The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Quote: Safety..community..survival

The only thing that I think you couldn't leave whole would be the corn if you use it. Del is grinding her feed in the blender fresh for the chicks but doesn't grind as they get older, I believe (am I right Del?).

Yes...it can go rancid shortly after ground. Since I share, I don't have it long but, in my opinion, having it ground even as short as I do isn't optimal. I'm definitely considering purchasing the components and making it fresh now that I have a little more experience.

Del - do you use corn? Can you grind it in the blender?

On whole corn fermented...I've not tried it but it seems to me that it would work as the soaking should soften it up. Has anyone soaked or fermented WHOLE corn? How did it work for you?

I do not feed corn from feed stores at all. I simply do not think it is good for them. I do feed the organic sweet corn I plant for myself on occasion. They get the cobs that do not turn out or has bugs later in the season.

Speaking of broodies, I have a Buff Orpington who keeps going broody in the coop and takes over the nest box that everyone likes to use. I would like to let her hatch some eggs, but I don't want her to keep the others out of the nest box for 21 days. We have built her a seperate pen with a nest box and plenty of room to stretch her legs but as soon as we put her in there she stops being broody. She will lay her eggs in the nest box, but that is it. This is the second go around trying to get her be broody in her pen and not the coop. Any suggestions?

If she stops..she is not really broody. She might be getting ready. They stop laying first. They do not roost with the others at night. When this happens she might be getting ready. I would than try the other nest at that time. If she was broody she would not get off the the new nest you are giving her. They go into a *zone*.

I locked down the HRIR eggs last night. I candled the duck eggs and they don't look even close to ready for lockdown. I think I'll wait until Saturday to lock them down even if they are due Sunday. There is probably a good 1/3 of the shell (excluding air cell) that is spacious. The HRIR eggs had very little move room at lock down. 21/24 made it to day 18! Only 1 early quitter and 2 duds.

Hallus knows how to store his hatching eggs. He collected 3-4 times a day to ensure good hatchability. I am so sad that he is getting out of poultry. He's the one who got me started!

Looking forward to your hatch!! I have not done lock down yet. I do not have any internal pips that I can see. They are due Saturday.

I have 6 black stars and 5 California whites.Tthey're 14 months old and healthy as can be. Tha most eggs I've ever collected from them is 10, 5 brown and 5 white. How can I determine which black star isn't laying?

They are probably all laying. Not all chickens lay every single day.

Quote: I love the post you guys shared about omega 3s and 6s. Very informative! Thank you!!

 

[Kassaundra]

The only thing that I think you couldn't leave whole would be the corn if you use it. Del is grinding her feed in the blender fresh for the chicks but doesn't grind as they get older, I believe (am I right Del?).

Yes...it can go rancid shortly after ground. Since I share, I don't have it long but, in my opinion, having it ground even as short as I do isn't optimal. I'm definitely considering purchasing the components and making it fresh now that I have a little more experience.

Del - do you use corn? Can you grind it in the blender?

On whole corn fermented...I've not tried it but it seems to me that it would work as the soaking should soften it up. Has anyone soaked or fermented WHOLE corn? How did it work for you?

I have, sent my husband for cracked corn for the ferment for the winter months, he came home w/ whole corn, ferments well, chickens gobble it up like candy. I was feeding all grown LF so no clue if you have young chicks or bantams.

 

[armorfirelady]

I remember someone was asking about acorns & if they were safe for chickens or not. I found this while browsing the website of the Modern Homestead

"Acorns: During the Second World War, flocksters in England gathered acorns as a substitute for strictly rationed grain. When my white oaks have a mast year (a year when oak trees drop vastly more than their usual yield of acorns) I pick up bucketfuls of acorns, crush them coarsely in my feed grinder, and feed. Acceptance by both chickens and waterfowl is excellent. Note that “sweeter” acorns such as those of white oaks make better feed than highly tannic acorns."

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Feeding+from+Home+Resources.html

 

[aoxa]

Safety..community..survival

I do not feed corn from feed stores at all. I simply do not think it is good for them. I do feed the organic sweet corn I plant for myself on occasion. They get the cobs that do not turn out or has bugs later in the season.
If she stops..she is not really broody. She might be getting ready. They stop laying first. They do not roost with the others at night. When this happens she might be getting ready. I would than try the other nest at that time. If she was broody she would not get off the the new nest you are giving her. They go into a *zone*.
Looking forward to your hatch!! I have not done lock down yet. I do not have any internal pips that I can see. They are due Saturday.
They are probably all laying. Not all chickens lay every single day.
I love the post you guys shared about omega 3s and 6s. Very informative! Thank you!!

