The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Alibabe]

Progress for today June 3rd:

Breeding pens started. Each of these pens are 4x4 and intended for breeding trios/quads. Covered runs will be out the back. Each pen is walk into.


Mock pop door. He wanted to know if we wanted ones that slid up and latched. Yes we do! He's going to make them look more finished.


Large breeding pen in the hallway. you can see we painted this room. It has no windows (except the door will be dutch, so we will open that during the day) but the white paint makes a world of difference. We will be painting the hallway and brooder room as well. Priming first this time though.. It took 5 gallons of paint to do this 12 x 14 foot room..

Doors. The smaller chicken wire used so I don't have to worry about chicks getting through. I'll use these two pens for Silkies & Mottled Houdans in breeding season, but will be using them for Meaties on one end, and layers on the other for brooding. We have an order coming in on June 28th. 30 meaties and 40 layers. There will be pop doors to go outside to free range as well when they are old enough.


This pen is 4' wide by 14 feet long.


This one is 14 feet long by 5 feet wide.




This pen has about a foot lost. This is where our fuse box will go.



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?


The hallway going out the exit.

Beautiful - your excitment levels must be at boiling point by now

 

[Alibabe]

Although I don't post much, I want to say that I do sympathize with, laugh at and celebrate everyone's posts. I especially appreciate the information. I've learned a lot. I had a loss in my family today and the distraction of this thread, especially the laughs, were greatly needed.

sorry for your loss

 

[Alibabe]

My I ask who you got your SLO from?

I got them from a seller in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, United Kingdom. Here are some photo's of the daddy. Hope they are good stock.

 

[aoxa]

My EE sounds like a mad raccoon - it's pretty funny.

aoxa without a camera!! How is that even possible? LOL

I know.. It's insanity!!

Transferring should not be a problem.
My I ask who you got your SLO from?


some hens do this the first time. It does not mean they will do it again. Some are just horrible mothers. I let them be. If they kill all the chicks next time i eat them, but I always give them a chance.
Primer will make a world of difference..it will save paint and make it last years longer, keep mold down and keep staining down and keep the paint from peeling.
I never understood peoples need to do it.
I do not know if you should..that is a decision you need to make
I guess you could..but tell me what changes when you candle? Are you going to know anything different?
Some kick them out and some just leave them
I do not know for anyone one else, but it is all I have ever had.
Justine,

I would leave it as large as possible and put little removable dividers in. You can always use a back scratcher to scoop the corners, and we both know a bit of meat/food makes the baby's come out. Hang a fish net for the one that simply will not come forward. Cleaning will not be that hard. Baby poop is not that hard to clean up. On FF it is like tiny little pieces of tan licorice. To help with mold and sanitation I would use two coats of latex primer on your brooders before painting. You will have a better time with clean up and it will last longer. Choose your paints with the lowest VOC's.
its too hot..change your bulb to a regular 60-90 watt..even 75 is too hot during part of the day. Ideal is 80 directly under bulb at this age with different temps in the brooder. If it is 60 outside..they should have an area that is 60. If it is 40 outside, they should have a 40 degree area. It was 40 outside today but sunny and I had chicks outside.
You can't keep it wrapped in a wet paper towel it will get too cold unless it was under heat... plug in a heating pad.The egg needs to stay at least 96-100 degrees. Adding additional water directly to the shell will cause excessive moisture to leach into the shell with the drop in temp. That will cause the chicks body temp to drop even faster. Shrink wrapping is from humans opening incubators, not broody raised and hatched chicks.

I'm not too worried about the 4 feet deep on the bottom, it's the one on top I'm concerned about. That will be 4 feet off the ground, and difficult to manage that deep. I think it should be fine. 3 feet by 12 feet each shelf..That's 72 square feet of brooder space. I won't be using these brooders for my meaties or layers.

Good idea on the primer on the bottom. Will that suffice for water spilling damage, or should I lay down some vinyl flooring?

 

[Pozees]

I'm
I'm sorry about the loss in your family and your Sussex! I have to say I would be in the running, too for red neck coops for not one, not two, but 3 of my coops. One is made out of PVC and tarp, one is an old swing set and tarp, and one (and the front runner here for red neck coop) is made from an old truck cap and PVC!

On an unrelated note, my last two chicks just hatched! They zipped at almost exactly the same time. So I'm waiting for them to dry off a little and get more steady, but them I'm off to bed! Sadly I don't think that first chick I found is gonna make it, but the others are all looking good. Oh, and bad mama already got moved to the summer coop. No good place to go broody there!

