and 2 Great Pyrenees. I'm fairly new to this lifestyle, but loving every single minute of it and continue to learn with each new thing I try. I tried goats and learned in 2 days they weren't for me - how's that for fast learning!?

I look forward to getting to know you guys.

And she wondered if we had a sence of humor over here at NCK - nope..

just so you know.. us kansas girls are X-perts on broom sticks..
that's mine-- fourth from the left.. dont let that fisher man take it. -- its way to powerful for him to ride ; )

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Hello everyone!
i have a question on the Cornish rock crosses. I want to get some meat birds.. but i think the hybrid freaks me out a little it. Is there a way to feed them more humanly and not have them get so big so fast? if not, is there another good meat bird that you would recommend?

Well that's what the Cornish Rocks are for. You can seriously hurt them by playing around with their feed. Also they might start pecking each other if they don't have all the feed they want.lol.

If you want a good meat bird that doesn't grow as fast as the commercial breeds. Then you have a huge choose of birds.
Here are the ones I would recommend, they are called dual Purpose breeds.
Rhode Island Reds ( RIR ) ------ These first 2 are probably you best bet. Easy to acquire and they have both one awards all over the world for best meat, eggs and personality.
Australorps----------------------------
Wyandoottes
Faverolles

 

[sunflowerparrot]

And she wondered if we had a sence of humor over here at NCK - nope..

just so you know.. us kansas girls are X-perts on broom sticks..
that's mine-- fourth from the left.. dont let that fisher man take it. -- its way to powerful for him to ride ; )

lol bbsnooks - the goats were adorable as can be!!!!! They didn't lack on any cuteness, that's for sure. I think most - ok, ALL - the fault was mine. I got them the day before those 2 big snow storms hit us in February... Then to top it off, I had one nice sized hut to put them in out in the barn and the one that was twice the size of the little one was ramming it over and over and over against the hut walls - the larger one had horns, the little 3 week old had no way to get away or kick the crap out of the larger one - I didn't have much of a setup to separate them and had to make do with a small dog crate It was crappy weather, I was stuck - literally - for 3 days in my driveway out in the boonies and feeling like I made a horrible decision. So - I sold them pretty quickly to a home that was much better capable of caring for them than me!

 

[pigeonguy]

Cockerel question:

At what age (range is okay) would one expect a cockerel to be fertile?

6 months is a general rule used around here.

Bleh - I hit the Multi-Quote button for about 16 posts I wanted to reply to but it only put in 3 of them.

And here I was going to apologize for the mega-multi-quote. I'm running behind because my youngest has pneumonia and we're taking a mini-vacation at the hospital. (I'm a special needs mom... this means that at this point in my life I have had one of my 3 children in the hospital for a sum total of about 20 weeks... or so.) It ain't my first rodeo... just wish I had time to pack a bit better this time but I was in a rush because I had to drive her myself because the ambulance service in our area would have taken her to the closest hospital... which was recently rated the worst in the US - so not going to happen! LOL. Nah - we have a favorite hospital in Roanoke which is awesome... but an hour away... (but we made it in about 40 minutes yesterday - hee hee hee) and now I'm rambling. Sleep deprivation always did have a certain comic effect on me..


Somewhere in the long list of posts, some others of y'all totally cracked me up. Thanks - I needed that! The people on this thread are the best!


Welcome! Looks like a great start to a well-planned coop!

There was someone else I was going to welcome, but I'm not quite sentient enough to go back and find the post... so, if you're new... Welcome!!


Oh, Lala... I'm so sorry! Let us know what you can find out about possible causes... and remember - sometimes chickens just die.


Ok - that spitting coffee on the screen emoticon MB posted? Please apply that here! Loin - you always keep this thread rocking.

*Secretly glad I didn't tell anyone when my birthday was! (last Saturday) LOL! High-fives to all my Aries peeps!*

I'm an Aries also. Aries 24th

So....not having had a rooster yet (have one cockerel growing into one right now) I was planning on following all the advice I've learned from folks here with the rooster stick, etc., if I have a problem and seeing how it turns out.

I agree w/you, BDM, on training but that raises a question (and I'm totally "green" so forgive my ignorance...a few months down the road I'll have experience I expect

)


-Is it reasonable to expect a rooster (with that "bird-brain") to be as trainable as a dog? I've trained MANY dogs in my life and so far haven't found one I couldn't train. Just not sure if I can expect the same from a rooster brain.

Mel
It sounds like you tried all the training advice with no luck in the end so I want to just give you a shout out and say I'm sorry you have to get rid of him after all the work and everything you tried. I know it's not easy.

I HOPE my sfh rooster is "easy-going"...but I have a rooster stick ready to go and will try my darndest to train him if needed! We shall see..