Do you always wait for internal pips?

I always lock down on day 18 (or 3 days prior to the day they should hatch because day 18 confuses me..) So I set them on a Friday and locked them down on a Tuesday. I once locked eggs down on a Tuesday to hatch on a Saturday and opened the incubator on that Wednesday and killed 40 chicks - every single one was shrink wrapped (but two! TWO!). So now I always lock down on the proper day and NEVER touch the incubator until they have hatched. If there are some that are pipped and I want to remove rowdy chicks - I will.

From what I understand - shrink wrapping happens before external pipping, so if you go to lock down once chick has internally pipped and humidity drops, they would become shrink wrapped no?

Or do you think it is going from HIGH to LOW humidity that did it for my 40 chicks? Either way, I have never had an internally pipped egg before lockdown. I bet they are internally pipping today though, because they were very FULL.

I hope this doesn't sound like I'm telling you what you're doing is wrong, I'm trying to work it out in my head what happened to my chicks that day. I was beyond disappointed. I had a good 20 silkie eggs in that hatch. It was at the end of June. Such a bummer, and I'm still kicking myself for it.

The two that hatched were both boys lol.



Quote:

 

[Leahs Mom]

You mean you can MAKE a chicken go BROODY!?!?!

Very interesting on the omega-6 to omega-3 ratios. I had read somewhere that krill oil was better for you than fish oil. And I go and look at the bottle of krill I have and lo and behold, it IS straight omega-3!!!

Hope y'all have a great day and maybe spring will come back to us soon!!!

Edited to ask... I read the article about the omega-6 to omega-3 ratios. My question is this: Should we be sprouting something else rather than grains? Or, are the sprouted grains ok on the omega-3s?

Well...I don't think you can really MAKE them go broody. But I was just doing that as an experiment to see what would happen. You can lead a horse to water.....

I've also read about krill being the better source.

When it's sprouted, it basically become like a "grass".

I have, sent my husband for cracked corn for the ferment for the winter months, he came home w/ whole corn, ferments well, chickens gobble it up like candy. I was feeding all grown LF so no clue if you have young chicks or bantams.

So I'm guessing it gets soft enough for them to eat in the ferment .... Have you ever sprouted any corn?


Thank you! My friend was asking about that so I'll send her this info !!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Del...sorry to ask for a repeat (or maybe you can link me to the post)

But what kinds of grains, legumes, etc. to you give to the adult birds - say in the winter time since I know they mainly forage during the summer.

 

[aoxa]

I do not feed corn from feed stores at all. I simply do not think it is good for them. I do feed the organic sweet corn I plant for myself on occasion. They get the cobs that do not turn out or has bugs later in the season.

How difficult is sweet corn to grow?

 

[Bulldogma]

Got a perfect, large egg this morning from my wonky girl. Crazy chicken.

Yay Crazy Chicken!

Glad you picked it out. I wanted to write more about it but got sidetracked at work

It is tax season after all. Starting to slow down thank chicken!

Aoxa and LM - this Omega 6 info is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing.

I remember someone was asking about acorns & if they were safe for chickens or not. I found this while browsing the website of the Modern Homestead

"Acorns: During the Second World War, flocksters in England gathered acorns as a substitute for strictly rationed grain. When my white oaks have a mast year (a year when oak trees drop vastly more than their usual yield of acorns) I pick up bucketfuls of acorns, crush them coarsely in my feed grinder, and feed. Acceptance by both chickens and waterfowl is excellent. Note that “sweeter” acorns such as those of white oaks make better feed than highly tannic acorns."

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Feeding+from+Home+Resources.html

I think for those that have never witnessed their chickens eating acorns, it is because the acorns are whole and the chickens can't crack them. I got to see them eating tons of acorns because passing cars on the road crushed them nicely so the chickens could get to the meat. Just my thoughts...

 

[aoxa]

Yay Crazy Chicken!


Aoxa and LM - this Omega 6 info is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing.


I think for those that have never witnessed their chickens eating acorns, it is because the acorns are whole and the chickens can't crack them. I got to see them eating tons of acorns because passing cars on the road crushed them nicely so the chickens could get to the meat. Just my thoughts...

Are your roads busy? Do you worry about them going on the roads to get the crushed acorns?

 

[Leahs Mom]

They couldn't go on MY road...it's a highway. But the other day I was driving back in "dirt road Amish country" and saw banties and all variety of chickens in the road and everywhere else.

I WAS wondering how these tiny banties keep from getting eaten by hawks...but they were having the time of their lives rooting around the road edge and into a newly plowed field.