The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Alibabe]

If you have a corner or spot that does not show, you can did a small plug now for the brooder box.

I reduce the heat gradually every other day or so. I watch the chicks, if they have huddled for heat then I have reduced it too much and have to increase the heat. Typically chicks that I have hatched do better for me than chicks I order in the mail. I think I have A PO between me and east OH that is hard on both chicks and eggs. I average about a 12F degree reduction in a week with the chicks starting at 95F. So after 3 weeks they are happy with 60F and my the end of 4 weeks they are out of the brooder and only offered heat during a chilly night.

Thank you so much. I will follow the above.

 

[delisha]

I have a question, Today I got my first strange egg. I t was under the rooster, and had broken. It didn't have a shell, instead it had a thin, leathery covering. What could have caused this? All of my layers free range all day, and always have rock hard shells. I do have one batch of 18 week old, but haven't gotten any eggs from them as of yet. Could this be one of the pullet's first eggs? Or does one of my older hens have a problem? Any help is appreciated.
So sorry about the fire....

Will not be your first for long. You will find them here and there threw the years. Some pullets lay them and some older hens lay them. As long as it is not a normal thing of more than a few days you are in the normal parameters.

Hi all
Sorry to hear about the fire; how devastating for the families that lost loved ones.

Quick question please if somebody can advise me.
I have managed to hatch 17 new babies and I was wondering when I should introduce them to the outside world and when should I introduce a sod of earth and grass to the brooder? They are currently in a brooder box which is 1.2m long by 0.8m wide by 0.6 high. They started to hatch on Thursday last week and the last one hatched on Saturday. So the oldest is 4 days and the youngest is 2 days old.

I was planning to reducing their heat after every week so hopefully by 3/4 weeks, they will be heat free - is this correct? The brooder is inside and our home is not cold and the weather is finally starting to heat up so I am hoping that they won't need heat for too long as I would like to get them outside as soon as possible so they acclimatise themselves to the weather. Am I on the right track here?

All help appreciated, thanks.

Mine are out on day 3 or 4 in the summer on the grass. I try to do it daily increasing time until I am comfortable with the heat. I have an Egglow and it acts just like a mother hen. They dart in and out all day long. Grass plugs are put in the brooder on day one. I have one chick that just hatched and I am going to put it outside today. I am hoping one of my moms will adopt it.

 

[Alibabe]

Mine are out on day 3 or 4 in the summer on the grass. I try to do it daily increasing time until I am comfortable with the heat. I have an Egglow and it acts just like a mother hen. They dart in and out all day long. Grass plugs are put in the brooder on day one. I have one chick that just hatched and I am going to put it outside today. I am hoping one of my moms will adopt it.

Thank you. I have a comfort warming plate, similiar to the eco glow which I had quite low for the first 2 days and yesterday I raised it up a little so that the big chicks can almost fit under it standing up. I did try turning the heat down but it got too cold, so I put the heat back to where it was and raised the plate instead which they seemed to be very happy with as they all settled down to sleep and we hardly heard a peep out of them until morning. I have tried moving the thermostat down a little bit tonight and so far they seem to be settling but I will check that they are warm enough before we go to bed. I can hear them but they are not crying, more chasing each other around so hopefully the reduction in heat is correct. I will try to take them outside tomorrow after work if it is still warm enough even if it is only for about half an hour and see how they get on.

I have 8 babies that hatched from silver laced orp eggs, Delisha once they are older, I would really appreciate a critique on them if you were willing as I will have to decide on a breeding trio or quad. I think I have 4 males and 4 females so I am hoping to get the best of them for breeding. At what age can you tell a good rooster for breeding?

Many thanks

 

[delisha]

Quote: Sounds like you are doing all the right things..

It really depends on the lines. Some Wyandottes do not fully mature till 18 months. I love SLW and BLRW. I had two dozen BLRW I was growing out. I just sold all of the males. They are 5 months old. I did not like any of them. I sold all the females but two. I have a few younger males that seem to have more potential. I really like one of them quite well and they are only a few month old. I will keep these till 6 months too and make another decision at that time. I keep everyone till 6 months that do not have obvious DQ's. I cull ones that do not make the grade at that time and grow up the rest.

