The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[RedRidge]

My Rose Comb HRIR are 16 days old... I'm quite pleased with how they are doing.
They have had nothing but FF from day 1 and are growing like weeds...
Just thought I'd share

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Mama hen and her "helper". The other girl has decided to help out the Mama, she isn't laying but she's not staying on the nest now either. The babies go to Mama first, but the other one is there too. They do know their Mama. However, last night, Mama took the babies into the other's nest and they slept like this:


Mama is the one in front. You can see three babies.

Two black lower left, and a light at friends tail. But don't I see the curve of another white head just behind 'helpers' comb??

thank you all. i am here . i will be breeding rhode island reds. thanks to bill radford i still keep a pen of layers and meat birds for food. things are good right now . i will post a couple pics later of the reds. they are simply beautiful.

Might be interested in future of some chicks to expand the flock of three I have. And might consider a roo.

 

[Kassaundra]

Hahaha I too thought of this but decided to leave all of the organs in the woods. For one thing I didn't know if putting meat out with the other bear on the prowl was a good plan and two, I don't know if you have ever cleaned a bear but they absolutely stink inside. Seriously nasty and I didnt really feel like carrying the aroma home.

No never seen the insides of a bear, the only actual bear I have ever even seen the outside of is at the zoo or in pics. But your logic in unassailable (sp) lol lol

 

[bluebirdnanny]

My Rose Comb HRIR are 16 days old... I'm quite pleased with how they are doing.
They have had nothing but FF from day 1 and are growing like weeds...
Just thought I'd share

Soooo cute! Can't wait until I have things ready and can add chicks to my flock. Right now just 3 production reds (given to me as RIR).

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Shan.... won't leaving the organs in the woods just attract the other bears and additional predators??? Just a thought. Hope it was FAR AWAY.

 

[brandislee]

Aoxa, and others:
Most are 17 week, 12 are 13 weeks. Roosts were higher than nest box but lowered them thinking they were having a difficult time getting to them. they are near equal height now. They don't totally avoid that part of coop...they will all bed down in the shavings under the roosts.

Don't worry about it at 17 weeks. My first chickens slept in a pile until they were like 30 weeks old. Then, one week when I was gone and a friend of mine was taking care of my chickens she was late feeding them and it was getting dark. She looked into the coop and nearly freaked out because it looked like 1/2 of my chickens were missing... then she looked up and the missing ones were all roosting in the rafters! Since then the chicks roost sooner because they do what the older ones do, but your chickens will get it eventually. Just leave them alone and their instincts will eventually kick in (and in the mean time raise the roost back up, otherwise it will be less appealing to them when the instincts hit.

it does sound like some kind of ;obstruction. you could try mineral oil to get it to pass...

Why didn't I think of that sooner? Does it have to be mineral oil, or could I try olive or coconut oil? I don't think I have any mineral oil on hand right now... I have castor oil, that would definitely get things going, perhaps I'll try that... after I make sure it's safe for dogs.

I was just thinking that, the ironic justice that would be the surviving chickens eating the bear!

I was thinking the same thing!!!

Hi all

I am a long term lurker on this thread and really love reading all the info that is shared.

I have two questions that I am hoping to get some advise on...

I keep getting broken eggs. I think I know the chicken that is doing it but have no idea of how to stop it. I have in total 6 chickens of which 4 are recently introduced but the egg breaking has been happening for a while now. It started when I only had 2 and I thought it was perhaps something(animal) that was coming into the garden that was going into the coop and getting the eggs as I found 2 that were on the opposite side of the garden to where the coop was. Because I was worried about predators getting into the garden, I fenced of an area to confine the girls which is 10.5 meters long x 4.5 meters wide (ish) so they have plenty of space to scratch etc and collected eggs in the morning before work (if they laid) and on weekends I watch them and as soon as they finish laying, I collect the eggs but during the week, I only manage to collect 1 egg before I have to leave for work. The eggs are not completely broken and eaten, they just have a hole poked in them. I do not give them the raw egg to eat, but do give them the shells after they have been dried out in the oven.

Does anybody have any suggestions as to how to stop the egg breaking? Should I close off the nest that they are using in which they break the eggs. The eggs in the 2nd nest are not broken.

My other problem is with one of my new hens. She has runny poop. Other than this, she looks and acts absolutely fine. She is very skittish and I have not been able to catch her to check her vent but although she had a messy bum when I got her, now it is clean.

I have avc in their water which is refreshed every day. I have started them on fermented layers with fresh garlic and oregano in it which they gobbled up at first but today they did not eat it.

I have tried fermented food a number of times but my original two just don't like it. My new ones loved it but today did not eat it much except for the girl with the runny poop. The fermented feed is not off so I don't understand why they are not eating.

Has anybody got any ideas that I can try to clear up the runny poop.

Thanks all

For the runny poop, just keep doing what you're doing and it should clear up. And keep giving them FF, they'll get hungry enough and eat it. Maybe cut back the amount of garlic, of leave it out, it may be putting them off (I've never had an adult chicken not willing to plow over it's neighbor for FF from day one (and all my layers were started on it as adults), although I've had chicks that took a while to take to it) It's such an improvement over dry feed purely in the reduced waste. Do they free range or have access to greens? In my experience chickens who don't get a lot of greens and eat a diet that consists of primarily grains get runny poop.

