The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[MumsyII]

Oh I wish you were closer... you could come and help me do mine.

Hah! Like wise! I had been putting it off but one of those big boys picked a bantam RIR hen up by the scruff of her neck this morning and shook her like a rag doll. That was the last straw. I rounded them up and cooped them up tight then took one at a time, banded and made a note about good and bad traits for each one. Not one of the nine have a DQ. A couple are slow to redden in the face and comb and their heads are narrow. They felt lighter than the other seven so those will get processed.

There is peace out there right now. The boys are finally separated and have ID.

I need to order size #12 and #14 bands. #11 just fit right now at five months. They are ok on the pullets.

It wore me out catching and handling those boys. Glad I had already processed three for the table. Nine large HRIR cockerels are an armful and then some.

 

[RedRidge]

Quote: LOL... I have 20 total who are 4 months old... ordered bands today.
Just now starting to pay attention to what sex they are but haven't actually counted... I think about half and half.
I have had zero temperament problems so far, so they are all 20 still together.
I've been skeptical about the cockerels and keeping an eye out for problem children, but so far...

I don't care how nice one is if it's nasty. I have no patience for nasty roos.
So... hopefully in another month or two I'll have half as many as I have now... feeding all 20 through the winter would be crazy.

 

[lalaland]

mumsy, you probably have already spoken about this, but...the boys - do you have them in one pen waiting to be processed, or are they all separate? The 9 or so roosters I have, at 12 weeks, are getting a little rowdy. I can't think any of them are worth eating yet, so light and small, and I am still unsure of who to keep.

It would help if I knew what gol-danged breeds they are - I suspect I have two icelandics (seems to be a smaller breed), an ee cross, one pure araucana, a sweetheart doofus of a lav orp, and 4 assorted I have no idea of what. Sometimes I think I could wring that woman's neck who mixed up either the eggs or the chicks or both! I would be less cranky if she would at the very least respond and help me figure out what they might be - surely she knows what the heck she was hatching since she was trading eggs.

it makes me really mad because I was hoping to breed, I figured with the 4 different breeds, I was sure to have at least one breeding trio. but I am fairly certain I have no icelandic pullets, although I do have a single cream legbar pullet and possibly two crested cream legbar roo's - one of which is a total horror.

ack. deep breath. it is what it is!

 

[TipihlowLadies]

I have no idea what it is for. I thought it was to make meat more tender...

I can see doing maybe one or two in a brine, but we are doing so many this Saturday, it's not really an option.

brine in ice water with 1 cup salt 1 cup honey or sugar per gallon of water salt is a natural tenderizer if no brine tough meat my first 25 birds at 9 weeks I ruined as far as iam concerned. Next 25 are very tender and delish!

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:
Those are some good ideas. S8 - wondering if you could give her babies back if blue coat could camo the blood?

I had a chicken that was attacked by a fox in the vent area ...not guite as bad as this
Try to let it dry between soakings ...also a small fan can be used to make sure flies dont get to that area & lay eggs

 

[MumsyII]

LOL... I have 20 total who are 4 months old... ordered bands today.
Just now starting to pay attention to what sex they are but haven't actually counted... I think about half and half.
I have had zero temperament problems so far, so they are all 20 still together.
I've been skeptical about the cockerels and keeping an eye out for problem children, but so far...

I don't care how nice one is if it's nasty. I have no patience for nasty roos.
So... hopefully in another month or two I'll have half as many as I have now... feeding all 20 through the winter would be crazy.

Yep. I hear you. It seems like the ones that are crowing and getting pink feet are the trouble makers with pullets. They are just too big, too young, and feeling too big for their britches for me to run them with the inexperienced and too young pullets. Once I penned them separate they settled right down and I haven't heard a peep out of any of them. I was hoping for half and half with twenty two but it turned out I got eight females and fourteen males. I couldn't keep feeding those fourteen so weeded out some small ones right away.

I haven't seen any that are man attackers. They only squabble a bit with each other. No big blood curdling, blood drawing fights yet. I like that about this strain.

@lalala: I have the HRIR cockerels penned together. As of today. The keepers along with those that get processed tomorrow. I have been taking them one by one for the table for a month now.
I'm getting to that point where I will have two to sell and three to keep. I'm waiting as long as possible to choose because this strain takes a year to fully develop. They are all nine very fine boys. It is nit picking to choose those to pull out.

I can't imagine trying to make trios of so many varieties and types. My property isn't big enough. I'm working on having one dual purpose flock for eggs and meat and that is my HRIR flock. I'll be breeding the best cock to my remaining seven hens and hatch every egg I get starting this winter. I'll keep back females and try to get a flock of twelve great hens from the F1 generation. I haven't made up my mind to make three pens with three cocks or just rotate cocks like I do with my White Silkie flock. It's easier book keeping that way.

 

[delisha]

mumsy, you probably have already spoken about this, but...the boys - do you have them in one pen waiting to be processed, or are they all separate? The 9 or so roosters I have, at 12 weeks, are getting a little rowdy. I can't think any of them are worth eating yet, so light and small, and I am still unsure of who to keep.

It would help if I knew what gol-danged breeds they are - I suspect I have two icelandics (seems to be a smaller breed), an ee cross, one pure araucana, a sweetheart doofus of a lav orp, and 4 assorted I have no idea of what. Sometimes I think I could wring that woman's neck who mixed up either the eggs or the chicks or both! I would be less cranky if she would at the very least respond and help me figure out what they might be - surely she knows what the heck she was hatching since she was trading eggs.

it makes me really mad because I was hoping to breed, I figured with the 4 different breeds, I was sure to have at least one breeding trio. but I am fairly certain I have no icelandic pullets, although I do have a single cream legbar pullet and possibly two crested cream legbar roo's - one of which is a total horror.

ack. deep breath. it is what it is!

OK so why is your legbar cockerel a horror?

1.Take pictures of all of your cockerel you do not know the breed..we will all try to help define them..it will be fun.
2. Get a list from the woman on the breeds she has

 

[lalaland]

the roo that is a horror is pining pullets and pulling feathers. There are two that look alike, and this happens in the dense pine undergrowth in the run, so I can't quite see who the heck it is.

I can't get the woman to answer any emails - so no help to know what she was hatching. LIke I said, her dining room had 4 kiddie pools full of chicks and none were banded or anything - and there were all different types of chicks in each pool.

Ok, I will take more pics and get some feedback from y'all on what the heck breed the roos might be.

Mumsy, I thought I might choose one breed out of the 3 breeds (cream legbars, swedish flower hens, icelandics) to raise that breed from, assuming out of the 4 chicks there would be a breeding trio possible. That didnt happen, though, because what I got was a mish mash of chicks.

 

[lalaland]

well, I'm frustrated with the posting problems on this site AGAIN.
no multiquote button
no tool bar with the pic icon, so I can't post pics.
yuck.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Straw makes a great fire starter

Funny you talk about having her soak herself... The water pans that I put out for the birds to stand in if they want...my bumblefoot girl is the only one who stands in them. Does it every day, several times a day.

Now too bad I couldn't just fill that pan with something that would be helpful for the soak that wouldn't affect the others if they drink!




PS: I took out the clay things and now only have water. I had tested those clay pieces for lead and they were negative, but since I don't know what else might be in there, decided against using them.

not sure if it would help with the infection but oatmeal baths are supposed to be soothing. Now I would not buy the baths from the store but make your own from watered and more watered down oatmeal. I'm not sure it would last long enough for her to walk around in it though.