The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Alibabe]

Helloo, resident lurker here.

Please would one of you more experienced chicken keepers answer a question for me? I have a red sex link, just on 1 year old that has laid for me every single day since she went into lay except for the past 10 days where she has laid about 5 eggs in total. Approximately 3 weeks ago, I had a fox that got into my run and coop and killed 5 of my 6 chickens - she was the sole survivor - she is looking a bit worse for wear and it appears that she has lost some feathers around the tops of her legs. Could she have gone into a semi moult due to stress? She has not moulted yet.

I have reinforced the run against predators and for a time did not let her free range until I could try to do some more predator proofing of my garden. I bought 5 new POL girls for company and although she is very hard on them and puttintg them in their place, they are starting to range as a flock when I turn them out to run free. I feed a organic feed as well as fresh greens, meal worms (not too often). I have tried FF so many times and the they simply stop eating it so I feed them pellets and free range as much as possible.

2nd Question. One of the new POL girls is laying tenny tiny eggs, look like banty eggs but she is a hybrid large fowl. They have egg shells for extra calcium, I have been giving them spinach for iron and other greens, is there anything else I can give her to help her lay normal sized eggs?

Thank you for all help

 

[CoopChick719]

Leigh, I posted these pictures on sexing your EE thread, and everyone loved the visual. Maybe you can use them for your thing. PS: Post 15,000 for me.. Had to make it here

THANK YOU AOXA! This is most helpful!!

A few more thoughts on the disinfectants:

As far as white vinegar being a strong enough disinfectant for the things you might be dealing with, I don't know. Sometimes it's a matter of how long an item to be disinfected stays in the disinfectant solution. That goes for bleach also. Some germs are just tougher than others!

You might want to to a quick search and see how long a time something would have to soak in white vinegar or bleach for them to be effective at killing certain germs.

Another item that folks use around the farm for disinfecting is hydrogen peroxide.

I use white vinegar to clean with as well as in my washer as fabric softener. I have read that using white vinegar & hydrogen peroxide together kills more germs like e.coli & salmonella better than either one does on it's own. However DO NOT mix them in the same bottle. Spray 1 on your item to be cleaned then spray the 2nd, let sit for just a few minutes (1 or 2 minutes, not any longer as it can turn caustic) then wipe. You can rinse if you want. Oxine is supposed to be an excellent fungicide. I haven't use it yet to clean with but do have some in a spray bottle to spray my shoes before & after I go to my sister's to care for her chickens.

Ok thanks for tip. Still trying to figure out how to reply. Especially to people who answer my questions. This my first chat forum I have ever used so I am a true newbie.

Same here. You're not alone.

Tips for quoting--

To quote 1 person's post, click on Quote. It will then open a reply box with that quote, you can type your reply either above or below the quote.

To quote multiple posts--
Click on Multi in the first post you want to quote then go to the next post you want to quote, Click on Multi.
You can keep clicking on Multi until you're ready to Post A Reply. The Multi doesn't always work or must have a limit on how many you can multi-quote because I know some of us have had our multi-quotes disapper when Posting a Reply.



Scroll down to the last posting on any page. Below the last post on a page, click on Post a Reply. Your multiple quotes should show up in a Reply box.



You can also delete pictures or text within the quotes, just click on the picture or highlight the text, then hit Delete.

Hope this helps!

 

[Mumsy]

Helloo, resident lurker here.

Please would one of you more experienced chicken keepers answer a question for me? I have a red sex link, just on 1 year old that has laid for me every single day since she went into lay except for the past 10 days where she has laid about 5 eggs in total. Approximately 3 weeks ago, I had a fox that got into my run and coop and killed 5 of my 6 chickens - she was the sole survivor - she is looking a bit worse for wear and it appears that she has lost some feathers around the tops of her legs. Could she have gone into a semi moult due to stress? She has not moulted yet.

I have reinforced the run against predators and for a time did not let her free range until I could try to do some more predator proofing of my garden. I bought 5 new POL girls for company and although she is very hard on them and puttintg them in their place, they are starting to range as a flock when I turn them out to run free. I feed a organic feed as well as fresh greens, meal worms (not too often). I have tried FF so many times and the they simply stop eating it so I feed them pellets and free range as much as possible.

2nd Question. One of the new POL girls is laying tenny tiny eggs, look like banty eggs but she is a hybrid large fowl. They have egg shells for extra calcium, I have been giving them spinach for iron and other greens, is there anything else I can give her to help her lay normal sized eggs?

Thank you for all help

Yes. She could go into molt for stress related reasons and it would put her off on laying for a while too. I would bolster her immune system with extra protein and ACV in her water. She needs some time to recover.

Your pullet will settle down to laying more normal eggs with time. Answer to both questions. Give them time.

