The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

I have been away on business and am way behind!!! But I had to share the news that Spook my lavender Catdance silkie finally laid her first egg!!! At 1 year 2-3 weeks old!!yeah spook!

really exciting - thats a long long wait. oh happy day!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
So she was able to stay with her coop mates and not get picked on? Maybe I can get her back out with the other layers sooner than I thought.
Thank you for the time frame. I really hope I can get her back in the coop and still she that she is getting along ok. Did your hen lay any eggs during her recovery month? I ask because I don't think she could get to the nesting boxes without jumping and I have not seen her do that yet.

 

[BlueMouse]

YAY for the barn! I love it! Especially the recycled door!

Rain has stopped and the creek is going down... relieved and going to bed!

 

[Eggcessive]

So she was able to stay with her coop mates and not get picked on? MaybeI putI can get her back out with the other layers sooner than I thought.
Thank you for the time frame. I really hope I can get her back in the coop and still she that she is getting along ok. Did your hen lay any eggs during her recovery month? I ask because I don't think she could get to the nesting boxes without jumping and I have not seen her do that yet.

She did lay eggs, but my boxes are near the floor. Could you just make her a little box of her own? Mine love it when I put a partial bale of pine shavings on the floor--they all have to lay an egg in the new place,lol.

 

[CoopChick719]

My first Swedish Flower Hens finally hatched (after 23 days)... got 7 cute little fuzzy butts...

Cute! Cute! Cute!

Mine can catch the mosquitoes but not the black flies. They are too fast.

moose/buffalo flies can actually kill chickens during their breeding season. They can suffocate their airways or bleed them out.

What about a bug zapper?

I didn't know that about moose flies!! I can understand it though having been bit by one. I thought I had been stung by a hornet and had a large welt that was sore for a week.

Isn't it funny the different personalities chickens have? Before I had them I just couldn't fatham them being anything beyond a barnyard animal... Now they've wormed their way right into my heart, just so cute!!

I thought the same thing! They all have different personalties. I have a few favorites. My hens raised by my broody do come to me but only one will eat from my hand. The 12 week olds I had in the garage are now with the big girls. They coming running to me whenever I'm outside or if they hear me talking outside the coop.

 

[Alibabe]

Good hatch for shipped eggs. Assuming there was 12 that is!



Not sharing this on our FB page yet. Want to wait until the barn warming party to show it off there.. If I can hold off that long.

You guys are getting a sneak peak at the finished exterior! Just a couple of things needed to be finished inside - hardly anything at all.



Door to chicken room. It was recycled. I love it. Especially that you can see into the room from the hallway.

Absolutely beautiful, I am so pleased for you both.

 

[lalaland]

redreidge the babies are adorable. glad you had such a good outcome.

my 17 chicks create some kind of time vacumn. i gp to the coop for 5 mn to check on them and when i leave, it is 2 hours later.

no word from the woman who hatched them, so i think i have a banty for keeps. still puzzling what I do have, but think I have:
1 lav orp chick
1 maran
2-3 auracans (a splash?)
3 legbars (my they are big and ferocious)
2 icelandics
1 superblue egg layer
3 swedish flower hen chicks ( I'm in love)
1 banty
2 unidentified, - I'll have to look to see if icelandics come in a tan variation besides the silver/grey. At least one of the unidentified is a roo, tall and gawky, and comb very apparent.

at 3 weeks, they are chest bumping away and attempting to fly, and they want to roost. Will have to figure out a good baby roost.

I still have to keep a heat lamp on, and here is why: that banty! if the light is off, it runs around cheeping hysterically - not because of lack of light. If it is on, she runs under it, falls asleep and warms up for maybe 30 seconds, and then runs off like the energizer bunny. maybe 4 minutes later, she'll be back to warm up, drowse, and run off again.

The other chicks treat the lamp like the sun, occasionally wandering by and flopping out, stretching their wings and sunbathing.

Tomorrow I hope to bring them outside for the first time if it isn't raining. Right now the chuncks of sod are the favorite place to be, sleeping or eating dirt!

 

[Leahs Mom]

one of our hens tripped while running from the cat, who was not chasing it. She just happened to notice that he was sleeping in the nearby grass. Now my hen is limping. I did not see or feel anything out of place. But the best I could do was compare it to another hen's leg. It did not act in pain when I was examining it. She puts her weight on her sore leg for a flash of a second but does not appear to be using her wings to balance or walk. I have her by herself tonight to keep her away from the others and to make sure she gets food and water. About how long should a sprained leg take to heal? Is there anything I can give her for the pain?

My cockerel was limping (mentioned it some time ago) and holding up a leg that he wouldn't put weight on. I did not see him injure himself, but after examining his feet and legs several times, I am of the opinion it was a sprain or injury.

I tried to isolate him at first with a "harem" in attendance, but it was driving them all crazy. The thought I had in keeping him in smaller quarters was to keep him from injuring it worse by jumping on things, etc.... but I only kept him in for about 1/2 day because they were "stir-crazy" inside.

He wasn't jumping up on things ... was smarter than that. Was hopping on 1 foot when he was in a hurry (it was funny to watch...wish I had a video camera). He would go up to the high roost at night, though, and for about 7 days, we would go out and get him down early in the morning and put him on the floor so he didn't have to jump down and possibly put more strain on the injury. After that, he started getting down before we went out on his own.

It's been about 3 weeks I think, and it has been gradually getting better. He's back into jumping up on things - and down - with no problem.

I have to say...it was rather hard for him to mate during that time as the ladies could very easily get away...sure didn't stop him from trying, though

 

[aoxa]

ok, so that is the west side facing in the top photo?

The corner closest to us faces where the sun rises. Ignore the South, west east, north on the drawing. We had made an error on that.


At first we wanted the doors to face the direction you see here, but realized not enough light would enter the chicken part of the barn - which was important - especially during winter months (need eggs!)

Those pop doors are huge yes.. We are going to have toulouse geese, and nothing about them is small!

 

[aoxa]

ok, I need a camera, because these are with a cell - and Justine, how do you take pics of chicks? they don't stay still, by the time the camera flashes they are no longer there!

the littlest swedish flower hen, she has to be a girl - 3 weeks:





see the little sideways feather? when she is running she looks like she is wearing a tutu!




close up of her coloring - am in love with this



and finally, one of her sibs. Roo?

They sure seem to have very little feathers for 3 weeks. How hot do you have the heat lamp?

Oh and chick pictures; Taking them out of their brooder seems to be the only way. They are too fast. Which is why you never see me have pictures of them in the brooder