The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[4Hgirl]

Bread is loaded with sugar. 

It leaves them feeling full while providing no nutritional benefit to them. 

Yeah they love it. I bet they love bugs better.  

I may feed the ends of bread loaves to the chickens, but it is extremely rare. I do not eat a lot of bread. The rest of my house is Gluten free. 

The sugar content makes sense. If I do the ff to Break down the carbs why load them with carbs in bread....

 

[RedRidge]

I use d'Uccles for incubators... this is Muccle... she hatched BO and RIRxBO for me last week...
She is the ultimate dependable gal... wish I had more like her...

 

[Mrs.SB]

Ok guys I have a question. Not sure if you guys remember but my run was broken into by dogs about 2 months ago I think and they killed 2 and hurt 2. They hurt one pretty bad. I was thinking she still wasn't laying yet because I'm only get 2 eggs a day, at the most. Sometimes only 1 though.

Here's where I'm confused. I was reading on this thread a few days ago and someone posted a picture of fertilized eggs with the bullseye on it. Well the one chicken that was hurt pretty bad ended up with maggots around her bottom and so I was checking out the eggs once I cracked them and it looks like the pic of the fertilized egg... Thing is I don't have a rooster... Ever since the dogs attached the coop one chicken has become more aggressive to our lab puppy. She runs from our big dog but will try to peck the puppy when she comes up to the fence... There's no chance she is really a he is there?? I've had her the whole time and before when all 5 were alive and laying we got 5 eggs almost every day.. Here are pics of the eggs. One had a red spot on it and when I stirred it up the orange was really dark. Maybe I'm just over thinking this since I've been worried about them ever since the dog attack

Thanks for reading all that if your sill with me

Each egg in the bowl is a different egg. Sorry for the glare!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
I wish we could just turn the broody on when we want to hatch

 

[countrygirl74]

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.

Thanks for sharing - she's pretty! Yes, mine definitely has a bigger comb and wattles. Well, I re-homed all my other roos except for one silkie because I thought he was a cockerel - guess I did the right thing so I can keep him!
Delisha said I need to send him away to her house because he's too ugly for my flock, but I like "ugly" - LOL

I am a thief and I steal photos! Check out the Weekly Country Shoot Out on the thing to see if I stole one (or three) of yours.

Yay, I have a couple on there! What a great bunch of photos - thanks Bulldogma!

Very pretty

Thank-you!!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote:
I wish we could just turn the broody on when we want to hatch

I know. When mine went broody again I thought I would have to break her since I acquired 8 chicks in the last month and DW said to stop for a bit. But we both agreed when we started to let broddies raise small clutches. And she gave the ok to start the color project, she is starting to get the chicken bug. Hahaha

 

[Bulldogma]

Ugh... No power. Haven't had since the middle of the night. Normally I wouldn't care but I have 15 Rhodebars eggs that have been in a bator for 17 days - lockdown tomorrow. And I have the dozen SFH eggs I just set in the bator at 4pm yesterday.
Bators are in the guest bedroom which happens to have "guests" in it this weekend for my daughters graduation, so I have no idea what bator temps are.
Stressing...

Power finally restored... bators each got down to 93F
Chicks are fine... it's the eggs I'm worried about.
Guess I'll know for sure when the first group hatches on Thursday.
Someone tell me it's no biggy...

Will be a long 4 days.
Could have much longer and much colder so I'm going to think positive...

Hopefully they'll all be fine! Yes - it can delay the hatch a bit, but 93 isn't bad at all! Keeping my fingers crossed all goes well the rest of the way for all of these eggs!!

Ok guys I have a question. Not sure if you guys remember but my run was broken into by dogs about 2 months ago I think and they killed 2 and hurt 2. They hurt one pretty bad. I was thinking she still wasn't laying yet because I'm only get 2 eggs a day, at the most. Sometimes only 1 though.

Here's where I'm confused. I was reading on this thread a few days ago and someone posted a picture of fertilized eggs with the bullseye on it. Well the one chicken that was hurt pretty bad ended up with maggots around her bottom and so I was checking out the eggs once I cracked them and it looks like the pic of the fertilized egg... Thing is I don't have a rooster... Ever since the dogs attached the coop one chicken has become more aggressive to our lab puppy. She runs from our big dog but will try to peck the puppy when she comes up to the fence... There's no chance she is really a he is there?? I've had her the whole time and before when all 5 were alive and laying we got 5 eggs almost every day.. Here are pics of the eggs. One had a red spot on it and when I stirred it up the orange was really dark. Maybe I'm just over thinking this since I've been worried about them ever since the dog attack

Thanks for reading all that if your sill with me

Each egg in the bowl is a different egg. Sorry for the glare!

It can be hard to tell from pictures - but a few of those eggs look fertile to me. LOL!

 

[aoxa]

Some pictures from today. Henry enjoying the water. Makes me want to build a pond so he can swim with the geese and ducks

 

[countrygirl74]

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Ooooh ooooh maybe you can get them to dig you a pond before the excavation equipment leaves???