The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Quote: Both look like great books. I am going to see if my library has electronic copies

 

[Child of Noah]

panda's

No...
pandas.

My chickens have officially been moved to the coop and seem to be doing well in there with a heat lamp. The silkies are doing great with them. We named our little roo Steven After his father Steve(Aoxas blue silkie).

I had some bad new today. When I came back home I looked and there were only three little ducks in the pen. Al had fed and watered them for me while I went out with my mom and found one of my little call ducks dead .

I am really enjoying the conversation about edible forage plants. That is something I have always wanted to learn more about. I will be checking out the suggested book.

 

[lalaland]

My chickens have officially been moved to the coop and seem to be doing well in there with a heat lamp. The silkies are doing great with them. We named our little roo Steven After his father Steve(Aoxas blue silkie).

I had some bad new today. When I came back home I looked and there were only three little ducks in the pen. Al had fed and watered them for me while I went out with my mom and found one of my little call ducks dead .

aww, I'm sorry - that is too sad.

 

[Sally8]

after watching dozens upon dozens of broodys handle eggs, rolling them all over the place, getting off the nest 30 minutes at a time when it is 40 degrees F out, getting up to eat when they feel the 1st pip I don't worry at ALL about how carefully I handle the eggs.I have even watched broody's roll a zipping egg out from under them, then pull the hatched chick under them. I am gentler than the broody's are and they have better hatch rates than I have ever had.
Enjoy your broody! I had 1 broody hatch 11 of 13 the other day and have 8 more sitting on eggs. And the year is still young

I believe this also. Good to see you on here Stony. I have been turning eggs (usually turkey) when I notice the beak sticking out and finished rolling the rest, placed the cover on and in a short time, a poult. A few days later the same. I've been picking up turkey eggs when I find them and just stick them in the incubator not knowing how long she might have sat on it or not at all.

 

[lalaland]

Reminds me of a statement I once read a statement about 30 years ago in a weight-loss-diet-type-book. I think it really applies across the board and I've never forgotten it:

"IF GOD MADE IT AND MAN DIDN'T CHANGE IT, (...and I would add - "if you were designed to eat it") YOU CAN EAT IT."

[Like raw milk and meats from ruminants that browse or graze as they were created to eat and aren't fed soybeans and grains; like a piece of fruit rather than juice or fruit-flavored drinks, like animal fat instead factory-made oils, etc. etc.)

(Of course disclaimer for poisons (like soy beans and other items that can't be eaten in their natural state...I hope that's obvious), but when talking about real food items.)


I think I like your statement better! IF YOUR GREAT GRANDMA WOULDN'T RECOGNIZE IT AS FOOD, DON'T EAT IT!

have you ever read michael pollan? Some of his work on food is pretty dense, I would highly recommend it. He also came out with a small paperback called food rules. Its hilarious but true. "avoid food with ingredients that a 3rd grader can not pronounce." "don't eat breakfast cereal that changes the color of milk" "don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food" and my all time favorite "eat only foods that will evenutally rot" a funny reference to the experiments of various folks on leaving food on the counter that never molds or spoils - like burger king hamburgers or twinkies.

 

[camilleathome]

Moved the chicks into the coop

 

[4Hgirl]

HI 4hgirl,

You won't have waste if you wet the feed down - add enough water, milk (even "old" milk), buttermilk, etc to make it sloppy oatmeal consistency.  Leah's mom is right, FF will also help.

It can be expensive, you can check with your feed store - if they grind their own feed they can tell you what is in it and it could be "transitional" which would be better than conventional.  Now that the corporate interests succeeded a couple of years back in altering the legal requirements for organic , the term "organic" isn't as meaningful anymore.

I read all the FF info on the natural keeping site. I plan to do it! I need a ceramic container because I can't imagine watching the fermentation through glass on my kitchen counter! I am so excited! When we started with chicken we fed organic to our first batch of 4h poultry layer project chicks and my daughters trio won grand champion! Her first year! Then to save money I went to conventional crumble for last years layers project to save money, I fed them the higher protein super breeder crumble and they just didn't turn out as good. They did get blue quality but no champions. We are going back to organic feed! Maybe we will get a champion trio next year. But I know we will have healthier eggs at the very least.

 

[aoxa]

I think there may be grass... it's just buried under all the snow!

What is the platform? Is it just a free floating deck?

It used to be a chicken coop 25 years ago.. than it was a playhouse, and after that a green house. The walls were rotting so Susan's parents tore all but the base down. We bought her childhood home, have I mentioned that?

I have been interested I foraging for a few years. I don't have time now, but I slowly add something each season. I didn't know about the dandelion root for tea, but will look into. I follow a person on the East coast and West Coast about foraging. Both have foraging hikes they offer for teaching. There is also a site called herb mentor dot com that I haven't signed up for yet, but was told was a great resource for learning. They offered a series of foraging books for children with fairies as the herb that I got for my daughter to do as part of her homeschool cirrculum. I figured it would do double duty to teach me also.

Have to go move my coop, do some gardening, and try to set up for culling my roo tonight. He attacked my daughter again yesterday afternoon. It is a shame because he is so good with the hens, but he jumped up high enough to get her on the arm, no cuts though. Way to high for my comfort. Plus for some reason he went after one of the little chicks the other day.

Sorry about losing the little chicks. The pictures as always are too cute!

Oh, Justine, could you tell me about your hammock and the stand it is on? We have a stand and after seeing you in your hammock I thought it would be nice to sit outside and read to my daughter then being inside, but can't do it if I don't have a hammock. Do you like it? Big enough for two? Has it held up for the about of time you have had it?

Sorry off topic some more, but does anyone have a Hills Umbrella clothesline? I like them, but they are a ton of cash, which is fine if it lasts FOREVER.

Christine

Yes our hammock is wonderful. Pricey though... We had one in the barn fire, and had a good replacement value on it, so we got a double hammock form costco. Very nice and durable. Can fit both Susan and I and we are not light by ANY means.

The hammock came with the stand, so I am not sure much else about it.
http://www.costco.ca/Sunbrella

-Double-Hammock-with-Stand.product.10366494.html

Moved the chicks into the coop

They are so cute!

 

[rambunctious]

Is this an okay amount of feather loss for 15 (13 week old) chickens?? It seems like an awful lot!!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Is this an okay amount of feather loss for 15 (13 week old) chickens?? It seems like an awful lot!!

Yes, they are going through a juvenile molt