The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Quote:
Well I never knew that. If I had a silkie for the first time and saw those turquise ears I would of been worried. Guess that's my new thing to learn for the day

Thank you

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Could you comment more on that?

-How long have you used it in your litter?
-How is your litter different than before...have you noticed a big difference?

Also - interesting on the bumblefoot. I have one that is just getting over that (I'll have to post photos and info - I've kind-of gotten behind on that.) I never thought about that but definitely jump-starting the LABs in the litter should be beneficial in many ways!

-Do you have a photo of what it looks like?

 

[aoxa]

I posted a bunch of photos of my silkies without the other birds in the coop. Here are some more pictures from the weekend. I can NOT WAIT until the snow is gone so they will go outside for prolonged periods. They will go outside if I bribe them, but it's sopping wet and gross.. Not even close to what Mumsy has yet. That won't happen until late April, early May.


Margaret. She is one beautiful girl! I love the iridescence to her feathers!


Lucy the art critique..


Cletus.


The mixed boy. If he is good he can stay. He is really good at alerting of flying birds, but we shall see... He is tiny and would be no use for meat. I seem way too attached to this group!


Almost every single bird I have in the picture. Well they are all there, but you can just barely see Tina & Nora.


Penny's daughter

Phoenix



This is my favourite picture of the weekend though.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Well the coop is put together! But to let you know the quality and how small, this disabled person put it together all by herself in less than an hour and half!!!! Now tomorrow will work on a raised leveling frame to put it on with a hardware wire skirting.

Then Friday will get the litter and some hay for insulation around until better weather. Also going to get some more hardware wiring to make a decent sized run area.

If I get that done I can get my chickens from my friend this weekend!!!

 

[Bulldogma]

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!

Mumsy - thank you SO much for this wonderful post and the pictures of your fluffies! Love Judy the Broody sitting right by the Silkies with one of her chicks sitting on her! Too cute!

Aoxa - wonderful pictures! It is no surprise that this group of chicks has a very special place in your heart!!

Well the coop is put together! But to let you know the quality and how small, this disabled person put it together all by herself in less than an hour and half!!!! Now tomorrow will work on a raised leveling frame to put it on with a hardware wire skirting.

Then Friday will get the litter and some hay for insulation around until better weather. Also going to get some more hardware wiring to make a decent sized run area.

If I get that done I can get my chickens from my friend this weekend!!!

I'm so excited for you! Can't wait for updates.

 

[mlowen]

Gertie is fiercely beautiful.

 

[Kassaundra]

Could you comment more on that?

-How long have you used it in your litter?
-How is your litter different than before...have you noticed a big difference?

Also - interesting on the bumblefoot. I have one that is just getting over that (I'll have to post photos and info - I've kind-of gotten behind on that.) I never thought about that but definitely jump-starting the LABs in the litter should be beneficial in many ways!

-Do you have a photo of what it looks like?

I've used it for about 10ish months. It is very noticeable in the summer, the diff. in the smell. I spray it once a month or so w/ a pump type sprayer. I spray it on all the surfaces not just the litter. I don't think the litter is visibally any different, but it smells better then w/o the lab.

 

[delisha]

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

I am so glad you got that going..your birds will thank you..even if they do not have metal poison.

Quote: Hello Kassaundra,
It is wonderful to have this information. I think it will be beneficial to the coop and my garden. Thank you so much!!!

I posted a bunch of photos of my silkies without the other birds in the coop. Here are some more pictures from the weekend. I can NOT WAIT until the snow is gone so they will go outside for prolonged periods. They will go outside if I bribe them, but it's sopping wet and gross.. Not even close to what Mumsy has yet. That won't happen until late April, early May.
Margaret. She is one beautiful girl! I love the iridescence to her feathers!
Lucy the art critique..
Cletus.
The mixed boy. If he is good he can stay. He is really good at alerting of flying birds, but we shall see... He is tiny and would be no use for meat. I seem way too attached to this group!
Almost every single bird I have in the picture. Well they are all there, but you can just barely see Tina & Nora.


Penny's daughter

Thank you for posting your beautiful pictures..you are an artist

Mumsyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

I love that one silkie..OMG that bird is beautiful!! Thank you so much for sharing..

I love the green..I need green

 

[Leahs Mom]

K - you feed ff. I know that using the ff is supposed to make a diff in smell in the litter. So far I haven't had smelly litter using the deep litter. In fact. one of my very picky friends (who dislikes animals) went in the hen house last summer to see the chickens and actually commented on how it didn't stink.

Did you begin spraying the LABs on your litter it BEFORE or AFTER you started using ff?

(Where I'm going here is if it made a difference EVEN WHEN YOU'RE USING THE FF?

 

[Bulldogma]

Kassaundra - this is great information! Thank you so very much for coming over and sharing this with us!