The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Quote: I do like him..those nice wide tail and wing feathers will make sure he throws some nice lacing. His wide tail will fix some of the pinched tails. I love his wide front end.

Quote: Vinyl floor for sure!!!

Uhhhh, is it normal for a rooster to go in the hen house and make a nest and SIT in it while other hens are laying eggs or brooding???? >.>

not only normal..but adorable

Quote:

do not treat your goats any different than your chickens.. plant natural herbs and plants for them to choose what there body needs..they will eat it. You just need to choose how many and make sure you have enough area for them.

Quote: Hmmm maybe delisa would have a better idea. At least the wood ash is a start. I keep my girls dust bath in the coop. Obviously it stays drier in there plus the added benefit of wood ash in the DL as a mite preventive.
getting rid of mites is hard work. However in this case with using chemicals I would not feel comfortable giving any more advise in fear of something happening to the chickens. Very strong toxic chemicals are already all over the chickens living environment.

Quote: Sand works great in many environments. Bugs love sand.

Quote: Excellent post!

I have some friends that lost everything in tornado all but one hen killed. I,m going to keep the hen till they rebuild. Should I quaranteen her in sick bay or just separated in coop brooder so she has some company. Appreciate any and all advice on this subject.

30 days..30 yards away..it would be nice for the bird to give her company...Thank you for helping a friend of this tragedy. That bird will be precious.

Question for the broody masters... I have my very first broody sitting on eggs that were in my incubator (she went broody after they went in, and then I wanted to be sure she was serious about this whole broody business) Anyhow, day 21 was monday, and I still have no internal pip on any of the eggs in my incubator. I'm going to call the whole hatch a bust on friday.... If that happens, do you think I can sneak some young chicks under her, take away the eggs, and convince her to be done being broody and go to being a mom? I don't want her to sit for another month, and she's very determinedly broody.

Still crossing my fingers that these eggs will hatch, but getting to the point where I think a contingency plan is in order.

My cream legbars!

I would give her live chicks as soon as you can. Call around and find a few cream legbars in your area. Float test your eggs in the incubator.

Float test:

1 highball glass fill with 100 degree water 2 inch from the rim
slowly lower one egg into the glass..if the egg is viable..it will....move...move..move
if it sinks..it was never fertile.... if it slowly sinks it was an early death. if it just sits still it is a later death.

 

[Ashdoes]

Thank you all for the advice about goats. I got a couple links to read through. It'll have to wait till tomorrow though, I'm exhausted.

 

[starlingdaly]

Question for the broody masters... I have my very first broody sitting on eggs that were in my incubator (she went broody after they went in, and then I wanted to be sure she was serious about this whole broody business) Anyhow, day 21 was monday, and I still have no internal pip on any of the eggs in my incubator. I'm going to call the whole hatch a bust on friday.... If that happens, do you think I can sneak some young chicks under her, take away the eggs, and convince her to be done being broody and go to being a mom? I don't want her to sit for another month, and she's very determinedly broody. Still crossing my fingers that these eggs will hatch, but getting to the point where I think a contingency plan is in order.

My cream legbars!

I have had good luck with stuffing chicks under broodies. It's usually the way I break the broodiness. They do some incubating work for me for a couple if weeks on eggs I'm not sure are doing anything and when I'm done with that I go out at night with a single young chick (low value chick, about a week old usually) and keep it as quiet as I can as I slowly place it under her and grab as many eggs as I can out from under her. It's fine if you leave some under her. I switch out the rest with another chick in the morning after she's had time to decide she's a mom now. Best of luck!

 

[Alibabe]

I do like him..those nice wide tail and wing feathers will make sure he throws some nice lacing. His wide tail will fix some of the pinched tails. I love his wide front end.

Thanks Delisha, I am hoping to get at least a good trio for breeding from him. Eggs going into incubator tonight so will only know in a few weeks.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Indeed, it's insane. Goats are some of the toughest livestock out there, as are chickens, given half a chance. Juliette de Bairacli Levy wrote books covering the health of most livestock including goats. The 'Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable' is a good one, it's what I initially relied on starting out with chickens and has helped me in many life and death situations such as after we captured a wild born pup and realized he was dying of parvo. I treated him naturally and he's vibrantly healthy now as an adult, but he was a wretched skeleton. He was far gone, vaccinating him or using normal medications then would have killed him; in fact if I'd brought him to a vet they would have put him down as a lost cause. Often NOT taking animals to the vet has been life-saving, lol!
Quote: I've seen it happen to broody raised and hatched chicks but as far as I am aware it is in that case due to either maternal or dietary insufficiency. I think in particular the B vitamin group was lacking. Also if the hen moves around too much and breaks eggs before they start pipping then you've got to act quickly and hatch them yourself. If they're raised on a good healthy diet they're fine. It's amazing how many problems are due to insufficiencies.

Regarding mites and lice: I raised my poultry on raw garlic as part of their staple feed, and was always able to bring in a bird from outside with terrible scaly leg mite infestation or lice, and treat it through diet, no dusting or extra feeds or special feeds, just letting their bodies build up on natural defenses. I never had to treat perches or other birds or nests. Once or twice I backed off the garlic to see how much of an impact it had, and immediately parasite levels rose, so I amped the garlic back up, problem solved. In the case of severe scaly leg infestation, like when the bird's lost most of its scales or is in obvious pain or is even going to lose some toes, I use pine tar (stockholm tar); it's a great pain and infection killer as well as insecticide. The scaly mite infected areas just shed off and leave fresh healed skin and scales in their wake after about two or so applications. Animals love it; I use it on the sheep's hooves, on fox bites, gangrenous or golden staph infections, messy accidental amputations, all wounds, cycsts, and generally anything. Some people think scaly leg is normal; I read one commercial layer book saying it was an indication of age! Great herbs to regularly give your poultry and other animals include sage and rosemary, and all aromatic herbs are generally useful as medicines. I've heard really great things about oregano oil, it's one of those up-and-comers in the medical world because recent studies have proven great efficacy in its applications. Wish I knew where I'd read that! I will link if I find it.

