The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aaggjg]

I "landscaped" the run with some leftover sod and a dustbath area. In the corner, I dug out the clay & gravel and replaced it with a mixture of fine dirt, sand, and wood ashes. They love it!



Ashdoes, I hope you get your legbars soon. They are so curious and funny! I got mine from Phage in San Diego.

I'll be curious to see how long your sod lasts .... I put a few pieces in my run and by days end you couldn't tell they had been there!!! I did have 9 chickens though ....

 

[aaggjg]

Yay Kombucha! I have a scoby coming in the mail and I'm super excited about starting some! I'm hoping that my DH will like it. He has stomach problems (I suspect that he really has IBS) and refuses to eat things like yogurt, or fiber, or pretty much anything that might help him.

Kombucha is full of all those good helper bacterias and might be more palatable to him than Keffir or yogurt.

I started mine using a bottle of raw original from the market.... It too a few weeks to grow the scoby but now I have scoby for everyone!!! I just need a bigger container to ferment it in!!! or more ......

PS I love the ginger Kombucha and juice fresh ginger to add to mine.... I had some all natural Peach juice from Trader Joes that was way too sweet for me on its own but added to kombucha with ginger it is AMAZING!!!!

 

[starlingdaly]

Wahoo - it's summertime - perfect treat for a 95 degree day

3 1/2 weeks old

They do look so healthy and big for that age! Growing faster than mine for sure (by about a week). What do you feed your babies?

 

[FridayYet]

I'll be curious to see how long your sod lasts .... I put a few pieces in my run and by days end you couldn't tell they had been there!!! I did have 9 chickens though ....

I doubt it will be there very long. If the chickens don't shred it, the heat will certainly shrivel it!

It's 99 degrees right now and although I soaked it twice today, I'm leaving for a conference in Tucson tomorrow and won't be back until Wednesday night. DH will be too busy to water it, so anything left will go into the compost pile when I return.

Now I could run some drip tubing and microsprayers into the run and really landscape it........

 

[acemario]

They do look so healthy and big for that age! Growing faster than mine for sure (by about a week). What do you feed your babies?

New to this thread! Sounds super interesting! Quick question... What breed is your "cream-sicle" chicken?

 

[aoxa]

Hi all, loving all the photos and reading all posts.

to those Mumsy for the balloon bird, you must have been heartbroken.

Aoxa - I am so loving the new barn! Every day I log on hoping to see new pics, I am so excited for you and Susan.

This is Henny Penny who was the only survivor of the fox attack. She really squeezes my heart.

Thank you for the interest

PS: I love Henny Penny. She is a perfect Penny! All Red Sex Links should have the name

They are stunning! Love love love!

When I visited Catdance Farm, I don't remember seeing Blue Partridge pens. I vaguely remember seeing a couple regular Partridge Cocks in a breeding pen though. Partridge was never my favorite color in Silkies but that's because twenty years ago I had not yet seen a good one. I was not really paying attention to those pens. Now that I see your Phyllis....Well all I can say is WOW! Pretty!

I am loving on my twelve Catdance chicks every day. Out of the twelve I hatched, six boys and six girls. My best guess anyway. The two little Partridge pullets are my favorites. Who would have guessed? Not me. Hah!

Beautiful images Justine. I love them so very much.

Thanks. Wish I still had them, but I have hopes Doc will be my chance to rebuild. At least I have some of the DNA from the birds that made Phyllis & Edna. Fingers crossed.

I love partridge. My favourite silkie colour hands down

I love this and I stole it. Is this at your farm?

This morning I plucked a june bug off my screen door and asked who wanted it. Teriyaki came over and snatched it, then ran to hide from the other girls who wanted to steal it from her.

I should have been in bed three hours ago, but I was 300 posts behind and glued to the saga of Balloon Chicken. I can't express enough how grateful I am that you take such detailed necroscopy and photographs. If he's always been such a fatty, it is quite possible that he fell (jumped down) and with his weight that could have been sufficient "trauma" to have caused the ultimate rupture.
I hate to sound morbid, but from reading what you have said you seem to have the same genuine curiosity and desire to "know" that stems from love... so I think/hope you understand that is the source of my question.
I wonder did you attempt to inflate the lungs? And if so, at what point (mouth/nares, trachea, etc.)? Using a straw or syringe maybe. That could have isolated a leak that may have gone otherwise overlooked.
I would tend to agree though on your theory of the air sacs. That makes a lot of sense based on how the bird looked. Not that how the bird looked made any sense at all.
Again, THANK YOU so much for the learning experience.
I am so sorry you have been plagued with The Weirdness, but you are also gifted with the ability to display it for the rest of us and follow through with the full results so that everyone can benefit from answers.
If I ever have The Weirdness I hope that I can follow your example of thorough documentation.
And I so love your garden!

Leah's Mom: I love Ms. Sweden!

Okay, obviously I get all lovey when I'm sleep deprived.
Bedtime.

That wasn't at my farm no, but I will be painting my own sign very similar.

 

[stonykill]

mama chicken and the ducklings out bug hunting. They are already world class bug hunters

 

[Leahs Mom]

Love everyone's photos! Stony, that girl w/her ducklings is making me jealous...

Well - I did it again. Or my computer did it again. I had tried to do multi-quotes and they're all gone

 

[armorfirelady]

I never knew babies grew so fast.......it will be a week tomorrow I got my babies and I swear they have doubled in size !!

And Edie photo bombed this pic

I was at the big girls coop with my back to the babies when I heard flying I turned around to Edie airborne headed towards me.........I think she surprised herself. I'm just glad she didn't go the other way and over the gate where the dogs were.
Oh and I tried watermelon again and finally the babies ate it! The salmon leftovers are still in their food dish.

Tonight after dark Red will join the tots. Figure if I put her in at night it will go smoother. She is the lowest in the pecking order so I am hoping she won't pick on the babies to bad. And encourage them to stay out longer

 

[aoxa]

Sweet Brown is so big.. and making a large mess of the brooder, and the chicks with her. Can't wait to get them outside for good. Going to get her a duck friend once the barn is ready.





She is 1 week younger than these silkies...