The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Every time I read about these I have visions of an "escape" and a house full of roaches

 

[hotrodflash]

Hey guys. I have a problem. Two of my Chanteclercs were rather severely plucked and I see one or two other RIR with a bit of feathers plucked on the top of their backs. Any idea what I can do about this? The two Chanteclercs are now inside again in the playpen with the ducks which I had to remove as they were scaring the chickens so much they refused to get into the coop XD

I had some that started plucking each other in the brooder, so I added raw meat, ground beef, with grit mixed in to it and they gobbled it down and the plucking stopped. I gave it to them about every 3 days until they were out of the brooder. Not a lot, I had 19 and gave them about 2 or 3 ounces at a time. And I kept the plucked ones separated from the rest until they went to the grow out pen.

Hope this helps.

 

[countrygirl74]

Got some pics of my new pullets when supervised free-ranging this morning...

Still wondering about the cochin... boy or girl??








Edited to add - he/she "Monsoon" is 11 weeks old now

 

[Child of Noah]

For those of you with flocks of 20 or more chickens that have free access to at least 1-2 acres or more:

Could you tell us:

-What kind of feed you give.

1. Number in your flock (if you don't know for sure, just as close an estimate as possible).
2. Do you have a livestock guardian with your flock?
3. What is the average number of birds that you lose to predation in a month's time (average over the number of mos. they can be outside). And - what type of predators do you deal with most often?
4. Is the property primarily open pasture, wooded, or mix?
5. The amount of property they range approximately (Stony estimated his use about 3 acres, for example.)
6. Compare the amount of feed you have to give them during a typical June or July vs. the amount of feed given in a typical January.




For those of you with any size flock that free range any size property:

Could you tell us:

-What kind of feed you give.

1. Number in your flock.
2. About how much area do they have to range?
3. How long do they get to range each day?
4. What is your experience with predation?
5. Is the property primarily open pasture, wooded, or mix?
6. Compare the amount of feed you have to give them during a typical June or July vs. the amount of feed given in a typical January.



Personally, I don't know if I can answer these questions myself as I haven't kept good records. But what I'd like to do is keep a record from here out - especially on feed - so I can get a more measured idea of feed needs, etc.

It would be extremely helpful to me - and I hope others here - to have this info from as many as possible in all of the varying situations (region of country, weather, land stats, etc.) as it would help for planning feed costs and getting a good idea of if I can reduce my feed input or if I'm at a pretty good level.


Anyone willing to join in and keep records to share with us all if you don't already know your usage? (This doesn't have to be "anal" just a general idea for comparison.)

And..those of you that do know, please share!

(And I'm thinking once all the info comes in it would be great to compile it all into a blog post to have all together in one place )

6 chickens, 5 ducklings (not a question for me, but I do have a guard dog)
The 6 chickens have no limit to the area they range, but they tend to stay to less than one acre (the ducklings will get to range when they get older)
Sun up to sun down they range
I have coyotes, fox, hawks, raccoons, stray dogs and cats, bears, uhmmm.. all the New York things. I have not lost any (yet).
The property is mixed: yard, pasture, woods, bushes, their coop is sort of in the middle of each area and they go to each area throughout the day.
I have only had my chickens since the last week of February, so I can't really give a good comparison. However, the 6 chickens total are eating less than a third pound per day and the 5 penned ducklings are eating nearly 2 pounds per day.

Re Tennis Balls please elaborate:
-How long to you soak the balls?
-Put them on the perimeter? How far apart?
-When do you re-soak..how long are they good for?
-For raccoons and possums only, or do they effect coyote too?
-Do you use them all summer?

Worm Bed:
-What's in there?
-How do we start one?
-How do we keep the worms proliferating?

Lots of Birds in Summer and Less in Winter..Where do they go?:
-Do you sell some?
-Do you process some for freezer?
-?

Yes... inquiring minds want to know these things.

Got some pics of my new pullets when supervised free-ranging this morning...

Still wondering about the cochin... boy or girl??

Hahahaha.... chicken butts are so fluffy and cute and funny.

 

[countrygirl74]

Here's some fun ones of the rest of them... they range in age from 8-11 weeks of age.

 

[Child of Noah]

Here's some fun ones of the rest of them... they range in age from 8-11 weeks of age.

I want a mini-ostrich!

 

[aoxa]

Got some pics of my new pullets when supervised free-ranging this morning...

Still wondering about the cochin... boy or girl??








Edited to add - he/she "Monsoon" is 11 weeks old now

He's definitely a he! So cute!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: I'm definitely not an experienced... but I thought a "he" too.

 

[hotrodflash]

Here's some fun ones of the rest of them... they range in age from 8-11 weeks of age





I have the twin to this one, I have 2 others that are buff colored with some black feathers in their tails. I really like them they are funny to watch and everyone thinks they are so ugly.

 

[Leahs Mom]

When my husband saw those (in a magazine we get) he commenced to showing it to everyone he knew and they all exclaimed how ugly they are!