Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[ChickChickChicky]

Maybe this is a silly question but I don't remember seeing the answer for it anywhere here. I'm making my own ACV, started with Heinz unpasteurized with mother and added it to regular old pasteurized ACV (and also to a seperate bottle of plain apple juice from frozen concentrate). I know you say to age this, uncovered, for 1-2 weeks or more until one can see the mother swirling around. When can I go ahead and cap the new stuff off? Right now I've got the bottles covered with a piece of paper towel secured with a rubber band. The pasteurized ACV has been cooking about 1.5 weeks and has a definite swirls of mother in it, and I just started the apple juice yesterday so nothing going on with it yet. Thanks!

 

[Beekissed]

I'd go ahead and cap the ACV and the apple juice is going to take a bit longer...when it smell like ACV and has that good swirl in the middle, it should be done.

 

[Beekissed]

Ah! True old-timers never get tired of mulling over the same old stories. I, too, was saddened when I thought you were going to close down this thread, Bee. It's good to know that you are going to keep it going. It must be a lot of work to keep up with and post all those replies, cause it's a real effort to keep up-to-date with all the new posts each day just reading. My Grandmother, who died at 94 lived with us, (she died in 1971) as I was growing up some of my first memories were of my Grandmother, I heard the same stories over and over about how her brothers always teased her, and how she was the youngest of 9 children, her mother could curl her hair on her fingers in ringlets. Of course, many more and we heard them over and over again, same old, same old...I never tired of listening to her tell those stories. I don't frankly think she had dementia either. She was a spunky old woman made bread 2 or 3 times a week (I never tasted store bought bread till I was a teenager, and thought somehow I was missing out on something.) She made dinner everyday (dinner was always served at noon). She dusted the house daily. She also helped with the dishes and with any food processing we were doing, right up till bout 6 months before she died. What I'm trying to say here is, true old timers keep mulling over the same old things and the listeners don't ever seem to tire of it!

How fortunate you were to have a Grandma like that! My granny was a real pistol too and I remember her fondly...she was one of a kind.

I often wonder what those ladies would think of their modern day versions...the next generation of women. Grandma would get quite a kick out of this forum, I can tell you that! She'd be laughing her butt off and then shaking her head...sort of like I do.

 

[huckleberry acres]

If you have the basic software on your PC, you can sort of make your own little chicken manual by first pasting all the info into a single document and later creating your own categories and paste from THAT document and pretty soon you have yourself a nice little book you can print off of things you would like to remember or refer to later. 

 

If you have the passages pasted into Word on your PC or tablet, you can do a key word search anytime with that document and find the specifics you are looking for or need at any given time. Key word search literally puts it at your fingertips without having to read through everything trying to find that particular reference.

 

[gardendufus]

I mostly lurk on this thread. I know that most of my questions have been answered previously, and I started the cut and paste into a word document at the point they locked the thread (for some reason I obviously missed). As soon as they re opened it I knew I had to save what I could in case it ever happened again.

I am the one that suggested putting amount of experience in your profile. I did it myself, mainly because when and if I offer advice, I want people to know that I haven't been doing this all that long. Usually I will even point that out, and I seldom comment unless it's something I've been doing and have had success with.

The information I have gotten with this thread has been invaluable. I will be forever grateful that this thread started up at about the same time I did, so that most of the postings were timely for my experience. I realize that there are many different methods/styles of chicken raising. And because of this thread I know that the main theme to 'success" in general is COMMON SENSE.

You guys taught me that, and to trust my instincts. Thank You.

 

[chicken curious]

Good point. I don't know about cooking it. Heat is energy and costs. Either my energy to cut wood, or my pocket to pay for artificial heat sources.

Can you ferment in cooler temps and when does fermentation stop? I know it does not freeze, but does the fermentation process stop at 60, 50, 40, 30, or what?

I am fairly new to chickens and, as we all are, am newish to fermenting *for chickens,* but I ferment for my family and have been for years (traditionally brined 'pickles' of all sorts of veggies, yogurt, water and dairy kefir, and kombucha...plus now acv)...

the kind of ferment we're doing with the acv should do "best" in the 70 degree range. warmer temps will speed the multiplication of the bacteria and yeasts to a point (and then kill them if you were to cook it) and cooler temps will slow down their multiplication/life-cycle/fermentation process. I believe they can even be frozen (ie life suspended, but not killed). (the acv mix and salt brines may not freeze, but the bacteria in dairy kefir and yogurt suspend activity)

So, I guess what I'm saying is that you can keep it inside and ambient temps will make it easy/consistent to maintain OR you can keep it outside with the understanding that it will be less consistent (ie faster in warm weather and slower in cool weather)...this is not a problem, just something to take into account as you plan your methods (ie how often to 'feed' it, how soon it's 'ready').

Maybe this is a silly question but I don't remember seeing the answer for it anywhere here. I'm making my own ACV, started with Heinz unpasteurized with mother and added it to regular old pasteurized ACV (and also to a seperate bottle of plain apple juice from frozen concentrate). I know you say to age this, uncovered, for 1-2 weeks or more until one can see the mother swirling around. When can I go ahead and cap the new stuff off? Right now I've got the bottles covered with a piece of paper towel secured with a rubber band. The pasteurized ACV has been cooking about 1.5 weeks and has a definite swirls of mother in it, and I just started the apple juice yesterday so nothing going on with it yet. Thanks!

