The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[camilleathome]

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.

My friend is in charge of the barn in the summer and wasnt impressed.

 

[BlueMouse]

So, I candled my eggs, day 7. I have two with very visible blood rings, are these quitters that should be disposed of, or should I wait until we candle again at day 10?? I think (crossing my fingers) that all the others are still viable. I couldn't see a lot of veins on most of them, but I think that might be a) my flashlight and b) the colored eggs.

 

[delisha]

Quote: well that is a hen..not her for sure. Maybe it was one of the other birds you lost. I might have to take a look at the yolks again. The bottom one looked fertile to me. I did not look close enough possibly.

So, I candled my eggs, day 7. I have two with very visible blood rings, are these quitters that should be disposed of, or should I wait until we candle again at day 10?? I think (crossing my fingers) that all the others are still viable. I couldn't see a lot of veins on most of them, but I think that might be a) my flashlight and b) the colored eggs.

if you are new..leave the eggs..I would not candle at day 10. Less handling is better. Sometimes a blood ring is actual a large vein. At day 14 if there are no other veins growing, it is a dead embryo and should be tosses.

 

[countrygirl74]

Lady you are missing your calling as a photographer.

I still think you can make megabucks on your pictures.

Lisa

X2!! You do a great job at capturing all the critters! I just stick with brides, etc. LOL - still working on capturing the animals whenever I get some free time. You should publish a photo farm book!

Hi folks, I need some advise. I have 5 Easter Eggers that are 10 weeks old and I'm wanting to integrate them with the 11 older girls (15 months) I have. My questions are : how do I keep each group from eating each others designated food (unmedicated chick starter and Layena)? And, I know they'll have to work their pecking order out but, short of kiling them, what's too rough for the older girls to be to the younger ones? What's the easiest way to introduce them to each other? The babies have been in a grow out pen seperated from the girl's main run by a fence for 6 weeks.

I made a grow-out pen for them that shared 1 wall with the main coop. I kept them in there for a week or two, then I opened up a small portion that they could go in and out of but the big ones could not. They just need a place to escape when they need or want to... It just took a couple weeks and now they are in the main pen with the big girls and roos all the time. I have the grow out pen completely closed off. My roos were sweethearts to all the babies - it's the hens that were big meanies. For that 2 weeks they were going in and out of the little "hole" in the wall, I also provided them their own food and water. Oh, and I also let them all out to free-range in a part of the yard together for a little bit each day. This way they could get used to being around each other but with lots of space. Now they are all sharing the roosts, etc. The big girls will still sometimes show them who's boss but for the most part, they all get along wonderfully. Just for reference, I was introducing 4-8 week old chicks to 28 week old girls and boys.
I would definitely check out the links LM and BDM shared as there are so many possibilities without having to build anything major.

Also had to tell you guys here:

I officially had my EARLIEST CROW! A whopping TEN DAYS OLD.

That is so not normal. It is hilarious, and I'm proud of him. I called him as a boy at day one! I just knew..



Now to catch it on video. At first I thought a chick was dying.. I ran to the brooder.. Pickles stood there as tall as can be and stretched his neck up and crowed.

Did I break a record? What's my prize?

For those of you who've been doing this a long time, what is your very earliest crower?

That is crazy!! My earliest was 6 weeks. It was a speckled sussex - I ran into the brooder wondering what the heck was going on! I've never had any that early, or even close to that early, besides him. Unfortunately he has been eaten - he was one of the original wrongly sexed birds when we had too many roos.

I have been meaning to ask a question. I know many of you do not keep you water in your coop to keep down dampness. But what do you do at night? I am asking because I a lot of what I read said that it was very important for chickens at have access to water at all times. Mine usually have access to water by 8:30 til they put themselves to bed at night.

I also do not keep any water or food in the coop. In the winter, they just wait until I come out around 7am to give them warm water or at least break the ice. In the summer, I just go out around 8 or so and give them fresh cold water but the water sits in their run all night so when they are up at the break of dawn and come out of the coop, there is water there. They just have to wait longer in the winter but they also aren't up as early then...

 

[ramblinH]

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.

Definitely doing this, great tip!

Each stock tank out on the 50 acres is filled with well water and goldfish.

Love this idea also! Are you talking the big coy-like goldfish or lil ones?

I want to say how deeply sorry I am

For your chickens, you did what you should do. You have a sick bird, you isolate, if it does not improve..you cull. That what you do. thank you from the birds.
I doubt you have marek's, unless you brought in a new bird..did you?

You need to feed one month old chicks what they want to eat They do so much growing at that age. To me it sounds like a lot of food. But i free range so every thing sounds like over feeding to me.
I have over 120 chicks. I feed 4 lbs a day. That is about 16 cups a day. My chicks range in age of 12 weeks to one week.

