The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to all the new people on this thread. My incubator has been going for weeks now. I have 3 new black copper marans chicks, but 2 didn't hatch after pipping and partially zipping. Many did not hatch, but I found many eggs upside down in the egg carton from the local breeder. It was hard to tell one end from the other without lying them down. Tonight I have a new German New Hampshire chick, and more pips, plus my Fogel heritage RIR's are pipping. They are a bit late, so hopefully in the morning there will be some chicks. BDM, sorry about your little one in the hospital--hope her pneumonia is better soon.

 

[delisha]

so.... what do you think this little guy is?? I was given six mixed bantam chicks several weeks ago. I won't keep most of them, but I'm kind of hoping this one is a girl, I'm loving the fluffy feet. I've spent the last two weeks looking at pictures of feather footed bantams but can't seem to figure out what he/she is! I THINK they're about four weeks old.

Looks like a Cochin to me...and totally cute

Quote: Some cockerels you do not really have to train after you thump them a few times as baby's. My Orpington is as mild as butter. He would never challenge a human. I have never had to correct him. On the other hand I have a Silkie male who chest bumps my hand. I have thumped him quite a few times already. The last time I had to thump him hard enough that he squalked. I do not like having to chase a darn cockerel around in a pen. Once they get over 3 lbs and challenge you or others it can hurt.

Quote:

Could you elaborate for the uninitiated (that's me)

Do you mean that if I go outside and he just stretches up tall I should make an advance EVERY TIME? No, unless it is directed at you.

I didn't realize that was his asserting his authority but I can surely advance on him with no problem if needed. He's just 15 weeks tomorrow so I haven't paid a lot of attention for such things and just thought the tall stretching was a "rooster stance thing" but didn't realize it may be AIMED at me in particular.

Never experienced him bumping my hands or anything like that when he was little. He just acted like all the rest of them.

Edited to add: Whenever I enter the area he has never advanced toward me..usually goes the other way because the oldsters will attack him if they think I have food so he runs away and waits until I spread around enough ground food that they can all get it without a rukus.

Have a nice evening Ladies <3

My DH laughed so hard wen I showed him this. He has the same sense of humor..keeps telling me why I have such tiny feet.

I have a odd question, maybe someone has dealt with this before: Do Cochin's make a honking sound, kinda like a goose? My blue cochin honks sometimes now.

It is not breed related. I have one line of birds..that honk. Usually it is during excitement or stress. Every hen from that one line....honked.

hey all.

What are some good preventatives for lice and mites.
I know WormWood can prevent lice but that is all.

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/02/natural-lice-and-mite-prevention-using.html

Hello everyone bbsnooks let me know about this wonderful forum - so, here I am! I live in south-central Kansas.. have a variety of the usual chickens, some guineas, ducks, goslings, cats and 2 Great Pyrenees. I'm fairly new to this lifestyle, but loving every single minute of it and continue to learn with each new thing I try. I tried goats and learned in 2 days they weren't for me - how's that for fast learning!?

I look forward to getting to know you guys.

Welcome to the group!..looking forward to your input! Sounds like at the time it was a responsible decision.

Hello everyone!
i have a question on the Cornish rock crosses. I want to get some meat birds.. but i think the hybrid freaks me out a little it. Is there a way to feed them more humanly and not have them get so big so fast? if not, is there another good meat bird that you would recommend?

I love my cornish!! Mine have gotten very large with advancing age, however I do not feed like everyone else does. Mine are free ranged and never tractored.They live with my laying flock and roost right along with them. If you are careful in the beginning they do not get grossly over weight. I do not free feed after 1 week. I cut them back to three times a day with free range, than two times, than once. They are great free rangers once they discover there is food out there. They love chickweed, spinach, oregino, thistles, dandalions, and all kinds of bugs. They are great mice catchers too.


16 weeks old and not over 10 lbs

2 days

1 week

2 weeks and outside

This was my last cornish rooster..he was to large for breeding








One cornish and one regular chick..hatched the same day

welcome sunflower parrot.. come on in..
so.. what did those goats do??

