The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[zinia8]

OH MUMSY I AM SO JEALOUS.........
all that green grass.

 

[Sally8]

OH MUMSY I AM SO JEALOUS.........
all that green grass.

I was going to say the same thing! That shade of green, I vaguely remember. We don't have all that snow though.

 

[aoxa]

It was sunny all day today and I spent it outside with my chickens in the orchard. It involved moving lots of birds in and out of the barn and pens so that I didn't have roo on roo problems. It was so fun watching my Silkies on grass for the first time and also interacting with the other flocks.

My three month old white chicks are turning out lovely.




The surviving Grey roo Stinkus doesn't know what to do with himself but I enjoy his nutty behavior. He may well have lead poisoning but he acts normally for a six month old.




He is such a pig pen in the FF I heavily trimmed his crest, beard, and muffs. I like this guy a lot.


Judy the Broody is really tough on the rest of the flock but she seems to have a soft spot for the Silkies. Her brood would go in and out the cage to eat with the Catdance trio. I had them caged while another roo was out and about.

I had a great day!

OH MUMSY I AM SO JEALOUS.........
all that green grass.

Took the words right out of my mouth! My yard looks the same now. It's starting to tick me off to be honest. I need the snow gone to start the rebuild! It's still 3 feet in some parts!

 

[jlynnet]

I wasn't quite sure what that green stuff was. I've not seen it in sooooo long. The silkies look like fluffy clouds! Beautiful!

 

[armorfirelady]

The surviving Grey roo Stinkus doesn't know what to do with himself but I enjoy his nutty behavior. He may well have lead poisoning but he acts normally for a six month old.

I had a great day!

Mumsy so glad to hear that you and your chicks are doing better. I am not a silkie person but yours are beautiful & poofy.
What is the blue spot on Stinkus by where his ear would be? Is it his normal ear color? I was thinking it might be blue kote?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Someone was asking about the LABs you use to spray on the bedding, garden, etc. Kassaundra here on the BYC forum makes it. I am hoping she'll come over and tell us about it and how she's using it!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I don't have time today to catch up. Did I miss anything vital?

I started FF again. Hopefully I wont end up with sour crop issues again.

Del, the treatment is going good, the Silkies are eating the feed and drinking the juice. Poop is turning more green with the chlorella and cilantro, so I guess that it good

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote: Silkies are supposed to have tourquise earlobes

 

[Mumsy]

Mumsy so glad to hear that you and your chicks are doing better. I am not a silkie person but yours are beautiful & poofy.
What is the blue spot on Stinkus by where his ear would be? Is it his normal ear color? I was thinking it might be blue kote?

Thank you. Truly. I needed today. I needed a sunny afternoon spent just enjoying my chickens doing their chicken-y thing.
One of the stunningly beautiful traits of well bred Silkies is their turquois ear lobes. My Silkies have it in spades.

Someone asked me today if Silkies were as soft to touch as they look. Yes. Yes they are.

I was touching on all my Silkies all day long. And not to be ignored...I was loving on the rest of the flock too. Everybody was getting the love today.

 

[Kassaundra]

Someone was asking about the LABs you use to spray on the bedding, garden, etc. Kassaundra here on the BYC forum makes it. I am hoping she'll come over and tell us about it and how she's using it!

The LAB you make is highly concentrated and you dilute it substantially.

I use it both w/ chickens and the garden. It is a great soil / compost additive, does the same thing in both locations, adds to and feeds the microbes in the soil or compost. (healthy microbe = healthy compost/soil)

I spray it on the deep liter of the chicken coop it helps to jump start the decomposing of the chicken poop, helps control the odor, is said to lower chances of poop carried disease like ecoli, salmonella and the microbes that cause bumble (staph)

It is also used to treat plants that are prone to white powder mildew, it out competes w/ the bad mildew for available food and does not harm the plants (is supose to be beneficial) I have not tried that yet we have had several years of drought which means now white powder mildew.

There are many other uses for it, also good to add to water and fermented feed.

Anyone interested can google Korean Natural farming, or making LAB, the guy who does bokashi has several good videos.