Thank you! No new birds but my Mom visits & has here own vaccinated flock. I have talked to her about mine being closed and the precautions we need to take. Have no doubt she is respecting my wishes.

I have already decided if this happens again I will isolate, as you suggested, & monitor several days before making a "final" decision.

In the meantime, putting a capsule of olive leaf powder in their food each feeding as a precaution...

So my next question is, they are exactly one month old ~ is that to young to begin free ranging them (which is what they'll ultimately be doing)? Right now the 14 have access to 351 + ft (think it housed turkey ages ago, 70 yr old building) of space in their coop with bare ground, dried leaves for bedding & I'm throwing in all the weeds from my garden...

Aoxa

Oh Henry! Fell in love with that guy when you 1st posted his lil puppy pictures! I'm really hoping to talk my DH into a livestock dog for my flock but so many of the shepherd breeds have long or thick coats ~ he's concerned about how they'd do in our our overly hot KS summers. Figured we could just have it shaved but always seems so "Sampsonish" ~ taking away their dignity & strength, ha!

Also, have really enjoyed all the input on FF everyone's been giving ~ still playing around with my 1st batch (month old now). Funny story about FF ~ I went into Sophora to get some make-up & somehow the lady checking me out got on the subject of fermented food. So I was telling her about my chickens and we started having this in-depth convo about eating organic, raw milk, etc. We both started cracking up that we were totally on the same wave-length and having this discussion at a make-up counter in a mall! But stranger things have happened, lol!

Blessed week to you all!!!

 

[NanaLynn]

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


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

Thank-you!!

Our two together would have made some cute little Blue Splash Chicks. Oh well, I may have a little leghorn rooster in my new batch so down the road I may have some odd little chick combos.

 

[delisha]

Ramblin

A chick is never to young to free range with supervision. IMO.They do easily get lost and its important to make sure you are present or have birds that will care for them. I have about 50 one week old chicks. I have a ramp for them to outside grass. A very small area is fenced off for them. They can get out of the fenced area, no large birds can get in. I have a few two week old and three week old with them. They teach the younger ones. My male is very protective of baby's. He will corner them and make them stay if a lawn mower is running. He warns about the fire pit. If they do not run back or stay, he pecks them. They are a little afraid of him but not too bad, sometimes they hide under his fluff. The bottom hens are ruff on chicks. He is always chasing them away and giving them the business. My male duck loves the baby's too. I was hoping my silkie males would be good with the chicks, but so far they are mean to them. I think I have one pullet silkie and she is good with them and screams if I take her away.

In the wild, I have moms take out a brood and return with less than they went with. Happened every year. Some hens can't keep tract of more than one. Now that I have an inside fence I do not let out broods with the free rangers. They get the 1/4 acre to teach for a month before they get let out.




water in coop conversation:

I do not feed or water in my coops..the higher moisture content is horrible for the high humidity in my area. It will keep every thing damp, just from condensation. They use the coop only for sleeping. If you birds use the coop for more than laying eggs and sleeping, and you cage your birds, you need to go to a non leaking system and have water in the coops. If you free range..watering in the coop might be beneficial if you are in a dry climate other wise they do not need it inside.

 

[Leahs Mom]

RR - I think you mentioned that the livestock water tanks are shallow. Do you have a photo of these?

 

[midnightroo]

Redridge your set up sounds awesome!

Delisha, yes summers are very humid here. I like the nipple waterer idea so I will work its more. I am sure it is user errorer. If not i will get the cups.

Also love the idea of the frozen bottle in the water to keep it cool.

 

[RedRidge]

RR - I think you mentioned that the livestock water tanks are shallow. Do you have a photo of these?

I will take one this morning. I have about a dozen short stock tanks because I have so many animals who are small.
I do keep a couple of large stock tanks for any cattle who may not have access to the creek (it only runs through the lower part of the property and the calves and lambs are too small to negotiate it - but the calves, sheep, lambs, lgd's, guineas and chickens can't drink out of the taller ones.
For this reason I don't have Muscovy ducks...
I would love to raise some Muscovy's, but I have several friends who claim my plethora of short stock tanks would provide way too much swimming and playing fun for the muscovy's and I'd spend every day cleaning nasty tanks.
That's how I ended up with guineas. I have too much land and too many ticks for 80 chickens to keep up with. I needed some serious bug control.
I love the guineas about 10 months out of the year, but for those 2 months when there is nothing to forage and they roost in my barn and squawk at me I simply wanna... well... get rid of em.

For whoever asked about goldfish... I don't use koi because they are pricey and because they like running water. Cheap ole nickel a piece gold fish... they grow and thrive... weird but it works. Most folks around here use this method. a hundred gold fish for $5 will provide many clean tanks.