The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[pigeonguy]

Here are some more images we can work with.







Plymouth Rock male and Rhode Island Red female. Next: Maran male North Holland Blue female. I have a lot of these if you want to see more.

Just curious isn't a marans tail suppose to be 45 degrees that picture is about 60 degrees.
The correct name is Marans just for one bird. Makes me wonder what the correct name is for two or more would it be Marans's or Maranses.
Anyway there you have it wrapped in a nut shell all I know about SOP.

 

[Mumsy]

Brahma male Cochin female Orpington male Wyandotte female



When it comes to showing you look at your prospective bird and start checking off the obvious. Correct number of toes. Correct comb with no extra sprigs or deformity. Correct eye color, leg color, ear color, and shape. No obvious faults such as crooked keel, wry tail, leg deviance's. Beak shape, beak color, and then the hard part. Feather color. This is where we separate the winners from the losers. It's not just color but quality of feather. Champions are not brought out of the barn yard and plunked in a show pen and win the trophy. This is a true art. Bringing your best chick along from the egg to the show pen and peaking at the best of it's potential in health, quality, and type. The most beautiful typey bird will lose if it's a crazy psycho in the pen when the judge picks it up. The best birds need to be pen trained to show them selves to their best. Just like showing well bred horses or dogs. They need to be raised, handled, fed, and trained for exhibition. And then we have the feather foot and crested breeds. Whole books are written just for the showing of these types.

If it were not for exhibition breeders and their birds for the last hundred years, we would not have the fantastic dual purpose breeds we love so much to this day.

 

[flyinhigh]

 

[Mumsy]

Just curious isn't a marans tail suppose to be 45 degrees that picture is about 60 degrees.
The correct name is Marans just for one bird. Makes me wonder what the correct name is for two or more would it be Marans's or Maranses.
Anyway there you have it wrapped in a nut shell all I know about SOP.

Good question. I'm referencing a book written in 1986 from the UK. My nut shell is smaller than your nutshell when it comes to Maran's/Maranses. Hah!

 

[delisha]

Delisha could you give me some dimensions on those nest box's and the door opening

The nest boxes are about 3 feet wide by 3 1/2 feet deep and close to 3 1/2 feet high. Several are different sizes. The one box is one most of them use. I use the boxes on the walls for brooding. The door opening is about 8 inches high by 6 inches wide.

This is the one most of them use lately

 

[delisha]

Hey natural chicken keepers. Here's a question for you.
What do you all do about rats? My coop and coop yard are pretty secure as far as bigger predators but these darn rats keep digging cavernous tunnels under my fence line. I keep feed locked up inside the coop at night and picked up on the ground though I'm sure there's always some scratch left in the dirt for them to find. Whenever I see a hole I fill it with 1 1/2 inch minus rock but they even dig that out if the way. I'm a little freaked out after reading everyone's stories about possums and weasels etc. sneaking in through tiny holes. I keep bait boxes outside the coop and have tried spreading red pepper flakes around but I feel like I'm in constant battle. Does anyone have any great solutions?

Also I'm so excited you are all talking confirmation. I would like to start showing and am curious if any of my girls could even compete.

rats are horrible and you need to get rat traps. I believe one of the girls on here uses water. You fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of water and float a empty thread spool covered with peanut butter. You cover the bucket with large mesh the rats can get in but chickens can't.

 

[delisha]

Mumsy..what a wealth of information you are sharing..you are wonderful!
Aoxia..as usual you are so generous with your beautiful pictures and education

 

[delisha]

These are the brooder boxes 6 on each side These door open all the way on the one side. I keep the other side closed and unused during winter.


This is the pullet side

this is the duck side

 

[lalaland]

DON'T GIVE UP! leave it out there for awhile. I've done like that before and they didn't eat it immediately. Then after it had the chance to sit around a bit and soak in, they ate it! I'd just leave it out there - even over a couple days if need be.

I would not eat it if it had sweet potato in it either. Very few thing in this world I won't eat sweet potato is one of them. LOL
seriously now did you leave it out there? Have you gave them soup before? Sometimes it takes a while with new foods.

I did leave it out til it froze, which was just an hour or so. Having added the "soup" with all the leftovers to the mash, so they could have a warm breakfast, I was surprised that they weren't too happy with it. I wish I had a warm feeder - already have two heated dog bowls to keep the waters from freezing ( the wellies are nasty birds and keep others away from where ever they are eating or drinking).

just thought it was funny because chickens usually eat everything!

its a cold below zero gorgeous morning with the moon out, and fresh glittery snow.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Good question. I'm referencing a book written in 1986 from the UK. My nut shell is smaller than your nutshell when it comes to Maran's/Maranses. Hah!

rats are horrible and you need to get rat traps. I believe one of the girls on here uses water. You fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of water and float a empty thread spool covered with peanut butter. You cover the bucket with large mesh the rats can get in but chickens can't.

I've seen those traps like that and had totally forgotten about them Glad you brought them up.

The correct name is Marans just for one bird. Makes me wonder what the correct name is for two or more would it be Marans's or Maranses.
Anyway there you have it wrapped in a nut shell all I know about SOP.

Funny you should bring that up....I was wondering the same thing the other day.