The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Kassaundra]

I have a question for those of you feeding 1-3 cloves of garlic per chicken per day, where are you getting that amount of garlic from? How many chickens do you have? In my area garlic costs about $3.50 per pound. I can't grow enough yet for what we eat, and I don't think if I planted the whole place in garlic I could harvest enough for 20 - 40 birds (how many I keep depending on the season) that much garlic everyday of the year.

 

[countrygirl74]

WOW - like 500 posts to read/skim after being gone - was at my state homeschooling convention for a few days and then catching up on work when I got back - it's the longest I've been away from BYC! My husband thought I would have withdrawals - LOL.

I picked out just a couple posts that caught my eye for a comment but also wanted to say YAY for aoxa with the barn and the new geese!

Fixed the photos.
And I agree about not constantly making them have additives. I put ACV in the water every three days, but clean and fill the water every day. I do cheyenne once a month or so and same for oregano.

Well.... this one caught my eye simply because of the "I do cheyenne" since that's my name. Had to scroll back up to see if it was Loinwizard who posted that - then realized no one knows my name (until now) and that the poster meant to say "cayenne" -

kind of chicken related in that I don't want to kill them...what can i use for gigantic ant hills? thought of borax but am afraid if my ladies eat it they'll get sick?

I have never had any luck with anything but an ant poison called AMDRO, unfortunately. It's the only thing that I've been able to use to get rid of fire ants. What I did was sprinkle it around the ant hole as suggested and then I cover it with something heavy that the chickens can't move - like a big washtub or something. Then, when I don't see the ants anymore, I shovel up the area to get rid of any trace of the ant poison kernels. So far, so good - it's just the only way I can get rid of them. I just take all precautions I can in getting rid of the remains after I've gotten rid of the ants.

So, last night after dinner we followed our normal routine...water the new tree, fill the pond, check chicken food and chickens....and check the broodies. So we're squatting down, me and hubby, chatting about who knows what and watching Cloud the Silkie when my husband goes "did you hear that!" And I'm like no, what? So we sit completely still and quiet, waiting for whatever he heard. And right as I'm about to rag on him for being practically deaf (thanks Marine Corp) I hear a peep! So we sit, more, and wait for something...and then we see it, a tiny Silkie baby pop it's little head out from Clouds wing. I can't even tell you how excited we were. We were out there for an hour, just watching. We saw two, but she was moving around like maybe more were hatching, every once in a while she were puff up and make noises.
We had to force ourselves to leave, and now I know how people mess up their incubator hatches, opening and closing the top. You just want "one little peek" to see what's going on. And of course, "If there's no picture, it didn't happen."

So we know there are two, and one is for sure one of her Silkies. But, she also has Cochins and Cochin mixes, so it'll be lots of fun figuring out the mommies.

Ahhhhh.... so cute!!!

Two thoughts for the day from me.

Oh..... Now I remember.... When these chicks come out of the brooder box at 4 weeks..... Special area for them, or just throw them into the barn to fend for themselves? Or..... maybe a new Pallet Barn, just for them.....

I personally think 4 weeks is still a little young... I had mine out with a fence between them at four weeks but didn't have them in the pen with the older girls/boys until about 6-8 weeks. Even then, I provided a place they could run and hide from the mean big girls.

Hello all! I've been lurking and learning a lot from everyone here! Now I have a question. I have 28 chicks that are 14 weeks they've always been all together. Just yesterday several of my roosters started picking on one of my hens, I went out to close up the coop last night and she was stuck under a gate. today she won't come down from the roost at all. The boys jumped on her immediately the one time she has. I'm not sure what if anything I should do with them! I hate for her to be stuck up there all day! Thoughts?

Definitely need to eat or re-home some roosters. We had the same issue with one of our girls and she ended up spending half her life on the coop roof because if she came down, all 3 would try to jump her at the same time. She would literally run into our arms or end up on our head to get away from those roos. We are down to 1 now and she is so happy - haven't seen her on the roof since.

They are past the helping stage too.. You have to get creative to have a preteen do chores..

Unless you have an angel child.. Which a friend of the family had all angel children.. They homeschooled. Maybe that is the key...

I'm partial to homeschooled kids because mine are

- they are great kids and I'll take any of my homeschooling friends' kids anywhere! They are usually hard workers, polite, and smart! As with anything, there are exceptions... I've met some pretty rotten homeschoolers and a handful of exceptional public school kids. The public school kids that I love, and my kids are friends with, are kids whose parents are extremely involved in their kids' lives and are VERY family and outdoors oriented. I love homeschooling and having my kids around all year - AND they are all teens and pre-teens now, LOL.