I always make a special point every day to walk threw all 3 of my cockerels (I keep calling them roosters but they are actually cockerels 8 months old) By walk threw I mean I walk straight toward them and make them step to the side for me without paying them no never mind. I want them to know who is boss. I believe training starts at an early age dogs start training before weening and I think roosters (cockerels should to) Old dogs are trainable but young ones learn easier.

 

[Leahs Mom]

hey all.

What are some good preventatives for lice and mites.
I know WormWood can prevent lice but that is all.

A couple of items:

Wood ash in the dust box/dusting area Here's some info on that.
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2012/12/natural-way-to-rid-chickens-of-lice.html
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Dustbox.html

Certain herbs used in nest boxes.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I always make a special point every day to walk threw all 3 of my cockerels (I keep calling them roosters but they are actually cockerels 8 months old) By walk threw I mean I walk straight toward them and make them step to the side for me without paying them no never mind. I want them to know who is boss. I believe training starts at an early age dogs start training before weening and I think roosters (cockerels should to) Old dogs are trainable but young ones learn easier.

Thanks, PG and Del. After reading your posts I went right out there and walked right at my cockerel. (Had to start practicing right away!

)

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Hello everyone!
i have a question on the Cornish rock crosses. I want to get some meat birds.. but i think the hybrid freaks me out a little it. Is there a way to feed them more humanly and not have them get so big so fast? if not, is there another good meat bird that you would recommend?

Dorkings and Dark Cornish make great meat birds and are slow growing. I am on my first group of Cornish X's but think I am going to get Dark Cornish in the future.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Dorkings and Dark Cornish make great meat birds and are slow growing. I am on my first group of Cornish X's but think I am going to get Dark Cornish in the future.

I have a dark cornish hen that I got as one of my first chickens last year - she is such a sweet girl. She is smaller than the other chickens - and very solid and meaty for sure. She doesn't have much fluff on her and it just all meat. I don't think I could ever eat her though as she has become a pet over the past year and is the first chicken I ever owned! I bought her at Atwoods when I had no idea chickens even came in different breeds.

I'm getting cornish crosses coming in Wednesday - this will be my second year doing broilers. I felt so sorry for them last year. Their little legs just can't hold up their heavy bodies. I've never heard of Dorkings - will have to look into them.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

I always make a special point every day to walk threw all 3 of my cockerels (I keep calling them roosters but they are actually cockerels 8 months old) By walk threw I mean I walk straight toward them and make them step to the side for me without paying them no never mind. I want them to know who is boss. I believe training starts at an early age dogs start training before weening and I think roosters (cockerels should to) Old dogs are trainable but young ones learn easier.

I have noticed with my guy he always keeps out of my way when I am around him, not that he isn't "friendly" or wouldn't mob me for meal worms, but he always stays off to the side behind the girls. I have tried to walk through him now and again to see what would happen and it's an instant he steps aside. There was no training with him, he's just that way. If I grab one of the girls and she squwaks a lot, he will let out the deep "whoa" he does now and then, but never makes a move towards me. When I hand out treats, he's always behind the girls, they get it first, it's his choice. His father seemed to be a fine roo. I do think there are genetics at play here. Guess I just lucked out.

BDM - all my best thoughts and prayers to you and your daughter. Hope all goes well and her recovery is quick!

LW - well, all I can say is........there is coffee on my flat screen. Loved it!

All the new people on the thread - It's so great to see you all here and welcome, enjoy, participate, relax and have some fun too....there's soooooooo much to learn.

 

[BlueMouse]

Ok, so this may be the stupidest newbie question ever, but how much of a chickens keel should you be feeling? I've been hefting around my BO rooster a lot with soaking his feet for the bumblefoot and whatnot (which is looking totally better, thank you loads everyone who posted information about that!) and, if he was a parrot, I would think that he was underweight. But.... I know that BO's can be little fatties if you overfeed them, and I don't want to do that either.... I really wish I had someone local who could come over, pick him up, and tell me if he's at a good weight. I wouldn't worry if this was the height of summer and there was forage everywhere, but this time of year they're more dependent on me, who has no idea what I'm doing. (have you ever tried to find info on how much to feed your chickens? Almost Everything just says to leave out the feed 24/7.... URGH I do not want to provide a roden buffet!) I'm only feeding them grain at night, to encourage foraging, but I put out kitchen scraps in the morning, and give them a chunk of fodder. Then they each get probably 1/2-3/4 C fermented feed when they go in for the night. it's always gone when I let them out in the AM.

a side note of good news. My hen has stopped limping, and this morning she started laying again. I'm so glad that she's getting better. for a while over the weekend I was really sure I was going to have to put her down. I'm letting her back out with my poor lonely rooster again tomorrow. I blocked off all the upper roosts (I have ladder style) to keep her from jumping down and re-injuring it. I figure I'll keep them blocked off for another week and give her a chance to be completely back to normal. The moral of the story? Epsom salts baths work really well!