The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[stonykill]

Goats- Escape artists, pain in the rear! But.... that said, I have a neighbor has a couple on zip lines. A long line from point a to b, with a shorter lead for controlling area. I think I saw them at TSC, and considered them for the dogs.

Y'all crack me up! I am lucky all my animals ain't kilt dead! When I butcher, clean fish, kill something, recover a dead piglet..... some animal on the farm gets it. ALL of it.

I look at it this way. In the wild, nobody separates anything cause they aren't there and the tree made no sound. Maybe if an animal gets sick and dies, the animals have an epidemic or maybe they leave the bad parts to others.

My chickens eat parts of the fish, then the maggots come and the chickens enjoy that, then the dogs roll in it..... Then I am sorry I didn't give it to the fish in the pond.....

That said, I had a brilliant idea to save the guts from my meat birds..... Stuff goes bad QUICK..... trust me on that.

 

[aoxa]

Ah... no problem... I raise Maremma...
We have wild dogs, coyotes, mountain lions, bears, snakes, mink, turkey vultures, hawks...
LOVE my maremma... I haven't lost one chick or chicken (and the chickens free range during the day), sheep or lamb, cow or calf, since I've had Italian Maremma.
I don't know what I'd do without them.

My oldest maremma Flo is currently in charge of all chicks, chicken, and replacement ewe lambs. Not even a hawk is allowed in the air space above our property.
The other dogs are all out with the breeding groups of sheep right now being rotated in electronetting on the large pastures... Flo has the pastures adjoining the barn the hen house.

I forgot about your Maremmas! Great answer!

 

[cywiar merch]

The coconut oil is thick at room temp. As soon as you touch it it melts, which makes it easier to apply.

Susan even made an organic toothpaste out of coconut oil, peperment oil and baking soda. She said you know we're hippy when..

I want to make an organic coconut oil deodorant.

I can't say enough about the stuff. I'm sure you can infuse it with whatever you want

That'sa lovley website.. I will definitely try the deodorant. apart from olive oil, coconut oil, is the only oil I cook with. I also use it as moisturiser and to condition my hair.

I just realised you live in Canada. I lived there for 14 years (toronto).

 

[jlynnet]

 Ok, so I will ask my question here. I have 4 chicks (red star) about 4-5 weeks old they are looking healthy, and feathering out nicely. 

I've been introducing them to out door environment since last week during the day. Have been scratching, chirping, enjoying it very much. 

I would like to know if I should give them some DE in their food.  I currently have Purina Medicated Start and Grow.  What do you think?

DE Food Chemical Codex Grade. If so How much can I give them?

I have 4and 6 week olds that have been outside for over a week without any additional heat. I had weaned them off the heat lamps by the time they were 3 weeks old. They have an enclosed run to run around in. The first 4 days we had to put them inside every night. They just couldn't figure out how to get back in. Now they are out running around @6 am until about 9 pm. I never feed medicated chick starter. I do sprinkle DE in my inside area because deep litter doesn't work in there. I need to get some wood ash in there for dusting. This thread is very informative. Welcome!

 

[BlueMouse]

the posts about dogs rolling in stinky stuff sure made me laugh out loud. My silly cow dog LOVES to roll in any dead thing he can find. And boy can he find dead things. He used to come trotting in so proudly with little bits of dead thing stuck to his fur. Every time he did it I would tell him "Ewww, STINKY. BAD." and take him outside and wash him firmly with the cold water from the hose and a rubber dog scrubber thing (hey, I'm not putting a dog with bits of dead thing stuck to him in my bath tub). Now, this dog hates water. He's been trained to stand for baths, but he looks at you like your'e killing him the whole time you wash him. I think I did the "bad dog stinky" routine four or five times and he stopped rolling in dead stuff. Now that's what I call a smart dog!

I'm actually really impressed with how good he is with the chickens. he completely ignores the big birds pretty much, but feels compelled to herd the chicks. I yell at him every time he does it, so now he herds them while looking pointedly in the opposite direction, like if he's not LOOKING at them he's not actually associated with herding them. "Just walking behind these chickens mom, just walking behind these chickens, no herding going on here."

I really want a LGD once we have more critters. The coyote problem is exteme here. I think I want a Kuvasz though, they're great dogs. Stubborn as mule, but great dogs.