On the broken eggs- give them some oyster shell and then just ignore them. It tends to just clear up on it's own. That's been the overwhelming concensous from the old timers on the issue of egg breaking/egg eating. One thing I've noticed as well, though, is that more eggs break when the bedding in the nest boxes get low. Most of my broken eggs I chalk up to either accident (you know how they kick around the nest sometimes before they lay) or weak shells. And it's a hen's instinct to eat a broken egg to keep the nest clean. I can see where you would be concerned if she's doing it every day, but make sure there is enough bedding in the nest box and then just relax. It apparently tends to be more of an issue in the spring and then clear up. It is really strange that they are cracking them but not eating them- do the shells seem strong enough to you? Sometimes when I gather this time of year I find eggs with soft spots, and they'll often have tiny cracks/holes in them by the time I get them. And feeding eggs is so not an issue- mine get raw eggs all the time (if I find a cracked egg I usually break it for them and toss it in the run and when I need a yolk for something I usually dump the white right in the chicken bucket), and all my egg shells go either in the chicken bucket or the compost bin (that the chickens have access to) as is (I don't even rinse them, let alone roast them).

 

[brandislee]

Okay, so I have some thoughts on my dog's issue...

If it's an obstruction it's not a bad one- like I said, he's passing runny brown poop (but nothing scary) with grass in it, meaning he's passing all the grass he's eating. So could I try to get whatever it is he ate to pass by using some sort laxative? I was thinking either castor oil or Epsom salt, although if using milk of Magnesia (or mineral oil, as Mikkles suggested) would be safer for a dog I'll do that instead. Epsom salt and castor oil are just what I have on hand right now. I did a quick online search and there was no reason NOT to try those (although all the sites said "not recommended," I do a lot of things that are pretty generally not recommended!).

Another suggestion was canned pumpkin, but that was more for constipation. I'm thinking it wouldn't be strong enough on it's own to clear out an obstruction. Maybe canned pumpkin mixed with some castor oil?

Any thoughts?

 

[Alibabe]

For the runny poop, just keep doing what you're doing and it should clear up. And keep giving them FF, they'll get hungry enough and eat it. Maybe cut back the amount of garlic, of leave it out, it may be putting them off (I've never had an adult chicken not willing to plow over it's neighbor for FF from day one (and all my layers were started on it as adults), although I've had chicks that took a while to take to it) It's such an improvement over dry feed purely in the reduced waste. Do they free range or have access to greens? In my experience chickens who don't get a lot of greens and eat a diet that consists of primarily grains get runny poop.

I do give them greens at least 4 - 5 times per week as their run is mostly leaves, soil etc. I am also growing some herbs to put into the run once they are big enough to withstand chicken assault. I will leave off adding anymore garlic as I was worried about that as well so you are confiming my suspicions - thank you. Unfortunately they are not free ranging due to me being at work, but over the weekend, will let them out into the garden and let them eat their fill of grass etc.

On the broken eggs- give them some oyster shell and then just ignore them. It tends to just clear up on it's own. That's been the overwhelming concensous from the old timers on the issue of egg breaking/egg eating. One thing I've noticed as well, though, is that more eggs break when the bedding in the nest boxes get low. Most of my broken eggs I chalk up to either accident (you know how they kick around the nest sometimes before they lay) or weak shells. And it's a hen's instinct to eat a broken egg to keep the nest clean. I can see where you would be concerned if she's doing it every day, but make sure there is enough bedding in the nest box and then just relax. It apparently tends to be more of an issue in the spring and then clear up. It is really strange that they are cracking them but not eating them- do the shells seem strong enough to you? Sometimes when I gather this time of year I find eggs with soft spots, and they'll often have tiny cracks/holes in them by the time I get them. And feeding eggs is so not an issue- mine get raw eggs all the time (if I find a cracked egg I usually break it for them and toss it in the run and when I need a yolk for something I usually dump the white right in the chicken bucket), and all my egg shells go either in the chicken bucket or the compost bin (that the chickens have access to) as is (I don't even rinse them, let alone roast them).

I have been cleaning out the nest boxes daily but tonight I added lots more bedding and hopefully that will provide more of a cushion. I currently use wood chips and now I am thinking that perhaps I should get some straw for the nests to give a more solid cushion.

Thank you and Armorfirelady so much for all the suggestions. Hopefully I can get the girls sorted soon.

 

[Bulldogma]

Mama hen and her "helper". The other girl has decided to help out the Mama, she isn't laying but she's not staying on the nest now either. The babies go to Mama first, but the other one is there too. They do know their Mama. However, last night, Mama took the babies into the other's nest and they slept like this:

Mama is the one in front. You can see three babies.

Love pictures like this! I may just have to steal it. LOL!

i will be on this post every night now

So great to see you here, Bruce!!

 

[aoxa]

Shan,

Wow.. That is scary... Blackbear hunting is in season here too. Just saw a picture on FB with a car going down the road with a black bear strapped to the roof.



Hunters should have pick ups..

Sorry for the loss of your girls. Sucks!!

I also just read an article on how animal protein is also so important to human diets. A baby who was breast fed by a strict vegan recently died because he was vitamin deficient in B12 and Vitamin A.