Quote: OMG..this is so funny..you keep stealing my broom

Ok, so this may be the stupidest newbie question ever, but how much of a chickens keel should you be feeling? I've been hefting around my BO rooster a lot with soaking his feet for the bumblefoot and whatnot (which is looking totally better, thank you loads everyone who posted information about that!) and, if he was a parrot, I would think that he was underweight. But.... I know that BO's can be little fatties if you overfeed them, and I don't want to do that either.... I really wish I had someone local who could come over, pick him up, and tell me if he's at a good weight. I wouldn't worry if this was the height of summer and there was forage everywhere, but this time of year they're more dependent on me, who has no idea what I'm doing. (have you ever tried to find info on how much to feed your chickens? Almost Everything just says to leave out the feed 24/7.... URGH I do not want to provide a roden buffet!) I'm only feeding them grain at night, to encourage foraging, but I put out kitchen scraps in the morning, and give them a chunk of fodder. Then they each get probably 1/2-3/4 C fermented feed when they go in for the night. it's always gone when I let them out in the AM.

a side note of good news. My hen has stopped limping, and this morning she started laying again. I'm so glad that she's getting better. for a while over the weekend I was really sure I was going to have to put her down. I'm letting her back out with my poor lonely rooster again tomorrow. I blocked off all the upper roosts (I have ladder style) to keep her from jumping down and re-injuring it. I figure I'll keep them blocked off for another week and give her a chance to be completely back to normal. The moral of the story? Epsom salts baths work really well!

Not a stupid question at all...you would have no idea unless you went around feeling keel bones, and knew each breed. First..take a picture of him, and weigh him and we can go from there.
For BO's you should not be able to feel a keel bone at maturity. They have a lot of breast meat. It also depends on his health and age. Males go through a gangly stage and they are all legs and keel bone. My 7 month old Orpington is gangly. You can feel his keel bone in places. He weights about 9lbs and that is probably average for his size and age, maybe a bit under. He should weight when he matures about 12 lbs. I think he is a bit under because he is servicing 10 hens and spends hours protecting, looking, hunting, calling, and preening.

Quote: I posted a few pictures..I put some cornish in the incubator to replace the one who broke her hip. I did not tell DH either. I sort of panicked thinking of missing out on meat birds later this year. He is stressing about the 60 birds in the basement. I have never had birds this long or this many at one time in the house. Poor fella is ready to pull his hair out. We have more snow and rain all this week. I am thinking spring is never going to arrive.

 

[Sunflowergirl]

Hello everyone!
i have a question on the Cornish rock crosses. I want to get some meat birds.. but i think the hybrid freaks me out a little it. Is there a way to feed them more humanly and not have them get so big so fast? if not, is there another good meat bird that you would recommend?

I have been hearing about Freedom Rangers. Has anyone done those for meaties??? What I have heard is that they are more "chicken-like" than the Cornish crosses. Any thoughts???

 

[delisha]

I have plenty of land for cornish hens to free range - I'd prefer for them to do that rather than feed them in a smelly pen all day - after seeing that video, I'm seriously considering it. Anyone else free range their broilers? I assume I'd still need to feed them at night though - yes?

I only have free ranged..I free feed for the first week, three times a day for the second, and give them free access to grazing, than twice a day, than once a day by 5 weeks of age they are pretty much free ranging all over and being fed just at night.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

I only have free ranged..I free feed for the first week, three times a day for the second, and give them free access to grazing, than twice a day, than once a day by 5 weeks of age they are pretty much free ranging all over and being fed just at night.

Why is it that most people free range layers/roosters, but not their broilers? I'm guilty of keeping them in a penned/fenced area last year just because I thought that was what you do with broilers. I have about 30+ chickens free ranging on our property already - I am getting 55 broilers next week and building a chicken tractor for them to live in... I can just let them out with the other chickens and they'll come home and go back to their pen?

 

[zinia8]

Woo finally caught back up. (I am sure that will all change by the time I am done posting this). Between going back to work. 10 hr shifts. Building an addition on the coop and evicting the garage dwellers....I am caught up. I am more of a lurker than poster. So hi to all the new people. This is the best thread on this forum and it moves fast. Keep a note book handy. Which I had but since misplaced.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I put the 3 week old Silkie chicks and "Buck", the special needs cockerel, into the tractor with the other 2 Silkies today. All are getting along and being chickens. The Silkie chicks were getting trampled by the "Meat Group" in the brooder. They are already neary 2lbs at 3 weeks. Sheesh they do grow fast. I think I have decided that I will not do the x's in the future but rather go with Dark Cornish's for meat birds. I saw them at the chicken show and liked the look and they grow at a normal rate. I got the "coop" done for the Silkie pen(really just a place to sleep and lay eggs, should have pcs in "My Coop" by end of weekend) and getting the remaining parts to finish the Silkie pen tomorrow. They should be it by the end of the weekend.