 

[brandislee]

I know this is the Natural thread, but I am thinking Cornish X's are so unnatural. At 6 weeks mine are as big as my smallest hens(GSL and EE) but still peep like 6 week old chicks. Soooo wrong. But they taste yummy

I agree kind of, but when raised naturally they're a lot better at least than grocery store chicken, and realistically I couldn't afford the feed to raise as much meat, even with free ranging- you can't really beat the feed conversion of Cornish X's. Plus I look at some of their faults as bonuses- they're totally boring and personality-less, which makes them much easier to part with at processing time. And they're on the lazy side- mine do like to free range, but I never have to worry about them wandering too far.

LOL - that's for sure!

I am so with you on this one - I think the same thing about my cornish x - it is really weird raising these things.

I am sooo jealous! I can't find anyone with wood chips anywhere here! I want to start getting it for gardening. Guess Arizona doesn't have enough trees...




On another note... I decided to try and re-home 3 of the roosters and see which two went first. Well, it appears that my red silkie (the brat) was actually wanted and my beautiful EE too. So, for now, we are keeping the nice blue silkie and the little blue cohin cockerel that everyone said to definitely keep!

I took my silkie over to his new home yesterday and they hadn't finished the coop. There was no roof and they actually thought he would stay in there - I told them I would bring him back home and they could call me when it was finished. These people know absolutely nothing about chickens. They had a bowl full of scratch instead of feed, no roosts, no nesting boxes. I wouldn't even let them have him except they are actually really nice people and want to learn. They are however, very experienced with other farm animals - they raise horses and goats and litters of puppies. They love animals and thought "Snuffy" was absolutely adorable. They were so appreciative of all I showed them and I'm even leaving them some paperwork when I go back to help them remember all the info. They have 6 chicks that they will be putting with the silkie roo when they are a little bigger. I am going to keep him here until their chicks are ready to be with him because I don't want him to be in that silly pen all by himself. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to let this little stinker go, especially to people who don't really know what they're doing. It's hard... but if I can help them get things together, he will be so happy with 6 girls to himself. At my house, he is low man on the totem pole.

The other call for my big EE is somebody who has raised chickens in Nebraska their whole life and are starting their fairly new flock in Arizona now. I will go over to check that out today. I love my EE very much (Chubby Cheeks a.k.a. Fabio) to let him go to a less than ideal home. This guy has 9 girls and is looking for a rooster for protection. We'll see... if I don't like it, he's not going.

I wish I had a bunch of land because it is breaking my heart to get rid of either of them...

Anyone else have this hard of a time re-homing and did you eventually not be so sad?

Also, remember that horrible neighbor? I told you guys that I agreed to get my privacy panels put up on his border of the property and he seemed fine with that and said he was sure that would help a lot with the noise, etc. He also said he would be happy to try that for a while? Well, we put it up on Sunday and on Tuesday night, in the rain, as I'm trying to show my new babies where to go, he literally climbs his trailer and stands looking over my privacy fence with papers he said he printed off the internet showing that I can't have my chickens or ducks. What nerve!! Well, this time, he didn't realize my husband was out and my husband had had enough. He went over there and told him to never talk to his wife again and to stop telling us to do with our ***** property. He jumped down and left. I decided to be pro-active and visit all my neighbors. Every one of them was very nice and only 1 of them said that yes, the constant crowing of the 3 roos in the afternoon gets a little annoying sometimes, but he was very nice about it. One of the neighbors said she loves the sounds of all the animals and she's so glad I have them. Then, I went back to my zoning office and had 3 guys and 1 lady listen to my story and double-check all the ordinances, etc. I am good to go!!! Whatever he found doesn't apply to my particular property, which I knew but wanted to make absolutely certain that I wasn't missing anything. Now, if he calls down there, they will know who I am and how to handle it.
Last night, he was throwing a fit (this is a grown man, married with children) - pretending to fix one of his cars and revving it as loud as he could over and over for almost 2 hours. We just ignored him and laughed. I will not give in to this idiot or stoop to his level.
As for the roosters, we are downsizing, not because of him, but because to be honest, the crowing that they manage to do between the 3 of them is driving us crazy sometimes.

