The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SallyinIndiana]

Learning moment. This weekend, Sunday evening to be exact was the day 216 eggs had the opportunity to become chicks.

Miserable hatch. May have 30.....

1.) Candled day 14 or so, tossed 9 eggs, should have tossed 10. One bad, but... hasn't exploded. Leaky, yes, exploded, no.

2.) Did NOT use a hygrometer so have no idea what the humidity was. Inside I know it is dry, these were incubated in the garage.

3.) Day 18, added cake pan half full of water and locked down..... sort of.

4.) Day 19, broke cardinal rule and opened. Water was gone so opened to fill pan completely.

5.) Day 19, pips all over, about 4 hatched.

6.) day 20, a few more made it out of the shell.

7.) day 21, a few more.

8.) I suspect the humidity, due to all the rain and high humidity we've had..... I believe I may have drowned them. Tonight I will transfer to the brooder and start all over. I will look and see if I can tell, drowned or dried.

The humidity jumped here too. Wishing you had more chicks, it is disapointing to toss out all but hatched eggs. Hoping your next batch hatches lots and lots of hens.

 

[Mrs Hutcherson]

Critiques? Blrw cockerel
Think his color will improve with age?

 

[armorfirelady]

Mites- I looked at that site that was posted and those type of mites were not the type i had. Some mites live inside the hallow shaft of a feather and you never see them. I had only small clusters of eggs and they were hard to see. You can feel them more than see them.

all different varieties of mites with different results.

Thanks Delisha. I am working on some research so I can become more familiar with them, Tomorrow my Mom will help me to re coat everyone's legs and vent areas.

I will stop at the feed stores looking for neem oil as well.

You said you also used bleach. Did you mix it with water or just use bleach straight?

 

[flagirl]

My friend is having a problem with her 9 mo old production RIR.they have been laying for a while now, but all 5 have not layed in the last 2 weeks. they are in a coop and large run and get fed layer feed. My friend has been very il lately and her husband is taking care of them and does not give them any greens. I suggested giving them some meat and greens. any other ideas?
forgot to mention, she also has 4 isa browns about a yr old who are still laying fine and they are all together, eating the same.

 

[lalaland]

I'ld be wondering if they have mites or lice....or if they have found an outdoor nesting site.

 

[midnightroo]

Mumsy, your garden and stories are lovely as usual.

Loan wizard sorry about your hatching issues. Your puppy looks adorable, but I think you are too far away.

My hen that had sour crop, I think it was partly digestive issues. I posted a question about slow digestion, but I guess no one knew the answer. I wanted to say it appears she has benefitted from eating all the Japanese beetles and larger size foods like blueberries. She is very thin, but her crop no longer appears to be bloating for several days now and even felt full tonight.

I want to thank everyone for their posts regarding bumble foot. The hen that had sour crop has it, poor thing, but she is a fighter so we treated her tonight. The information provided on here was very helpful and though we could have been more aggressive, I didn't want to stress her out too much, so hopefully we did enough to help her heal. I think I have come to terms with the fact that she just isn't as healthy as the others and we will support her so long as she is feisty and chasing the younger ones away from the treats. Below is a photo of our eggs, if you can tell, the large ones are from our sickly hen.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

My friend is having a problem with her 9 mo old production RIR.they have been laying for a while now, but all 5 have not layed in the last 2 weeks. they are in a coop and large run and get fed layer feed. My friend has been very il lately and her husband is taking care of them and does not give them any greens. I suggested giving them some meat and greens. any other ideas?
forgot to mention, she also has 4 isa browns about a yr old who are still laying fine and they are all together, eating the same.

It might be a stress thing, depending on how much her birds want to see her.

 

[armorfirelady]

I have been doing research on mites & lice. I found a useful page (except for using pesticides to treat it which I wont use) & it had some great pictures

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

I also read something about using eucalyptus oil diluted by water to spray in the coop. Has anyone ever heard of this or used it before?

 

[delisha]

I have been doing research on mites & lice. I found a useful page (except for using pesticides to treat it which I wont use) & it had some great pictures

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

I also read something about using eucalyptus oil diluted by water to spray in the coop. Has anyone ever heard of this or used it before?

I have not heard of that.
Thanks for the download too.

 

[delisha]

Quote: I agree..they might be going threw first molt.