The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

@lalaland You don't need raw milk, or organic rice. Any rice any store bought milk will work. I made mine w/ cheap rice and pasturized milk.

Do you use any in the litter in your coop? I still haven't tried spraying the whey from cheesemaking but I think the next time a make a batch I'm going to put some of that in the litter.

 

[aoxa]

My income is below the poverty level, so when obamacare hits I will be forced to buy insurance but with NO subsidies (because income is BELOW poverty level). Tell me what kind of sense THAT makes?!?!?!? Since obamacare is nothing more than a tax, I figure that I'll eventually lose all my possessions, including my house, over it.... because I can't afford to buy insurance and the IRS will levy penalties against me which I also can't pay, so they will file tax liens against me and take everything I own... thank you, low-information voters!!! And for all of you who think that subsidies mean you won't have to pay anything out-of-pocket for your insurance, you are WRONG! The subsidy will come as a tax credit at the end of the year, in the meantime you get to pull that money out of your *** somehow to pay your new inflated insurance premiums. The folks where I work who are lucky enough to be full time and have insurance have seen their premiums nearly double and had their spouses kicked off their plans, directly due to obamacare according to employer. Anytime the government gets it's fingers in anything, it turns into a fiasco, when will people realize that?

This is why I love my country.. Don't have to worry about any of that. I pay higher taxes, sure.. Well I get so many tax breaks I usually get it all back anyway... but with health issues Susan has, and myself (had a lot growing up anyway) I'd already be in a whole lot of debt from medical bills.

I hear a lot of rumours about how our medical care sucks too, but it doesn't. I get fast service, and it's done very well.

 

[pigeonguy]

this is the wine cooler incubator right? That just sounds like a great incubator with a nice large viewing window. I wonder if the first chick is creating a jump in the humidity when it hatches that is causing the 2nd chick to get less air before getting out of its shell.

Yes it is the wine cooler. I never thought about to much humidity because the chick that did not come out is dry. It makes sence though because there are drops of water on the glass after a hatch. I am going to install the humidity controler that I originaly bought and never instaled thought I would just do dry hatchs. Now I see the error of my ways thanks sally. Right now I have no way to check humidity levels because my humidistat broke and I gave my son 20 thousand to fight custody of his son and I am saving every penny I have in case it cost more. I do have the humidistat already though so I will install this weekend.

Good point. I checked your (PigeonGuys) profile first, so do you mind posting pics? What sort of air intake do you have? I'm in mid-rebuild on a mini-fridge... so I'd love to know. Right now we have a 1.25" hole on the side where wiring and the water line (should we need to add water) will go. I've been debating adding a couple more small wholes with some sort of removable plug in the bottom for more air. If you've got a thread going for this, just point me there? I'm super interested

I have a couple of 1/2 inch holes in the back that I ran wires through. My heat sourse is a 12 volt car window defroster with its own fan so forced air after reading this I will connect a air intake to the defroster that brings air into the bator but runs threw the defroster to be heated first. My goal is a working batror with a very quick recovery time if the door is opened right now recovery is about 30 seconds to a ninute if door is open for 5 minutes or 15 minutes it does not matter very quick recovery. I could improve air flow and loose some recovery and still be ok considering how long a store bought one takes.

Just lost my first bird to a predator. Hawk.

I've been going out quite frequently because the littles are out there and I wanted to keep a "surprise presence" at various times to change things up a bit.

Went out and a bunch of the girls were standing by the dog house looking and acting strange and I heard a strange calling from inside the hen house over on the other side. I knew something was wrong and sprinted over to the house. It was the rooster carrying on loudly and there was one girl in there with him on one side and another hiding quietly under the nest boxes. Went back out and only saw 2 babies and the gray sfh was nowhere to be seen so I assumed she was gone.

Convinced the others to come over with me to the hen house and they all piled in and haven't come out yet. Then I started counting. Found Miss black hunkered down inside the dog house and had to tip it up to get her to slide out then herded her back to the house.

On the way through I found Miss Gray (the bio-mom of the baby sfh) dead on the ground.

Still no site of the gray baby and I knew that she was small enough to be picked up and carried away, but I also know those kiddos are good at getting into small places and being very still. I walked around for about 10 min. calling what I usually call when I go out and listening for peeps. I was afraid that if she was hiding she'd probably die of cold as she's only 6 wks and hasn't been without momma on the floor at night. If it were a missing older one I would have assumed it would fare okay if it was only the night.

Finally heard some peeping and saw her up against the side of the pole building laying low and tight in a little trench. She must have finally relaxed enough to peep (good thing I have good hearing). I was able to get her into the house with the others so at least Miss Gray's baby is okay.

