The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Mumsy]

Pouring rain all night and this morning. All chickens outside getting wet but being chickens. No more heat for the chicks. Running all of them together in the barn by opening up three pens and pop doors. The youngest are three weeks old and won't go outside by choice yet. Still huddling but today I see they are eating and drinking with the big kids. The Fogle HRIR chicks are awesome. No rowdy behavior directed to the younger chicks. Everybody seems to know where they stand when it comes to food. Oldest eat first and on down the line. I've got thirty chicks all together and it's working out great so far.

I use natural branches for perches. When they are in the brooder I lay a small section on the floor under the heat. When they are in pens in the barn they get a perch.





The new pop doors my husband made out of cedar planks are opened manually but they are draft and predator proof. Branches and logs help the chicks get in and out easier. Got the idea from someone here on this thread. Brilliant and free.



These are the Crocs that I have and wear while in the garden or around the chickens. I have them in pink for about three years now and they are very comfortable. I don't wear them off my property. I change into them when I get home and work outside. I have my 'leave the house' shoes and these plus rubber boots for winter use. My husband also has his 'at home' outdoor shoes and others. It is just one small part of our bio-security around our chickens.


One final thing to share today. We have a feral kitten that has been sneaking around our place. We have to shut every hole and opening from the garage to the barn to keep it out. So far it has not killed anything. I can't catch it yet. This morning I found it inside the Hoop Coop hiding under the shelves in the shavings. The White Silkie flock is in here. I found a small opening and it crawls under the fencing. I believe the rain forced it to find shelter. My husband will kill it if he sees it in the pen. Going back out now with a net and see if I can corner it. Wish me luck.

 

[Pozees]

LynnEBC - the idea you are thinking of, I think, is the "Maypole" made of fishing line which appears to keep birds of prey away from the area it covers.

holderh - as with so many aspects of chicken keeping, what works for some will not for others, but I personally do not like pvc perches. The birds can't grip them adequately. Branches, 2x4s or 2x2s have worked well for many. Flat roosts allow the chickens to cover their feet well in cold weather. JMO.

 

[NanaLynn]

LynnEBC - the idea you are thinking of, I think, is the "Maypole" made of fishing line which appears to keep birds of prey away from the area it covers.

holderh - as with so many aspects of chicken keeping, what works for some will not for others, but I personally do not like pvc perches. The birds can't grip them adequately. Branches, 2x4s or 2x2s have worked well for many. Flat roosts allow the chickens to cover their feet well in cold weather. JMO.

Thank you, I thought the person who posted on the OT thread used something other then fishing line, but I imagine that will work too. We've had rain for the past couple of days and it is pouring today so I have a few days before I can get anything up anyway.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Sounds like you have some nice area for them to run! The reason I asked about the pen is because I also have a pen for times when they can't free-range and, of course, the grass in a confined space like that doesn't last long! It can get pretty unhealthy in there over time. It's great that they're going to get a new area with fresh grass in their pen but it will be gone soon too. Someone had been asking about mucky, muddy pens on another thread and I'm going to copy here for you what I wrote. I hope it may help give you some ideas for the future! Here is is:


RE mud in the run...
I have a dog kennel run that is attached to the hen house. I keep this for when they need to be enclosed but also let them out to free-range most of the time.

When I got my first 6 chickens, that dog kennel run was full of grass. But, of course, in a small area the chickens will take out the grass pretty much right away and what you're left with can become an impacted, unhealthy situation.

However - deep litter can be very healthy over a dirt floor or run as well so after the grass was on the way out, I began using the deep litter principle out on that run.

I had a couple of trees that were taken down and I had the landscapers chip all the branches and leave me a big pile. They had been there about 8 months and were beginning to cure. They were already full of worms and the kiddos loved it if they could get on that pile and get all the bugs and worms. I began hauling wheelbarrows full of those chips over into the dog kennel run.

In addition to those chips, when I clean the deep litter out of the hen house, I put a good amount of that right outside into the dog run to continue building up the deep litter there. You can also put fall leaves you've raked in there, etc.

The goal of this is to build a litter deep enough that it can keep the ground below warm enough that they may still be able to scratch in it and find bugs - even in the winter. The soil underneith does not become impacted as the deep litter actually feeds what's below like compost (think of a forest floor) and as it breaks down, it makes great soil and living environment for bugs, worms, etc. that the chickens will love to scratch down to find.

As they scratch, they aerate it and the cycle continues. The poo breaks down and gets stirred in, feeds the soil and bugs, they break it down and create healthy soil and on and on it goes.
If I didn't build deep litter there, I'd have a hard impacted, dead, unhealthy, muccy/muddy environment that can easily spread disease.