 

[wlhtx]

I have a question for those of you feeding 1-3 cloves of garlic per chicken per day, where are you getting that amount of garlic from?  How many chickens do you have?  In my area garlic costs about $3.50 per pound.  I can't grow enough yet for what we eat, and I don't think if I planted the whole place in garlic I could harvest enough for 20 - 40 birds (how many I keep depending on the season) that much garlic everyday of the year.

I've wondered this same thing... Also, are you using a garlic press to mince all this garlic or standing at a cutting board chopping away for hours on end? I love the idea of feeding them a clove each per day, but with 46 birds (and no garlic press), I can't justify the time it would take every single day to mince all that garlic.

 

[FlySammyJ]

Oh they are great to feed to my chickens but they are unfortunately popping up all over my veggie garden where my other veggies are . so I have to pick them and toss them. I did transplant some in other areas around my yard and if they grow they won't hurt anything.

Pumpkin vine tips make a good stir-fry vegetable. We ate a lot of them when I was in southern China a few summers ago.

 

[bruceh]

hello all,
sorry i have not posted i have been very very busy. so i am going to post what the difference is between keeping birds in good conditions and poor conditions. i did this on purpose so i could personally see the results . i took a bunch of birds placed them in factory like settings. these are the conclusions.

birds kept in my normal healthy conditions thrived and did very well with minimal losses. in fact i never lost a bird because i did not know what happened. example possum or other pred. attacks.so therefore i know that healthy conditions work very well.
in the normal conditions i use mill feed , a certain formula i use ( fermented ) and the use of apple cider vinegar in the water and cleanliness

factory conditions experiment:

first i over crowded the brooder with about 70 chicks. at 3 weeks i lost a total of 20 chicks.. i never used acv in the water. the feed was junk feed and just wet not fermented the litter changed 1 time.
at 3 weeks they were moved to a shed and i set it up to the standards of a factory free range environment . they had access to the outside by the use of a door and a 5 ft run for 50 birds. i never used acv in the water and junk feed. the birds are fair at best. i have lost 9 more birds. no warning when the birds died. they were just dead.. some went down on the legs and immediately killed. today i went out and found a wry neck bird. first time i ever seen it . i also keep the area just like a factory.never cleaned at all. stinks to high heaven.

the results are obvious. . so it is your choice. i did the study for you all.

just so everyone knows when the group of meat birds are done the layers pullets will be rehabbed to top notch health. this will include all good feed acv. a bath for them. also i will have to spend hours disinfecting that particular coop.all my well kept birds are off the property . thanks to my neighbors for helping with this.

so out of 70 to date i have lost about 30.. sickens me. so call your food industry rep or FDA. i find this very cruel and preventable with 3 simple steps. acv in water, good feed, and most important cleanliness.

thanks for reading,


bruce h.

 

[Kassaundra]

LOL LOL LOL

I have been watching people comment how cute this pic is for a while now scratching my head trying to figure out why so many people thought a pile of vomit looking stuff (assuming FF) was so cute, I just now saw the baby chick! lol

 

[aoxa]

Oh - BTW... Aoxa - it's me... Bulldogma. I just changed my Avatar (again)... just to confuse you.

Thanks for letting me know! lol

This is the photo director. She's demonstrating what to do when a rooster is lurking. Higher ground is usually a good deterrent for unwanted advances

:

Love this picture!

I take a few stalks of fresh lemongrass split lengthwise and warm it over the stove in half a cup of olive oil until the oil becomes fragrant. Bottle it all up together and apply to wrists and ankles before going out. If the bugs are really bad and I don't have to impress anybody, I'll add garlic to the brew. It doesn't work quite as well as DEET, but it does help.

Thank you!

LOL LOL LOL

I have been watching people comment how cute this pic is for a while now scratching my head trying to figure out why so many people thought a pile of vomit looking stuff (assuming FF) was so cute, I just now saw the baby chick! lol

 

[pebcrb]

Hi everyone, does anyone have a good natural chicken keeping book they can recommend. Thanks

 

[aoxa]

So we have been so busy this week getting ready for the barn warming party this weekend. I am sunburnt, tired and sore. We've been painting and putting up shaving barriers, cleaning, making meal plans etc. We are going to have over 30 people at this party. Talk about stress me out lol. I am excited to show people, but at the same time - I don't deal well with a lot of people.

We are getting two barn kittens this weekend (both boys). We have hatches every weekend until I stop myself from setting any more eggs.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hi everyone, does anyone have a good natural chicken keeping book they can recommend. Thanks

The Small Scale Poultry Flock by Harvey Ussery. http://www.amazon.com/The-Small-Scale-Poultry-Flock-All-Natural/dp/1603582908