The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Aoxa maybe is you put the frozen water bottles in the bunnies fav shade places they would be able to lay next to them and help keep cool? Sorry you lost your bunny. Tis heat has been horrible.


Mumsy thank you for sharing your pictures. I'm sorry you had to cull her but it was the best for her since she was deteriorating.


Last night I had flies in the FF even with a cover on it. Those nasty things burrowed in the food. I got them all out and put a temporary netting over it

I'm going to sound like a broken record (do you young folks know what that means?    )  But... If you do the ferment as for lacto-fermenting with the layer of water over the top, you won't that that kind of issue.

I'm old I know what a broken record is

This time of year I try to keep more water on top but the chickens like it thicker so I am trying to reach a happy medium. Tough with crumbles to keep more water in it but not make it soupy. I added more water but those pesky flies were still in it. I think its just cuz it's so darn hot !!

 

[midnightroo]

Aoxa maybe is you put the frozen water bottles in the bunnies fav shade places they would be able to lay next to them and help keep cool? .

I picked the wrong week to hand dig a trench down the length of my yard to get the water to flow away from where the coop usually is. Hopefully we get some rain so I can see if its going to work

Yes, I think if they forage that would be best. I try to do it with the chickens, but they seem scared of them. Though they stay in the area. I do large ones at night when it is going to stay warm and they are ok with them then. Not sure if the frozen jugs work, but it makes me feel better.

Will it cool down there after Saturday? I just need to make it past Saturday here and then they are calling for much cooler weather. You could always dig a deep ish hole and fill it with rocks until the weather cools, then dig it longer. I think in the septic world they are called cesspools, but the idea is to get the water to go down into the ground.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I do allow foraging
It seems to me if people like laura who live in midwest dont like the commercial feed you could team up and create something better.
New business comes from filling a whole/need.
Thats all i meant. I do think a small quality feed would attract buyers. The hipsters thing was in regard to the negative press by nbc that hipsters are raising chickens and dumping in aspca shelters
Im in suburban ct on 3.8 acres no hipsters here!!! I am proud of my 8 week old barnies
You people have taught me a lot
I want happy healthy chickens!!!

Many of us mix our own feed and are sure to also feed adequate "animal protein" in the form of insects and various meats like raw liver, raw ground meat, raw fish and fish meal, fermented milk products (yogurt, kefir, whey) etc. Many of us use non-gmo or organic in the basic grain/legume mix......

A good percent of what helps make a diet healthy for the chickens is the addition of the "animal protein" to feeds that are mostly grain/legume based.

Hopefully the things we discuss here help folks to be able to mix their own or add supplementation that makes it healthy for them in a way that they can afford for themselves....

There is also issue in making pre-mixed feeds with animal protein that would be regulated at levels the many of us don't find healthy so.... a lot of things would have to be added on our own anyway

 

[aoxa]

I'm going to sound like a broken record (do you young folks know what that means?

) But... If you do the ferment as for lacto-fermenting with the layer of water over the top, you won't that that kind of issue.

Doesn't help us. Our flies will stay around settled water. Fruit flies.. Seriously.. I washed a bucket out and let it sit and it was infested the next day. All it had was a cm of water in it.

I have some choice words for the flies this year....

 

[aoxa]

Sorry about your bunny. When I was probably 6 years old, I had a favorite pet rabbit. During the summer, our job was to get frozen two liter bottles from the freezer and give them to the rabbits. This was in Arizona and they were caged but shaded. I forgot one day. By the time we remembered and got the bottles out there, it was too late. My little bunny died in my arms. Anyway, put the frozen bottles somewhere cool that they like to lay.they will lay up against them and keep themselves cooler that way. One for every bunny is best. Cool water to drink will help too, but they can only pant to cool off, so having the cold bottles to lean against really helps.

Thank you. I am going to try this.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: I'm old I know what a broken record is

This time of year I try to keep more water on top but the chickens like it thicker so I am trying to reach a happy medium. Tough with crumbles to keep more water in it but not make it soupy. I added more water but those pesky flies were still in it. I think its just cuz it's so darn hot !!

Yep...broken record...that's me

To keep it from being soupy I just do a bit of straining out of the liquid before I put it in the bowls. There is still a bit of the liquid that gets in there but they get used to it very quickly and at this time of year a little more liquid with all those good "microbes" in there also provides as a type of "electrolite" effect too

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Also...put a good lid on to keep out the buggies...

I really think, though, that part of what helps mine is that I add fresh feed and water about 2x/day as I take out a little and add more in on a regular basis rather than making a huge batch at a time. I end up removing about half to 3/4 of the feed from the container and then adding that back in with water each time I remove feed so it's not usually not setting undisturbed for a long time.

Even though it is "off-gassing", the number of times that the container is being opened keeps it from building up and blowing the lid. (And, of course, with the constant removing of the feed it doesn't stay "strictly anaerobic", but the feed under the water and the LABs are producing anaerobically enough to do their job!)

It DOES ferment in the short time as the ferment liquid is good and strong with microbes that have been proliferating about 8 months now with new feed for them every day.

I did have some "fits and starts" when I first began in getting the balance going well, but once it did get going, that has worked well and kept "bug-free" so far...

 

[Kassaundra]

I'm old I know what a broken record is

This time of year I try to keep more water on top but the chickens like it thicker so I am trying to reach a happy medium. Tough with crumbles to keep more water in it but not make it soupy. I added more water but those pesky flies were still in it. I think its just cuz it's so darn hot !!

I have always kept a good inch or so of water over the top of mine, it is grain though not pellets or crumble, and occasionally bugs moths / flies drown in the water but I view that as extra protein. I have had my same ferment going for over 2 years through Oklahoma summers and winters.

I also know what records and 8 track tapes are.

 

[aoxa]

Also...put a good lid on to keep out the buggies...

I really think, though, that part of what helps mine is that I add fresh feed and water about 2x/day as I take out a little and add more in on a regular basis rather than making a huge batch at a time. I end up removing about half to 3/4 of the feed from the container and then adding that back in with water each time I remove feed so it's not usually not setting undisturbed for a long time. Even though it is "off-gassing", the number of times that the container is being opened keeps it from building up and blowing the lid. (And, of course, with the constant removing of the feed it doesn't stay "strictly anaerobic", but the feed under the water and the LABs are producing anaerobically enough to do their job!)

It DOES ferment in the short time as the ferment liquid is good and strong with microbes that have been proliferating about 8 months now with new feed for them every day.

I did have some "fits and starts" when I first began in getting the balance going well, but once it did get going, that has worked well and kept "bug-free" so far...

You keep yours on the kitchen counter, which probably would help even further with the flies.

If I worked less than I do, I would be able to do it. I am just gone too long in the day and notice it seems to need tending to more in the heat.

At least we are soaking, and they are still getting a lot of benefits out of that (including the feed savings I mentioned a few posts ago).

 

[aoxa]

I have always kept a good inch or so of water over the top of mine, it is grain though not pellets or crumble, and occasionally bugs moths / flies drown in the water but I view that as extra protein. I have had my same ferment going for over 2 years through Oklahoma summers and winters.

I also know what records and 8 track tapes are.

Kass,

The bugs do not bother my whole grain ferment! Why is this? Why do they insist on ruining my crumble mix ferment but ignore the whole grains?