I ALWAYS advise using your nose first and then your taste buds: if it smells safe, then taste it, but be ready to spit in case it tastes off...if it passes a smell and taste test...determine if it tastes acidic enough...if so, it's "ready"

 

[Mountain Momma]

Ah! True old-timers never get tired of mulling over the same old stories. I, too, was saddened when I thought you were going to close down this thread, Bee. It's good to know that you are going to keep it going. It must be a lot of work to keep up with and post all those replies, cause it's a real effort to keep up-to-date with all the new posts each day just reading. My Grandmother, who died at 94 lived with us, (she died in 1971) as I was growing up some of my first memories were of my Grandmother, I heard the same stories over and over about how her brothers always teased her, and how she was the youngest of 9 children, her mother could curl her hair on her fingers in ringlets. Of course, many more and we heard them over and over again, same old, same old...I never tired of listening to her tell those stories. I don't frankly think she had dementia either. She was a spunky old woman made bread 2 or 3 times a week (I never tasted store bought bread till I was a teenager, and thought somehow I was missing out on something.) She made dinner everyday (dinner was always served at noon). She dusted the house daily. She also helped with the dishes and with any food processing we were doing, right up till bout 6 months before she died. What I'm trying to say here is, true old timers keep mulling over the same old things and the listeners don't ever seem to tire of it!

Yep I know what you mean. My grandmother passed too early, at 67. Before she moved on she gave me one of her skillets. The one she used every day. She always told the story of a Raccoon that came up on the back porch. She would say "any coon that came on her porch must be sick with something so it needed killin." She killed it with that skillet. She maybe weighed 80 pounds and she made huge breakfasts for us every day we stayed with her. Sausage that granpa made himself, bacon, biscuits, gravy corn bread buttermilk toast, jam, honey, whole milk unpastuerized,eggs sunny side ghetta. Everything. If the gravy wasnt gettin dark enough she would swill some of her coffee into it while she was smoking and grabbing spoonfuls of recycled grease she kept on the stove. We snacked on breakfast all day cause she would put a dish towel over the left overs and leave em in the oven. We werent allowed in the fridge oh no. your post made me miss the dickens out of her. I still have a jar of some root she collected. Sasafras I think and I open it and smell it from time to time.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

I am going to ask a really stupid question, but what should a chicken's nostrils look like? Should they be bone dry or is some moisture ok? Would you consider it a "runny nose" if there is some clear mucus discharge?

I ask because several of my birds have had what I think are runny noses for two months now. At one point, all 8 of my hatchery golden comets had the "runny nose", but my heritage birds from smaller hatcheries and breeders have yet to catch it. Four of the hatchery birds have recovered. Four still have the nasal discharge. Now this discharge is not like a 4 year old with snott all running down its face and under its chin. It's just dampness right at the nostrils. I don't think I would even notice it any more except that when they really dig in the garden, the dirt sticks to the birds with snotty noses so bad that I wonder how they breath. But they huff and blow and scratch it away and go on about their day like nothing is wrong. These birds haven't missed a beat with laying and are eating and drinking and running around killing spiders (we are so over-run with spiders). I'm starting to wonder if I should even think of this as an ailment........... A friend who also keeps birds says I am watching my girls too closely and it's nothing to worry about. I won't say that I'm not worried about it, but I am not treating it. If they don't recover or die or get so ill that they need to be culled, then so be it. I don't want medicated birds.

 

[aussie pete]

chicken experience 18 mths (newbie) I have 2 breeds that i run separately - light sussex & australorps .currently18 mth old trio of LS with 11-10wk olds , 18 mth old pair of BA (lost two hens )+ 9 -10 wk olds.
the one BA hen is very quiet, good mum, super layer hadn't missed a day during winter
.now we r into spring, the rooster is keeping others away from food/water (multiple feeder /waterers )to save it for this hen & is so persistent with her that she has stopped laying & remains on roost to avoid him if i let everyone out to free range .if let flock out except him the flock is fine.
the problem then arises that the LS rooster will leave his flock & run up& back on the dividing fence like a stallion trying to get to this BA hen

so question is do i
1-just keep letting things go as is- keep BA rooster in run while the flock free range & hope things resolve when rest of flock mature or put BA rooster in a tractor x himself till then
2- let the entire 2 flocks out to free range together & just separate individual hens /rooster as required if i want purebred chics

any suggestions/both roosters have good manners otherwise no problems with ppl /chics etc

 

[galanie]

I mostly lurk on this thread.  I know that most of my questions have been answered previously, and I started the cut and paste into a word document at the point they locked the thread (for some reason I obviously missed).  As soon as they re opened it I knew I had to save what I could in case it ever happened again.

I am the one that suggested putting amount of experience in your profile.  I did it myself, mainly because when and if I offer advice, I want people to know that I haven't been doing this all that long.  Usually I will even point that out, and I seldom comment unless it's something I've been doing and have had success with.

The information I have gotten with this thread has been invaluable.  I will be forever grateful that this thread started up at about the same time I did, so that most of the postings were timely for my experience.  I realize that there are many different  methods/styles of chicken raising.  And because of this thread I know that the main theme to 'success" in general is COMMON SENSE.

You guys taught me that, and to trust my instincts.  Thank You.

x2
I remember that! And you are the reason I have the number of years in my profile. I want folks to know I'm not an OT. But do post. I've been ridiculed for what's in my profile but ignore it. I know what I know and sometimes I'm wrong. Which makes me a part of the human race.