The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Delisha I found the perfect low fat no calorie treats for my hens............sod chunks. I was getting yelled at again as I was digging my trench and just started heaving them over the fence...........they quieted down and spent a few hours digging thru them . That's all they are getting tomorrow ..........no food as you suggested.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Delisha- I guess I am guilty as charged

tho I don't keep their food filled 24/7 I did give a half a scoop around noon cuz Edie was pestering me. *sigh*. Ok I will feed them tonight & then nothing tomorrow for them. I told my mom the plan & she said she is going to hear them at her house

. I will have my hen sitter just feed them at night while we are gone this weekend camping. I better warn him he is going to be swarmed............

Would u believe my dogs food is measured so they don't over eat and stay a healthy weight? You would think I would do the same with the hens.........guess their show and complaining convinced me other wise

ETA- any suggestions on the amount to feed per hen? Should I try the amount they can eat in 10 minutes or something like that? I guess I worry more cuz the tots have to wait till the big girls are done and I am afraid there won't be enough left for them..........another feed bowl wouldn't help the girls would just chase them away from that as well

I would say the most they need is around a pound a week per hen, much less if they free range, some more if they are penned with no grassy buggy area to hunt in. I have found roosters eat more except when they free range. But I only feed at night for the adults so mine graze a lot during the day.

 

[countrygirl74]

Finally! It's almost midnight and I finally caught up around here - had several days to read through.

Has anyone else had any problems with you chickens stepping in water in winter and getting frostbitten?
Does anyone else have open waterers during winter?

Please share your experience with this.

I use open waterers year-round for both my chickens and ducks. However, while we do get snow and some nights it can dip below 0, I don't think we have too extreme temps for long enough to cause any major issues. I do have to empty the ice blocks out in the mornings during the winter and on rare occasion, break ice during the day.

Hi! Been lurking a little on this thread, thought I'd finally introduce myself! My DH and I are pretty much organic vegetarians at this point (not for any ethical qualm of eating another living thing, plants are living too, but it keeps me from needing cortisone shots in my knees every year or twice a year) and are raising our chickens on organic non-GMO food. They do scrounge in our yard for bugs and get bugs and scraps from the garden. Hoping for lots of perky, deeply colored yolks in our homegrown eggs! Most of our friends and his family think we are nuts! It's peaceful and empowering though to know you don't have to have a grocery store to feed yourself! Our birds will be slaughtered however when they stop laying or if there is a mean roo, as my Mom and brother both suffer from Celiac disease, and love eggs and chicken! It's great to see so many others that want to raise their birds in a simpler and very natural way. I do feel bad that ours will be in a run most of the time, but with so many predators in the area it seems the best way while we are gone during the day. How do all of you deal with these sorts of self conflict?

I also have mine in a nice big run due to predators, but I try to let them have supervised free-ranging once a day for 1-2 hours, either in the morning or evening - whatever works best. I do the deep litter method in their run so there's always something to scratch around in or dust bathe in. I also grow things around their run and they eat up or peck all the leaves/branches that manage to grow through. Lastly, I throw our table scraps into their run on the deep litter - just something else for them to scratch around and find. I think lots of us keep them in the runs during the day for safety. When you can, just sit outside and let them out for a bit or when you're doing yardwork, etc. I do wish they could be out all the time, but they seem to be just fine and content with the way things are. As soon as I start calling "Here, Chick, Chick" in a high voice, they all come running to be put away in their run - trained them to come when called and they get treats.

Usually just that little bit per day is enough to keep them happy.

 

[Sally8]

It's hard for me to know exactly how much food the chickens actually eat. I can't keep the Australian Shepherd out of the chicken food dishes! lol. In 4 days I just sold 4 turkeys and 12 chickens (5 of those we processed). It sounded so good to me until I figured out that I still have 28 chickens, 11 chicks and 3 turkeys. "Oh dear "

 

[BlueMouse]

We had 26 meat chicks arrive in the mail this morning! They all made the trip safely. I set them up in the brooder with water with ACV and a spoonful of raw honey (from my hives) I've been reading good things about a little honey in the water helping chicks recover from the shock of transport quickly. They are all napping, drinking, and playing "keep away" with pieces of the scrambled egg I gave them. they were trying to eat the stones out of my wedding ring when I was putting them all in! Guess they're born starving... they all complained and huddled in a little clump until the temp got up to 92, which is higher than I really thought was optimal for chicks. At the momen't I'm leaving it there, and I'll edge it back to 85 over the next few days.


