The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

Okay - the turkey walk thing for a broody is new to me. Never knew that they did that. Is that pretty common? Do they all do it or just on occasion?

Mine always did it.

Never seemed to have a camera around I guess. Can't find any pictures of my own doing it.

 

[Bulldogma]

Just thought I would share.... I am so excited, I finally bought an incubator and ordered some eggs.

Hopefully by the end of the month, I will have some new babies

So excited for you! I've heard good things about that 'bator!!

Our Silkie is sitting on her eight eggs like a champ. She's got them all covered and hasn't budged. I got her to eat some FF, which made my husband happy, he's worried she's going to starve to death.
Got an email from GreenFire, the chicks ship tomorrow! Gotta get their FF bubbling again.

Hooray for broody Silkies! What breeds are you getting from GF??

I saw 5 hawks in the area today and some of them were HUGE. They seem to be out in-force from about Noon - 3p. Kind-of scary.

Eek!

Needless to say, if she pecks the next chick her leg band is getting changed from "broody" to "cull." But is this something that she did because there was something wrong with the chick, or do hens just do this sometime? I guess a hen attacking her own naturally hatched chicks never occurred to me. Any advice or experience would be appreciated.

Sounds like being a mother just isn't her thing. Hens can be all across the spectrum of mothering skills (just like people). You'll get bad ones, and you'll get amazing ones. Sorry she didn't work out as a mom!

Progress for today June 3rd:

A. Maz. Ing! It looks fantastic! I'm so happy for you and thrilled the barn is turning out so amazingly!

As for paint, try Kilz or another good primer first. It may reduce your paint consumption quite a bit.

the last 2 are Mama last spring. Some of the boys annoyed her so she flew on my roof

YES! LOL - Darth Bator did that the other day when I pulled her out of the trailer - she had been sitting on nothing right in the middle of the floor - not even in a nest box! Because of that, I was worried something was wrong, like perhaps that she was just too hot, so I pulled her off the nest and she did "The Turkey" in the yard... until she noticed food and ate... and then scurried back to the trailer floor.

I gave her eggs the next day and put her in a nest box. She's been in there with the company of all the 5 chicks she brooded last time - LOL. This morning I even caught Gunson (the cockerel) stealing an egg to sit on. Mom took it back gently when he got up to eat. It is so neat to see Bator's chicks watching her and learning from her. I hope Gunson will turn out like Aoxa's Jagger did - ready to offer the chicks food and nurturing. If he does, he'll have a place here for as long as he is alive. The pullets are fascinated with what their mother is doing. That bodes well for them, too!

 

[Leahs Mom]

More from the natural farming pages.. and the imo's and good bacteria... .

deep litter diagram for pigs could be used for coop's too... - I hadnt thought about the plastic liner.. or .. charcoal at bottom..
the photo's.. appear to be open ended pens.. like the open air chicken coop.. with a deep litter bed
http://naturalfarminghawaii.net/learn-natural-farming/odorless-pig-technology/

I've been looking through the links you posted - thanks! I'm not looking at doing pigs, but I'm hoping to adapt some of the ideas in winter shelter for a goat or 2 (and maybe other animal(s) in the future. Your links got me searching around for more info and how you could apply to goats.

 

[aoxa]

So excited for you! I've heard good things about that 'bator!!


Hooray for broody Silkies! What breeds are you getting from GF??


Eek!


Sounds like being a mother just isn't her thing. Hens can be all across the spectrum of mothering skills (just like people). You'll get bad ones, and you'll get amazing ones. Sorry she didn't work out as a mom!


A. Maz. Ing! It looks fantastic! I'm so happy for you and thrilled the barn is turning out so amazingly!

As for paint, try Kilz or another good primer first. It may reduce your paint consumption quite a bit.


YES! LOL - Darth Bator did that the other day when I pulled her out of the trailer - she had been sitting on nothing right in the middle of the floor - not even in a nest box! Because of that, I was worried something was wrong, like perhaps that she was just too hot, so I pulled her off the nest and she did "The Turkey" in the yard... until she noticed food and ate... and then scurried back to the trailer floor.

I gave her eggs the next day and put her in a nest box. She's been in there with the company of all the 5 chicks she brooded last time - LOL. This morning I even caught Gunson (the cockerel) stealing an egg to sit on. Mom took it back gently when he got up to eat. It is so neat to see Bator's chicks watching her and learning from her. I hope Gunson will turn out like Aoxa's Jagger did - ready to offer the chicks food and nurturing. If he does, he'll have a place here for as long as he is alive. The pullets are fascinated with what their mother is doing. That bodes well for them, too!

So cute. What a good boy. All three silkie roosters I have continue to nest for the hens. Finding all sorts of weird spots and declaring it fit for their offspring

Thanks for the tip on primer! Going to definitely do that.

 

[aoxa]

I've been looking through the links you posted - thanks! I'm not looking at doing pigs, but I'm hoping to adapt some of the ideas in winter shelter for a goat or 2 (and maybe other animal(s) in the future. Your links got me searching around for more info and how you could apply to goats.

You're going to need at least two goats, or a goat and a sheep. They are flock animals and need company of their own kind (or at least similar to their own kind...)

 

[stonykill]

Will she peck any chicks while it's dark? I mean, guess I can say pretty certainly that I'm not going to sit here all night so I guess it doesn't matter. I'll just come out just before sun up. But dang, sun up is early here!

no way to tell. She will or she won't.

 

[stonykill]

I don't get pecked until mama hen has babies to protect. And even then it really isn't very damaging.

Even my turkey hen is a real dear when broody and has allowed me to move her multiple times without conflict. Guess she knows I'm the head of the flock?

I can handle my RIR's and my BO while they are broody and usually don't get pecked. Now those 3 lb Sumatra hens are FIERCE! They draw blood on just eggs. With chicks prepare to be flogged. I have more than once backed away from my best broody Mama while thinking.. "I should not be this scared of a 3 lb hen".

Mama has spurs and isn't afraid to use them .

But that is only the 1st few days. After that she teaches the babies that I'm ok. And will feed them if they seek me out for a private meal. Like by coming in my work shop

if you look at the pic of Mama on the roof I just posted you can see her spurs.

 

[stonykill]

Okay - the turkey walk thing for a broody is new to me. Never knew that they did that. Is that pretty common? Do they all do it or just on occasion?

I've never had a broody chicken not do it. The Runner ducks puff up and walk like a "normal" duck rather than upright and QUACK QUACK QUACK. As loud as they can

 

[armorfirelady]

I love Momma

 

[lalaland]

Progress for today June 3rd:




Here is our brooder room (very dark) going to paint here as well..

I have a question for you guys about these brooders.. Contractor brought up that 4 feet deep may be hard to clean... but I want lots of chick room.. Will it be worth it? Yes? No?

I figure I can use a rake to get the further behind, but if this is going to be a hassle, we can trim to 36" instead (3 feet). Thoughts?

I think it is more important to consider whether you can reach any chick anywhere in the brooder from whatever opening you have. In the shelf brooder I have, I discovered there are two corners that I can't reach which has made it difficult when I need to reach a chick (because of pasty butt, which I have never before experienced but am big time with this batch).

Also would need to be able to scrub clean possibly, or paint, or....so I would think of that reach. It is framed out so you can actually try it and pretend to grab that chick or mop up a pile of whatever.

So much progress so fast! way cool!