The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[maggiemo]

Mine isn't suffering, yet. I have read thousands of posts here and all I have read I in my heart I am pretty sure this is not going to be remedied.
I guess that is what I am wrestling with, do I try a few things first or just do the deed? Also, she would have been culled in October.

One complication is, we are remodeling our house and we don't live there now. I am only at the house once a day for an hour or two. We don't have any hot water there or I would try to give her a soak. Though, I don't feel any egg so I doubt soaking her would help.
We are in a 900 sq ft rental house with three dogs so I can't bring a chicken here.
She is alone in the broody pen, and seems happy enough.

 

[delisha]

Hi all! I realize that all pullets are different and it takes awhile for them to "even out" with laying, but is it "ok" if they were to lay an egg and not have any others for a week or more?

First off..what is the breed? It might be very normal for her breed.
Second, if she is a pullet..don't worry. All pullets are different. They are like some teen age girls when menses starts. Some girls are regular right from the start and some girls simply are not. It does not always mean there is a problem. If she reaches a year old and for her breed she is supposed to be laying three eggs a week, and she is laying three eggs a month, she is a cull and a problem down the road. She will be young enough to make a wonderful dinner.

March/April is a good cull month for hens. If they are not in full lay by than they need to be culled. All ill and problem birds should be culled ASAP. All extra birds should be culled in November. You should make a plan to house the least amount of birds threw the winter months. I have an average of 100-150 birds threw the fall. By November end I am down to under 40. I house only breeders, and hens that lay threw the winter. That is Orpingtons, my line and Wyandottes. I will keep a quad of Ameracuana's, a quad of Orpington projects, and a quad of Marans. The rest go to freezer camp. I will feed out one bird a week back to the birds through the winter. I will feed my family two birds a week. That is a dozen birds a month for three months.
In April/May I am back to 100 or more birds. I am not hatching any chicks this winter, last year was to much for me. Those chicks in my house was insane. I will start hatching in February end though. I need pullets and cockerels large enough for the shows. I think I can deal with chicks in the house for three weeks. The brinsea will let me house them outdoors after they feather out.

Quote: Good idea..and a responsible one..good for you

Quote: Responsible and your chickens are lucky to have you.

 

[mikkles]

The 2 in question are EE's...not sure which one laid the CUTEST and most Beautiful lil greenish/blue egg for me! They're about 20 weeks...I'm not really worried..more excited to get more of those purty eggs for my basket!!

 

[maggiemo]

I will feed out one bird a week back to the birds through the winter. I will feed my family two birds a week. That is a dozen birds a month for three months.

That is interesting. What a good idea to feed them back to the birds.

 

[mikkles]

I will feed out one bird a week back to the birds through the winter
Do you cook this? or cut it up? or just toss the carcass in? Sorry if this is a dumb question...

 

[delisha]

I will feed out one bird a week back to the birds through the winter
Do you cook this? or cut it up? or just toss the carcass in? Sorry if this is a dumb question...

It is not a dumb question and thank you for asking.
I do not cook the wings or the organs. I do wash the intestines and cook those or they will not eat them. They just drag them all over the coop and play keep away. I cut them up in smaller pieces. I feed the wings raw to the dogs too. I do cook the carcass so I can keep the liquid to make soup. I also steal the breast meat.

The rest of the carcass is divided up and fed out to each coop. Over the winter I have a juvie coop, a layer coop, and the new Orpington coop. I also have a hospital coop(isolation), however I do not use it for winter unless we have some weather problems worse than normal. (It has a wood stove)

 

[mikkles]

Do you grind it up? or just give it whole and then do they eat the bones? or do you end up tossing them?

 

[aoxa]

My favorite pullet laid her first egg today! She's half Faverolles and half Kinardly ('kinardly tell what her dad was", other than that he was the best rooster I've ever had) and her egg is big for a pullet egg, dark tan with white speckles. Really neat looking. She's the one that used to fly out of the brooder every night so she could get pets and fall asleep on my husbands lap, and she still sidles over on the roost for chin scratches when I close up the coop at night. I'm a little extra over-the-moon because ALL of my adult hens are either broody, raising chicks, or molting and I haven't had any eggs in over a week from a dozen adult hens. hooray!

Congrats!! It is rare to have a chicken that friendly. I only have one like that, and it's Margaret. She is a real pet. Such a sweetie. She will start a fight, but when they come back to get her, she hobbles as fast as her stubs can take her back to me for protection. She makes me laugh!

 

[aoxa]

It is not a dumb question and thank you for asking.
I do not cook the wings or the organs. I do wash the intestines and cook those or they will not eat them. They just drag them all over the coop and play keep away. I cut them up in smaller pieces. I feed the wings raw to the dogs too. I do cook the carcass so I can keep the liquid to make soup. I also steal the breast meat.

The rest of the carcass is divided up and fed out to each coop. Over the winter I have a juvie coop, a layer coop, and the new Orpington coop. I also have a hospital coop(isolation), however I do not use it for winter unless we have some weather problems worse than normal. (It has a wood stove)

The wings fed to the dogs is AWESOME! Clears the tarter right off their teeth!

 

[armorfirelady]

I made a good find today while trying to find a fresh turkey today (unfrozen) for dinner.
One local grocery store had chicken hearts gizzards packaged for sale very cheap. I picked up 4 packages for now. The hens couldn't tear them up whole so I put them in the food processor to cut in smaller pieces. Froze most of it raw and gave some to the hens. Big girls loved it and even the tots found out they liked it as well. They didn't eat all I gave them so I put it back in the fridge for tomorrow, I plan on picking up more packages to freeze so that they have it over the winter. I try to give them animal protein a few times a week, and different varieties like fish, liver and now chicken parts. They all had full crops tonight.

Edie the EE laid another pretty lit blue egg today but on the floor. Apparently the nesting box she wanted was occupied by red. She is fun to watch when she decides she needs to lay an egg. She played musical nest boxes for 20 minutes

Delisha you have BCMs .......I noticed tonight when checking crops that Sophie's keel seems very prominent when I was examining her. She is 13 weeks old. I know she eats I watch her. They are also foraging all day. Is it because she is so young? She's at least twice the size of when I got her. I was going to see if Lucy's was the same since she is about 3 weeks older but she is still flighty around me. Thanks