The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[jockeyeba]

No need. There is a service for that.

http://www.poopsenders.com

X2

 

[delisha]

Melabella, sorry for your loss
I like your cute coop

I am pages behind sorry for all the missed posts
You guys have been busy while I have been making Christmas cookies
I want to take pictures, but, I can find my card. I cleaned so well I don't remember where I put it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

part of what you said is why I said I would never go past the 3 cycles, roughly 65 day mark. After being broody for that long they need a lot of nourishment. I have had few few bad broody's. It happens. They are NEVER allowed to go broody again.
Your's....yeah may have been a little loony

Okay...how do you accomplish THAT? "They are NEVER allowed to go broody again."
Does that mean they become dinner?

rain and lots of wind here. The chickens aren't happy. The ducks are all running around looking up at the sky quaking "BRING IT ON!"

Yep...high winds here and a bit of snow on the ground...they won't go out. I did entice 2 of them out by throwing some spelt out there but they didn't stay long! I think they'll come on out after the winds die down.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Love the picture of the '32! My dad had a 5 window when I was growing up. I remember learning how to sand on that thing. LOL It was mostly my sister's by the time I got married and we had wedding photos taken with it. That was quite a feat, though, as the engine didn't like to start with the key. So a friend had to go out during the service and start the car so that we could drive from the church in it. Of course, I drove, big white dress and all.

I've had some eggs in the incubator. They were due to hatch Wednesday night and we had our first chick Wed night. Then, got another one yesterday. It took over 24 hours to hatch. I think the humidity is off, because I had to pull some of the shell off of it. I still have another egg that is moving around, but no external pipping. I really, really want to help, but I know that is not my job. I will be incredibly sad if it dies in the shell, maybe more so if it's a hen.

Here is the first little guy that hatched out. For some reason, you can't see the dot on the top of his head.



And here is the second one.

I would and have more than once and never regretted it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

SOOOO envious! WOuld love some Cream Legbars....

"Cream legbars are medium-sized fowl that are known for their active foraging and ability to survive in a free-range environment. The roosters are vigilant and protective of the hens, and the hens efficiently go about the business of gleaning every seed and insect from the fields and pastures they prefer. The hens are rarely broody and produce a large number of eggs. This breed has the social skills to accommodate the complexities of life in a large flock. They are usually more calm than their distant ancestor the leghorn and are well-suited for the small homestead and life outdoors.aditionally, the American poultry industry has relied on the sex-linked function to create visually sexable chicks. If you go to your local feed store and want to buy visually sexable chicks in the spring, you are buying sex-linked –as opposed to auto-sexing– chicks. Sex-linked chicks are the first generation hybrids of two separate chicken breeds. They are produced by the hundreds of millions each year in large commercial hatcheries. If you allow the sex-linked chicks to reach adulthood and breed with one another they will not produce visually sexable chicks in the second generation. In other words, until recently if you wanted to buy visually sexable chicks in America, you’d be traveling to that feed store year after year to buy sex-linked birds produced by large commercial hatcheries. Your flock of sex-linked birds will not be a self-sustaining flock that can produce visually sexable chicks.
By contrast, auto-sexing chicken breeds like the cream legbar breed visually sexable chicks generation after generation. You can buy a pair of cream legbars now, continue to breed their offspring with each other, and eventually your grandchildren can one day be breeding their progeny and still be producing visually sexable chicks. In this sense auto-sexing chicks are like heirloom vegetables. They have a stable genome that always breeds true, and by saving a little seed stock with each generation you are ready to begin anew each year. Auto-sexing breeds like the cream legbar can help the small-scale chicken breeder to create a self-sustaining, visually sexable flock. With the introduction of the cream legbar to America, this is a new opportunity for American poultry enthusiasts.


Not to mention BLUE EGGS! AND what EYE Candy!!!!!!

Definitely on my Fantasy Flock list......

OH Santa...pleeeaaaasssseeeeee

MB

Just beautiful...

 

[texasmomma]

I would and have more than once and never regretted it.

I just never thought it was very natural to help. It hasn't even externally pipped. It jumps around when I knock on the table the incubator is sitting on. OTOH, the incubator isn't very natural either.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

^^^^^You are right! They would mold now wouldn't they..Should have realized that. Thank you for the insight! The picture was before I started using it, but since they free range so often the grass is still hangin in,, not quite as good albeit, but still there. The whole bottom of the floor is wired, so it may have a chance of surival. Was going to add some leaves and dirt from the woods.^^^^^



I read somewhere ( ?? to put the bales in a large plastic garbage bag. I suppose if there is mold it would be kept on the inside.

 

[Leahs Mom]

SOOOO envious! WOuld love some Cream Legbars....

So maybe you 2 could get together..at least you could get a rooster!

 

[texasmomma]

Well, Miss Lydia, I need a little female chick to come out of my third egg. I am not getting a great hatch rate out if these shipped eggs, but hope to locate some local eggs this spring. Inalso have my eye on a couple of marraduna basque hens cat hey are said to be similar to the Swedish flower hens and we love our SFH pullets.

 

[Leahs Mom]

^^^^^You are right! They would mold now wouldn't they..Should have realized that. Thank you for the insight! The picture was before I started using it, but since they free range so often the grass is still hangin in,, not quite as good albeit, but still there. The whole bottom of the floor is wired, so it may have a chance of surival. Was going to add some leaves and dirt from the woods.^^^^^



I read somewhere ( ?? to put the bales in a large plastic garbage bag. I suppose if there is mold it would be kept on the inside.

I have straw bales out around the outside of the kennel run for the purpose of being wind breaks. I HATE MOLD and I really don't like straw. Held off putting them out there for a long time...finally did it.

I wonder how long before they mold....I'd like to take them and burn them before that happens.