Glad to hear the rest hatched okay. Hope you got some rest!

 

[Pozees]

This chicken keeping is tough sometimes. Thanks to the sour crop discussion, I believe that's my little Speckled Sussex's problem. She's been doing better. The squishy crop has gone down a lot. I finally got the chicks and turkeys in the chicken coop. Does anyone know if there's a contest for the best red neck/white trash coop? I'm pretty sure I'd be in the running. I'm hoping there's a cash prize. The duct tape wasn't my idea, but, there it is. Anyway, I put all the birds in the coop, which is 6.5'x24'. The little Sussex was doing really well. She was even going in to eat with everyone, but I would take her to the other end and feed her separately. Tonight, when I went out to feed, poor little Sussex had been beat to a pulp. She has no feathers on her back, her wing tops are bloody, her comb is gone. She's holding her eyes shut, but I know she can open them. Her feet are mangled. Tomorrow I have a friend coming to get her. She has pens she can keep her in. I can't believe I've gotten attached to a chicken, but I have. I don't care where she goes as long as she gets a chance to heal and be safe. Of course, if the crop issues don't resolve, she'll be taken care of. Naturally, I believe she was one of (I think) my 2 pullets. The other 6 are roos, I'm sure. I did finally figure out that my yellow mystery chicks from the hatchery are Buff Orpingtons. 4 of the 6 roos.

Now, those delicate turkey poults are doing great. Hope I didn't jinx them by saying that.

Although I don't post much, I want to say that I do sympathize with, laugh at and celebrate everyone's posts. I especially appreciate the information. I've learned a lot. I had a loss in my family today and the distraction of this thread, especially the laughs, were greatly needed.

Sorry for your loss, and sorry about your SS, that's a bummer. Last year someone on another thread posted a great picture of a decades-old chicken coop he claimed was still in use, although there were no birds visible so I'm fairly certain he was joking, but it was barely more than the wood frame of the original building. Seems like it may have been on the Heritage Large Fowl thread, although I could be mistaken. I love pictures of coops made with creativity and materials available, they always give me ideas.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Good idea on the primer on the bottom. Will that suffice for water spilling damage, or should I lay down some vinyl flooring?

I vote for the flooring. my brooders tend to have lots of water getting everywhere.

 

[brandislee]

Glad to hear the rest hatched okay. Hope you got some rest!

I got about 5 hours of sleep. I'm going to go back to bed for a while after I do chores and get my daughter off to school.

But I have yet another question. Normally I'm not this obnoxious, but this situation caught me off guard, and now I'm too tired to be reasonable and logical. I don't have any neosporin, and my husband took my car to work. I'm trying to figure out what to use on the chicks wounds. I have several herbal salves (homemade) that I could use- lavender (it has lavender essential oil in it, I didn't know if that would be too fragrant for chicks, but otherwise that would be my top pick), calendula, mullein, green black walnut, licorice, and one that's a combination of plantain, chickweed, and calendula. I could use garlic oil. I could use any number of herbal washes then dry the wound and use plain (just beeswax and oil) balm to protect the wound. I also have boric acid solution, povonized iodine (betadine) and hydrogen peroxide. The lavender would be the most antiseptic, or any of the other balms with some tea tree oil mixed in, but I don't know if essential oils are safe for chicks.

 

[aoxa]

I got about 5 hours of sleep. I'm going to go back to bed for a while after I do chores and get my daughter off to school.

But I have yet another question. Normally I'm not this obnoxious, but this situation caught me off guard, and now I'm too tired to be reasonable and logical. I don't have any neosporin, and my husband took my car to work. I'm trying to figure out what to use on the chicks wounds. I have several herbal salves (homemade) that I could use- lavender (it has lavender essential oil in it, I didn't know if that would be too fragrant for chicks, but otherwise that would be my top pick), calendula, mullein, green black walnut, licorice, and one that's a combination of plantain, chickweed, and calendula. I could use garlic oil. I could use any number of herbal washes then dry the wound and use plain (just beeswax and oil) balm to protect the wound. I also have boric acid solution, povonized iodine (betadine) and hydrogen peroxide. The lavender would be the most antiseptic, or any of the other balms with some tea tree oil mixed in, but I don't know if essential oils are safe for chicks.

What about Coconut oil?

 

[brandislee]

What about Coconut oil?

Why didn't I think of that??? But would that be enough? I've heard it's antiseptic but not THAT antiseptic on it's own, it's better as a compliment to something else. I'm reading more right now about chickens and essential oils, I may mix a very VERY small amount into some coconut oil.