And that many roosters is just being too hard on the girls. I don't want more than 2 and it appears that I will soon have 4. The neighbor doesn't know that I am re-homing so I am enjoying these few days of them crowing their little hearts out this week before they go.

I always have a twinge... but then again, I've never rehomed a rooster, only sent them off to the processor with my broilers, so I feel the pang of guilt was appropriate. HOWEVER, that pang has always been immediately followed by an immense sense of relief. Last summer I had a whopping seven roosters for most of the summer, and the crowing was driving me crazy... and on top of that, it causes me anxiety because I don't want to be THAT NEIGHBOR. Not to mention the potential for fighting. So getting down to one rooster was a huge relief. I'm there now- I have three at the moment, and I need to cull two, but I don't process for about four more weeks and I want them gone before then- one is in my broody pen, and I want to put my broody hen in there on some eggs early next week (she's already good and broody, but I'm waiting until Monday so I can be reasonably sure I'm getting offspring of my new EE rooster and not my buckeye rooster- she's been diligently sitting on some golf balls ...), and the other is in the garden pen on the other side of the yard with seven hens, but I feel so bad for him because he spends like the entire day pacing the fence to get at the other rooster (who doesn't pay him a lick of attention). Plus the crowing- thankfully the one in the broody pen doesn't ever crow, but the other two. I'm over it. They crow (in my experience, anyway) very little when there are no other roosters around. On that note, cutting down to two roosters isn't going to solve your crowing problem. If you got down to one you would be much better off, but that's your choice. And your neighbor sounds like a jerk

Oh the dogs and the dead carcasses.. a smell I will never forget.. Having an LGD before.. she would unbury dead birds and lay by them. Our small dogs would come and roll through the dead birds.

I guess it's their form of perfume... It is gagworthy.

Now I do not bury dead birds.. I haven't had any dead ones to bury. I refuse to in the future though, because of the dogs.

did I ever tell you guys about a post hole we had on our property? Two call ducks went head first into them and suffocated. One right after the other. Was the weirdest thing I have ever uncovered. These are what the dogs rolled in.

Hmmm... I've always buried my chickens, right near the house even, and my dogs have never dug any up. I always put large logs over where I bury them, but my 100 lb lab would be able to move them if he wanted to bad enough. Of course, he's also a puppy (kind of, he's 1.5 and I don't trust him yet) so he doesn't spend any significant amounts of time outside by himself, and my 29lb border collie 1) doesn't like raw meat (she's a very strange dog, I know), and 2) probably couldn't move the logs.

What about weasels and minks? Those birds would be dead if you had any of those around.

Can weasels get through hardware cloth? Where's Stony?

I would consider a tractor type thing for breeding season for a breeding pair or trio if it was safe. If you confine birds to a small run/coop it needs to be predator proof. they have no where to escape if a predator gets in, so it would be very, very bad.

My question for the day...

The people I am giving my silkie roo to (he is 7 months old) have 6 two-week-old girls. How old should they be before we can just put them in the coop with my little guy? I don't want to take him there until they can be together because then he would be in a strange home all alone.

I currently have 5 (7-month-old) girls and 3 (7-month-old) roos with 13 pullets ranging in ages from 3 weeks to 8 weeks but didn't know if the silkie roo would hurt the babies without having any big girls there, especially being in a new strange place??? None of the boys bother the little ones at all right now.

I would say around 8 weeks, BUT if they're following good biosecurity practices they should quarantine him for 30 days anyway... I know it sucks for a chicken to have to be alone for that long, but it really is best practice. And I know it's hard to talk about other people quarantining our healthy chickens (I just rehomed a bantam, and while I knew she had to quarantine her, inside I was like "but she's totally healthy!"), but it would be a complete disaster if your rooster was carrying some disease that wiped out their new chickens or introduced a chronic or hard to treat problem. Plus it's just best practice, so teaching it to them (since they obviously don't know much yet) would be good for any additions they bring in in the future, assuming they take the lesson seriously. Anyway, my point being that they could get him and quarantine him now, and by the time he's out of quarantine the girls should be big enough for him (esp if they're standards- what are they?).