THIS IS SO EASY TO DO with what you already have - and is very healthy for your kiddos!
You can even contact tree services in your area - many of them will bring you as many wood chips as you'd like free. You tell them where to dump them and they do. When I use those kinds of chips I have them put it in a hill and let them sit for awhile before using them in the run so they're not green - especially if it is pine - so that the resin can break down some. When I see worms and bug activity starting in that pile, I know it will be safe to put in the run.

This is that pile of wood chips: (I had put the fence over there so they could dig for worms)

This is when I started putting piles of chips in the dog kennel run: There were live worms in there and they went right to the job of spreading the chips around for me

This is inside the dog kennel run. Notice the deep litter there. Most of what you see there was just thrown out from inside the hen house when it got too deep. You can use the litter from inside, wood chips, leaves, grass you rake from mowing the lawn, etc.

You can think of this as DEEP MULCH...

 

[Leahs Mom]

All this wire has turned it into a fairly lethal fence. Squirrels routinely electrocute themselves on it - I think because they are touching the electric wire and the fence and possible the ground fence too.

Doesn't kill skunks or coons or dogs.

With the straight run chicks that are coming, I'm wondering about keeping some of the roos and letting them free range outside of the pen. Will they electrocute themselves on the fence? WIll they want to be in with the hens continuously ? Guess I am tring to figure out if I have to build them a run for themselves or if it will work to free range with a run nearby of hens?

Lala - is this continuously "on" or is it a pulse?

One of the reasons that squirrels get electrocuted is that when they feel the electric they often turn around and bite the wire. Once they bite it they can't release - especially if it's in an constant on position, but sometimes they can't let loose quickly enough on the pulse. That explains why the squirrels get it and the others don't.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks for all the shoe feedback! I'm going shopping this afternoon

 

[Leahs Mom]

OH - and AFL has great photos of her outdoor deep litter showing worms in winter! AFL...can you post those again?

 

[lalaland]

Thanks bulldogma! That is a great example. None of my girls legs look like that but I will rub them all down with nustock anyway. How often do you keep there legs rubbed down to prevent leg mites?

Our roosts are pvc pipe...will the neem oil work on that type of a roost?

Also those of you who use the deep litter method does that only work with pine shavings? I use hay and I use it as a deep litter method too (or so I thought I was) Do you really only see the benifits with pine shavings?

Just bumping these questions to the end from Post 13049, guess they were missed: Thanks again to everyone for helping us new chicken owners. This thread is so busy!!

I've never heard of pvc roosts, but you wouldn't need to use anything on them. The neem is for wood roosts or wires, or for any part of wood in the coop, say nest boxes - to take care of any lice/mites etc.

How big is the diameter on your pvc roosts? do they fall off?

I use hay in my coop, works just fine. I have too big of a coop to use shavings, although I like to use them in a brooder. Anything I haven't used by the time the chicks are out of the brooder goes into the regular coop floor.

Lala - is this continuously "on" or is it a pulse?

One of the reasons that squirrels get electrocuted is that when they feel the electric they often turn around and bite the wire. Once they bite it they can't release - especially if it's in an constant on position, but sometimes they can't let loose quickly enough on the pulse. That explains why the squirrels get it and the others don't.

Danged if I know! I know it says 120v. I've had it for maybe 8 or 9 years, before that I used one that had to be plugged into a battery. I didn't know that about squirrels!

Off to get some pansies because its spring!

 

[cywiar merch]

Okay so as you see by Bossy standing in the coop doorway my girls go in in out freely all day and know how to use their ramp. I have an automatic door with a light sensor. It opens at dawn and closes at dusk (not dark) solar lights here and there have popped on for 10 min before the door closes). Why wont they go in to bed. They have only put themselves to bed once since they have had the option to come out of the coop and into the run.

Really cute coop! love it. Is there enough cross ventilation? Perhaps that could be a reason they are hesitant to stay in there? I'm a real newbie, so this is real speculation. I've been reading the old timers thread and one of them suggested 1 foot of vent (in and out) per 10 square feet of floor. This is just a thought that came to me so please don't think I'm being crtical.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote: I buy small funnels and glue them to the top of chick waterers. Keeps them from getting on them.

These are the Crocs that I have and wear while in the garden or around the chickens. I have them in pink for about three years now and they are very comfortable. I don't wear them off my property. I change into them when I get home and work outside. I have my 'leave the house' shoes and these plus rubber boots for winter use. My husband also has his 'at home' outdoor shoes and others. It is just one small part of our bio-security around our chickens.

We have shoes here that only go out in the back/chicken yard. Our everyday shoes don't go out there. One for the bio-security and two, who wants poo on nice shoes.