Hawk tried to come back to feed on the body while I was in the hen house giving them a bit of food! All hell broke loose in there and I knew something must be wrong. Looked out and sure enough, there was the hawk eating. Tried to pick her up and fly away but dropped her.

1.5 years without a predator loss. Until today.


Sorry I was too late.

Miss Gray

Sorry to hear that.

no..she is very young. Hatchery birds are about 16 weeks. Heritage are 6-9 months.

She protected the baby's..gave them time to hide. what brave momma..the hawk will be back..you need to change your flags height and put out streamers.
My yard looks like a trash hole now and i simply do not care. I have christmas lights, tables, chairs, all kinds of things.

That is exactlly what I was going to say add streemers to the flags. Maybe some tiny silver bells .

 

[pigeonguy]

Forgot to say I can not post pics at this time I have no way of doing so.

 

[Leahs Mom]

That is exactlly what I was going to say add streemers to the flags. Maybe some tiny silver bells .
Silver bells and Christmas lights. It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

But I like both those ideas


PG, I'm looking forward to some photos of that bator.

Also, sorry to hear about your son's battle. That is a hard thing to have to deal with.

 

[armorfirelady]

Hmmmm I bet silver garland would work and I could get enough to tie together from tree to tree..........from trees to hawk hide outs.......def stopping at dollar tree

 

[pigeonguy]

Silver bells and Christmas lights. It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

But I like both those ideas


PG, I'm looking forward to some photos of that bator.

Also, sorry to hear about your son's battle. That is a hard thing to have to deal with.

Yea sometimes you have to do what you have to do. That is one of the reasons I'm not around much.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Just lost my first bird to a predator. Hawk.

I've been going out quite frequently because the littles are out there and I wanted to keep a "surprise presence" at various times to change things up a bit.

Went out and a bunch of the girls were standing by the dog house looking and acting strange and I heard a strange calling from inside the hen house over on the other side. I knew something was wrong and sprinted over to the house. It was the rooster carrying on loudly and there was one girl in there with him on one side and another hiding quietly under the nest boxes. Went back out and only saw 2 babies and the gray sfh was nowhere to be seen so I assumed she was gone.

Convinced the others to come over with me to the hen house and they all piled in and haven't come out yet. Then I started counting. Found Miss black hunkered down inside the dog house and had to tip it up to get her to slide out then herded her back to the house.

On the way through I found Miss Gray (the bio-mom of the baby sfh) dead on the ground.

Still no site of the gray baby and I knew that she was small enough to be picked up and carried away, but I also know those kiddos are good at getting into small places and being very still. I walked around for about 10 min. calling what I usually call when I go out and listening for peeps. I was afraid that if she was hiding she'd probably die of cold as she's only 6 wks and hasn't been without momma on the floor at night. If it were a missing older one I would have assumed it would fare okay if it was only the night.

Finally heard some peeping and saw her up against the side of the pole building laying low and tight in a little trench. She must have finally relaxed enough to peep (good thing I have good hearing). I was able to get her into the house with the others so at least Miss Gray's baby is okay.

Hawk tried to come back to feed on the body while I was in the hen house giving them a bit of food! All hell broke loose in there and I knew something must be wrong. Looked out and sure enough, there was the hawk eating. Tried to pick her up and fly away but dropped her.

1.5 years without a predator loss. Until today.


Sorry I was too late.

Miss Gray

So Sorry. When we lost our chicks to hawks, they came back and scoped out the area for almost a week, looking at the kill site well like a hawk. Hawks are one of the reasons I want the larger chickens, even with the larger feed bills.

That is exactlly what I was going to say add streemers to the flags. Maybe some tiny silver bells .

The silver bells, I have a bag full left over from my wedding years a go. I guess I need to think of a way to hang them or I could pass them on to Leah's Mom.

 

[lalaland]

Found a pic of the hawk enclosure. I keep them in this during the late fall - maybe 4-8 weeks, once the snow starts they don't venture where it isn't shoveled, anyway. It is hard to restrict them, and it is a trade off - let them enjoy the free range and the benefits of that, or keep them restricted to a smaller area. I've done it both ways, and wish I didn't have to make the choice! but preds are a part of life.

 

[lalaland]

@lalaland You don't need raw milk, or organic rice. Any rice any store bought milk will work. I made mine w/ cheap rice and pasturized milk.

thank you so much for telling me that! I was figuring the pasturization killed off whatever helped make the LABS. Gonna try this as soon as things settle down.