The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[krcchickens]

Thanks for the info guys. So what is LABs?

 

[Kassaundra]

Thanks for the info guys. So what is LABs?

Lactobacillus acidophilus
Is a probiotic, can be harvested from milk, has many application in health of body, food and soil. One of the probiotics in yogurt and buttermilk. It is one of the few microbes that is both arobic and anarobic (grows in both O2 and non O2 environments)



It is used extensively in Korean Natural Farming, which has natural practices of raising both gardens and animals including chickens. Google Korean Natural Farming it is very interesting stuff.

 

[krcchickens]

Lactobacillus acidophilus
Is a probiotic, can be harvested from milk, has many application in health of body, food and soil.  One of the probiotics in yogurt and buttermilk.  It is one of the few microbes that is both arobic and anarobic (grows in both O2 and non O2 environments)

Where can I find more info about this? I was reading somewhere on this thread about people spraying it in their coops and bedding?

 

[Kassaundra]

Where can I find more info about this? I was reading somewhere on this thread about people spraying it in their coops and bedding?

This guy will get you started buy just google it you will find all kinds of interesting info

He talks alot about bokashi which is a method he is selling, but can easily be done w/ a little research, he even tells you how to do it. He has a lot of great info and several videos.

 

[countrygirl74]

Flock Behavior
So last evening I took the chickens their dinner pail. It was bloody darn cold and windy so I put on a tan suede jacket I had from a few years ago...with faux fur trim on it and headed to the pen with their pail. As I got closer the roo started having a fit and the girls began to panic. I went into the pen, put the pail down for them and the roo sent up a few calls I hadn't noticed before, the girls skeedaddled to the back of the secure pen under Coop 1. They packed up in the far corner as tight as they could. The roo stayed between me and the secure pen gate, yelling and running around me and then as if to lead me off from the girls he went into the secure pen of coop 2. That's where I was headed anyway to pick up their waterer in there. He continued to dash around in there until he figured out a way to get past me and back to guarding the gate area to where the girls were.

There are a couple of things I learned from this: One - they don't like me in that jacket (I know it was a bad hair day, but honestly I didn't think I looked that bad)
2- the fear, hate or disgust of a jacket out weighs the "we're starving-feed us-now-or we'll-eat-you" syndrome that is played out every meal time. 3- their food bringer wearing a simulated dead animal is more frightening than the dreaded umbrella. and best of all - the roo knows how to defend his girls and would sacrifice himself for them. Good boy. He never once was aggressive towards me, he just wanted me away from the girls and did his best to lead me away. Observant little monsters! I never even thought they noticed what I wore. Guess it's back to the bright - red plaid - quilted - oversized shirt I usually wear. Some people's chickens just ain't got no taste!

 

[countrygirl74]

As for the LAB's, Kassaundra posted the best link for making it...

I've been using it for a few months now and I've only had to spray it out in the run 2-3 times over the winter - took care of the ammonia smell in my duck run especially. When I made mine, I fed the "cheese" to the dogs - figured they could use it more than the chickens at that point. I still have a big jug in my fridge that I just dilute when needed. A little goes a looong way. Great stuff!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Watching those videos right now. Don't know if I'll do it but I at least want to learn about it!

 

[PetRock]

This guy will get you started buy just google it you will find all kinds of interesting info

He talks alot about bokashi which is a method he is selling, but can easily be done w/ a little research, he even tells you how to do it. He has a lot of great info and several videos.

Thank you for posting this link! It is a very interesting video! I started my batch yesterday and it is sitting on top of my refrigerator doing its thing!

 

[loanwizard]

I learned quite a bit today! I have watched the fermented feed craze go through here, had looked into fodder, and thought that sprouts were basically the same thing.
What I am kicking around is a new twist on feed especially as feed prices skyrocket.

What I am considering- Through the limited research I have seen, we can feed seed (grain), wet it or ferment it which gives it more bang for the buck, sprouts which gives even more nutrients, fodder, which as I understand it is a 5 day old sprout or a 7 day old seed, or a 4 inch young plant and root, then there is mature pasture, which has less nutrients.

Peak nutritional value from seed to mature plant seems to be the fodder stage or those succulent tiny plants.

I have hogs that pasture. If I spend $300.00 I can plant fescue, orchard grasses, timothy, clover, and winter snow peas, wait for it to grow, mature then intensively rotate the pigs and chickens around that pasture.

I can also do the CAFO (Confined area feed operation) that the big boys do, or, with my limited space, I can pasture and supplement that pasture feed with the best nutrient possible, the tender young shoots. Logically it seems even better than FF, or Sprouts because the nutrients peak in the Fodder stage. I happen to have hydroponic equipment so I may give it a shot. 7 days on rotation..... Barley.... We will see what happens. Just going to try to figure out how much I need for 3 hogs, 2 pregnant, and 90 or so birds as well as Goose and assorted rabbits.

 

[River3330]

I love this, your roo needs a very special treat for his work, he must be the perfect roo, I wish we had a video so we could use it as a teaching tool for all our not so perfect roos roo school haha, they can have a iPad each