The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Mumsy]

Thank you Leahs Mom for giving me a heads up about this thread. I'm feeling more like getting back into the chatter.

My chicken coop was built in 1989 out of salvaged lumber and windows. I designed the dutch doors and the spider web rose trellis. It's not real pretty but even with some wear and tear after all these years, it still houses my little flock comfortably.



I'm no longer in the nursery buisness so the potted plants are long gone. I planted an old European rose shrub on the spider web trellis that covers that whole end of the barn. My hubby is an electrician and wired the inside and outside for me. I just now have a motion detector light outside the porch.
I don't have a lot of birds. Johnny and four girls and two Grey Silkies live out there. I free range them when the weather is decent.


I keep a heat lamp on for the Silkies when the temp dips and the weather is dirty. There are six pens set up double decked. Windows bring light in. I keep the twinkly lights on for me. I have a chair and table set up and I spend time with the chickens for my quiet solitude. Just because I want to.

Thanks for putting this thread together Bulldogma.

 

[OffGridMAMA]

Subscribing newbie, on page 4...LOL

 

[stonykill]

I forget who said what.... but...
I too used to worry about having clean fresh water. Chickens prefer mud puddles to clean water. Even mama hens go right past my supplied clean water and bring their lil ones to mud puddles. I no longer am concerned about the water being super fresh and super clean. I haven't worried about it since my chickens taught me they didn't need it.

Ff keeps coming up. Of all of the OT's I respect deeply I think only 1 used FF. That for me spoke volumes that it is an option some prefer, but most OT's don't bother with.

I forget who's coop was built with the 1890's lumber but I LOVE IT!

 

[Maven]

Jagger's sons have been the only roosters who have not started mating. They are 17 weeks old. No crowing or mating.
Time to get ready for processing.

I'm terrified. I'll be honest. Mostly to do it wrong. I've been watching videos and soaking up a lot of info.

I hear ya, aoxa!!

I felt the same way. I got REALLY lucky actually - remember that mean rooster I talked about on the OT thread? I think it was you, galanie or galefrances that looked at him and said you were pretty sure he had leghorn in him and was a hatchery mutt. Well, he got meaner and meaner - not human aggressive at all, but he darn near killed that Andalusian roo I was fattening for the pot one day - I went to the coop and he had the Andy cornered in a nest box and was beating the snot outta him. He blinded him in one eye, ripped his comb nearly off, and had him down to bloody scalp half way down his neck when I got there. Not a pullet in sight and the Andy was obviously trying to get away and stay away from him.

Well, problem solved on learning to slaughter. I doubt I'll ever get so much satisfaction out of wringing a chicken neck again, but I found out real darn quick I could do it and with pleasure the very next morning after penning him overnight.

But it got the first slaughter out of the way for me and I found out it really isn't that bad at all.

Just watch your birds for the mean one that bullies the others, make him the first.

Today has been an overcast, damp, but fairly warm day. Just one of those cozy fall days we get here in SEMO. On days like this, the chooks like to head up into the timber and dig in the leaves. The Mr. says he thinks they like it there on days like this because it offers protection when they can't see hawk shadows coming.

Got a few pictures of a couple that wanted to pose for me. They are just hatchery mutts but they sure look pretty in the fall leaves.....

Posing for your pleasure: Black Minorca Pullet - not in lay yet...



RIR Pullet, just coming into lay....



Colombian Wyandotte, not in lay yet....



BO, layed her 3rd egg today...




They LOVE it in the timber - these pictures remind me of the 'Where's Waldo' pictures, or remember the ones in Highlight magazine when we were kids? These are like the 'how many chickens can you find?' version....











Time to go get ready to lock the girls down....have a great evening all!!

 

[littlemissstang]

Got an update on my Partridge, delisha! It is good news so far! He said that she looked healthy to him except for the feathers that looked like something had been pecking at them. He said when she went into molt that these should look better?

I've not had one go into molt yet, so I'm not sure what to expect. He also took her into the backroom and did something with her. Something about "samples"? And said they would get back with me on the results in a couple of days. It was all free, so I was really surprised. He really wouldn't say too much else about her condition. Seemed kinda like he was not wanting to get my hopes up. Don't know. We'll see!

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Ff keeps coming up. Of all of the OT's I respect deeply I think only 1 used FF. That for me spoke volumes that it is an option some prefer, but most OT's don't bother with.

That is a really good point. And it makes me wonder if a certain OT who espoused it was right when she said women OTs were more willing to try something new than men OTs. I always thought that was a sort of sexist view, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.
For my completely not OT perspective, if I could afford to not feed FF and have them be this healthy, I might do it. For a "farmer", I am kinda lazy

 

[Mumsy]

That is a really good point. And it makes me wonder if a certain OT who espoused it was right when she said women OTs were more willing to try something new than men OTs. I always thought that was a sort of sexist view, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.
For my completely not OT perspective, if I could afford to not feed FF and have them be this healthy, I might do it. For a "farmer", I am kinda lazy

I'm a sixty year old OT and been raising chickens before many folks here on this forum were born. I learned about FF just a couple months ago and will never go back. I also like saving money on unwasted feed and my week old chicks are now eating it. Saving $ and healthy chickens is not a bad thing. This old girl was willing to learn a new way of raising chickens. My OT DH age 65 is a new believer because he is seeing the results. Up close and in the flesh. I got to say. He was a BIG skeptic until he started doing the math with the feed bill.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm an OT just not in the chicken world only a little over 3 yrs, but I have seen for myself how good ff for my flock, when some of my girls went through molt just recently they got their feathers back so much quicker than in the past. and I am deff not feeding as much since starting the ff and none scratched all over the yard either. It's only been since Oct that I have been feeding the ff looking forward to when laying season starts up to see how the girls lay when on it. right now i am only getting 5 eggs a day out of 14 hens.

 

[stonykill]

I just can't imagine my chickens any healthier than they are.

I can't imagine the Sumatra eggs having bigger yolks than they do

. I can't imaging my wife....who puts up with a lot from my chickens put up with having 5 feed bins next to the woodstove

. I'm pretty happy spending $28 a week to feed all of these birds a week. And I just found a feed mill that when I'm in the area will save me another $4.50 a week.

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

I'm a sixty year old OT and been raising chickens before many folks here on this forum were born. I learned about FF just a couple months ago and will never go back. I also like saving money on unwasted feed and my week old chicks are now eating it. Saving $ and healthy chickens is not a bad thing. This old girl was willing to learn a new way of raising chickens. My OT DH age 65 is a new believer because he is seeing the results. Up close and in the flesh. I got to say. He was a BIG skeptic until he started doing the math with the feed bill.

Thanks for your perspective, also, mumsy!