The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: Thanks, it is good to know.

 

[loanwizard]

That broody ate the rest of the eggs. When she went broody, I put her in a rabbit cage on top of the boxes. I don't know what kind of predator would reach through and break the eggs and suck them out with a straw with a chagrined mama there. If all 12 eggs were infertile.... I have a problem..... On the predator thing.... I have cartons of eggs beside her. I don't carry them to the house nightly.

I doubt if this gal can even lay an egg herself as I can barely get one finger in there let alone three, and I don't have fat fingers. I released her to general population although I should of kilt her..... Too busy or lazy last night.

I can't wit til my incubator hatches out 180 or so..... I'll be eating birds or have lots of hog food this fall.....

 

[BlueMouse]

Evidently foxes only hunt during the day when they have kits to feed. so it's just in the spring. Otherwise they tend to break into the coop at night, which is no big if you have a nice solid coop. We know it was the fox because the neighbor lady saw him running by the house with my buff orpington hen hanging out of his mouth...

 

[SallyinIndiana]

That broody ate the rest of the eggs. When she went broody, I put her in a rabbit cage on top of the boxes. I don't know what kind of predator would reach through and break the eggs and suck them out with a straw with a chagrined mama there. If all 12 eggs were infertile.... I have a problem..... On the predator thing.... I have cartons of eggs beside her. I don't carry them to the house nightly.

I doubt if this gal can even lay an egg herself as I can barely get one finger in there let alone three, and I don't have fat fingers. I released her to general population although I should of kilt her..... Too busy or lazy last night.

I can't wit til my incubator hatches out 180 or so..... I'll be eating birds or have lots of hog food this fall.....

Sorry to hear about your egg eating chicken. Although I would be worried about her eating more eggs now that she is back in with the rest of the laying chickens.

 

[loanwizard]

I will be doing a count tonight.....

 

[Bulldogma]

And guess what! The chicks I am hoping are sfh are getting crests!

I had the mom fox last year and make a nasty on my chickens I lost about 30, he figure out when to came (when dogs and family were having dinner)I solved the problem with electro net.
This year I have my animals with out net and she visit again so I start to train my German shepherd dog (who was not so good with chickens, will herd them fine but once one will go out of the group he will kill it) any ways I got a shock collar for him and 1 week of training and 2 chickens less and he is on guard now he stays closer to the house than to the barn but he will chase the fox away, he already got in a fight with one and so far in 3 months have not get an attack anymore.
I read and article the other day on options.
-Tennis balls you soak them in pure ammonia and hung them in the corners f the area you want to protect I guess will be kind of like another fox or something ha mark a territory, I have the supplies now but have not try it jet.
-One adult male person has to pee (the first pee of the morning)in the perimeter of the area that you want to protect and will do the same as the ammonia/balls thing, this one I am not trying since my husband says he is not crazy jet.

Good for you for working with your dog! Your dog will be one of the best predator deterrents and chicken protectors there is.

 

[aoxa]

Well said
I read several pages of that thread, and I'm still kind of confused. Someone said black and white EE's are almost always cocks, but 6 of the last 12 EE's I've gotten (from elsewhere) have been black and white pullets. But I get the bit about the orange/brown/red feathering on a bird that isn't orange/brown/red. But all my chicks are feathering exactly the same speed, except the little buckeye chick. If they're all cocks, I'm gonna scream. That's really unlikely, though... right? There's one that is SO FAR feathering out to be a really pretty lavender/heathery color. Which is weird because dad is all white and most of the hens are black and white, (a few have a little brown). I really hope that one's a hen, but I've had a feeling from hatch day it's going to be a cock. It has a big head

Black and white EEs are usually boys, but not always. IF they were to feather in black and white with even pattern, there is a higher chance of them being girls, but splotchy patterns B&W? Most likely boys.

You can also check the comb. The peas on boys will all be raised, and the girls will only have one raised row (for the most part). When the birds are solid in colour it can take a little longer to sex them.

Justine, I know you've discussed it before, but can you go over briefly what the vaccine for ILT consists of for both chicks and adults? I had never heard of it in CO, but recently a breeder somewhere in the state had to cull her entire flock after it tested positive for ILT, and now I'm nervous. If it is in the state, it's a matter of time before it works its way to my part of the state, one way or another. Thanks.

Judi

ILT vaccination is done via eye drop and is a live vaccine. None of the birds this time got any puffy eyes, but I have had a few that did last year. It lasted less than 48 hours and they were fine.

They had to exterminate a record number of farms this year in my area. If it was not a high risk disease in my area, I would not vaccinate. But it is, and I can not afford to risk the loss of my flock. Typically I do not believe in vaccinations.. but this disease is one that all birds would remain carriers of and would spread to any people who visited. It is similar to Chronic Respiratory Disease.. except more deadly.

They band every bird they vaccinate with an ID wing tag. It is all free here. The vet is very nice. If we have any questions about any of our poultry - he will answer it. IE: Harriet had a cist on her eye (or some kind of growth) he told us it was not infectious, it was not genetic, and it was not life threatening. He recommended we keep it clean from debris and rinse it if needed. She was one happy (albeit half blind) chicken.

Some people vaccinate for Mareks. Since that is not a prevalent disease here, I would not.

 

[aoxa]

Oh, I got distracted by the fox and forgot. We found this on one of our 4 week old broad breasted bronze turkeys.

I posted to the turkey forum, but thought I'd try here too. It's two air bubbles, about the size of a nickel. They seem to cause him no discomfort, even when I gently poke them. He's acting exactly like the other turkey poults, eating, drinking, cheeping pathetically any time I leave the room.... For now I'm just observing him since he seems otherwise totally fine. I looked at all the others, and found two with tiny little air bubbles in their "armpits" but so small I would have never seen them unless I was looking for them. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? I'm hesitant to lance it for fear of introducing infection. If it gets any worse my thought was to lance it with a sterilized needle, and then seal with blue kote. For now I'm lacing their food with extra garlic and oregano because that certainly won't hurt them for a week or so.

That is a busted air sac. Not dangerous at all. It will be reabsorbed by the body itself within a few days. Countrychick had a NN with quite the large ruptured air cell. It went away if I am not mistaken. I've also had quite a few like this.

 

[stonykill]

Evidently foxes only hunt during the day when they have kits to feed. so it's just in the spring. Otherwise they tend to break into the coop at night, which is no big if you have a nice solid coop. We know it was the fox because the neighbor lady saw him running by the house with my buff orpington hen hanging out of his mouth...

has not been my experience with foxes or any predator. They kill when hungry. Time of day does not matter.

 

[jlynnet]

Here are a couple of my SFH. I didn't have time to take more pics.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/5815675/width/200/height/400[/IMG
My goofy Tolbunt Polish. They put up with my very loving 4 yr old.