The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

My daughter served two tours and suffers from PTSD from a bomb going off. She has shrapnel lodged in her head that is permanent. I would like to take today and thank all the people like my daughter who risks lives to serve all of us... in the past, and who will risk it in the future. To also thank all the parent who support the children they send off. To also thank the people who generously send care packages to the solders.

Congrats Loin!!!

My 12 week olds sleep in a dog pile wedged underneath the feeding trough.

All this with three different roosting possibillities of different sizes and at different heights. I think chicks are just silly.

candled my eggs tonight! 14 days. two obvious quitters, one each cream legbar and BO, just straight up clear. I threw those out without opening them, alhthough I probably should have. Next time I'll make sure I have ziplock baggies on hand and seal them THEN open them. Three of the remaining seven cream legbars are questionable, one very much so. So much so that I almost just tossed it too, but my DH said that since we had so little experience we should leave it in. All the other eggs were so dark that I could basically see nothing. I guess I'm just oging to keep hoping for a hatch of at least four cream legbars. I snuck out to the coop and swapped four of the BO eggs for the four plastic easter eggs that Mrs. Bennet was sititng on. She managed to peck me four times. A question for you experienced incubators, should I lock down on day 18 or try to wait until I see an internal pip, if I'm waiting for internal pip does that mean one of them has an internal pip or all of them do? and how will I tell if they have an internal pip? I've had trouble seeing anything but air cells and the very slightest shadow of veining through these blue and brown eggs. And I have a really blindingly bright flashlight too.....

This is the beak inside of the air cell. If you look you can see the beak move and can also hear them peeping. This is an internal pip and when I move them all into lock down. It does not matter if it is day 16 or day 20. Incubators can have temp and humidity fluctuations you do not see. The chicks are ready when they are ready.

way to go, Shawn!


I got beef liver for the babies, it is the ugliest thing I've ever seen - comes in a frozen pack in slices. Grocery store clerk looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if they had any fresh. I'm a little nervous about the stuff that is in that beef liver as it is conventional, but the chick feed is vegetarian so I want to give them something animal.

My internal layer passed last night - I had guests so couldn't cull her earlier in the day, and planned on culling her as soon as everyone left.

When I ordered 16 chicks a few months ago, I had 14 hens -down to 9 adult hens now. A lot of death in just a few months - internal layer, owl, dead overnight suddenly, one unknown but way too much fat, and the one the lab necropsied which was e coli systemic infection probably stress related.

THats not counting the one wellie that Delisha helped me bring back to health.

Keeping my fingers crossed everyone stays healthy.

I can't think of anything in my chickenkeeping that could be improved except perhaps more animal protein.

You have worked very hard and done a very good job. Finding healthy birds when you start is the key..you are weeding out the weak. I believe once you get animal protein ..that will help. Less fat..more animal proteins.

Temperature for chicks.
I think acclimation is the biggest issue.
My chicks (even those I hatch in the basement or day olds that are shipped) are put in the brooder in the barn on day 1.
It doesn't matter what time of year or what the temp.
That said... there is a heat lamb that provides a place that is 100 degrees and enough rough that everyone can get out from under the lamp if they are warm.
They are in that side of the brooder (with two open sides) for 2 weeks, then moved to the other mirror image side for three weeks where a different heat lamp is set up much higher.

I have chicks of 3 different ages in the brooder right now and haven't lost any due to temps and we got down to 43 night before last. I think having varying temperatures to "go" is the key.

Another note... I never put a heat lamp in a corner - I want to discourage piling to prevent suffocating if it's a large hatch. Once they are moved to the teenage room at 5-6 weeks they have access to roosts, but any nesting boxes are covered with towels... I do not permit pre-laying chickens in nesting boxes - they develop a habit of roosting in. If they are not permitted access to the roosting boxes until they begin laying then all they do in the boxes is lay, not sleep, and I always have very clean boxes this way.

Great suggestions!

Good morning everyone and Happy Memorial Day! I haven't read the posts from late last night and this morning. It is a beautiful day here so we are going to enjoy it before a day of rain comes tomorrow. Could you help me with an issue though?

