The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

I hope that everyone does not mind if I join in?

Welcome to the group..looking forward to your participation after you catch up!!!

I shared the lower one yesterday....

Hmmph..... as if being my FB friend would be so terrible..... Shot down yesterday by CG cuz I don't like silkies, even though I would have been happy to make her silkie thongs outta coconut oil and kept her hands warm, and today you shoot me down and blow my bacon marketing to bits......

What else can go wrong?

OMG ..funny stuff

LW...you need to stop that DL right now!

Quote: Kelp is at any grocery store that sells gourmet foods or Ethnic isle. It is dried and smells like fish. You can purchase quite a bit for a few dollars. I purchase he brown kind and not the green kind.

Quote: I FF all the grains..my large Orpingtons have looser stools than all the rest of them.

 

[pigeonguy]

BDM
From the mill all cracked
On the feed
100 pounds corn 9%
100 pounds oats 12%
100 pounds Poultry base 36%
This equals 19% protein
OR
1 part corn
1 part oats
1 part poultry base
Same thing said either way.
The poultry base is made by the mill.

 

[Kassaundra]

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".



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 !!

Yes, I have sprouted corn, they love that too.

 

[Melabella]

Hi Everyone!

I need some advice/help. I had to do away with my rooster Duke, as he became so aggressive, it was next to impossible to have him around. If it were just me, I might have just put up with it,,actually not, he would attack if you went near anyplace remotely near what he considered his territory. I couldn't get near the hens, and what finally sealed the deal is he flogged my daughter, and on Easter Sunday flew up and flogged my two nieces. I tried, but he was a royal pain in the you know what. A week ago I brought home a beautiful Ameruacana roo and pullet, both the same age as my flock. I put them in a horse stall for 3 days, and let them settle and looked them over. I have all ready got 4 lovely blue eggs from the pullet. For the last three days I had set up a temporary pen in my run where they could all see each other, but couldn't touch each other. Today I decided to integrate them, and I surely expected some mad behavior, but not what ended up happening. Straight away Mr. cockrel started his fancy dancing, and tried to mate with some hens. Well, my three top hens got to attacking him. What transpired was a 15 minute challenge that resembled a cock fight in Mexicali rather than a cockrel asserting himself. Each hen took their turn sparring off with him, necks all fluffed up, and jumping up flogging like nuts! Is this normal? Do I just have some biker chicks that are way too nasty to accept a new man in town? A super thunderstorm broke loose, and they all ran under the coop, and the new roo and pullet ran into the coop and are up on the roosts. Is my new cockrel a wimp, or is this just chickens working out the new pecking order? I swear my BA Dahlia was whooping up on the poor guy! No wonder she is top girl, even though Duke beat her up so bad, no feathers at all on her head, and half way down her neck, two huge bald spots on her back as well.

I planned on leaving them inside all day tomorrow so the two new members of the flock learn that this is now home base, but worried now. Should I worry, or is this just the way it is when introducing new birds?

thanks for any information guys, I appreciate it!

MB

 

[armorfirelady]

Torrential rain here all day. The girls have been out most of the day (per my best friend who stopped by and then checked as he drove by later) part of the area where the electric netting is under water so glad I didn't electrify yet nice I'm sure it would of shorted out. I thought we set it up so it wouldn't be near the area that floods often but we got so much rain that the area expanded.

Went in the coop after work to find the vents I put up leak in torrential rain . Covered them fom the inside with an leftover pieces of tarp I had so it should keep most out until I think up a cover to go over the vents :/
Unfortunately all that rain got into their fav nesting box and 2 others and bedding was wet. So no one laid an egg today after a week of 3 a day......
And all the top soil I moved to stop water into base of coop didnt stop water from entering since and was some standing water in one corner *sigh* back to the drawing board cuz *when it rains it pours !!!*. At least I had the hay think enough so its wet hay.....and of course other hay got wet from vents. I felt so bad I gave them a cup full of sunflower hearts I bought today for them.

But on a good note (I hope) they barely touched the romaine hearts I threw out this morning before work. Normally they devour it. And they ate very little FF to. I'm guessing they were finding enough worms and bugs and grass since it seems they were outside all day? And at least the temps are in the 50s.....till the freezing rain shows up later. But I'm hoping with vents covered and a tarp over nesting boxes to keep any rain that might still get in out tomorrow they will start laying again.

Delisha- on the flax seed. Mine look like flattened seeds. Does that mean I need to grind them up?

But I did score vet wrap for 1/2 off at $1.50 a roll in clearance bin today another item added to hens first aid kit

 

[PatQ]

LynnEBC - I'm attacking this thread the same way you are - read some old - catch up on new - it's almost a full time job

Hello to all - I'm in the midst of building my coop and have chicks arriving on May 8....

