The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Eggcessive]

I think we talked about this a looonnnnggg time ago but I'd like to bring it up again...

I have a good pair of muck boots that I wear when I go out to work around in the coop or when it rains/snows, etc. They are full high calf boots, and I do use them year-round BUT -

I want to purchase a pair of shoes/short boots that I can use in the summer. Here's the criteria:

-Slip on/off EASILY (no ties, velcro, etc.) Want to be able to just get them on really quickly when I want to go out.
-Waterproof - or at least pretty water-resistant so I can wear them in rain/mud.

So...show me what you have/recommend. I want to buy something NOW.

Try googling The Muck Boot Company's daily gardening shoes. These things come in colors, are very comfortable for chicken and garden work, and last me for years with year-round use. Some websites have them deeply discounted in certain sizes and colors. Tried to copy and paste, but didn't work. I even bought some for my 87 year old mother to walk in our yard with dew on the grass, and that is all she wears now. In the heat of mid-summer, I switch to my crocs, but on for 2 months a year.

 

[Eggcessive]

These are my German New Hampshires and Ron Fogel heritage RIR's at 1 and 2 weeks. They are getting big fast.

 

[holderh]

Eggsesive: they are so cute!

leahs mom/delisha
One more question about this vent gleet....is it a problem to eat the eggs? Obviously I didn't know what was wrong with them so we have eaten them with no problems however is it wise? What about after putting the antifungal creams and nustock on them?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Sally - that is kind-of what I'm looking at. Not boots but a shoe that is "like" a good boot.

-Want to be able to use them when the grass is wet and not have my feet getting wet (waterproof)
-Want to be able to wear them "working"....cleaning out the coop or raking/garden work, etc.

I had looked at something like this: http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/sto...-companyreg;-edgewater-camp-shoe?cm_vc=-10005
which is very expensive but - I bought my first pair of Muck Brand Boots last fall at a higher price than I've ever spent for boots and I'm really glad I did.

Usually when I buy boots they go about 3 weeks before they get wet inside every time you go out in the rain or snow. These muck boots lasted all winter and still going strong. And unless I puncture them somehow, I think I'll have them for years to come. So they will actually cost me less in the long-run than buying many pair of less expensive ones.

But...I'm definitely willing to try something cheaper first!

 

[Bulldogma]

actually Leigh this is the article I plan to write and was asking you about. I'm SWAMPED for the next few weeks. In the middle of building 25 eight foot table to ship by the end of May. So it will not be a finished article until sometime in May at best. I want to clear up a bunch of misinformation about this breed , share personal experience and share some of the writings from the 1870's about this breed.

Fantastic!

Seems I read in the past hay may not be the perfect bedding but I can't remember why. I have always used pine shavings. Light, easy to find, nowadays no more expensive than hay (here anyway, hay is sky high). Where I am it is so dry I don't usually have mite/lice issues, but many others offer dusting beds of wood ash to great benefit. It certainly can't hurt. If I had easy access to wood ash I would do it just because it is generally beneficial and not harmful in any way I've ever heard of.

Perhaps you were remembering that about straw... Straw is hollow in the center and mites and other nasties can hide in there. I don't know about any problems with hay. I think hay is generally fine to use as long as it's not moldy.

On the chickens and meat thing, my girls are almost better mousers then my cats. They go crazy over mice they find, snakes, frogs, lizards anything they can catch and is small enough to swallow or is small enough to swallow after some keep away and tug of war. The also get feeder insects they will knock you down for.



Here are the results of finding an unfortunate snake.

Kassaundra - these pictures are fabulous! Would you give me permission to use them in my blog when I do an article about chickens needing meat proteins?? And how would you like to be credited? Just as Kassaundra, or otherwise?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Try googling The Muck Boot Company's daily gardening shoes. These things come in colors, are very comfortable for chicken and garden work, and last me for years with year-round use. Some websites have them deeply discounted in certain sizes and colors. Tried to copy and paste, but didn't work. I even bought some for my 87 year old mother to walk in our yard with dew on the grass, and that is all she wears now. In the heat of mid-summer, I switch to my crocs, but on for 2 months a year.

Whoops - must have been posting at the same time as you!

I've never seen the "daily gardening shoes". I'll check those out.

 

[NanaLynn]

These are my German New Hampshires and Ron Fogel heritage RIR's at 1 and 2 weeks. They are getting big fast.

adorable chicks, congrats!

 

[Pozees]

Perhaps you were remembering that about straw... Straw is hollow in the center and mites and other nasties can hide in there. I don't know about any problems with hay. I think hay is generally fine to use as long as it's not moldy.

I guess that is possible, my aging brain has been known to make such mis-rememberings

 

[camilleathome]

Guys can I get photos of makeshift chick perches. My chicks are getting to the size they are ready to practice perching

 

[NanaLynn]

Guys can I get photos of makeshift chick perches. My chicks are getting to the size they are ready to practice perching

I just used a wooden dowel and pieces of 2 x 2's and a bag of the black small pipe plastic attachments. Simple and cheap. Please excuse the mess, anything you use you may want to coat it in some non toxic paint to make it easier to clean. I need to sand this one down to get rid of the poop and give it a fresh coat of paint for the next batch coming next week.



All 13 of my chicks roosting - the roost worked great. They went from this to branch roosts and 2 x 2 roosts with no problem.