The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

I do my cup waterer on the bucket in the coop always. The water DOES stay cooler in there. When it got REALLY HOT last summer, I would freeze water bottles and put into the bucket to keep it colder...traded them out morning and afternoon.)

When I had chicken water nipples, they leaked and made a stink. No more of them!

In the summer I also have shallow pans w/water outside in a couple of places that they can stand in to cool off or drink from (or poop in...

)

 

[Leahs Mom]

my setup is about the great outdoors

Love seeing all those birds outside!

How do you keep your water thawed in the winter?

 

[midnightroo]

Ok thanks for the input guys. I won't worry about chickens not having waterat night. I thought that they didn't need water at night, but everything I read was so insistent water them always having water I wanted to make sure not having it at night was ok. I did get the nipples waterers and haven't figured out a way for them to work for me without leaking. I might have to invest in the cups for the winter or summer after we buy the new resin shed for the chickens.

Thanks again good night.

 

[RedRidge]

Hmmm. I have had some of my nipples for years and years and never had a leaking problem. I still 1/16" smaller than recommended and use a rubber mallet to put them into either a large piece of PVC or a bucket. Outside water means dirty water. More cleaning necessary.
All of our livestock is water from rain water collection containers year round. Anywhere from 300-1100 gallons each. We use gold fish in these large tanks to eat algae. That water is then gravity fed into PVC delivery systems purposely mounted inside to prevent algae and keep the water cool. I even use chicken nipples for the newly hatched chicks - small buckets in each brooder that have 2 nipples each.
The only exception to this is on days when they are rotated beyond gravity capabilities. We have well water we use for the far pastures that are too many acres away to gravity feed. Everyone drink out of stock tanks that are low to ground to enable all livestock to access them. Each stock tank out on the 50 acres is filled with well water and goldfish.

 

[stonykill]

Love seeing all those birds outside!

How do you keep your water thawed in the winter?

I break the ice on top when it forms. Add boiling or at least piping hot water as needed once or twice a day. Dump it out at the end of the day and start the next day with hot water. Works for me

 

[camilleathome]

*Rant* I had to pick the absolute worst time to get horses. I cant find any hay anywhere. I found one person and they would charge me 600$ to deliver 100 bales of hay due to being too far. Im trying to get my horses over in a week and its being rather dissapointing so far.

 

[aoxa]

*Rant* I had to pick the absolute worst time to get horses. I cant find any hay anywhere. I found one person and they would charge me 600$ to deliver 100 bales of hay due to being too far. Im trying to get my horses over in a week and its being rather dissapointing so far.

Camille, why don't you ask Joan about this? She has a lot of horses, and could probably direct you to the right people

 

[hotrodflash]

*Rant* I had to pick the absolute worst time to get horses. I cant find any hay anywhere. I found one person and they would charge me 600$ to deliver 100 bales of hay due to being too far. Im trying to get my horses over in a week and its being rather dissapointing so far.

Do you have access to pasture? If you do, you shouldn't need hay until later in the Fall. Or at least that is the way it is done here. But our horses are pastured not stabled. As a kid, my Dad worked on a horse farm and they stabled their horses and they were the most awful, mean animals to deal with. Stable boredom had made them mean. My sister has 3 horses and the oldest one is 26 ish and looks great, no one believes that she is that old. Just my thoughts, I don't know your situation, do what is best for you and your horses.

 

[camilleathome]

Camille, why don't you ask Joan about this? She has a lot of horses, and could probably direct you to the right people

I will send her a message

Do you have access to pasture? If you do, you shouldn't need hay until later in the Fall. Or at least that is the way it is done here. But our horses are pastured not stabled. As a kid, my Dad worked on a horse farm and they stabled their horses and they were the most awful, mean animals to deal with. Stable boredom had made them mean. My sister has 3 horses and the oldest one is 26 ish and looks great, no one believes that she is that old. Just my thoughts, I don't know your situation, do what is best for you and your horses.

Bear is a naturally kept horse. I need to get my main pasture done and he can go straight away. Spirit was kept stabled and put into pasture on and off but theres a lot of horses so cant see there being much grazing oppertunity. I plan on working her up to full pasture turnout so I will need some hay to start. Id like to get like 100 bales just so I have something to start with especially since Spirit lost weight over the winter as the guy in charge of the barn wasnt feeding her enough feed(Im switching her to beet pulp) and his horses were bullying her so she didnt have as much access to hay. Ive been dealing with anxiety and slight depression(Due to stress from not having a week off in five years) so this 9 day vacation is my first in a long long time and I really want to get there here so I can bond with them

 

[hotrodflash]

Bear is a naturally kept horse. I need to get my main pasture done and he can go straight away. Spirit was kept stabled and put into pasture on and off but theres a lot of horses so cant see there being much grazing oppertunity. I plan on working her up to full pasture turnout so I will need some hay to start. Id like to get like 100 bales just so I have something to start with especially since Spirit lost weight over the winter as the guy in charge of the barn wasnt feeding her enough feed(Im switching her to beet pulp) and his horses were bullying her so she didnt have as much access to hay. Ive been dealing with anxiety and slight depression(Due to stress from not having a week off in five years) so this 9 day vacation is my first in a long long time and I really want to get there here so I can bond with them

Great! Sounds like you have a plan. Try Craigslist for hay, the farm stores around here sell hay so that is maybe a place to look. I am glad that you are getting her out of a bad situation. Best of luck. And enjoy your vacation.