The rafters are on and it's still standing so I am thrilled! (the biggest thing I ever built before this coop was a bookcase, so this has been an amazing learning experience.

 

[chickiemomy]

Ok, I'm going to completely disagree with the information stated above about naturally growing, healthy plants somehow being synthetic or unhealthy. Do we have an abundance if estrogens? Absolutely! Is our over exposure to estrogens related to plant material? Absolutely NOT! Should we be aware of providing a wide variety of plants to our chickens? Absolutely. Should we eliminate chemically processed foods in our lives and for our chickens? Yes.
My background is in science (chemistry and environmental science). With that said I can tell you that any organization (science/industry/pro-chemical agricilture or natural/organic) can release a scientific study and its data which was geared towards the result it wanted to get out anyway. So you must be very careful what sources of information you deem valid.
If you are buying organic heirloom/non-genetically motified seeds or plants you are fine to feed those to your chickens or family. If you buy seeds or plants that have pesticide coatings, hybrid you are eating poison.
The information above is an attempt to confuse the average Joe into not using healthy food by stating "chemical components" which are NATURALLY inside of natural Earth grown/GOD made and relating them to the synthetic/man made product with the same chemical make up. Unfortunately when we as humans discover a chemical name which is in a

just to add a slightly different spin --

I have had breast cancer with a tumor that is driven by estrogen. Now I don't obsess over it - but I was told by my oncologist - who is a very down-to-earth practical sort, to avoid (not eliminate) phytoestrogens as a precaution. By that - I avoid soy, alcohol & flax seed.

Some think all natural estrogen is ok & only chemical estrogen is bad??? - well I'm not in the all or nothing side of anything. Not sure - maybe because many of us have been unknowingly exposed to too much chemical estrogen that maybe even naturally occuring estrogen may now not be good for us.

I am also not obsessed about GMO tho either - avoid, not stressed - stress kills too.

Only thing I'm zealous about is avoidding zealousness

 

[delisha]

No..your seeds look fine..more gold than mine are. Those look like my kamut color. Pretty color. You do not need to grind them.

 

[delisha]

I'm attacking this thread the same way you are - read some old - catch up on new - it's almost a full time job

Hello to all - I'm in the midst of building my coop and have chicks arriving on May 8....

The rafters are on and it's still standing so I am thrilled! (the biggest thing I ever built before this coop was a bookcase, so this has been an amazing learning experience.

Welcome to the group!! Please keep us updated on your progress..it looks like a very interesting coop! What type of chicks did you order? Are you free ranging?What are your plans for predator proofing?

 

[delisha]

Hi Everyone!

I need some advice/help. I had to do away with my rooster Duke, as he became so aggressive, it was next to impossible to have him around. If it were just me, I might have just put up with it,,actually not, he would attack if you went near anyplace remotely near what he considered his territory. I couldn't get near the hens, and what finally sealed the deal is he flogged my daughter, and on Easter Sunday flew up and flogged my two nieces. I tried, but he was a royal pain in the you know what. A week ago I brought home a beautiful Ameruacana roo and pullet, both the same age as my flock. I put them in a horse stall for 3 days, and let them settle and looked them over. I have all ready got 4 lovely blue eggs from the pullet. For the last three days I had set up a temporary pen in my run where they could all see each other, but couldn't touch each other. Today I decided to integrate them, and I surely expected some mad behavior, but not what ended up happening. Straight away Mr. cockrel started his fancy dancing, and tried to mate with some hens. Well, my three top hens got to attacking him. What transpired was a 15 minute challenge that resembled a cock fight in Mexicali rather than a cockrel asserting himself. Each hen took their turn sparring off with him, necks all fluffed up, and jumping up flogging like nuts! Is this normal? Do I just have some biker chicks that are way too nasty to accept a new man in town? A super thunderstorm broke loose, and they all ran under the coop, and the new roo and pullet ran into the coop and are up on the roosts. Is my new cockrel a wimp, or is this just chickens working out the new pecking order? I swear my BA Dahlia was whooping up on the poor guy! No wonder she is top girl, even though Duke beat her up so bad, no feathers at all on her head, and half way down her neck, two huge bald spots on her back as well.

I planned on leaving them inside all day tomorrow so the two new members of the flock learn that this is now home base, but worried now. Should I worry, or is this just the way it is when introducing new birds?

thanks for any information guys, I appreciate it!

MB

MB....

Introduction already? Do you think that was a good decision? Please share with us why or why not.

As far as behavior goes... it is all perfectly normal.