The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Bulldogma]

Great piggy video, Loin!

BlueMouse - your property is beautiful!

There is a new thing up for those who are interested in prolapsed vent issues in hens. Big "Thanks" to Delisha for the great article and to armorfirelady for most of the photos used!

 

[BlueMouse]

Beautiful property! Research raccoon control cause you will need it with that river in the front yard.

UGH you're telling me! This is our first year here, we moved in november. I was outside splitting wood in december, and had a coon that was almost the size of my DOG charge me. If you had seen me scuttle for the back porch you would have laughed for a week. Never have I been so glad that for once the dog was inside instead of out with me, he's up to date on his rabies/distemper, but still. I now keep the 30-30 on the back porch uloaded and a few cartridges in my pocket when I'm working outside. I think I'm going to have my husband mount the game cam outside by the shed to see what we have creeping around. Not sure what all I can do other than cover all orafices with 1/2 inch hardware cloth though. Gonna have to read a few more articles....

 

[delisha]

LW..
Thanks for the wonderful view into your world. The piglets are so cute. I love baby piglets.

Blue mouse..beautiful property! Love the water so close. My ducks would love it too.

 

[Kassaundra]

Keeping up w/ this thread is like trying to keep up w/ housework!


Taking a break from the yard/garden work right now. Working on some experiments. (shocking as that might be!!!!! lol lol lol) I have been burying 5 gall buckets all through the chickens yard 3 so far but have planned a couple more, then filling w/ dry grass roots and chicken poop, then covering w/ a laundry basket inverted over it. Going to try and make all you can eat buffets for the girls w/ black soldierfly larva. If it goes according to the grand plan in my head it should be all hands off after they are set, just refilling w/ chicken poop every so often, and it's not like they are ever going to stop making poop! I won't be able to gather and store for the winter, but should grow them during normal BSF season.



The soap in the scald water is more to help w/ the smell, as I understand it, but I also skin so that is just what I have read.

 

[aaggjg]

I love that pack n play brooder!! I may have to break out my extra one and recycle it for chicks. I could probably cut a square of plywood to fit the bottom instead of/over the padded bottom that comes with it. Might be a good idea, since I think the bottom (of mine at least) that it came with could get pretty grubby and be ridiculously hard to clean.

chicken poop/water/food + pourous materials...

I covered the padded bottom with thick plastic and then put my shavings on top.... cleaning was very easy as I could gather all shavings in the plastic and dump....

 

[kian]

I just read a post about butchering that said a little soap in the water helps the water get right down to the skin

Cute little piggys LW!


And for all the weather watchers out there: we are currently experiencing 70 mile an hour winds, with breaks of 35 to 40 mph. We live in th desert. With lots and lots of dirt. When I went to pick up my son from kindergarten, I literally could not see the other stop signs at the intersection I was at. The kids' school is 2 miles away and I crawled all the way there because the visibility is like, zero.

All the chickens are inside, they don't want to brave the winds either! The babies venture out and then quickly dash back inside. Good thing all the runs are enclosed or we'd be chasing chickens down the street!

 

[aaggjg]

I was in the feed store yesterday picking up feed and bedding and casually walked by the chick pens. They had Polish and I stood and loved on them a while.

Some had nice vaulted skulls and color. And then I moved on and found my Pumpkin seed and checked out. I kept telling myself about the Polish chicks, "You have a plan and a purpose, stick to it!" It worked! I went home with a car load of the things strictly on my list and no feed store chicks! HAH!

Mumsy thank you for bringing to our attention buying pumpkin seeds at the feed store! I totally scored this weekend. I went to go look and as I walked in they had some "damaged" bags of kitty littler, feed & some various seeds.... well there was a 25Llb bag of pumpkin seeds for $10 ! 40 cents a pound! I happily walked away with that

I too looked at the chicks in the store ... they only had RIR & some Ameraucanas they were really pretty but I too walked away....

On another note Tank, my now lovely healthy black orpington has gone broody! It is CONTAGIOUS over here.... Today I kicked her out of the coop and she was running around charging the other chickens all puffed up. She looked like a turkey it was hilarious!!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Loan...thanks for the video! Tell your wife I think she's a saint!

Do you raise your piggies for meat? Sell the meat?

What about the omega three question?







That's the view from my front porch.

Beautiful river! I've ALWAYS wanted to live on water - even if it's only a creek. Just have something about water...


(Disclaimer: Okay...I'll comment on the omega 3's but, again, please do some research and come to your own conclusions. I'm commenting based on the current knowledge I have.

)

On the omega 3's...
It seems that studies are showing that this is one of those items that are best from animal sources. Fish, Krill, etc. When you get most of your 3's from veggie sources, you also get omega 6 in what is currently considered to be an unhealthy amount that can cause various health problems.

Grass fed meats have a different fatty acid content than grain-fed animals and also have some benefit but it seems the consensus is that fatty fish/krill sources are some of the best sources we're aware of at this time. Of course, then you have the issues w/mercury in some fish...

Edited 4-9

Keeping up w/ this thread is like trying to keep up w/ housework!


I have been burying 5 gall buckets all through the chickens yard 3 so far but have planned a couple more, then filling w/ dry grass roots and chicken poop, then covering w/ a laundry basket inverted over it. Going to try and make all you can eat buffets for the girls w/ black soldierfly larva. If it goes according to the grand plan in my head it should be all hands off after they are set, just refilling w/ chicken poop every so often, and it's not like they are ever going to stop making poop! I won't be able to gather and store for the winter, but should grow them during normal BSF season.



The soap in the scald water is more to help w/ the smell, as I understand it, but I also skin so that is just what I have read.

Are you saying that we're WORSE THAN HOUSEWORK????

Do you have photos on this? I had seen the bsf feeder at this link and was thinking about asking hubby to try his hand at making one:

http://gardenpool.org/beneficial-insects/black-soldier-fly-composter-automatic-chicken-feeder

 

[Pullet Surprise]

Me too!!!!! Have you ever tried Romaine lettuce leaves as a bun? Works pretty well when you're avoiding your fiance's gluten free bread

Quote: Large sliced mushrooms make a good replacement for bread....but then I make all of our own bread and hamburger buns & hotdog buns...not gluten free, but still a darn sight better than the stuff in the stores, even if they are not always 100% perfectly shaped.

 

[loanwizard]

UGH you're telling me! This is our first year here, we moved in november. I was outside splitting wood in december, and had a coon that was almost the size of my DOG charge me. If you had seen me scuttle for the back porch you would have laughed for a week. Never have I been so glad that for once the dog was inside instead of out with me, he's up to date on his rabies/distemper, but still. I now keep the 30-30 on the back porch uloaded and a few cartridges in my pocket when I'm working outside. I think I'm going to have my husband mount the game cam outside by the shed to see what we have creeping around. Not sure what all I can do other than cover all orafices with 1/2 inch hardware cloth though. Gonna have to read a few more articles....

Only other thing I would do is put electric fence around the perimeter. Hang some foil handles over the wire with a little peanut butter on it and I hear they will look for less shocking food.