The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Ashdoes]

CLs, right?  If I ever get my broody, I am getting some CLs from a gal that has them about an hour south of me.  I really want the broody to raise them if I can make everything coincide.  It will be the CLs and some (hopefully) darker feathered Swedes.

Yep, CL's. they gave us a great mix of light and dark boys, like a scale, so one very light one light and one dark. They seem tiny to me, like smaller than our BR and sex links. If I had a LF broody I would have used her, so the babies learn faster, but our Silkie doesn't roost and I just figured its not a good match.

 

[BlueMouse]

Mama is feeding the babies bits of food! Hasn't killed any yet (which i dreaded the possibility of) still one egg left, and what looks like a partial shell but I can't tell. I can't take pictures because it's too dim in the shed. She's so poofed out she could certainly have three babies hidden under her. I've seen two for sure.

Please excuse me if I'm excessively excited. This is my first hatch and I was sure all the eggs were goners. Now I'm wishing I'd trusted her with some of the cream legbar eggs.... but she's not a proven broody, and I was afraid I'd lose them.

 

[stonykill]

Just went out to check. Mama has moved chicks and eggs OUT of the nest and is sitting on them all in the corner. I think this is a good sign? Gave her dishes of ground up chick food and fresh water.

Mama is feeding the babies bits of food! Hasn't killed any yet (which i dreaded the possibility of) still one egg left, and what looks like a partial shell but I can't tell. I can't take pictures because it's too dim in the shed. She's so poofed out she could certainly have three babies hidden under her. I've seen two for sure.

Please excuse me if I'm excessively excited. This is my first hatch and I was sure all the eggs were goners. Now I'm wishing I'd trusted her with some of the cream legbar eggs.... but she's not a proven broody, and I was afraid I'd lose them.

that all sounds just perfect! Congrats on your 1st broody!

 

[salt and pepper]

Maybe they aren't mites? Tried to find some in the coop, but they disapered, which they usually do for a couple of days after cleaning. All the pics I found they just look like black dot's. while these look like brown bugs... I honestly don't know, but as long as my birds are ok, I'm ok, lol. I'll try to get a pic when they return ( which I know they will ) On a different note, wanted to share a pic of my favorite chicken, she is a dwarf buff orpington, and is the sweetest bird I've ever had.


Next to my little ameraucana for comparison, she's about 3/4-1/2 the size as my other buffs. She was going down hill fast, but as soon as I started feeding fermented feed, she perked right up! Thanks for all the help by the way =)

 

[cywiar merch]

Another thing... about the dogs and tape worms. So my dogs are on less than ideal food. They're young and (other than the worms...) healthy, and I just can't justify spending a huge amount on an animal that in reality doesn't contribute to food production... it would be one thing if I considered them livestock guardians, but they are so not... they'll chase off a stray dog or other large predator, but they aren't the right type of dog and I don't trust them alone with the chickens, so they're only outside when I'm outside, which kind of defeats the purpose... and yes, it was dumb to get inside/non-useful dogs, but the one is from my "old" city life, and the other I really really wanted to have be an outside/guardian dog, but 1) his instincts are all wrong... he basically wants to chase anything that moves. He leaves the chickens alone oddly enough (although he will occasionally point them), at least when I'm around, but he would eat these new kittens if I turned my back... and honestly if he hurts one of them or a chicken he's gone. And 2) he was born in November and came home with us, to Minnesota, in the beginning of January. He was an outside dog when we got him, BUT that was with his mother and siblings and in a milder climate. I am too much of a softie to keep a puppy alone outside in that kind of weather. So here we are. Anyway, they eat cheap crap food. And supplement with bunnies and squirrels. The result being tape worms. I wormed them with the awful stuff the vet gave me because their worms were BAD. The one was off his food for weeks (he's still recovering, in fact) and the other one had them in her fecal float so bad they said they'd never seen a worse sample. But now that the worms are presumably gone, is there anything I can give them to prevent it from happening again? I'm going to guess ACV in the water and garlic, but anything else? And similar to the chicken question, how do you give garlic- fresh/dried/powdered?
.

As far as food for your dgs are concerned. I think your best bet might be raw. There are quite a few good websites on info on feeding raw. TBH, feeding raw is sometimes not quite as expensive as people think as animals eat alot less of it than they do commercial food. Commercial food contained a lot do fillers while your dogs will actually absorb most of the raw and be satsfied faster. As far as the buunies and squirrels perhaps it would be helpful to fereeze them for a couple of weeks to get rid of any parasites.

 

[Quailsong]

Nearly 100 more comments! Trying to catch up.

Leah I think you were looking for a recipe on LABs. I don't make it myself, but I'd like to learn. I found this one http://www.luntiancorner.com/farming/labs/

There was an OT way of quick-breaking broodiness & that was simply using a pail of cool water. Somewhat the same method to catch & stop the beginnings a dog fight (although you'd want to catch it quick - doing it far into the fight can be too shocking).

