The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TurtlePowerTrav]

My experience with Nustok is the skin turns red for about 24hrs then returns to normal color. I think they get more blood flowing for the reaction from the sulfur.

 

[armorfirelady]

For those of you that have hens in molt, do they stop eating the oyster shell.  Mine were downing it a month or so a go but now it just sits there.  My hens gradually one by one started their molting about 3 weeks a go.

Red is molting and she ignores the oyster shell & egg shells as do the 2 tots who are not laying yet. Thank goodness she is almost don't. She doesn't look so scraggly anymore and cool temps are coming again so she needs some feathers to keep her warm lol

Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, EVOO means Extra Virgin Olive Oil. lol

Today is not one of my brighter days.

I didn't get it either till the second post. I blame it on being blonde

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Thought I'd let my friends here know Grammi (the Michigan thread) and her husband are coming Thursday (barring any complications) to help me with the osb decking for the back roof of the Woods Open Air Coop I am building. I am soooo excited as I was worried it wasn't going to get covered before it gets cold and snow starts.

I do have progress photos on another site but don't know how to get them here and prefer not to state it and get banned. Anyway some of them are also on Photobucket. I hope that is ok to say.

I was also given a rooster and I think I saw a ring around the dot in it. That would mean fertile right? :yiipchick

Maybe in spring after the coop is done if neither hen goes broody I can locate an incubator to borrow. Or should I see if I can find a different kind of hen that would go broody and let her raise them?

Anyway need to go check on them.

 

[jlynnet]

Where in Michigan are you Bluebird? I'm in northern Oakland county.
Our neighbors across the creek came over tonight to complain about the crowing. They've always been the complaining type. Not the friendliest. Yep we have too many roos, but like I told her, they have to be big enough to process. Next time the chainsaw when I'm sleeping, I might have to ask them to stop.

 

[lalaland]

Where in Michigan are you Bluebird? I'm in northern Oakland county.
Our neighbors across the creek came over tonight to complain about the crowing. They've always been the complaining type. Not the friendliest. Yep we have too many roos, but like I told her, they have to be big enough to process. Next time the chainsaw when I'm sleeping, I might have to ask them to stop.

isn't that the way some people are? Complaining but not seeing what they are doing themselves.

 

[lalaland]

rooster questions, don't laugh at me!

ok. you know I have 8 roosters growing up. I would like to keep one or two, and there are 9 pullets and 9 hens 2-5 years old.

Question # 1: some of these pullets are from very small breeds (legbar, icelandic, and unknown but small!) Some of the roosters are large (lav orp) and some are small (icelandic). Should I be worried about a big rooster and a small hen? is that a reason to choose smaller roosters?

Question # 2: One of the roosters, who is maybe 14 weeks old and who started to crow at about 5 weeks or something, dances for the little tiny pullets who are no where near laying. Now this rooster also dances for my shoes, other roosters, and hens.....do I need to be worried for the pullets? So far, based on limited observation, he dances, the pullet shys away and that is that.

Question # 3: ok this is maybe more of a breeding question - there were chicks that were pure araucana, and chicks that were araucana x leghorn. A chick grew up into a roo, with a good tail, a beard, and a muff. Any way to guess whether it is an auracana or a cross?

Question # 4: the rooster in question # 2 seems to have taken a dislike to the auraucana pullets - chases them, definitely not dancing for them. Is this likely going to continue?

 

[jlynnet]

Last year these same people complained about my rooster crowing, but I didn't have one. Um wrong house.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

rooster questions, don't laugh at me!

ok. you know I have 8 roosters growing up. I would like to keep one or two, and there are 9 pullets and 9 hens 2-5 years old.

Question # 1: some of these pullets are from very small breeds (legbar, icelandic, and unknown but small!) Some of the roosters are large (lav orp) and some are small (icelandic). Should I be worried about a big rooster and a small hen? is that a reason to choose smaller roosters?

Question # 2: One of the roosters, who is maybe 14 weeks old and who started to crow at about 5 weeks or something, dances for the little tiny pullets who are no where near laying. Now this rooster also dances for my shoes, other roosters, and hens.....do I need to be worried for the pullets? So far, based on limited observation, he dances, the pullet shys away and that is that.

Question # 3: ok this is maybe more of a breeding question - there were chicks that were pure araucana, and chicks that were araucana x leghorn. A chick grew up into a roo, with a good tail, a beard, and a muff. Any way to guess whether it is an auracana or a cross?

Question # 4: the rooster in question # 2 seems to have taken a dislike to the auraucana pullets - chases them, definitely not dancing for them. Is this likely going to continue?

If it was me and i was not breeding for a specific breed, then i would keep the quiet calm roosters. Thankfully for me the roosters for the HRIR so far are quiet and calm.

 

[armorfirelady]

Lalala I can't answer your Roo questions but..........I did get a chuckle out of "and he dances for my shoes".........if he was my Roo I would of been laughing so hard at him

 

[Mekare]

Can chickens have okra? It's not on the good chart or the bad chart. I'm frying up a bunch and I'm wondering if they can have the tops and ends. Thanks.