The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[CoopChick719]

Originally Posted by farmerfogg Hello everyone! I've not been on in a long time because I've been busy with my oldest daughter, getting ready to graduate from high school. Exciting times!! Graduation is today at 3, and a big party on Saturday to celebrate. So I've been getting the gardens ready and power washing deck and house. Phew! It's been busy around here!

Don't put fresh mowed grass in the nest boxes it gets waaaaaaay hot, and moldy. Dry it first for a couple of days in the sun, then put the dried stuff in.

Thank you Kassaundra! I wouldn't put fresh stuff in the nest boxes but have thrown it in the run.

Kassaundra beat me to it - but I concur. I NEVER use grass that hasn't dried first. If you have a cement drive, you can just rake it on there and let it dry. Only takes a few hours. you can even rake it out on the grass to dry but be sure to turn it over from time to time to be sure it isn't staying wet below.

Dry grass = good. Wet/fresh grass usually = mold.

Wait 'til hubby sees me dumping grass in the garage to dry. He'll be booking me a room at the funny farm!

Until he realizes it's good for his wallet...did I mention he's a little tight? Ah who am I kiddin'? I am just as frugal as him.

Update for my rooster: He was looking much better yesterday with one of his legs almost back to normal. But this morning, when I went out to the coop he was till in his sleeping position. He must have passed during the night. I'm thinking it was most likely a weak heart and it was his time to go. The layer food might have speed up the process a little but he had eaten it for months and this problem was quite recent.

So sorry to hear this Sally. You know you were doing your best for him.

 

[delisha]

Sally,

Sorry about your roo..

Quote:

Quote: good topics everyone

 

[BlueMouse]

ok, so other owners of Naked Necks... Do you have problems with them getting tears on their neck if the rooster is trying to catch them? I picked up my NN today and saw that she has a couple little tears around the bakc of her head... I'm just going to slather some nustock on it. I'm hoping the nasty taste will deter him. She's just approaching POL and the rooster is determined to mate her, and she's just as determined to get away from him.

 

[Kassaundra]

Originally Posted by farmerfogg Hello everyone! I've not been on in a long time because I've been busy with my oldest daughter, getting ready to graduate from high school. Exciting times!! Graduation is today at 3, and a big party on Saturday to celebrate. So I've been getting the gardens ready and power washing deck and house. Phew! It's been busy around here!


Thank you Kassaundra! I wouldn't put fresh stuff in the nest boxes but have thrown it in the run.


Wait 'til hubby sees me dumping grass in the garage to dry. He'll be booking me a room at the funny farm!

Until he realizes it's good for his wallet...did I mention he's a little tight? Ah who am I kiddin'? I am just as frugal as him.

So sorry to hear this Sally. You know you were doing your best for him.

Oh yes, they do love to dig through the mowed grass!

 

[uglychickens]

ok, so other owners of Naked Necks... Do you have problems with them getting tears on their neck if the rooster is trying to catch them? I picked up my NN today and saw that she has a couple little tears around the bakc of her head... I'm just going to slather some nustock on it. I'm hoping the nasty taste will deter him. She's just approaching POL and the rooster is determined to mate her, and she's just as determined to get away from him. 

mine arnt at POL yet but they still get pecked and cuts from fighting... I just mince up garlic in their food to keep nastys at bay till they heal on their own. Chickens are very good healers!

 

[boyswillbeboys]

Are you planning on putting them in a brooder inside the coop?  I have done that with very good results.  DH really doesn't like chicks in the house either, I can get by with a few days but not longer than that.  What I did initially was put a large box in the coop with a light over it and all the necessary brooder stuff inside it.  Just as if the box was a brooder in the garage or a basement.  This keeps the chicks from getting lost in any nooks and cranny's (I don't know if this is necessary but it makes me feel better!) and keeps away any drafts.  I only do this for the first two weeks or so, then they are mobile enough to be on their own in a bigger space.  Just a thought... 

Thank you for this idea, I think I will do this.

daytime temps are almost good here, without the light, I just checked my thermometer, the high was 88 and the low was 40, but it's been a really cold week.

