The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TurtlePowerTrav]

So very sorry to miss so much happenings on the forum and this thread. I took a break from all media for a while. No rest though. A lot to take care of around my place. My fourteen HRIR cockerels are now down to four.
My two Silkie pens have given me over forty two chicks and they are doing great. My husband has finished the Tudor Brooder. The pop door went in yesterday. Twelve chicks are coming outdoors into the sunshine now to scratch and sun.

We processed six roosters and one turkey hen. The freezer is full of meat. Four turkeys and a couple cockerels left to send to freezer camp. The garden is finished for the year and I just moved the layer flock and my #1 HRIR cockerel in with them.

I gots lots of catch up reading to do on this thread.


#1 HRIR cockerel gets a chance with the layers. He sticks with his girls and feeds them treats. So far, he is my best choice for the future. He is only seven months old. Just half grown. A real stunner.


Those boys that didn't make the cut, put lovely dinner on the table and filled the freezer. The best chicken I've ever tasted.


This is one of my culls. For a cull, he is really beautiful. I love my Ron Fogle strain. My first breeding efforts start Jan. 2014.

Glad to see ya back, Mumsy. Wow, thems are some purdy birds. You gonna be selling shipping eggs next year? I may NEED some of these

 

[delisha]

My molded beauty



she normally looks like this


some new babys out in the cold




them crops are stuffed full..such a good mom

 

[armorfirelady]

Momma looks like she lost half her weight with the loss of her feathers

She I stunning & those chicks are adorable. They still look they have chick fluff? Do they tend to feather faster when raised when the temps are colder? Or do they just spend more time under Mom?

 

[delisha]

Momma looks like she lost half her weight with the loss of her feathers

She I stunning & those chicks are adorable. They still look they have chick fluff? Do they tend to feather faster when raised when the temps are colder? Or do they just spend more time under Mom?

The brand new chicks(ones with down) mom is the red bird..the baby's are 4 days old. New baby's spend a lot of time under moms. I do not think they feather much different.

The black Orp has all black chicks..her baby's are 4 weeks old and fully feathered except the one male has a few missing tail feathers. She has one adopted white chick..

 

[delisha]

I need sexing help with a silkie chick...6 weeks old..




I suck at photography...

 

[lalaland]

I need sexing help with a silkie chick...6 weeks old..




I suck at photography...

Delisha, you must have learned your photography skills from me! That's what happens when I take a pic of someone, they just bolt out of the pic and someone else wanders in!

good luck with your silkie sexing question. I'm no good on silkies.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote:
I agree about the speed of feathering. Not much difference with broody raised or house raised. But the big difference is broody raised chicks learn to tolerate temps much better than house raised chicks. If I raise chicks, I wean them off light just like a broody does and have them off lamp within 4 weeks except for a little at night. I set up my timers and use a dimmer on the lamp so I don't have to change the height of the lamp.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I need sexing help with a silkie chick...6 weeks old..




I suck at photography...

At 6 weeks it will be difficult to sex accurately. Do you have other Silkie hatched at the same time? how does it compare size wise. My boys are usually bigger than the girls at 6 weeks, but not always. Right now I have a brood of 4 with a momma, looks like one cockerel and three pullets on size alone, but not guaranteeing anything.

 

[aoxa]

At 6 weeks it will be difficult to sex accurately. Do you have other Silkie hatched at the same time? how does it compare size wise. My boys are usually bigger than the girls at 6 weeks, but not always. Right now I have a brood of 4 with a momma, looks like one cockerel and three pullets on size alone, but not guaranteeing anything.

I can't be trusted to sex silkies early on.. :|

I always went by the crests until Doc screwed me up.




She did it on purpose so I would never again feel comfortable selling silkies before they were 12 weeks old.

 

[aaggjg]

I can't be trusted to sex silkies early on.. :|

I always went by the crests until Doc screwed me up.




She did it on purpose so I would never again feel comfortable selling silkies before they were 12 weeks old.

Aoxa Spook did the same to me!! She was hatched with one I knew was a girl and her pouf was so boy like. I spent months lamenting the fact that my 1 lavender silkie was a Roo.... Well BOY did she fool me!! I wouldn't believe she was a girl no matter how round her pouf got until she laid her 1st egg (at 1 YR!!)