I have two nice SLW that I am keeping for sure. I am not positive on the sex yet. I also have two that I know are pullets and will keep them for at least egg layers. Those two are definitely not show quality.

I would be delighted to see pictures and would like to see there progress.

 

[salt and pepper]

Have another question... Can heat cause a hen not to lay as well? I used to get as many eggs as birds I have a day, now, I only get two thirds of the eggs. So ( as an example ) instead of getting three eggs from three hens, I'm getting one or usually two eggs a day. I can't figure out whats wrong, they don't have internal, or external parasites, free range all day, get FF, and fresh water. It has been in the high 80's to high 90's. Could this cause a drop in egg production?

 

[delisha]

Have another question... Can heat cause a hen not to lay as well? I used to get as many eggs as birds I have a day, now, I only get two thirds of the eggs. So ( as an example ) instead of getting three eggs from three hens, I'm getting one or usually two eggs a day. I can't figure out whats wrong, they don't have internal, or external parasites, free range all day, get FF, and fresh water. It has been in the high 80's to high 90's. Could this cause a drop in egg production?

It is also moulting season...egg production slows when stressed..that includes heat, cold and moult, lice, mites, lack of nutrition..etc.

 

[delisha]

all the ducks and chicks out and about together.

 

[salt and pepper]

It is also moulting season...egg production slows when stressed..that includes heat, cold and moult, lice, mites, lack of nutrition..etc.

Thank you, I know they don't have mites or lice, there are bugs in their coop, but NOTHING on them, no scabs, eggs or anything. They are loosing more feathers lately so could they be going through a small moult?

 

[salt and pepper]

It is also moulting season...egg production slows when stressed..that includes heat, cold and moult, lice, mites, lack of nutrition..etc.

I found some crusted feathers around the vent, but it seemed more like either dried dirt, or droppings, it was really dry, and came off of the feathers easily, I also found some broken feathers on the lower back of my best layer, all the outer feathers are shiny, and fine though, could this be from the rooster? If it's mites, I don't know what to do, I've tried Permethrin, DE, insecticide, and frontline. What else can I do?

Here's what the feathers look like.

 

[armorfirelady]

I found some crusted feathers around the vent, but it seemed more like either dried dirt, or droppings, it was really dry, and came off of the feathers easily, I also found some broken feathers on the lower back of my best layer, all the outer feathers are shiny, and fine though, could this be from the rooster? If it's mites, I don't know what to do, I've tried Permethrin, DE, insecticide, and frontline. What else can I do?

Here's what the feathers look like.

To me it looks like dried poop. I have a couple hens who always have messy butts & feathers that look like this. I am now trying to trim their fluffy butt feathers shorter to see if it helps.


I did the bumble foot surgery solo today. Green seemed to enjoy her spa day

Of course a nice warm soak with Epsom salts is made better with a snack



Here's the worse of the 2 feet after a soak. Def cleaner & I can see the pinkness. No heat to the pad tho. She was a trooper with me trying to cut this out. Didn't have much success cutting off the scab but I mad an *X* in the skin, tried to squeeze out any pus (nothing came out) & then flushed with saline.

I put a poultice of iodine & sugar mixture on it. then a piece of gauze, vet wrap then duct tape over that. (the iodine was color free- yay no red fingers)


It was calling for rain and that's why I put the duct tape on.

The 2nd foot after the soak you couldn't see any black at all......i still did an *x* on the raised part of the foot and put some poultice on it.

It started to rain about an hour after I was done. At 2 it was raining buckets......but my mom just texted me to say green was still sporting her boots. So they are holding up well in the rain with the duct tape. I am going to redo the soak/poultice/wrap tomorrow since my mom is off to hold Green. I need a sharper exacto knife to try & remove more of that scab tomorrow & with someone holding the hen I should have better luck. And with all the rain today I don't want to leave them on her wet & muddy.