The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[BlueMouse]

So, My buff orpington hen.... about a week ago She started limping, then stopped laying, I soaked her in epsom salts, kept her shut up for a couple days, but then let her back out again, because other than the limp she seemed fine. Well... She hasn't laid an egg in a week, and today I think her comb looked paler (hard to tell, I have no other birds for comparison, other than the rooster) and she was holding her tail funny, pointing down. So.... I brought her in, soaked her, washed the poop off her pants (maybe just from the way she was holding her tail? she's never had dirty britches before) Her abdomen doesn't seem hard, although I wouldn't be able to tell if it was distended, just not ennough experience with what chicken abdomens SHOULD look like. Her crop was empty and flappy. I felt gently inside her vent, but didn't feel anything that felt like an egg to me, but again, I might not really know, and I was afraid to hurt her, so my examination was quite brief. (thank you for posting the very helpful hen reproductive system poster, I think it was Delisha?.... that gave me an idea of where to feel.) I put her in a dog crate in my studio, which is the coolest part of the house, but on a sunny day like today still plenty warm to keep her from getting chilled while drying. Gave her water with ACV, a scrambled egg, and some of the chick's ground up FF with a little vit. D and a tums on it. I figured that wouldn't hurt her at all, and it might help her if she IS egg bound. She's standing there and doesn't seem uncomfortable. Her tail is back up. She's still not putting weight on the leg. She had a poop and that looks good and normal. Well formed,green with white cap.

what can I do? what should I do? I'm terrified that I'm going to lose her too, but neither do I want to cause her needless suffering if something is really really wrong. I feel very helpless and at the mercy of my own inexperience. My plan, at the moment, is to keep her inside, and give her another epsom salts soak tonight, see how she looks in the morning.

 

[Sally8]

HOW DO YOU ALL GET YOUR CHICKS TO POSE FOR PICTURES? COULD IT BE THAT THERE AREN'T CAT'S LURKING ON THE SIDE LINES SMACKING THEIR LIPS? Seriously, it doesn't work well to set the chick down, stand back, focusing and snapping pic's. The poult's will run and leap off the edge of anywhere. DH needs a baseball glove or lacrosse stick. He's a great catcher.

aoxa - I'm impressed with your Sizzle calculations. lol I thought that it was broken down to percentages somehow. I'm excited that it is as high as 50%. One hatched last night that is a silverish light color. Very pretty. I'll research to see how long before I'll know if we'll have funky feathers. Every chick that Wrinkles the BCM roo has thrown has been black with a little neck lacing (when crossed with anything other than a BCM) This little one isn't black. Interesting. Can't wait to get home to take pic's. Since there are so many eggs in the incubator and the 1st one hatched yesterday, can I open the incubator and snatch a chick or six out? My incubator is a LG and I have learned to pull one of the clear windows on top off and add water or reset the thermometer if I wasn't turning eggs without the temperature moving at all. If I warmed the bathroom up, do you think that would stop the shrink wrapping?

Wanted to say that all the chick pic's are sooo cute!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Well..this is what I do here. At the local farmer's market, I ask them about their farming practices. A lot of small, local producers use "organic principles" or what I call "better than organic" because they have those values and don't cut the same corners that the certified producers are allowed to cut. Many small producers can't afford the organic certification but have great practices!

I usually vote for local unless you know they're drenching their crops and trees with heavy pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

I'll bet you can find some who have values like you!

 

[delisha]

I just have a pretty secure run and don't have a door on my coop at all. They come in and out as they please. In the summer I just leave all the little "hatches" open - it's almost like roosting outside - no hardware cloth or anything over the vents. The bottom of the run is 3 feet high of hardware cloth and the rest is chicken wire. But, I don't have all the varmints a lot of you have. The only thing I really have to watch out for is coyotes, hawks, and skunks. Our yard is fenced in half and during the day when we are home, the dogs stay on one side (mostly just to keep them from pooping everywhere), but at night, I open the middle gate and our dogs roam the entire yard keeping any other critters out. Our dogs would eat the chickens if they got the chance but they don't actively try to get into the run and they don't dig. Most of the time they ignore the chickens and ducks. However, they will kill anything that comes into our yard so they are my night patrolers just in case we get something that tries really hard to get into the run.

I would put up an electric fence around the outside and turn it on at night. One strand should do it. I have been wondering about if it would ok to leave the coop door open all the time to the run....? I am fixing this up for my new flock, the run seems fairly secure.....they will also eventually free range some too. Will the be ok?

