The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[starlingdaly]

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.

You guys really are trying to get me to make my own ACV and kombucha, aren't you???

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Can hardly wait to have a good roo light that!

As others have said, absolutely, in fact I associate it with some of the best roosters. When I'm building a new cage the boys are all eyes for it and can't wait for me to finish before they make multiple inspections of it and try out all the nest boxes, making a rapid very soft clucking noise. They're always under my feet as I'm building! They shape nests for the hens and are careful with any eggs there. In the wild roosters are very much involved as fathers, it's only human intervention that's bred mating-only purpose roosters who are only focused on the next hen and the next and the next and couldn't care less about chicks, or worse, kill them.

Off topic... How is it, with this thriving thread, that some people are visiting natural-solution-seeker's threads to say all natural methods fail as one can apparently see from all the threads on them, etc... I've always pursued the natural methods and found higher success rates than everyone I know who uses commercial/normal methods of poultry husbandry. So personally I vouch for natural as opposed to chemical 100%. But some people seem to make a crusade about chemicals as being the only way. I think the naysayers put a lot of beginners off what it in fact the best choice for their health and their animal's health. It's a shame.

My health and wanting it natural fed as possible is one reason I have the chickens.... why would I want to use chemicals on them? duh... would defeat my purpose. With my sensitivities to chemicals and inhalants having caused neurological health problems I don't want anything aggravating things.

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?

Yes a site that writes it out... I can't view video so it didn't help me.

This would make a great jigsaw puzzle!

I was thinking that!

Tape worms are caused by the dog eating fleas. I know this because our base housing in Little Rock was INFESTED so bad with fleas it took antimology two times to get rid of them. Anyways, our Doby got tape worm twice in a month and the vet said it was the fleas. So, your bunnies and squirrels probable have fleas and that is what's causing the dogs to have them. Ew all around, right?
Ok....the other reason I came on today....the babies are here! They sent three boys, instead of two and the five girls. Pics(-which you should enjoy, because while I was emailing them to myself I knocked the over-priced iCrap off the brooder and cracked the screen, yay me)
Babies in a Box

A boy and a girl

Nice and warm

They're pretty full from the gro-gel, so not eating much yet, but seem super happy and vigorous.

Oh oh I'll take the extra roo..... but you said two roo and five girls..... don't I see EIGHT birds in that photo?

I just went out to check on broody mama.... AND THERE WAS A CHICK!!!

One, maybe two, of four. She's still sitting tight. I picked up the whole nest and moved it a foot over into the "creep" area we had built for the chicks when we integrated. Then I leaned dog crate panels up so no one could get in. That was the only way I could think of to make it so she could have food and water for the chicks without the other guys just sucking it all down. She settled back down immediately after getting very puffy over being moved. Hopefully it was an ok thing to do. Where she was I couldn't assemble the crate around her, or I would have. It was all I could think of on the fly.... I'm putting the babies down for their naps then I'll go out and check on her again.... This gives me some slim hope for the ones in the incubator...

Yay! If I ever get more chickens (bigger coop comes first) I will be excited as you. So glad to read your account. I want more.... And they rebelled today= not one egg!

You guys really are trying to get me to make my own ACV and kombucha, aren't you???

Of course! lol

 

[aaggjg]

I'm going to do some searching around for an answer to this but...maybe someone here knows the answer!

I have a big ginger root. Can it be fed to chickens? Grated into feed or just whole for them to peck at?

Is it useful for anything?

I minced it up with my garlic in the food processor and feed it to the girls ... Ginger helps with colds, its an anti-inflammatory etc etc. I figure its good for them!! Break off a knob and throw it in ... Not sure if they'll eat it if you don't grind it up ...

 

[lalaland]

QUICK QUESTION: can 2 week old chicks handle whole corn?

 

[aaggjg]

Thanks for that link on the LABs. That states it straight forward. (Although the measurements leave a lot to be desired

but at least it's a quick overview to get the idea.)

Now...is "rice wash" just the discarded water from rinsing the rice? I looked that up and that's what I seem to be finding. But it seems that some wash rice a zillion times...so which rinse is it? All of them? And...does it have to be the starch from the rice wash? Seems like it could be from any grain.

Here you go .... as that VIDEO IS LONG and unnecessarily LONG ... I think I have in memorized so here goes nothing

1. take a cup or so of rice and soak it in a cup or so of water .... shake it up, stir it ... whatever ... you get cloudy rice water. Strain out the rice ... cook it up if you want to....
2. Put this water in a jar with plenty of headroom.... cover with a paper towel let stand for a week it will turn yellowish & grow some scum....
3. Strain off scum
4. Add Milk to the liquid ... 10 parts to 1 part
5. Put in glass jar with plenty of headroom , loosely cover with paper towel let stand a week
6. Curd will form liquid will be yellow
7. Strain Curds leaving LAB liquid
8. Feed Curd to chickens
9. put LAB into fridge for up to 1 year or mix 1 to1 with molasses and it can sit out on counter and be stored for up to 3 years!

TO USE: 20 parts water to 1 part LABs liquid ... mix & spray


EASY

 

[aaggjg]

QUICK QUESTION: can 2 week old chicks handle whole corn?

I'd think would be big for them and if I remember mine wouldn't touch it ..... if they have grit I guess they can eat it... if they will

 

[armorfirelady]

Aagig....... Where were you a couple weeks ago when I was trying to male LAB ? I watched that video so many times.........

