The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[salt and pepper]

CountryGirl: Here are pics of our Blue Splash Cochin (Gizmo) and she is 13 weeks in the pictures, much smaller comb and wattles then your guy (I think you have a Blue Splash too?) and she is a wide round ball of fluff, really wide. She seems to want to mother our new chicks too. Although the new chicks want nothing to do with her.

What a pretty pullet!!!

 

[NanaLynn]

What a pretty pullet!!!

thanks!

 

[ramblinH]

Ah! This has been an interesting week for us! Biggest was my m-i-l being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on Tuesday, then having to have our 15 yr old family dog put down last night (everyone was at peace with the decision) & next, culling our 1st chick (1 month old) from the flock this morning...

This is my ? concerning the chick - everyone looked fine last night. This morn I noticed one of my Doms trying to walk but legs kept giving on her, she finally succumbed and just laid there. Did some quick research & with the fear that it may have been Marek's, we removed her from the flock. It may have been rash for me to have acted so quickly but can not afford to otherwise. We chose not to vaccinate our flock and this has honestly been one of my biggest fears, how to handle, if & when it occurs...

So my question is for those of you who DO NOT vaccinate for Marek's. What should I be doing with the rest of my flock now, other than praying their awesome immune systems will kick-in & build a natural immunity? I feed fermented, ACV & do deep litter (although this is my 1st flock, so not built up yet). I am headed to the big city today, so would like some suggestions in case I need to pick something up that's not so readily available in the country. Oh, and I sprayed their coop down with LAB prior to their arrival. I am wondering about administering some herbs with anti-viral, immune boosting & activating properties - echinacea, peppermint, cayenne? I only have incapsulated or essential oil forms currently available - should a just put so much in their feed right now and sprinkle over their liter? How much in the feed (14 chicks 1 month old eating approximately 9 cups of FF ea day)?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Blessed weekend to you all ~ Kendra

PS ~ Always enjoy the wealth of knowledge represented on this thread and wish I had the time to follower more regularly!

 

[midnightroo]

My bees are italians. They're from gorgia and some people in my area are having trouble getting the southern queens to overwinter sucessfully. So I'm a bit nervous about that. Last year i had a total loss, but it was about 50/50 user error and sheer dumb bad luck. Hoping for better things this year from my two hives. We did get some honey from our one hive last year, and it was the best thing I have ever had. so much more intensely flavored than store honey. There will be no videos of me working the hives because as soon as I open them DH retreats to the house.

Yep that's what he ordered. He looked into some Russians and I found a place PA that had them, but we got side tracked. Let me know how the two hives work out. He read about getting two, but at the time the expense was too great. He was able to over winter them twice, but this last winter there were very few left and those died. Dd isn't scared of them, will very nicely help them back to them hive if they land on her. Agreed the honey is great. Oh, I was asking for a video of the chicken eating dandelion fluffy. Lynn your blue splash is very pretty.

 

[ramblinH]

Hello everyone, it's been a while! I feel like I'm that really bad friend who just shows up when they need something.

Ditto! But I hope it means something to you all that I only reserve asking advice to trusted sources & that although my life does not allow me to follow regularly now - someday it will and I will be able give back to others the knowledge being imparted now! That's what I've liked about this thread thus far, everyone really is about promoting natural chicken keeping & aiding others in that endeavor !!!

 

[salt and pepper]

I'm taking the dive, and am going to start fermented feed! The part of it that caught my attention was that they eat less of it,lol. But I have one more question. How long does fermented feed last?? If my birds don't eat it all, will I have to through out the extra??? Thanks!!

 

[loanwizard]

I am sooo far behind. I was yesterday too, was going to post several responses, now I have forgotten....

Delisha, does ammonia soaked balls work for coon and possum? I have a possum I believe but hasn't killed any birds.

I have 109 birds. The worst predators I have are dogs. Devil Dogs dropped off and I have my regular dogs, 1 a young Pit Bull that thinks the birds are basketballs or something.

I have a rooster named Captain.... only Chicken on the place with a name as he is my original. Far past his prime, he dares not venture into the barn with the other boys and runs a few girls of his own that dutifully follow him around, however they roost in the barn, while Captain comes to the garage up at the main house. He should have been stew long ago, but I am more tempted to butcher the other 12 or so and keep him...... That said, Rascal (hound, mother of Devil Dog's pups) and Brutus (Pit Bull 9mo old) had him in the driveway at midnight the other night rolling him down the driveway. Want to see how vulnerable a chicken is at night? I ran outside in my.... well.... I ran outside, dogs got a whuppin, had to chase a very disoriented rooster around, who is still more elusive than me... Strangely enough, they were all over him and he was a makin a racket, but there was no blood, so apparently no teeth.....

