The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Delisha- I cleaned everyone's feet tonight. Boy does the dirt/mud get packet in the crevices of their feet!! Just the one had a circle on her foot. I meant to take a picture when I went back out to trim butts but forgot.

I thought I would share before & after pics of Red. She had the worse prolapsed vent a few months ago. All I did was put a few coats of Nustock on and then gave then parsley, cilantro fresh for a month or so and I added game bird conditioner to their ff. I am happy to say even the 2 smallest hens have some heft to them now and have filled out. I even noticed their legs are thicker now. They will all be a year old next month.


2/16/13 is when I did my first in depth hen inspection. This is reds bottom then. According to my notes approx 3 times I put Nustock on her bottom.

x
Here is the same hen and her messy butt today. Vent is clean & healthy looking color to skin

And here it is after I trimmed it up. I think fluffy butt feathers multiply as u cut them there was FEATHERS EVERYWHERE. everyone got a trim. No one was impressed. But they got rice & meal worms for their troubles

And one other thing I noticed is that they radiate heat from their vent areas. And my mom couldn't believe how toasty their stomach were when she held them for me. Those down feathers sure do keep the heat in

BDM ur chicks are beautiful. I love the look of SFH and wish I could add some to my flock.

You did an amazing job!!! She looks fantastic.

 

[Leahs Mom]

my mother dehydrates liver for her dogs as treats. she slices it thin and then puts it in her dehydrator. I will warn you though, it STINKS. I mean, really, truly, gag inducing STINKS. We do it outside. If she does it in winter she does it in the garage and it STILL makes the house smell. My recomendation? slice into skinny strips (sort of like liver "worms) and freeze in singler serving glopse on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Peel frozen glops off of wax paper and place in a large zip lock freezer bag. The evening before you want to feed liver, pull a frozen glop out of the bag and put out to thaw. Just my .02!

I love the idea of the frozen strips...thank you very much
X2! You could even pre-chop it into small pieces all at 1 time and freeze ready to feed!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Delisha
X2 on that too...I try to find out what has been used for years - tried and true - rather than the fad stuff that comes and goes.

I think "feeding DE" is one of those "hear-say" things that got mixed up too. People used DE in feed to stop the weevils from hatching in stored grain - not to add anything to the chicken's diet nor to "kill intestinal worms", but that whole thing got mistaken and has blown up into a HUGE MARKET for DE to chicken owners who think they need to add it into their feed to deter worms...

Ah well.... a little common sense and pondering goes a long way when it comes to some of these things!

 

[armorfirelady]

You did an amazing job!!! She looks fantastic.

Thanks tho I don't know what I "did" to fix the prolapsed vents. I really think they needed more protein and calcium in their diet. I had read somewhere that prolapse was caused by low calcium.

But thanks to u OTS awesome advice it seems fix them I did!! It's amazing how much they have grown since I got them

 

[Elliemae 77]

Delisha,
Thank-you, I'll be sure to pick up some oregano and cilantro tomorrow...assuming fresh is best, but if I can't find fresh oregano, will dried from my spice rack work too? What about adding garlic? Garlic powder ok or should I crush up some cloves. What's the best way to add cayanne?
I'm not sorry I culled her either. Im trying to look at as sacrifice a few to save the many. Of course my daughter will cry her little eyes out about it. I tried to explain that she could make all our other birds very sick, but.she was still pretty upset when I told her that the hen was sick and m"might" die. (Sigh). Sometimes farm life can be hard for the little ones....she's 5. I promised her that we would get black Orp hatching eggs and try again....From now on my flock is closed. No birds in .....not even chicks.... Where can I find oxine? I thought bleach would be harsh, but I had no idea what else to use.

 

[zinia8]

Today I was cleaning the coop and run. My coop sits about two feet off the ground. And the ground under the coop stinks stinks stinks. Raked and shoveled all the acclumated shavings,leaves, poop and food. Is there anything i can on the ground to get rid of the smell?