My daughter reading the "cheepies" a story.



Having a drink.

 

[Kassaundra]

My daughter reading the "cheepies" a story.






How adorable is that!!!!!!

 

[armorfirelady]

It's hard for me to know exactly how much food the chickens actually eat. I can't keep the Australian Shepherd out of the chicken food dishes! lol. In 4 days I just sold 4 turkeys and 12 chickens (5 of those we processed). It sounded so good to me until I figured out that I still have 28 chickens, 11 chicks and 3 turkeys. "Oh dear "

They must be multiplying when your not looking....

My daughter reading the "cheepies" a story.
How adorable is that!!!!!!

That is adorable....Old MacDonald? ....(tho it looks like Clifford)

 

[nicole63021]

It's hard for me to know exactly how much food the chickens actually eat. I can't keep the Australian Shepherd out of the chicken food dishes! lol. In 4 days I just sold 4 turkeys and 12 chickens (5 of those we processed). It sounded so good to me until I figured out that I still have 28 chickens, 11 chicks and 3 turkeys. "Oh dear "

LOL!!! We discovered the hard way recently that my Aussies (my oldest especially) love the chicken feed. They couldn't come to work with me for about 2 weeks, and he seriously ate about 7 lbs of feed when he found where I kept it!

Little trouble makers!

 

[taylynnp]

When do you throw your hands in the air and buy corid? I'm not sure that I'm dealing with cocci but I don't know what to do and I don't want to lose my flock.

I've had 2 chickens die in 9 days and another acting seriously off. She's 16 weeks, acting lethargic, head twitching, not really wanting to come out of the coop. Breathing open mouthed. She did get up and ate when I fed her separately. I've seen a few watery white foamy poops lately from the flock. No bloody poops. I don't see lice eggs/duct on them. I've checked their vents and down at their skin. No respiratory issues, other than panting when they are in bad shape.

The first one kept laying down, walk/run knocked kneed or like he was drunk. Didn't want to move. I gave him so electrolytes and then while checking him over he went into convulsions and died. This was all in a span of a few hours. I wrote it off to heat stroke at the time.

The second one I lost yesterday was the smallest pullet. She started getting picked on and kept laying down in the FF to eat. She was a mess all the time. I separated her for 3 days and she just declined. Yesterday morning she was sitting down and barely opened her eyes when I changed her water. She was already slated to be culled this weekend and I was thinking of doing it early just to have it over with. When I next checked on her she was gone.

Seems like I lost the first one not too long after I stopped putting ACV in their daily water. I had read some cautions about using it in the heat of summer. Anyway I started ACV back up today.

I don't know if I should just treat them all with corid? I don't really want to and I'm not sure that's what is going on, but this is awful.

We're supposed to process the extra roosters this weekend. Should I wait since I don't know what is going on?

ETA- there doesn't seem to be any vets that deal with chickens locally. I'm pretty rural.

 

[MumsyII]

When do you throw your hands in the air and buy corid? I'm not sure that I'm dealing with cocci but I don't know what to do and I don't want to lose my flock.

I've had 2 chickens die in 9 days and another acting seriously off. She's 16 weeks, acting lethargic, head twitching, not really wanting to come out of the coop. Breathing open mouthed. She did get up and ate when I fed her separately. I've seen a few watery white foamy poops lately from the flock. No bloody poops. I don't see lice eggs/duct on them. I've checked their vents and down at their skin. No respiratory issues, other than panting when they are in bad shape.

The first one kept laying down, walk/run knocked kneed or like he was drunk. Didn't want to move. I gave him so electrolytes and then while checking him over he went into convulsions and died. This was all in a span of a few hours. I wrote it off to heat stroke at the time.

The second one I lost yesterday was the smallest pullet. She started getting picked on and kept laying down in the FF to eat. She was a mess all the time. I separated her for 3 days and she just declined. Yesterday morning she was sitting down and barely opened her eyes when I changed her water. She was already slated to be culled this weekend and I was thinking of doing it early just to have it over with. When I next checked on her she was gone.

Seems like I lost the first one not too long after I stopped putting ACV in their daily water. I had read some cautions about using it in the heat of summer. Anyway I started ACV back up today.

I don't know if I should just treat them all with corid? I don't really want to and I'm not sure that's what is going on, but this is awful.

We're supposed to process the extra roosters this weekend. Should I wait since I don't know what is going on?

ETA- there doesn't seem to be any vets that deal with chickens locally. I'm pretty rural.

I suggest doing necropsy on dead birds and taking pictures.