Yes..use an electric fence.

Just set 24 eggs from the flock today, hope to set another 24 in another day or two. I swear by giving all my birds ff. Ive been giving it to my big birds for months now -they were off of it for a week (I was out of town) they have been back on it for little over a week -back to being laying machines!! My babies and several month old silkies have been on it since I got them -they love it!! They seem so happy /healthy. The older flocks feathers are coming back in nicely...my entire flock is as healthy as a horse I am greatful to all my wonderful friends here! I truly cherish you all

Good for you!!

I have a quick question. I have an almost year old BO who is now broody for the second time and sat for at least 4 weeks the first time and 2 weeks do far. I would give her eggs as she is earnest but I can't have roos. If I went and got a couple of day old chicks and snuck them in the night your thoughts. Yes no?

I would give her golf balls for a few days to set on..than get the chicks and slip the chicks under her at night.

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I live in Wisconsin..mine are out.. it still freezes at night..they pile together and keep each other warm What is that barred bird? Looks like it has pink legs. Is it a CM? Not sure what one you are talking about..I think you are reffering to my GLO's Imported Gold Laced Orpingtons As for the legs... I don't know what your temps are but mine would all do that in the winter. They just take turns warming up their feet by bringing them up. If it's not cold, then maybe there's something else going on or someone else can suggest some other advice. X2..it is normal I call it the flamingo. How warm would the interior of the barn stay without any additional heat in the chicken part if it was insulated? I'd probably still need heated waterers eh? You will need heated waters..

Really worried about my BO hen now. She's still limping, and hasn't laid an egg in five days. Has started to stand with her tail down. I've set up a dog crate with some straw and a roost on the porch, I'm bringing her in, and giving her another good soak in epsom salts. Then putting her in the crate so I can keep a closer eye on her. She's still wallking around with the rooster, scratching and picking best she can, still eating. I'm really really worried that she's egg binding and I'm going to have to make a tough decision which will leave me with a lone bachelor rooster. So far this whole chicken keeping thing has not worked out so great. I have a rooster with bumblefoot, I accidentally killed one hen, and my other hen is looking like she's in big trouble. Thankfully the three cheepers are still alive and well, gobbled down leftover meat and FF this morning, now napping. Going to go let my son out of time out, put the baby in the playpen, and go catch my hen. I just dispatched a really good hen this morning. I went out to the coop and she was laying with the duck on her nest. After I let everyone out and fed everyone i noticed she was not geting out and she was blocking the duck from getting food and water. I took her off and noticed she could not stand on one leg. I did an exam and felt no broken bones, but she winched during the exam. No egg blockage. During dunking to remove feathers I noticed a bruise on her hip and one on her chest. It was apparent she was injured. I cried for an hour after killing that bird. My DH just held me and told me what a wonderful animal mommy I was. She was no longer in pain. During further butchering, she also had a dislocated hip. She was a huge bird. At butchering she must have weighed at least 9lbs. I assume she roosted high with the male and was knocked off by another hen. Her weight could not support the height of that roosting spot. She probably would have broken something eventually. I think me taking out 1/2 of the DL made the difference. I just did it yesterday. She did not have that extra landing cushion.

I have a somewhat random question. I am in the research phase of starting a flock. Looking forward to raising open range natural birds. I was curious how far chickens roam from thier house. My neighbors are about a football field away and I'm just curious if they will wander that far or not? Any input will be appreciated and thanks for the thread!

Husband checked Annabelle (Broody) this morning. Still no peeps, squeaks or cheeps Could something have gone wrong? I know she gathered some more eggs over the first few days but thought the first ones would have started hatching. I know I should have marked them all but well I diddn't. It's only day 22/23 dependig on how you calculate it. She's starting to look pretty beat. How long should I continue to let her sit? I feel like a bad grandma. My hens take a minimum of 23 days to hatch out a clutch..they usually stay on the nest at least 27 days. On side note, I have two dark Cornish in quarantine right now. Was told they were laying, it's been 2 weeks, no eggs. Pretty birds but I kinda wanted to breed them for some meat birds.

New birds can take a whole month to lay just from the stress of the move. Fresh air, FF and fresh water should get them going. Or the person was lying and they have internal issues. Give them at least a month before worrying.

