The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

you said what I was thinking

I really don't have food loss. I also have 100ish or more birds. My thought is this. If they can't be bothered to eat the food off the ground and only from feeder you are feeding them too much.

I feed most of my chickens on the ground, no feeders. It is natural for them as it is for hogs. I think your thought process is correct.

Back to the can a chick eat whole corn. I watched a 3 day old chick yesterday catch and eat a bumblebee. Just saying........

Didn't even break it up!?

I've seen my day olds eat June Bugs, but they break it up into pieces they can manage.

 

[stonykill]

BDM: That's really weird that they used your image from ANOTHER thread without asking.. or at least informing you...

I'm pretty sure with or without a watermark BYC owns the photo's you post here. Once it is on the net it is no longer yours

 

[aoxa]

I'm pretty sure with or without a watermark BYC owns the photo's you post here. Once it is on the net it is no longer yours

You're right.. Unfortunately.


Quote:

 

[stonykill]

Didn't even break it up!?

I've seen my day olds eat June Bugs, but they break it up into pieces they can manage.

sure...kinda my point. They naturally know what to do

 

[lalaland]

you said what I was thinking

I really don't have food loss. I also have 100ish or more birds. My thought is this. If they can't be bothered to eat the food off the ground and only from feeder you are feeding them too much.

I feed most of my chickens on the ground, no feeders. It is natural for them as it is for hogs. I think your thought process is correct.

Back to the can a chick eat whole corn. I watched a 3 day old chick yesterday catch and eat a bumblebee. Just saying........

sure...kinda my point. They naturally know what to do

It is possible I am overworrying, no doubt. But....if you could see how tiny and frail the sfh chicks are, even after almost 3 weeks, I'ld bet you would think twice about huge honking kernals that are just the right size to choke on.

Wouldn't worry about a bumble bee, or june bug,which I've given them (june bugs, not bumble bees) because they can and do break them up. They can't break up the corn kernal.

Now if I had tons of sfh, maybe I'ld risk it.
But, chicks do stupid things, like drowing, and choking. most don't. with my luck....I chose to grind it a bit finer for the tiny chicks. The normal 2 and 3 week old chicks, I'm giving them the mix as is, and they are leaving the big chunks/kernals alone. not eating them.

I did a little research, and got varying results. some say wait til 4 weeks before feeding whole corn, some say 8 weeks, some say, as Stony says, don't worry!


Now, mincing up raw liver is a disgusting job! kind of turns into slime while you are doing it. Last night the chicks reacted normally to the introduction of something new - avoiding it, except for a few adventurous ones that tried a piece and then spent 5 minutes trying to get it off their beak.
I'll try again tonight.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Now, mincing up raw liver is a disgusting job! kind of turns into slime while you are doing it. Last night the chicks reacted normally to the introduction of something new - avoiding it, except for a few adventurous ones that tried a piece and then spent 5 minutes trying to get it off their beak.
I'll try again tonight.

A tip I learned from experience...

-Before you start cutting up the liver, rinse it in cold water. Removes the slime and you can actually work with it without having it stick to your hands, the knife, the board.... You can rinse it several times during the process if necessary.

-If the cut up pieces are slimy and sticking together, rinse them w/cold water before feeding. Keeps it from sticking together in a glob and sticking to their beak.

 

[aoxa]

It is possible I am overworrying, no doubt. But....if you could see how tiny and frail the sfh chicks are, even after almost 3 weeks, I'ld bet you would think twice about huge honking kernals that are just the right size to choke on.

Wouldn't worry about a bumble bee, or june bug,which I've given them (june bugs, not bumble bees) because they can and do break them up. They can't break up the corn kernal.

Now if I had tons of sfh, maybe I'ld risk it.
But, chicks do stupid things, like drowing, and choking. most don't. with my luck....I chose to grind it a bit finer for the tiny chicks. The normal 2 and 3 week old chicks, I'm giving them the mix as is, and they are leaving the big chunks/kernals alone. not eating them.

I did a little research, and got varying results. some say wait til 4 weeks before feeding whole corn, some say 8 weeks, some say, as Stony says, don't worry!


Now, mincing up raw liver is a disgusting job! kind of turns into slime while you are doing it. Last night the chicks reacted normally to the introduction of something new - avoiding it, except for a few adventurous ones that tried a piece and then spent 5 minutes trying to get it off their beak.
I'll try again tonight.

Makes me cringe thinking about the liver.. Yuck.

I've had a chick choke on a turkey pellet, so you never know. Luckily I was there and got it unstuck (it went down sideways.. the really wrong way!).

Yeah I've had chicks drown twice. Not fun..

 

[stonykill]

It is possible I am overworrying, no doubt. But....if you could see how tiny and frail the sfh chicks are, even after almost 3 weeks, I'ld bet you would think twice about huge honking kernals that are just the right size to choke on.

Wouldn't worry about a bumble bee, or june bug,which I've given them (june bugs, not bumble bees) because they can and do break them up. They can't break up the corn kernal.

Now if I had tons of sfh, maybe I'ld risk it.
But, chicks do stupid things, like drowing, and choking. most don't. with my luck....I chose to grind it a bit finer for the tiny chicks. The normal 2 and 3 week old chicks, I'm giving them the mix as is, and they are leaving the big chunks/kernals alone. not eating them.

I did a little research, and got varying results. some say wait til 4 weeks before feeding whole corn, some say 8 weeks, some say, as Stony says, don't worry!


Now, mincing up raw liver is a disgusting job! kind of turns into slime while you are doing it. Last night the chicks reacted normally to the introduction of something new - avoiding it, except for a few adventurous ones that tried a piece and then spent 5 minutes trying to get it off their beak.
I'll try again tonight.

I'll quote a friend of mine who raises 300 chickens a year and refuses to feed cracked corn, only whole corn. " If a chick is too stupid to choke on a piece of corn it was too stupid to live". Yes he said that when he had a FB chicken page.

I would be more concerned why a 3 week old chick is that frail. I have hd a few broody's by choice and sometimes not release their young at 3.5 weeks old and the chicks did just fine on their own and thrived.

Out of hundred upon hundreds of chicks I have had 2 or 3 drown.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Poor chickens.... since of course they refuse to go back in until THEY are ready and I have to leave for a couple hours... can't let them roam unattended
Too close to road and too many predators. They have to settle for screened porch of the coop until I get home. They have been very mad at me this morning. But don't want them hurt/hit/dead/killed/wounded or to cross into plowed & chemical laden field across street!!!!!!

Ok back to work.

 

[Ashdoes]

My SLW is doing great. I'm watching her walk around and she is no longer limping. I'll do bandage changes for a couple days, till I'm happy with her healing and then I'll leave her be.
Prior to the "surgery" I watched a couple YouTube videos. That was a mistake. The first one I came up on was gruesome, they cut way around the scab which seemed unnecessary. I did like the video that used the biopsy punch, it seemed the easiest, cleanest way to do it. Although I'd prefer not to have anymore bumblefoot, at least I know how to deal with it now.