My husband and I are not in agreement on one of our chickens. I think she has an impacted crop, but he does not. Her crop has looked big to me for the last five days or so and there was no poo under her spot on the roost this morning. The thing is she acts normal, gave us an egg yesterday and shows no other sign of an impacted crop besides it not going down in the morning. I know chickens will hide their illness so could you please confirm if she her crop is impacted and if I should make her throw up! Thanks for your help.

I would not make her throw up..I would isolate her over night in a cage..no food ..no water....for 12-24 hours..check her crop to see if it is working. Smell it to see if it is sour. Sometimes my birds look like that every night if they find an abundance of lush greens or when the strawberry come up.

i would be worried too - have you massaged the crop? does it feel squishy or hard? do you know if she is eating?

smell her breath too - I'm thinking an impacted crop is different than a sour crop but it is probably a matter of degrees.

not worried..but good that you are noticing your birds.

This post is about money... or saving money...
Question for those of you who feed mealworms... live or dried either one.

I have a very detailed spreadsheet that has been developed over years with pages of data about a lot of various ingredients... including mealworms.
One of the many things I track when I "re-evaluate" my rations (which I do periodically), is cost.
Yes... protein and some other things such as minerals, etc. also get tracked... with animal protein being high on the list.
The nice thing about the spreadsheet is that everything changes automatically each time a change is made to the ration, so you can "play with" various rations to adjust protein, costs, etc.
I do update the current price of ingredients once every few months to keep it somewhat accurate when cost is what I'm really looking at.

But still... keeping costs down is a consideration.
To feed the type of feed I want to feed... with no soy or gmo ingredients AND get the amount of animal protein I want is not cheap, so I'm always trying to find ways to keep the quality up and save money.
I'm also always trying to find ways to add more animal protein in the winter without breaking the bank.
Mealworms has been a consideration from time to time... but every time I reevaluate it and look at it, it DOUBLES the price of my feed.

So... for those who feed mealworms... are they dried? do you raise them? do you have an inexpensive source? how do you justify the expense?
Serious question... no criticizing how other people feed... just trying to justify the costs of what I'd like to do against what is practical.

I tried to grow them over the winter..they need to be in a warm area ..I sucked at it. I hope someday I can actually figure out how to do it. I would love to learn how to grow them all year long.

http://home.earthlink.net/~lviolett/mealworms.html


I just ordered them again..I am going to give it another try..
Uncle Jim has them for free shipping..coupon code..
UJW10 for additional 10% savings.

 

[Sally8]

To clear up about the chicks heating. Below is a photo of the 60 watt light bulb in the coop. I had younger birds in here also. The coop door was always open, even though out the cold nights. EXCEPT for the last couple/few nights as it got down to freezing. They should be fine as they have been without heat for a few weeks. I scrapped a thick layer off my car window this morning. It's easy to acclimate the chicks with this as I can keep them in the coop when really cold leave the door open in the day or at night. Light can be off or on. At any one time, I only have 8 - 10 chicks as I have another coop at the other end of this fenced "run". When I first put the chicks in here, the bulb hung from the top of the coop facing down in the center (we drilled holes in the reflector and attached hardwire cloth to stop pecking at the bulb. The chicks should be fine.

 

[armorfirelady]

To clear up about the chicks heating. Below is a photo of the 60 watt light bulb in the coop. I had younger birds in here also. The coop door was always open, even though out the cold nights. EXCEPT for the last couple/few nights as it got down to freezing. They should be fine as they have been without heat for a few weeks. I scrapped a thick layer off my car window this morning. It's easy to acclimate the chicks with this as I can keep them in the coop when really cold leave the door open in the day or at night. Light can be off or on. The chicks should be fine.

They survived just fine......I knew they woul,d it just made me feel better to put them in the basket

I never had chicks this young. Tonight they will have baby roosts !!

They were up by 6 attacking the feeder & running around like goof balls. They look so happy & healthy & I am enjoying them so much.
My mom just checked on the tinys and Edie is eating beside them without pecking them. Guess she decided little sisters are not so bad

I gave them a hunk of watermelon.....they haven't tried it yet. baby steps.....

 

[Sally8]

Delisha - I'm so sorry. Thank your daughter for me also. And I want to thank everyone serving now and in any previous war a huge thanks. Freedom isn't free. I live with it every day.