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Question on broody hens and eggs; How many days after a hatch are remaining eggs still viable? The majority of the chicks, 7, hatched around Wednesday, April 4th. They are all healthy, chirpy and bouncy. 2 eggs remain unhatched. One has a pip (?) in the shell...not on the end. The other has nothing, no cracks, nothing. The broody is still sitting close on them seems like, although she did get off today to stretch and poop. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance. If mom is on thee nest and her chicks are eating and drinking..she will stay till they hatch.

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baby picture time!!! cute chicks

 

[Shan30]

I like to feed my broody in the box everyday if she is sitting, if I don't want her to sit I kick them off   So. I'd offer her something to eat and some water to drink.  Are you sure your eggs are fertile?? Did you candle any of them??  I'd leave her a few more days and see if something hatches... hopefully some of the late additions will hatch!!        

Maybe I'll put some meat in there for her. I've been bringing her treats everyday but when I put stuff in front of her I just get the glare of death. It's always gone later but it may be that someone is stealing it. An araucana named Dino Bird has started sleeping in with her every night. It's kinda cute only Dino Bird and Tina Turner are allowed in her nest.

They should be fertile, I don't check often as I never planned to hatch these eggs but they had 3 young roosters with 26 hens. So there's a lot of umm... "Action" going on out there. We just gave Clyde away so its settling down.

We had tons of chickens growing up and they basically just ran around doing their own thing so I figured when she went broody I would just leave her alone. Haven't touched those eggs once. My parents think it's hilarious how much I worry about the animals, they figured I would grow out of it one day. They have a ton of stories of things I don't even remember rescuing. Including what I though were baby bunnies, turned out they were baby rats.

I'll give her some snacks when I get home and wait a few more days. Thank you.

 

[aoxa]

HOW DO YOU ALL GET YOUR CHICKS TO POSE FOR PICTURES? COULD IT BE THAT THERE AREN'T CAT'S LURKING ON THE SIDE LINES SMACKING THEIR LIPS? Seriously, it doesn't work well to set the chick down, stand back, focusing and snapping pic's. The poult's will run and leap off the edge of anywhere. DH needs a baseball glove or lacrosse stick. He's a great catcher.

aoxa - I'm impressed with your Sizzle calculations. lol I thought that it was broken down to percentages somehow. I'm excited that it is as high as 50%. One hatched last night that is a silverish light color. Very pretty. I'll research to see how long before I'll know if we'll have funky feathers. Every chick that Wrinkles the BCM roo has thrown has been black with a little neck lacing (when crossed with anything other than a BCM) This little one isn't black. Interesting. Can't wait to get home to take pic's.

By 1 week you should know. I can post some pictures of my sizzles at 1 week for you to compare but it's really easy once they start feathering out on their wings.

Well..this is what I do here. At the local farmer's market, I ask them about their farming practices. A lot of small, local producers use "organic principles" or what I call "better than organic" because they have those values and don't cut the same corners that the certified producers are allowed to cut. Many small producers can't afford the organic certification but have great practices!

I usually vote for local unless you know they're drenching their crops and trees with heavy pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

I'll bet you can find some who have values like you!

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Pretty Bird!!!! Your broody knows... She will up and leave them soon if they don't hatch and are not viable. I'd leave them a few more days ..... ANd those CHICKS!!! So cute!!! Nothing better then watching a broody and her babies!

Thank you for your reply! I kinda thought that myself, that she wouldn't continue to sit if she thought they didn't have a chance to hatch. Mamas seem to know which eggs are good, and which are not. This our first hatch, for myself, DH and the broody!

 

[aoxa]

Mumsy,

Can you repost about steps to ensure good hatchability for shipped eggs? Del too!

 

[Ashdoes]

Susan asked me to ask you guys a question...

Fresh local fruits & veggies (not certified organic)
or Organic grocery store fruit & veggies (not local)

I would ensure the local foods were at least grown here and not from GM seeds. 

We do not have certified organic GMO free fruits and veggies at the farmers market which puts us in a pickle. 

I really love the idea of supporting local farmers. You can ask them all kinds of questions that grocery store produce can't answer.

 

[jlynnet]

I prefer to buy local produce, especially the small farms. They have the best flavor and I don't think many can afford costly chemicals to put on them. Just buying local makes me feel better! I'm helping my 'neighbors' and getting some great produce too. And I know it's local and not from Chile or some other place. I love michigan blueberries and I travel a couple of hours to get a few pounds every summer. I vote for local!