 

[CoopChick719]

In other news... tomorrow is my birthday and I asked for a grow-out pen to be built adjacent to my current run. So, my husband and I went to get the materials and tomorrow we are going to build it! I know, I'm weird. I like practical things - instead of going out to dinner, etc., I just like doing or getting stuff for the ducks or chickens, or the yard. Got a new grapevine with birthday money from my mom - yes, my mom still sends me a card and money to spend on myself. She even put a little duck sticker on the envelope - so fun! Spending the day outside building a new pen and getting all the babies outside will be a great day to me!

♫♪♫Happy Birthday to You♪♫♪♫Happy Birthday to You♪♫♪♫ Happy Birthday Dear Counnnnnttttrrrryyyy Giiirrrrrlllll♪♫♫Happy Birthday to Youuuuuu!!! Hope you had a great day!!
I'm asking DH to build a chicken tractor for my birthday.

My Mum still gives me money and always says, "This is for you! Don't pay a bill or spend it on the kids!"

I just realized (with the help of PG) that my "venting" yesterday may have seemed like it was aimed at a particular person or people on this thread so I wanted to be sure that y'all know that it wasn't!!!! I had been conversing with the 2 folks that got the "not so healthy" chickens and was very upset about "breeders" that are unethical and don't care who they hurt. I am angered that people seem to have no conscience about such behavior and don't care who it hurts.

So my "vent" was aimed at them

This photo seems appropriate here...

Now that PG pointed it out to me, I realize that LW had just posted about how he doesn't separate birds when he gets them new and it might have seemed that I was aiming that at him. Truth is that I had been working on that post before I read his!!!

And I know, LW, that you get so many birds at a time that it would be impractical for you to do things different. Your setup is totally different than mine and others! It may also have sounded like I think EVERYONE has to follow a specific "bio-security" method so I want to clear that up and say again...my vent wasn't meant to make anyone feel that way or that they couldn't post how they do things!!! If it felt that way to anyone I just want to clear that up!!!

And.....
the remark at the end of that post (vent over...bottoms up) was really supposed to just be humorous on the double meaning of "vent"....(in case anyone was wondering...)

Totally got that you were venting out of frustration of unethical people!! Loved the vent over w/the pic!

I noticed my little ee wasn't quite right yesterday when I was cleaning the coop, but had meetings and thought I would take a look at her this morning. She didn't come out of the coop, and I found her dead on the floor. poor baby. empty crop. I should not have waited, I could have gotten her last night off the roost, but it might have been too late then too. Not sure if I will be able to make myself to a necropsy tonight when I get home. THese 3:30 ams really do a number on me and I won't be home til around 7, and will want to just go to bed.

So sorry to hear about your EE, LaLa! Hugs to you

Glad to hear I'm not too weird... I have friends who wouldn't be happy without shopping trips, diamonds or spas. They think I'm crazy. I say "let's work on the yard" or "let's go camping!" LOL

I thought that I was the only one (female) that liked to get useful gifts...what a relief! Now, I love a good dinner and flowers are pretty, but gardening tools/equipment, seeds, plants, chicken supplies, etc would always be appreciated over cut flowers or the cheap dollar gifts that I've received in the past!

So funny this came up! We were just saying over on the Maine thread that most of us would rather have something for the coop, chicks or garden over candy, flowers & jewels! Now I like a good dinner with the best of them but if I can have the cash equivalent to buy chicken or garden stuff, I'd rather that! I must confess....many, many years ago I was high-maintenance or HM as we call it in our family. Ya know...makeup...hair...certain brand names....yeah...that went out the door when the kids came along. My dad said I had champagne taste on a near-beer budget.

DH asked me tonight if I'd like a pair of overalls. I guess my worn jeans & mens plaid quilted shirt I wear as a coop coat are looking shabby.

Now where is that Tractor Supply flyer...I think I saw some coveralls on sale!

 

[Ashdoes]

So when are chickens at full maturity?
I would quote from the post I'm asking about, but the mobile version of this site does not make that easy.

 

[delisha]

Quote: Mine always have...