 

[midnightroo]

i would be worried too - have you massaged the crop?  does it feel squishy or hard?  do you know if she is eating?

smell her breath too - I'm thinking an impacted crop is different than a sour crop but it is probably a matter of degrees.

We grabbed her yesterday, and it was squishy. My husband had her and he tried to massage it, she is very flighty so it is hard to get a hold of her. Totally forgot to check for bad breath. She appears to be eating, i have been giving them crumble softened with yogurt and water. Won't eat if she is seperates from the others. I see her do the head jerk that is described when they have sour crop. I have been finding poops that resembles soft ice cream around the yard, could they be hers? Thanks

 

[Sally8]

They survived just fine......I knew they woul,d it just made me feel better to put them in the basket

I never had chicks this young. Tonight they will have baby roosts !!

They were up by 6 attacking the feeder & running around like goof balls. They look so happy & healthy & I am enjoying them so much.
My mom just checked on the and Edie is eating beside them now out of the feeder. Guess she decided little sisters arent so bad

I knew they would too. I don't think I'll ever post some of the things I've done when I got new chicks/birds. On a different note. My son lives 10 min away on the very outskirts of Corning. He's had many dead birds in his yard. Not just babies. This is the time of year babies fall out of nests but all of these are not babies. I think I may call our county ext tomorrow and see if anyone else has noticed. (I'm always afraid to do any calling to anyone. Don't want to open a can of worms, so to speak)

 

[midnightroo]

Sorry, missed the next page. Ok, I will keep my fingers crossed that it is sour crop and not impacted crop. Yes if it was only at night I would be so worried, but that photo was from this morning and that is how she looked when she came out of the coop. I think tomorrow I will keep them all in the coop with no food. Do you think if I gave them all water with baking sofa it would be ok! We read somewhere online that it might help. Also, I looked in that wonderful site for help about sour crop, but didn't see anything, did I miss it?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[RedRidge]

My daughter served two tours and suffers from PTSD from a bomb going off. She has shrapnel lodged in her head that is permanent. I would like to take today and thank all the people like my daughter who risks lives to serve all of us... in the past, and who will risk it in the future. To also thank all the parent who support the children they send off. To also thank the people who generously send care packages to the solders.

Freedom is not free! Thank you and your daughter both... and all those who have and will serve our country (along with their families). Your sacrifices do NOT go unappreciated.

 

[aoxa]

Sorry, missed the next page. Ok, I will keep my fingers crossed that it is sour crop and not impacted crop. Yes if it was only at night I would be so worried, but that photo was from this morning and that is how she looked when she came out of the coop. I think tomorrow I will keep them all in the coop with no food. Do you think if I gave them all water with baking sofa it would be ok! We read somewhere online that it might help. Also, I looked in that wonderful site for help about sour crop, but didn't see anything, did I miss it?

Thanks again everyone!

I don't remember if the thing had done anything about Sour Crop or not.

I first noticed Sour Crop in a HRIR pullet and after yoghurt (plain with probioitics) and thorough crop massages, she came out of it. I've only had chicks with impacted crop and it was impossible for me to fix. I tried.

 

[Sally8]

Sorry, missed the next page. Ok, I will keep my fingers crossed that it is sour crop and not impacted crop. Yes if it was only at night I would be so worried, but that photo was from this morning and that is how she looked when she came out of the coop. I think tomorrow I will keep them all in the coop with no food. Do you think if I gave them all water with baking sofa it would be ok! We read somewhere online that it might help. Also, I looked in that wonderful site for help about sour crop, but didn't see anything, did I miss it?

Thanks again everyone!

I just got through saying to someone that I wouldn't want to share some of the things I've done to my chickens to save myself of embarrassment but here goes. I had a hen that I thought had an impacted crop. I thought I read where you feed oil, hold them upside down for 2 hours while messaging her crop. DH went to prayer meeting and for 2 hours, Sally and I sat on the porch, me feeding a little oil, holding her upside down and messaging. After 5 min I would hold her upright, she'd burp, I'd pet her, repeat process. She was supposed to throw up. I finally gave up, figured she'd be dead by morning. She was fine and still is. I shared this story with my mother and she wondered why I didn't just let my chickens be chickens and leave them alone. I now share very little chicken stories with her lol. I think I've learned so much on here that I look for things. I hope all is well with yours.