I used a plastic container when the curd was forming and had no problems. Is what the guy in the video used.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

QUICK QUESTION: can 2 week old chicks handle whole corn?

I don't feed mine any thing other than feed until at least 6 weeks except maybe ground beef around week 4 just to see if they will try the meat.

 

[lalaland]

Man this thread moves fast!

Regarding Pine Tar: I only use the pure undiluted stuff. If it's not working for you, that Nu Stock stuff or whatever the name was, I'd blame the purity or lack thereof.
Regarding: brandislee not being able to justify spending more on animals that don't contribute to the food production: if you don't give them a decent diet they will make you pay for it via vet bills or their suffering and disease and the money you will end up spending to recover the health the cheap crap food took from them. It's of paramount importance to build an animal on good feed because later on you can't recover in adults the health that was never given in the first place, in my experience. You can get them good, but never super... And good food generally just means a balanced raw diet. It can be cheap, you just need to find the right supplier. For example if I get lamb chops from the shops to eat (which I don't) it's never less than $8 to $20 a kilo! But in the same shop I get lamb offcuts and for $3.50 a kilo I'll get a feed, my two dogs get a feed and some bones, and my cat gets a feed too, from one pack. Not spending that little bit more on your dogs is a false economy that will some back to bite you; it makes sense except for where it leads, slowly but surely...
Regarding: Garlic! And pine tar.

Always raw, freshly minced, as once it's cooked it loses a lot of its antibiotic/active properties. A standard level to maintain is a clove of garlic per day per bird but often I'll let them eat as much as they want. It's my number one medicine really so the time and money it takes is fully justified in the time and money it saves on treating for disease. I also give them a pinch of granulated kelp per day per bird and that works wonders too. I use raw garlic as medicine for myself too, and like a chicken it only takes one raw clove to knock a virus on the head that's been rampaging for days. I'm slack with my own health as compared to my animals, lol... The best effects are gained from giving raw garlic from hatching onwards, that way nothing ever gets a foothold. They're rudely healthy when raised on garlic and kelp. I've only used pellets when forced to because I'm between houses, and have been for months now, and the plunge in health since I can't tend them as normal is alarming. By most people's standards they're healthy, though.

With the pine tar/Stockholm tar, I use the undiluted and unadulterated stuff so there's no such thing as a light smear! I find it absorbs like magic into hoofs, wounds, scaly mite scabs, etc and doesn't even mess up their feathers or fur like you'd think. In fact it leaves shiny feathers or fur or hooves, you'd never know it was coated in tar a few hours ago. I can't even wash it off my hands before it absorbs... I apply a complete covering of all affected areas of whatever I'm treating and if it's bad enough a wound or infestation I'll apply a second before letting the animal be, since it absorbs so fast. It seems to create instant pain relief and heat, and the animals just relax and enjoy it. 'Pine Tar Time' is a happy time that's helped tame some of the most skitty or mistrusting of animals. The first time you apply it, it's all struggles and noncooperation; the second time often they come to you, or meekly stand and even help apply it. They can even eat it too. I tried to stop them eating it initially, because, well, it's TAR! But now I can see it's got benefits when eaten in small doses too, and they never overdo it. I'm keen to try to use it to treat some internal problems which are otherwise fatal as I've used it on serious ulcers and wounds and cysts with complete success; it's possible a short term internal dose may save some creatures that otherwise die. Emergency measure, type of thing.

thanks! that is a heck of a lot of garlic - would run me about $15/day if I didn't grow it, and I don't think I could grow enough of it to feed that quantity what sort of things are you seeing in the plunge in health?
.

I don't feed mine any thing other than feed until at least 6 weeks except maybe ground beef around week 4 just to see if they will try the meat.

I just got 50 lbs of starter mash, and it has really big pieces of corn, practically whole kernals. I thought the corn was too big for the chicks, but wanted to check as I thought I might be overprotective. It has been almost 5 years since I've had chicks, and I have forgotten a lot!


It has been raining for days and you have to wear big rain boots just to go out to the coop. can't plant anything because you can't get in the garden, not to mention it is so wet stuff would just rot. Where do you think the chickens went today? into the garden, where I couldn't follow because of the muck and you lose your boots when you walk in that, and they ate up my cabbage seedlings. dang.

 

[aoxa]

thanks! that is a heck of a lot of garlic - would run me about $15/day if I didn't grow it, and I don't think I could grow enough of it to feed that quantity what sort of things are you seeing in the plunge in health?
.
I just got 50 lbs of starter mash, and it has really big pieces of corn, practically whole kernals. I thought the corn was too big for the chicks, but wanted to check as I thought I might be overprotective. It has been almost 5 years since I've had chicks, and I have forgotten a lot!


It has been raining for days and you have to wear big rain boots just to go out to the coop. can't plant anything because you can't get in the garden, not to mention it is so wet stuff would just rot. Where do you think the chickens went today? into the garden, where I couldn't follow because of the muck and you lose your boots when you walk in that, and they ate up my cabbage seedlings. dang.

I thought mash was ground like dust pretty much.. That's what everyone told me once I said I thought it was whole.

Feed your chicks all sorts of things early on. They can eat anything in small pieces, as long as they have grit.

I give day olds small red worms. They don't always get it.. Also, if I put a clod of sod in the brooder in the very beginning, rather than waiting a week or two, they are much more likely to enjoy it early on and not take so long to accept any new treat.