The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Pozees]

Thank you, Pozees.

I have a secondary roost question.
I'm thinking of raising the main roost up about 2 ft. higher than it is now and then adding a second roost (stair stepped out a bit) below that at the level the original roost is now. Below is a rough drawing.

But the question is this...since things are in a bit of havoc in there already, would this be a stupid time to do it? Should I wait until things have calmed down?

And...will the old birds just instinctively move to the higher level or would they likely want to stay at the level they're used to?

If you want to make this change may as well do it now. I would expect the flock leaders to seek the higher roosts unless they are older and are not physically able to do so.

 

[aoxa]

Awwww... poor girls. So happy they'll be living out the rest of their productive time free ranging and learning to eat bugs and grass! They must think they're in heaven!
I have a few Production reds... They'll hop up onto my arm and I ask them, "Are you one of my pretty Pennies?" They look so proud to have such a meaningful name. All 3 of them! The Heritage RIR girl gets called "Penny" a lot too... wouldn't want her to feel left out.

I have 2 dozen HRIR eggs in the incubator for Camille - You've seen her around her a while ago.

I may just get a few off of her once they hatch. Maybe. I picked the eggs up today from Hallus (if you read my chapter in the book - he is the one that got me into chickens). and he is getting out of them now. He's 81. He wants to go south for the winter, and is too tied down with all of the animals. He's going to sell me his electric fence and charger at a steal. I need it anyway, and it's only 2 years old. Why not?

Sad that he is getting out of chickens though. I love talking birds with him!
When he heard he was in the book, you should have seen his smile!

Now for some pictures yesterday...

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote:
We trimmed up their claws today(been a month since we last did it) and noticed that Marsala is thin, but eating and drinking fine, being a little chicken. General Tso has a little more meat on him(keel isn't as sharp feeling). But I got all the ingredients for the chelation(sp) treatment. The chlorella was not cheap($20 for a small bottle of tablets). Got the cilantro processed in the processor and gonna grind up the tablets to mix them both in the feed. Gonna give them the aloe juice as their only liquid until it is gone. Del says even if the don't have lead in them this will help detox anything else. No harm, no fowl

Getting my 3 Catdance chicks tomorrow via Chicknlove's hatching.

 

[Sally8]

It's nearing midnight and I have all my chicks and poults moved, finally. 8 went outside to the nice brooder DH made for me (I'm feeling horrible, it's 25 degrees and dropping). It has a heat lamp but........... The 6 super blue layers and Thor, the hammer went in to their own pen and the 7 poults are in theirs. All nice and clean. Remember the poult with the funny wing? I think it was like a child heading for puberty. (nose is bigger than face) His wing just grew faster on one side than the other. Both sides are even now.

Pecky, the adult Silky roo was finally accepted into the flock but it took quite a while. They let him forage and eat out of the dish with them but he has to wait for everyone to be in before he can go in. Chickens can be so unforgiving.

 

[countrygirl74]

Wow - it's amazing how much I have to catch up on if I just miss a day!!

aoxa - loved the video!! What kind of chicken is Margaret anyway?

Bulldogma - glad everything went well with your little girl! Such a cute pic for you to remember...

As usual, loved all the stories, photos, and humor while reading through. Welcome to the newcomers! You will learn so much here!


Question: Will 17 hens be enough for 3 roosters? 2 of the roosters are silkies. We love all the roosters and they are such pets but I don't have room for more than 17 girls with them. Just wondering if it will work or if it's impossible and I will have to figure something else out.

 

[delisha]

Quote:
I just gotta figure out where to get the aloe juice and chlorella(sp). I think Fred Meyer(Krogers) should have them?

Ok, I have a question regarding something that was said way back in the Road thread. We were told that if a hen loses back feathers from mating she was a cull, thoughts? I have a Cochin with little bare spots, I've got her in the house resting with meds on the spots, and I'm going out now to either pen up the boys or kill one. I just don't think it's her fault she has these bald spots, so why would I cull her? She lays an egg almost everyday, even through winter. So, do I take Bees advice or am I right in thinking this is my fault, and once I get rid of the problem she'll be fine?

Sheesh..no it is not your fault. And no do not take that advise. Hens who are bred excessively from too many males are going to loose some feathers. It is normal.

Delisha- I liked ur idea of a separate place in your coop for first aid supplies and to house a chicken. I have a plastic hinged top shoe box I keep my essentials in now. I've found if I buy one thing a month it will be well stocked and less painful on my wallet. It's a great way for newbies like me to have what they need before they need it & all in one place. As an EMT for decades I know its better to be prepared.

Bought some blue kote today since it was one item I was missing. Plus red hen had a bare spot on her neck from Sunday when one of her sisters pulled a mouth full of feathers from her when she was mad red was getting more ham treats from nana than her. There was no blood and you couldn't see it unless she bent her neck. But today after buying it I sprayed some blue kote on it since there was a blood speck where a couple feathers were pulled out. I figured it wouldn't hurt but would be a preventive and maybe deterrent from yellow doing it again. Plus a coating on bare skin would probably help with all this snow and prevent it from the cold. Tho my finger is now a pretty purple lol

It's trash week coming up so I have been cruising the streets looking for a small cabinet I could put in the new coop to hold supplies and maybe one side could be enclosed for solitary if needed.

