The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

I have found dead birds..ones I have not locked up and were killed by preds. I have killed injured birds and eaten them. I have never eaten a bird that was injured by a pred. But i process them and feed them out to the chickens. (only time I cook meat for my birds)

 

[delisha]

Quote: I have had dead chicks. I do not keep chicks in the coop. They have a different building.
So yes I have had unexpected deaths in my chicks....too many to count. I lost my whole entire second batch of chicks to my dog sparkle 35 years ago. She killed every single one. My DD's dad has just brought them home that afternoon. Was a horrible sight.

 

[aoxa]

I have had dead chicks. I do not keep chicks in the coop. They have a different building.
So yes I have had unexpected deaths in my chicks....too many to count. I lost my whole entire second batch of chicks to my dog sparkle 35 years ago. She killed every single one. My DD's dad has just brought them home that afternoon. Was a horrible sight.

I bet. How did you handle that situation with the dog?

I am so lucky with my own dogs. They are such good dogs.. You should have seen Chloe (the poodle) with the new bunnies. She was so excited she was shaking. She just loves babies.. babies of any kind. Henry is showing good signs so far.

Your biosecurity serves you well!

 

[delisha]

Quote: I eggtopsy all my eggs..
I had two that did not hatch of the BCM...The eggtopsys showed cross beak on one.
I autopsy all dead. I want to know or try to understand. I want to prevent.

 

[aoxa]

I eggtopsy all my eggs..
I had two that did not hatch of the BCM...The eggtopsys showed cross beak on one.
I autopsy all dead. I want to know or try to understand. I want to prevent.

 

[delisha]

Quote: She was a top show dog..normal my DD's dad would have shot one of my dogs for killing, but i would not let him with this dog.I just kept her penned after that.

 

[Eggcessive]

My poor BCMarans hatch (3 out of 18 hatched, 4 fully developed in the egg, but no pip, 11 clears) was because of low fertility. The friend who gave me the eggs had just as bad a hatch. He said that the spring was so cold here and the roosters were fertilizing the hens well yet. They had been penned together for 3 weeks. We may try some more eggs, but he will be hatching more for the next month or two.

 

[Eggcessive]

Brandislee, sorry about your lemon orp. I had never lost a chicken until this year. Two days ago I think a hawk got one of my two white silkies. We have been seeing more hawk activity lately. That same day after seeing a stray dog and running him off, a barred rock hen didn't come in to roost. We haven't found either body. The big chickens will go out of my field down toward the road to hunt for tidbits. We did find a lavender ameraucana far away from her area after the dog was here, and got her back.

 

[kian]

Happy Birthday Leah'sMom! (and anyone else I missed!)

BDM I am praying for you and your little one!

So sorry to hear about lost animals

I miss a lot not being online on the weekends!


I moved the babies in with the big girls Friday night. Everything's been going pretty well, today is actually the first day everyone's been grumpy with them. More pecking (though no feather pulling or chasing. Just a peck to the head or back and then it's done) by the big ones. A bit more chasing off from the food but I have two feed dishes out and if they're chased from one, they go to the other. Right now they're out and the big girls are inside so they're macking out on the FF. They do not get chased out of the coop. My son said the reason everyone is grumpy today is because it's Monday and no one likes Mondays.


The four babies with one of the Cuckoo Marans. They were drinking together with no issues

 

[brandislee]

I'm sorry that so many things happen at one time. I'm not superstitious at all but I agree that things usually happen in three's. Not to gross you out or be insensitive but we always take our dead and throw them out in the woods, far from our house. Everyone in the food chain has to eat and once their dead, to me they are gone. (As long as they aren't diseased, also) We do have a pet cemetery but man, it's getting full of cat's and dogs. (My DH and I got them when we were first married and now they are old and dying) (Just my way of doing things, please don't take offense)

I don't take ANY offense to that- my only problem with doing that is my dogs and my neighbors. I live in a kind of rural neighborhood, so the only really remote area is a strip of woods behind the house that technically belongs to one neighbor- it goes back about 100 yards. But not far enough to dump a chicken and keep it away from my dogs. And I have two problems with my dogs eating a dead chicken. 1) I don't want them getting a taste for it. And 2) I don't want them dragging the pieces back into my yard!