The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[pcappy2]

I took the chicken quiz that someone posted earlier....Its said it takes 65 days to hatch a chicken egg?. I got that one wrong

 

[Toast n Jelly]

"Daughter" brought the lil ones out for Christmas. 2 Black Sumatra's and one splash Sumatra chick

. So far my Splashes have all been hens in past hatches...the few splashes I've gotten.

Pretty hard not to quote these pics Stoney!

 

[Toast n Jelly]

I need to be prepared! This storm is supposed to bring 10 - 16 in of snow tomorrow night. YAHOO!!!!!!! The last couple of mornings we've had 2 in of snow or so and the girls either just peek out or start to come down the ramp and then, bump, bump, bump. The first hen stops and the rest bump into each other until they manage to turn around and all get back in. Very funny!
Snow! Yea! At least I know my water won't be frozen!

As promised we are getting a 20-30 cm of snow right now.

 

[aoxa]

I took the chicken quiz that someone posted earlier....Its said it takes 65 days to hatch a chicken egg?. I got that one wrong

It takes 21 days to hatch a chicken egg.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Leah's Mom wrote the most wonderful article for the blog on sprouting seeds for chickens!

See her wonderful post Here!

Very well done

 

[maggiemo]

agreed. Weasels and mink would kill all the birds in one night. Small coons and possum as well. Even with a front on it. Personally I would never use such a thing. If it works for some, great, but to me it looks like a chicken killing pen.

x2

 

[delisha]

The hoop coop would not work for me here either to house chickens at night, but, it does not mean it would not work for others. My DH is building me one for a greenhouse and a day hover. It will be great for storage too. I have my hay and straw under a car port and the hoop coop will work so much better.

 

[maggiemo]

Yes, it would work great for growing vegetables. I use something like this to start early greens with plastic. Wouldn't work chickens for me though.

 

[BusyBlonde]

I've had my own chickens for nearly four years. For us, they've always been livestock, with the added benefit of their amusing antics and personalities. We made some mistakes with our first flock of 10 Golden Comets - first off, getting a production breed, and thinking from some things I'd read here that a 10'x10' dog run was big enough, building a smaller coop than they really should have had (again, based on 'formulas').

When the GC's burned out after 2 years, we bought 12 chicks from a backyard breeder (BR's). We did all the things we thought were 'right' - kept their brooder at the 'proper' temperature, stepped it down gradually, cleaned the poop off their butts, changed their litter religiously. Fed medicated starter. Used electrolytes in their water. Whew - a lot of work.

I started to see a trend with some of the OT's giving different - sensible - advice. When I hatched my second batch of chicks, we built a large brooder (8'x4') and put the heat lamp at one end - and were amazed at how much time they spent at the opposite end from the light, even when it wasn't really warm out (it's a stand-alone structure). We extended - and extended - and extended the run, built three-sided shelters with roosts (they preferred to sleep outside on roosts rather than in the coop), and started using deep litter.

A little more than a year ago, I started reading the OT thread, and Hallelujah!!!

It all clicked. I can't free-range my chickens all the time (and yes, I have too many for my run area) but I do pasture them when I'm home - we'll be getting enough fencing in the spring to fence our entire property which will keep them safe from the neighborhood dogs so they can free-range. I use FF and UP-ACV. We had one of our BR's go broody last year, and I have a gorgeous cockerel and two pullets from her - they were the healthiest babies I've ever raised, although I have had good results from all my hatches they developed faster than the others I hatched around the same time. The only time I ever witnessed a predator attack was when a hawk got into my grow-out pen with 17 cockerels - the hawk barely got out with its life. The chickens attacked that hawk, and as far as I know the hawk never tried that again, LOL. We don't have a Fort Knox set-up, we don't have LGD's but do have two large dogs who are outside whenever we are, and four permanent roosters (we have 7 cockerels that will be processed after the first of the year). We have never lost a chicken to a predator. We did just lose our main BR rooster the day before Christmas (T-Rex, my avatar), but I believe it was to natural causes. There was no sign of struggle, no loss of feathers, no damage whatsoever to his body - just looks like he may have had a heart attack and died. Luckily, we planned on keeping the cockerel the broody raised so we do have a back-up for Butch, my former second in command. I don't use antibiotics anymore, and plan to cull unhealthy or unproductive chickens.

I have gleaned so much information from all the OT's out there, and am very grateful. My next mission is to do more selective breeding in the spring, trying to improve the overall condition of my flock. I'm learning what to look for and what to avoid. It's just part of the journey for me. I'm glad this thread has continued where the others left off, and hope to continue learning from those of you who are willing to share your knowledge and wisdom. Thanks again!

 

[Bulldogma]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/s...o-as-antibiotic-substitute.html?smid=pl-share

Anyone happen to see this article? Kuddo's to Bell and Evans for stepping outside the box....

Oh - this is a neat article! Thank you for sharing!

The hoop coop would not work for me here either to house chickens at night, but, it does not mean it would not work for others. My DH is building me one for a greenhouse and a day hover. It will be great for storage too. I have my hay and straw under a car port and the hoop coop will work so much better.

I think if the hoop coop were surrounded by electric poultry netting and if raptors were not a problem, it could work.

***********************************************************

As for my 5 things... I think everyone else has hit on the good stuff already, so this will sound repetitive...

1. FF - saves me money, almost no waste, my chickens are healthier, ACV makes a chicken's intestines an inhospitable environment for parasites, FF is more digestable... and the list goes on!

2. Respect your elders - Instead of relying on what I have read by USDA sanctioned groups and by what the feed store sells, I now turn to OTs for information on more natural ways to do things. I use wood ash to protect my flock from lice/mites or to treat them if I think they have an infestation. I put it in their dusting areas so they may roll about in it at will. I don't use DE - it kills off the good nematodes that feed on the larvae of lice and mites.

3. Deep Litter - great stuff! No poop boards or Sweet PDZ in my coop. I'm letting the litter become a good environment where nematodes will thrive.

4. Free Ranging! My chickens do it every day, all day unless it's sleeting like it was yesterday.

5. Plenty of space and a good Rooster / Hen ratio. I've been saving up for a bigger coop - the small one will become my bantam coop - and I'm trying to make sure each roo has at least 3+ hens... more when possible.

6. Culling becomes easier to do once you have gotten over the first 3. (At least it did for me.) Mistakes are part of the learning process and you can't beat yourself up if you botch the first culls. After that, you sharpen the machete and let your spouse play Super-Ninja... OK - not everyone has to do it that way... But seriously, culling is necessary and once you learn how to make it as quick as possible, it's not as horrible as you think it will be.

Ooops - that's more than 5, and I still have a few more things... but that's enough for now.