 

[bbsnooks]

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.

thanks for that..
I think .. it may not matter what is living there.. that the principle's are the same.. layering in the good bacteria..

_ I found it easy to make the "Lab's" with rice wash.. and use that . in the FF as well in the coop area and lawn./ garden.
I think that .. throwing the "scratch FF " on the lawn.. also helps to distribute the bacteria .. there too. a win win.. situation..
and it costs.. like chicken feed. ; )

- and fun chicken entertainment. tonight .. with lamp out side.. shining.. to attract the bugs.. June bugs.. and others.. in the coop. < open air.. >
they had a good fun evening snack.. and entertainment for me..
__ and rain.. -- we needed it..

Uhhhh, is it normal for a rooster ---------- and SIT ??? >.>

glad you asked that.. I have one that does that.. i thought he was sick.. and might be one of those heart attack.. b4 a year old
he does sit alot compaired to the other one..
glad to know ..

 

[Leahs Mom]

I've been rambling a lot lately so it was probably got overlooked but...

Those of you that use electric netting at what age did you put chicks in it? And did they get stuck in the netting or zap themselves?

My big girls have not touched the electric netting to my knowledge. But Stella the 5 week old BR went right thru it today followed by one of the BCMs. The netting was not plugged in because one of the cords is bad & I am waiting for the replacement to come in.

Thoughts? Experiences?

Thank you

I got my fence after my original kiddos were older. And my new kids were big enough before they were out with the fence. I know that Premier states quite a bit in their literature that it won't contain smaller chicks. My main concern would be that they'd start to go through, get caught, and then get zapped over and over until they died.

One thing you could do is put a fence just inside the electric fence line that has smaller holes to keep them away from the electric net until they are larger.. I have seen folks set up like that but you have a LONG net and that would get expensive to do a "liner" on the whole fence.

I'm not sure how you have them housed...I think you said the littles are in your smaller coop so they have their own door into the net area? Would it be possible to fence off a small area inside the electric net that they could use until they're a little older? Like if it fenced them INSIDE the perimeter of the electric so the bad guys can't get to them, but still keeps them away from the electric until they grow a few weeks and are larger than the openings of the electric?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: You know...I like the idea of the LABS but have never watched that whole video to the end that tells how to do it. Is there a site that just writes out the steps... Something that I could print and keep as a reference?

 

[Pozees]

lots of new pics on my "thing" but just had to share this one. Loin...behave

This would make a great jigsaw puzzle!

 

[aoxa]

I have 2 questions I'd appreciate your feedback on:
What is white washing?
Also, do you all use DE? I'm not sure if that's a good option for me, cuz I've read (alot) that we're not supposed to breathe it in because it can be damaging to our lungs and the chickens lungs. Seems like an unnecessary risk. Aren't there (safer) alternatives to DE?

Don't ever use it. I use wood ash if I need to, but they mostly dust bathe in the gardens right now

That's why I'm confused, I can't find anything on my birds, and they're acting fine. I don;t want to use any chemicals, or buy anything more if my birds are perfectly fine. I have more frontline, and will re dose next month, I think I'll just leave it alone, and see what happens, I've tried everything I can think of.

If they aren't ON your birds, I would not worry. Try some internal control that keeps them from biting.. like garlic, ACV, and other herbs & what not.. That's what is in the Flea Free I use for the pets - and it is intended for use on livestock as well, but it is too expensive to use as a preventative for the poultry. I put it in the dog food every night. Not one tick yet! Last year it was insane.. I think I removed 10 ticks in one week from my kitten

Hey stony, delisha, hot rod and all, you were right!! it was the heat. by morning there was not one single pasty butt, and i just came home from work to find just the last teeny tiny sfh chick needing help. I think he has a problem all of his own, probably the same thing that his now gone sister had.

thanks again

How long do broodies generally take to stop being broody? And if they start sitting in a nest again before they are completely broken, does the process start over?
I ask because I thought my turkey hen was done being broody but she surprised me by incubating eggs and a preexisting chicken broody today. So I boarded up my nest boxes so that only chickens can fit in them and will keep the turkey's box out of the coop until she's broken.
Sad thing is, I think she ruined the eggs I had out there from all the clumsiness. I had seen development a couple of days ago but now I don't see anything and the chalaza appears damaged in each egg.

If you break them, it takes roughly 2 weeks for them to start laying again.

I got my fence after my original kiddos were older. And my new kids were big enough before they were out with the fence. I know that Premier states quite a bit in their literature that it won't contain smaller chicks. My main concern would be that they'd start to go through, get caught, and then get zapped over and over until they died.

One thing you could do is put a fence just inside the electric fence line that has smaller holes to keep them away from the electric net until they are larger.. I have seen folks set up like that but you have a LONG net and that would get expensive to do a "liner" on the whole fence.

I'm not sure how you have them housed...I think you said the littles are in your smaller coop so they have their own door into the net area? Would it be possible to fence off a small area inside the electric net that they could use until they're a little older? Like if it fenced them INSIDE the perimeter of the electric so the bad guys can't get to them, but still keeps them away from the electric until they grow a few weeks and are larger than the openings of the electric?

I'm worried about shocking myself... :S