Someone mentioned a Natural Goat Care book earlier. I'm very interested in raising goats one day down the road so I gave it a look on Amazon. It seems like a wonderful book but as it's Australian-based I don't think it'd be as helpful for those in the US & certainly wouldn't work for me up in Canada as most of the herbs probably won't grow here. Another book recommended earlier "The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable" - Juliette de Baïracli Levy has some bad reviews on it - esp concerning horses & the use of motor oil to coat them. Yuck. I don't have any books to recommend currently, though I feel it's always good to read the reviews before ordering.

Finally got my Kombucha mother growing a full baby. Working on transferring it to a 1 gallon glass cookie jar tonight. The best thing about the mushroom/SCOBY disks is that you can compost them if you have too many (assuming you don't sell or give them away). They can also be fed to the chickens if the disks get too old for re-use.

For anyone who doesn't know about Kombucha SCOBY: If you let it sit a long time in the sweet tea, it eventually turns into vinegar; the disk is essentially the same 'mother' that you'd brew with ACV.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hi guys, just found this thread... I wish I would have found it sooner though!

Hey! Glad you found us! Looking forward to seeing you around



Is this the pine tar you use? We can get this at tractor supply too.
http://www.amazon.com/Bickmore-Pine...=UTF8&qid=1370462505&sr=8-2&keywords=pine+tar

Quote:

Exciting!!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Someone mentioned a Natural Goat Care book earlier. I'm very interested in raising goats one day down the road so I gave it a look on Amazon. It seems like a wonderful book but as it's Australian-based I don't think it'd be as helpful for those in the US & certainly wouldn't work for me up in Canada as most of the herbs probably won't grow here. Another book recommended earlier "The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable" - Juliette de Baïracli Levy has some bad reviews on it - esp concerning horses & the use of motor oil to coat them. Yuck. I don't have any books to recommend currently, though I feel it's always good to read the reviews before ordering.

Yah, I read the reviews too. The one from Australia gets RAVE REVIEWS with the disclaimer that it is sometimes hard to find some of the things in the US...but they all said it was one of the best books they've found and recommend it anyway and that the knowledge in it is worth getting...so I did Can't give it my review yet.

I have read varying things on sites trying to address some of my questions.

We're going to visit a goat farm on Saturday.. Boers for meat. I'm going to try picking her brain for as much info as I can get. They have some of theirs on total pasture/browse and some they supplement w/grain. I'm getting some good info in bits and pieces from a variety of places...

 

[Quailsong]

Yah, I read the reviews too. The one from Australia gets RAVE REVIEWS with the disclaimer that it is sometimes hard to find some of the things in the US...but they all said it was one of the best books they've found and recommend it anyway and that the knowledge in it is worth getting...so I did Can't give it my review yet.

I have read varying things on sites trying to address some of my questions.

We're going to visit a goat farm on Saturday.. Boers for meat. I'm going to try picking her brain for as much info as I can get. They have some of theirs on total pasture/browse and some they supplement w/grain. I'm getting some good info in bits and pieces from a variety of places...

Leahs Mom, you can make your own pine tar if you've access to fresh pine & a wood stove. Depending on your method, you basically gut the pith, pop the rest in a can & warm it up over the fire. I imagine you could cook it over the conventional stove as well. The inside 'melts' much like hard candy & you can let it drip out into a pan. Though I'm sure it's just easier to buy it at a store nowadays.

Here's a basic way to make it, if you're curious: http://www.primitiveways.com/pine_pitch_stick.html

I wanted to add there are some concerns about pine tar having carcinogens based off different brewing methods. I would recommend if you make your own for food/chicken use to study the best methods for your needs. Otherwise if you're buying, look for pine tar that is creosote-free.

I'm glad that the book you're getting has enough info for you to utilize, despite its specialized location. I like books like that. Too many books nowadays relying on items/stores/etc that will be out of date in 5 years.

Boers! When I was a little kid I wanted to keep Nubians cause they looked so cool w/ their bunny ears and soft Roman nose. Now that I'm 'grown up' (at least, in age) I'm tossed between Nigerian Dwarf, Saanens & Boers. I still like Nubians but worried their ears would be easily frost-bitten in a Canadian winter (same with Boers). I also like the Nigerian Dwarf the most due to the neat colourations, great milk (very good for cheese/soap), & I've read they're good for meat. They're also fairly small, which is perfect for me 'cause I'm a small person & wouldn't want to wrestle w/ a heavy goat.

Though for me this dream won't be realized for another 10 years. This next move in June/July will be 1/4 acre farm for quail & gardening. After that I'll be looking for 5+ acres for a heard of goats, and some SFH.

Okay, enough of my dreamy-talk.

Edited for clarity.

 

[stonykill]

and as usual if you click the link below there are more pictures fromtoday