 

[CoopChick719]

One of my LF layers is a year old now. She has been a consistent layer of large eggs. She will occasionally produce double yolkers. Recently I noticed she takes longer on the nest than she used to. Also, her eggs are more frequently coming out with ridges and odd shapes. Today she produced a whopper with big cracks. The egg must have cracked in the Uterus because they were healed over and the egg is hard. This hen is Phoebe and I hatched a lot of large pullet eggs that produced large chicks. We've eaten all the cockerls and I sold four pullets of hers and have three nearing point of lay. I fear Phoebe is headed for big problems. If this egg had shattered in her Uterus and stayed there, she would be in serious trouble now.



Phoebe eggs. One hard cracked and one odd shaped with ridges on the tip. The small egg is from a bantam RIR pullet.

Mumsy, you have way more experience with these things than I do. Would extra calcium help a hen in this situation? Right now, I only have 1 laying. 2 just got done being broody and 1 of those is raising chicks. I'm hoping my 4 month olds will start laying soon. Forewarned is forearmed I like to say.

 

[kpchick]

Hi, Karyn here from SW Austin. We are on 5ac. and have a little (our first!) flock of 9 --- 8 girls and a "surprise" -- Samantha, a Delaware, turned out to be Sam. they were born the 1st of Feb. and are doing great, in spite of the lack of experience from their "chicken Mama" - me! They free range all day and go into the coop and run my DH built for them at night. My question is this -- we have often left them overnight, and once for a day and night when we had to be gone. Now, in a few weeks we will need to be gone for 3 1/2 days and I am freaking out over leaving them in their coop and run for that long. Do I need to get a sitter? Or try to find someone to let them out in the am and close the door at night? (Expensive --2 trips!) need advice from all you experienced ones, PLEASE!

 

[kpchick]

PS -- no eggs yet but the roo has started practicing his crow! Wow, lol!!! Maybe eggs soon????

 

[Mumsy]

Mumsy, you have way more experience with these things than I do. Would extra calcium help a hen in this situation? Right now, I only have 1 laying. 2 just got done being broody and 1 of those is raising chicks. I'm hoping my 4 month olds will start laying soon. Forewarned is forearmed I like to say.

I feed back all egg shells to my flock and they free range fourteen hours a day or more. I do not supplement calcium. Oyster shells are indeed on my beaches here but not naturally in my yard. The eggs are all firm and hard shelled on all that are laying. Even the Silkie eggs are tough little things.


The two light colored hens in the middle are out of project pens meant to be broilers. I bought them at a show last year. I think they are Orpington crossed. The black hen with the Silkie chick is Judy the Broody. The two red production pullets are daughters of Phoebe. Those two buff hens lay large eggs nearly everyday but both have pinched tails. A bad confirmation trait for layers no matter what the breed. I knew from those pinched tails these girls will eventually have problems. Phoebe's problems have been escalating since day one.


These are two of Phoebe's pullets nearing point of lay. The little red girls are laying now. My darling bantam RIR. If Phoebe's daughters exhibit the same laying problems as their mum, they will be culled and feed the family.
If I raised chickens in cages, calcium would be added free choice. I don't raise in cages, so I don't.

 

[Alibabe]

Yes. She could go into molt for stress related reasons and it would put her off on laying for a while too. I would bolster her immune system with extra protein and ACV in her water. She needs some time to recover.

Your pullet will settle down to laying more normal eggs with time. Answer to both questions. Give them time.

Thanks Mumsy, she has always had ACV in her water and I will increase her protein as well which I am sure she will love. I have mealworms for her and I will get her some liver as well to bolster her protein and apply patience, not my strongst suit especially now as I feel so protective of her.

 

[Bill Matthews]

Silkies, McMurray Speckled Sussex and White Giants, Old English Games...

 

[Leahs Mom]

Ash - Your photos didn't show!!!! (And I want to see them )

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On the topic of ACV & Oregano Oil (or anything else) in water...
Just my 2 Cents worth but I'm at the point that I don't put ANYTHING in the water supply unless I have an alternate waterer that just has plain water in it.

Here's my reasoning:
I think fresh, plain water is important. Even though some of those other items are good for them (in moderation) I don't want to force them to eat anything on a regular basis unless it's an emergency or you are treating a specific illness/worms, etc. and they have to have something by force.

My thoughts at this point are that if these things are offered FREE CHOICE but not by force (meaning they have no alternative ... in this case, either drink the water that has the stuff in it or you don't get water), they will decide if they need it on their own and take what they need.

Especially with items like oregano oil - which is very strong...I, personally would not force that in water that is their only source of water...And if I put it in feed it would only be in very small amount and not every day. -----


I know I've said this before, but I firmly believe that LARGE AMOUNTS of items like cayenne, garlic, oregano, etc. in feed CONTINUOUSLY is not good.

It is similar to being on a "cleansing diet" indefinitely. In LARGE AMOUNTS, they are designed to "clean out the system" and keep you from being able to digest certain things in addition to making the digestive hostile to worms, etc.

Done long-term (in large amounts) it has the potential to cause malnutrition.

By way of explanation: I'm not referring to small amounts of these items, or free-feed of the items on a continual basis. Hope I'm making sense here. And, again, this is just my 2 cents.


ETA: Formatting went wonky for some reason and put everything in one big glob. Editing to add the formatting back.