I also found a 5# bag of flax seed. Added some to the FF. still looking for fish meal tho. I also bought a small bag of oat hay. Figured it would give the girls something to do since they have no interest in going out in the snow today. I also Put some in their treat ball as well since i am Curious to see if they eat it from there.

Reading Loanwizard's post on his roos jumping off roosts to welcome the new "ladies: and I heard in Joey's (from Friends) voice in my head: "How YOU doin'?"

Yeah, I think she's a fav. Even when I brought her back out yesterday, the first thing those boys did was try to mate her.
It's funny how things work out sometimes. I had been thinking for days that the first to go would be Crazy, we've just never really liked him. So I went out and was hanging out in the run, and Crazy walks over, looks at the ground and starts clicking. Three girls run over, he picks up an Alfalfa pellet and lays it on the ground in front of them and clicks some more. All I could remember at that point was Jagger, and how awesome I thought it was that he did that, so Crazy stays. I realized that my favorite was only my favorite because of how pretty I always thought he was, but that's not really the best way to make decisions. I did almost cry before, during and after the deed, but he's now sitting in the fridge and I'm going to convince (beg) my MIL to make some chicken soup.
I hope this helps the flock, I prefer not to have to do this again before hubby gets home.

Some decisions are hard.but correct

Quote: If this was posted on the thread - the recipe I mean - I missed it. Can you give us a link or post?

Chelation recipie
1 tbs for 3 weeks
1 oz brown sea weed (chlorella)
1 oz. aloe juice
4 cloves garlic (for you TPT)
1/3 cup Brazil nuts (selenium)
1/3 cup sunflower seeds (cysteine)
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (zinc. magnesium)
2 cups packed fresh cilantro (coriander, Chinese parsley) (Vitamin A)
2/3 cups flaxseed oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice (Vitamin C)
2 teaspoons dulse powder


6 hours a day offer only aloe juice as liquid

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Wow - it's amazing how much I have to catch up on if I just miss a day!!

aoxa - loved the video!! What kind of chicken is Margaret anyway?

Bulldogma - glad everything went well with your little girl! Such a cute pic for you to remember...

As usual, loved all the stories, photos, and humor while reading through. Welcome to the newcomers! You will learn so much here!


Question: Will 17 hens be enough for 3 roosters? 2 of the roosters are silkies. We love all the roosters and they are such pets but I don't have room for more than 17 girls with them. Just wondering if it will work or if it's impossible and I will have to figure something else out.

With the Silkies, if they have big crests and have a hard time seeing, they will mate less. I think it would work. Did all three roosters grow up together? or will this be a first intro?

 

[Ashdoes]

Wow - it's amazing how much I have to catch up on if I just miss a day!!

aoxa - loved the video!! What kind of chicken is Margaret anyway?

Bulldogma - glad everything went well with your little girl! Such a cute pic for you to remember...

As usual, loved all the stories, photos, and humor while reading through. Welcome to the newcomers! You will learn so much here!


Question: Will 17 hens be enough for 3 roosters? 2 of the roosters are silkies. We love all the roosters and they are such pets but I don't have room for more than 17 girls with them. Just wondering if it will work or if it's impossible and I will have to figure something else out.

 

I kept an eye on how the hens were doing, that's how I decided I had too many boys. Even with a main Roo trying to keep the two other boys away, my Cochin girls have lost a lot of their top fluff. I tried to sell the boys, but thats not easy to do when everyone else is too. Just keep an eye on the flock, you'll see if you need to make any changes.

 

[countrygirl74]

With the Silkies, if they have big crests and have a hard time seeing, they will mate less. I think it would work. Did all three roosters grow up together? or will this be a first intro?

So far they don't seem to have a very hard time seeing. My one white silkie pullet has a lot more fuzz than they do. All three roosters have grown up together, the ones we will be adding are the new girls, once they are big enough to join them. Right now I only have 5 girls in with the 3 cockerels and I do know that won't work, which is why I'm adding 12 more to the group. I was just hoping to keep all the boys by adding the 12. The only fighting I've seen is scuffles between the 2 silkie cockerels. The EE roo never gets messed with and he usually steps in to break up the scuffles. However, there is one girl that seems to be the fav, my RIR, and when the EE mates her, sometimes the two silkies come running and try to join in. That's 3 roos trying to mate her at the same time!! Poor girl! I can't wait for all these other ones to get big enough to turn loose in there and maybe she will get a break!
Here is a pic of my one white silkie hen, blue silkie cockerel, red silkie cockerel, and my EE cockerel. At what age do you start calling them roos anyway?

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote:
Like Ash said, try and watch for signs of overmating and go from there