 

[Pozees]

Today I was cleaning the coop and run. My coop sits about two feet off the ground. And the ground under the coop stinks stinks stinks. Raked and shoveled all the acclumated shavings,leaves, poop and food. Is there anything i can on the ground to get rid of the smell?

Maybe some PDZ? Fresh shavings? Or just several wheel barrows full of clean dry dirt?

 

[delisha]

Delisha,
Thank-you, I'll be sure to pick up some oregano and cilantro tomorrow...assuming fresh is best, but if I can't find fresh oregano, will dried from my spice rack work too? What about adding garlic? Garlic powder ok or should I crush up some cloves. What's the best way to add cayanne?
I'm not sorry I culled her either. Im trying to look at as sacrifice a few to save the many. Of course my daughter will cry her little eyes out about it. I tried to explain that she could make all our other birds very sick, but.she was still pretty upset when I told her that the hen was sick and m"might" die. (Sigh). Sometimes farm life can be hard for the little ones....she's 5. I promised her that we would get black Orp hatching eggs and try again....From now on my flock is closed. No birds in .....not even chicks.... Where can I find oxine? I thought bleach would be harsh, but I had no idea what else to use.

You can order oxine if you do not have it at your local feed store/farm and feet or TSC. 5 is a good age for helping them to understand about life lessons.
Wet the feed down to a mash and stir all the stuff in if you do not ferment.

Today I was cleaning the coop and run. My coop sits about two feet off the ground. And the ground under the coop stinks stinks stinks. Raked and shoveled all the acclumated shavings,leaves, poop and food. Is there anything i can on the ground to get rid of the smell?

all your orange, lemon and lime peels. ACV will also help. Let your chickens go clean it up..probably all kinds of wonderful things under there for them.

 

[bgallentine]

If I may interject- Worm farming doesn't use nightcrawlers. They are a big animal (relatively ) and consequently have need of larger territory - Nightcrawlers like to goes as deep as 6 feet - not easy to provide in a box. The worms that are used for worm farming, worm composting or Vermiculture, uses a much smaller animal that is 2 - 3 inches long. They are commonly called red wigglers & composting worms. The binomial is Eiseinia foetida (sp?).

 

[Bulldogma]

BDM,,

I can barely stand it! How precious are these chicks? Was it this breed i read that the roosters tolerate each other well? Also, are their eggs truly as large as they say, or are the SFH eggs normal size? Just curious....

MB

MB - yes, SFH roos are notoriously communal - they get along with each other. They may squabble every now and then, but nobody would think you were starting up a cock-fighting business based upon their behavior - LOL! My 3 girls have been laying an average of 5 eggs a week each over the past weeks. Their eggs are usually Large with some being XL and a few M... but my girls won't be a year old until August! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my SFH!!

You? Do something dumb? haha oh well I guess everyone succombs at some point in life. LOL You are one of my inspirations. But I HAVE THE MARKET CORNERED on doing dumb things. hahahaha

Oh heck - I do numbskull things all the time. I'm forgetful as can be and stress does nothing for improving it - LOL! And with my kids... well... there is plenty of stress to be found! That's where chickens come in. On any nice day, I can be found lying dormant in my yard covered in chickens. People probably think I'm dead and the chickens are eating me.

X2 on that too...I try to find out what has been used for years - tried and true - rather than the fad stuff that comes and goes.

I think "feeding DE" is one of those "hear-say" things that got mixed up too. People used DE in feed to stop the weevils from hatching in stored grain - not to add anything to the chicken's diet nor to "kill intestinal worms", but that whole thing got mistaken and has blown up into a HUGE MARKET for DE to chicken owners who think they need to add it into their feed to deter worms...

Ah well.... a little common sense and pondering goes a long way when it comes to some of these things!

Totally agree about people believing everything they hear. For proof, just look at all the crapola posted on FaceBook! LOL! Also - I believe that DE works because it is porous and has shard-like edges which deter or even kill bugs... but it looses these edges when wet... which would mean that it would have no value if fed... but perhaps I just heard that somewhere...

Night all!