 

[starlingdaly]

Don't put fresh mowed grass in the nest boxes it gets waaaaaaay hot, and moldy.  Dry it first for a couple of days in the sun, then put the dried stuff in.

I mowed yesterday afternoon so it was dry by the time I let the chooks out this morning at which point added to the nest box.
When I went to check for eggs tonight I noticed the pile I put in there had turned into a very pretty green nest. I'm sure Hilda had a lot of fun shaping it.

I have been researching fruit wine making especially but I think the principles apply to mead, you have to have yeast to ferment, and when making wine if you choose the yeast (rather then wild what's in the air) you can make more certain the outcome to a time intensive process.  Also from what I read you really do need nutrient to feed the yeast w/ most fruits and w/ mead.  I may not fully understand the process since I am just starting, but that is what I have gleaned from trying to prepair to make fruit wine myself.

Maybe mead is slightly different then... I've read honey (better if raw) contain natural honey yeasts kind of like wheat when you make sourdough. So as long as you let it age long enough it *should* turn out lovely. But I haven't tried it yet!!!

Hmm, how about, get a cat, for the rodents, put down some DE for fleas, and bleach the mold. It's quite scary how people do things like that, I don't claim to live healthy, but I'd rather not poison my family.

I'm not a fan of bleach, personally. I keep vinegar around as a replacement and if I really need to disenfect something when cleaning I use a blend of rubbing alcohol and tea tree oil or oregano oil. I figure that should kill just about everything. I wonder if oregano oil would kill mold... Now I want the mold to grow back in the bathroom so I can try it!

 

[starlingdaly]

I can't believe my turkey is STILL trying to steal eggs every time they are laid! Haven't seen anymore white eggs... But it could be my turkey accidentally broke it/them and she or someone else ate them. Great, I don't want any egg eaters!!

Chooks got into the dog food again today... I put a piece of wood on top of the food bowl and noticed there were chicken bones in there. Cooked chicken bones. Pretty sure that's bad to give to a dog... *sigh*

 

[Quailsong]

Chooks- thanks for the book recommendation. I am putting it on my wish list.


I wanted to share a video of my tots and their playing. They remind me of little football players when they put their heads down and run at top speed towards their siblings


I was forced over at work today & my Mom just called me to tell me the babies were MIA when she got to my house. Apparently they knocked down the wood I had covering a hole I had put in the fence to give them more foraging area. They had showed no interest in it so I put a piece of wood in front of it. Today they knocked it over. She found 3 of them in the compost pile happily searching for bugs. Apparently they are losing their fear of roaming more than 4 ft from the coop. She then couldn't find Edie.........but Edie was already in bed for the night.

My poor Mom. Thank goodness she has a good sense of humor. Apparently the Big girls were yelling at her from their gate the whole time she was chasing the babies around. I am guessing the big girls were more upset they couldn't get the compost pile

Thanks for the video, will subscribe. Glad you found all your babies.

 

[countrygirl74]

I'm not a fan of bleach, personally. I keep vinegar around as a replacement and if I really need to disenfect something when cleaning I use a blend of rubbing alcohol and tea tree oil or oregano oil. I figure that should kill just about everything. I wonder if oregano oil would kill mold... Now I want the mold to grow back in the bathroom so I can try it!

I also use a lot of vinegar for cleaning too - I do keep bleach around for certain things, to use rarely, sometime just to sit in the toilet bowl.

My disinfectant of choice is a bottle of Everclear - LOL. I dilute it into a spray bottle and use it on EVERYTHING from bathrooms to kitchen. I even used it to disinfect my kids toys when they were little. I couldn't stand to see people spray their babies' and toddlers' toys with Lysol - yuck! You can soak stuff in a solution of it or just spray on and let dry. Kills pretty much everything without any toxic smells, etc. Around here, ranchers even buy it from the liquor store to clean their tractors. It might seem pricey to buy the initial bottle of it, but it really does last a long time as you can dilute it quite a bit and it's still very effective.