Anyhow. I have 4 acres, with 11,500 acres of state land behind me, 67 acres on one side, 50 acres across the road and 88 acres on the other side. Mostly woods, though my 4 acres are open and 3 of my 4 neighbors have rolling pasture.

I don't lose chickens to predators on a monthly basis. I get vicious surprises of many dead, usually from a dog we are fostering..... Coyotes do not come near. Although I have seen Turkey on the place, and have seen multiple birds of prey, I don't worry about them. I don't specifically hear anything, but sometimes I look around and there is nary a chicken in sight, then I look up to see if there is a hawk.... most of the time, they have already been gone. We humans are dim witted in those types of survival skills.

They free range 24/7 365 days per year. They have two stalls, 1 for roosting, one for laying. They use the whole barn (30x100). They range over 2-3 acres.

A huge thanks for the reminder that it is nigh on summer. Fed so much during the winter that I just naturally do it when they come running which is every time they see me. No food today bucko's forage or starve lol!... They just rob the hogs......

I have never fed a duck unless them stealing chicken or hog food is feeding them. If you have grass and clover or a pond, they are fine.

Can't remember anything else.... been busy.....

Love and kisses and hugs and well wishes.

I wish you enough....

Shawn

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Ah! This has been an interesting week for us! Biggest was my m-i-l being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on Tuesday, then having to have our 15 yr old family dog put down last night (everyone was at peace with the decision) & next, culling our 1st chick (1 month old) from the flock this morning...

This is my ? concerning the chick - everyone looked fine last night. This morn I noticed one of my Doms trying to walk but legs kept giving on her, she finally succumbed and just laid there. Did some quick research & with the fear that it may have been Marek's, we removed her from the flock. It may have been rash for me to have acted so quickly but can not afford to otherwise. We chose not to vaccinate our flock and this has honestly been one of my biggest fears, how to handle, if & when it occurs...

So my question is for those of you who DO NOT vaccinate for Marek's. What should I be doing with the rest of my flock now, other than praying their awesome immune systems will kick-in & build a natural immunity? I feed fermented, ACV & do deep litter (although this is my 1st flock, so not built up yet). I am headed to the big city today, so would like some suggestions in case I need to pick something up that's not so readily available in the country. Oh, and I sprayed their coop down with LAB prior to their arrival. I am wondering about administering some herbs with anti-viral, immune boosting & activating properties - echinacea, peppermint, cayenne? I only have incapsulated or essential oil forms currently available - should a just put so much in their feed right now and sprinkle over their liter? How much in the feed (14 chicks 1 month old eating approximately 9 cups of FF ea day)?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Blessed weekend to you all ~ Kendra

PS ~ Always enjoy the wealth of knowledge represented on this thread and wish I had the time to follower more regularly!

Sounds more like an injury, maybe a slipped tendon.

I'm taking the dive, and am going to start fermented feed! The part of it that caught my attention was that they eat less of it,lol. But I have one more question. How long does fermented feed last?? If my birds don't eat it all, will I have to through out the extra??? Thanks!!

I am constantly adjusting the amount of FF I feed per day. If they finish it all and act like they are dying, I increase the next day. If they don't eat it all, I throw whatever did not get eaten on the ground and cut back on the current day ration. It all gets eaten. I have 30 birds and feed about 1.5-2 gal of FF per day(split into each coop according to number/age of birds). On days I free range less FF gets fed to them. Although I have 3 Cornish X's in with the layers so all the FF gets eaten no matter what in that coop(X's are 8 weeks and about 8lbs each).

 

[jime]

Aoxa - you were talking about Quinoa earlier. This link is talking about several grains and if you scroll down, you can see a photo..and a warning too! http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/feed_ingredients/grains.html

About the quinoa, I ma from Peru and over there we use it pretty much everyday our native people live on quinoa and potatoes and they outlive us.For the animals I don't know how good it is I give my chickens quinoa and amarath that is something from Peru as well pretty good for humans as well when I give to the animals I give half apart of my rations.
Over there we have hard time with baby turkeys they don't start to search for food early and they won't eat what the parents eat so we start them with cook quinoa and they always make it.

 

[jime]

Aoxa, if you want to try some quinoa you can find it in Super store on the grain beans (we have that in Calgary)that is where I just to find it.Or in the organic stores but a lot higher in price