 

[brandislee]

the posts about dogs rolling in stinky stuff sure made me laugh out loud. My silly cow dog LOVES to roll in any dead thing he can find. And boy can he find dead things. He used to come trotting in so proudly with little bits of dead thing stuck to his fur. Every time he did it I would tell him "Ewww, STINKY. BAD." and take him outside and wash him firmly with the cold water from the hose and a rubber dog scrubber thing (hey, I'm not putting a dog with bits of dead thing stuck to him in my bath tub). Now, this dog hates water. He's been trained to stand for baths, but he looks at you like your'e killing him the whole time you wash him. I think I did the "bad dog stinky" routine four or five times and he stopped rolling in dead stuff. Now that's what I call a smart dog!

I'm actually really impressed with how good he is with the chickens. he completely ignores the big birds pretty much, but feels compelled to herd the chicks. I yell at him every time he does it, so now he herds them while looking pointedly in the opposite direction, like if he's not LOOKING at them he's not actually associated with herding them. "Just walking behind these chickens mom, just walking behind these chickens, no herding going on here."

I really want a LGD once we have more critters. The coyote problem is exteme here. I think I want a Kuvasz though, they're great dogs. Stubborn as mule, but great dogs.

I think our dogs might be related... except she doesn't roll in dead things, she rolls in chicken poop (after she's eaten some of it, of course). She too likes to herd the littler chickens but ignores the older ones... and she knows she's not supposed to do it (she's a border collie, so she nips at them when she does it, and while I have never seen her chase a chicken to harm it intentionally, I'm afraid she would either accidentally hurt them or get caught up in the moment and kill one) so she looks at me with this awful guilty look the ENTIRE TIME. So then I'm like "you know you're not supposed to, so why are you doing it??? UGH! The same with the chicken feed- she knows she's not supposed to eat the chicken feed, but the second I'm not watching her she sneaks in the run to eat it. I love her, she's a good dog, but sometimes I think that border collies (or at least this particular one...) are too smart for their own good. I have a much easier time teaching things to my less than intelligent lab. Oh, and the border collie hates water and gives me that look too!

I want a LGD as well... I actually had high hopes about my lab when we got him a year ago, I even bought a book on training LGD's, but it wasn't in the cards. He's the wrong breed with all the wrong instincts. I could have tried nonetheless, but it was January when we brought him home (to MN) and I didn't think it would be very compassionate to put an 8 week old puppy in a pen by himself outside in that kind of weather.

 

[brandislee]

... oh, and my dream LGD would be a Komondor, but they're super expensive and hard to find, and that hair.... So realistically I'll probably just look out for a Great Pyr or a mixed breed raised by people who breed them to be LGD's... or whatever I can find when I'm ready to have one. Not now- another dog would probably make me loose all my hair. I weekly have serious thoughts about putting the lab on Craigslist (does that make me a bad person?).

 

[Bulldogma]

Oooooo - now I've gone and done it. I'm gonna get put up in front of a firing squad for my latest (and rather impromptu) article. I posted chicken porn! Shhh....

(Oh yeah... you know you totally want to see what I put out there!)

 

[aoxa]

Oooooo - now I've gone and done it. I'm gonna get put up in front of a firing squad for my latest (and rather impromptu) article. I posted chicken porn! Shhh....

(Oh yeah... you know you totally want to see what I put out there!)

Oh I so had some rooster on duck action shots you could have used

... oh, and my dream LGD would be a Komondor, but they're super expensive and hard to find, and that hair.... So realistically I'll probably just look out for a Great Pyr or a mixed breed raised by people who breed them to be LGD's... or whatever I can find when I'm ready to have one. Not now- another dog would probably make me loose all my hair. I weekly have serious thoughts about putting the lab on Craigslist (does that make me a bad person?).

I really wanted a Komondor too, but they are extremely hard to locate. Very pretty dogs...

It all depends on your needs. How much space do you have? What do you want them to guard? Etc.. I find Maremmas stick closer, but are more wary of newcomers (people) - though they get over it once reassured. Great Pyrs wander more, and are very aloof.

Both of those dogs wander a lot.. Which is why I chose a BMD this time around. I need something to ward off daytime predators only. Our barn is going to be insanely predator proof. No need for night time protection.



Big boy in training. 16 weeks tomorrow. SO much easier to train than Clementine was.

He actually is more bonded to them than she was as well.