The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[countrygirl74]

I have a question for those of you that have broodies. Do you feed them in the nest? Feed them anything special? Provide water somehow? With it being so hot, I've been picking them up off the nests and carry them outside near the food and water. Some will eat or drink, others won't. Recently, I've been mixing yogurt and a little food and place the dish near them after they come back in. They wolf the cold yogurt down. Water is a little hard without them dumping the water in the nest. Thanks. sue

I did, but she was pretty good about getting out once a day. I mostly made sure she had food and water toward the end as she got up less and less. I never had issues with spilling - just used 2 little glass dishes. I would also hand feed her some of the scraps as she would never come out to get those when I dropped them in the run for the rest of the flock. When the chicks hatched, they found the food and water too!

feeding a broody in the coop depends on the broody. Some of the "first-timers" can get paranoid about leaving the nest and will refuse to eat. For those girls I put little dishes of food and water right where they can reach them. The ones that I see get up and leave the nest to eat and poop don't get their own dishes,

Speaking of which... my SFH Ginger hatched 2 healthy BCM chicks on Monday, and today she had them about 100 yards from the coop. I love watching mammas with chicks! She was showing them all the wonderful treats that crawl in the grass.

Pretty pics!!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Got TWO first eggs today. My EE X Dorking and my Production Red both laid their first egg on the same day... and both were fertile (not that I'll be hatching any - these are eatin' eggs).


(From left to right: SFH, EE X Dorking, Silkie X Bantam Cochin, PR)

Lovely picture.

 

[camilleathome]

Speaking of eggs! My Silkie FINALLY started laying again!

 

[armorfirelady]

This makes DH cringe as he is the caretaker of the pool. Thankfully this is now a rare occurnce.

Japanese beetle control, plant 4 O'clocks, they LOVE them and can't resist eating them, however they are deadly poison killing w/i minutes of eating. No smelly traps just beautiful flowers.


Some of mine this year

They are beautiful. Are they poison(ess) to chickens & other animals also?

Got TWO first eggs today. My EE X Dorking and my Production Red both laid their first egg on the same day... and both were fertile (not that I'll be hatching any - these are eatin' eggs).


(From left to right: SFH, EE X Dorking, Silkie X Bantam Cochin, PR)

Beautiful eggs. Congrats on the new layers

 

[armorfirelady]

I was up early this morning to try & get the veggie garden weeded before the sun hit the garden. And since it was 84 at 8 am I decided to let the hens in with me. They were quite happy to come dig in the moist soil, have a snack or to of fresh herbs & lay in the shade of the sunflowers & pumpkins

Here is 2 of the big girls staying cool


The tots enjoying the shade & the breeze. They even let Lucy hang with them without complaint.

I do have to say they did eat the herbs but not as bad as I thought they would. They preferred the kale I planted for them and the little stringy tentacles of the pumpkin plants. The big girls just wanted all the bugs under the shavings

They spent about 3 hours in the garden. And they probably would of stayed longer if I had not of turned the sprinkler on

Sure wish I could get them to eat the weeds so I didn't need to weed the garden

 

[Kassaundra]

Not sure the roots and seeds are reported as causing gatro intestinal distress in humans, I don't know if they would harm chickens, or if chickens would even eat them. They always have said morning glories are poisonous but my chickens don't touch them, same w/ night shades like jimson weed it is wild in this area and I have never seen an animal (grazer, nibbler, or chicken) touch it.

 

[camilleathome]

Some nice after rain photos of the chickens enjoying the grass



Rooting through the compost pile.

 

[mlowen]

Some nice after rain photos of the chickens enjoying the grass.

I LOVE this!! Is she singing or yawning??

Great pictures, all around.

 

[mlowen]

Armorfirelady...I get a giggle every time I read about the "tots." The chickens in the garden pictures are lovely. Looks cool, whether it is or not.

 

[camilleathome]

I LOVE this!! Is she singing or yawning??

Great pictures, all around.

She was yawning