The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Red Ridge your building is coming along great. Can't wait to see the finished pens. My roost is 4ft up for my hens but I have no roosters. And I used empty litter boxes as nesting boxes so that probably wont help you either.

Leahs mom love the pics. My girls love tomatoes. I forgot to measure the coop today but I will try tomorrow!!!

And in regards to the temporary nest box. When I went out Stella & one of the big girls were in the veggie garden & coop. Apparently Stella knocked one of the stakes on top of the gate to the side and went up & over. She somehow cut her toe so she got a foot cleaning & some blue kote to try and keep the dirt out.

No one laid in the temporary nest box. They all ran in the coop & jumped in.

As soon as I opened the pop door this is what happened:

That is 2 big girls in there. Black couldnt wait for Green to finish laying her egg.

Stella was trying to convince Lucy to hurry up.

But I did get a welcomed surprise as I sat & watched the girls lay

Stella laid an egg !!!!

I noticed this morning while cooking eggs for them that there were 2 different shaped ones. They looked exactly like the one she laid today. So apparently she started laying Friday. 7 hens a laying

Just waiting on Sophie but she is not red at all. I am in no rush just glad to see Stella started. She has been red for months but started her egg song last week but no egg. Apparently she sings AFTER she lays......I have a funny video of her today singing her happiness

Here are the eggs I got today & marked with who is who's. I am curious do you think Stella's will get bigger? It looks like the ping pong balls I used to put in the nesting boxes.

I spent the evening stacking fire wood & it was dark by the time I checked on the hens. I had hoped the smell of the neem oil would dissipate over the day but when I walked in it was still strong. So I put up a temporary roost in the dark & pulled the one I treated out. I was afraid the fumes would bother the hens. Thankfully they were in there less than an hour.

I ended up coating that affected roost with lots of neem oil & then rubbed ashes on it. I was determined to kill the mites!!! The girls all got wood ashes dust bath & after they roosted I coated their legs with Nustock. As I was working in the coop and on the girls I began thinking that maybe Reds long moult was more than that & the mites were making her look so rough? She still looks rough & pale. Hopefully everything I did today will kill the mites & everyone will be happier. I need to do a hen inspection tuesday. Black has one foot that seems more swollen that the other.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Yay for Stella! And yes, they WILL get larger.

Oh - and next time you put something in the nest box as an example, maybe try an EMU egg rather than a ping pong ball. It will give them something to aspire to

Now y'all better know I'm kidding here.

 

[armorfirelady]

Yay for Stella! And yes, they WILL get larger.

Oh - and next time you put something in the nest box as an example, maybe try an EMU egg rather than a ping pong ball. It will give them something to aspire to

Now y'all better know I'm kidding here.

She is so BIG I was hoping she would lay a larger egg. She is almost bigger than my biggest PR who are 18 months old. Heck she should be able to lay an EMU egg.......I have a friend with ostrich eggs, maybe that will encourage her

But its funny it doesn't seem like any of the other PR eggs have really gotten bigger. Even Edies eggs haven't gotten bigger tho she is small. But Lucy is a good size and her eggs are still small. The shells are hard and she does lay a darker brown. I like it when they have freckles like todays egg

Guess some of that BCM is darkening the egg.

Just went back out to make sure everyone on the new roost & found someone roosting at the nesting boxes. But the GOOD news is the neem odor is barely noticeable. Guess I doused the roost a little to much........they will be on the temporary roost for a few days till the odor is gone thats for sure. They seem to be roosting quieter now to.

 

[delisha]

Egg size varies to genetics and not size of the chicken. My smallest chicken lays the largest egg. She is also my oldest chicken. My Gold Laced Orpington lays the next largest. I have two Sussex who lay an average size egg and the girls are large birds averaging 8 lbs.

Pullet eggs do get larger, some will almost double in size. Cornish eggs are quite small when pullets and at sexual maturity they are huge.

 

[Sally8]

What beautiful days we've been having even with a little rain. A great day to snap photo's.








The photo above is Edie's sister.

Any guesses as to what color this one will be when he grows up?



There's nothing like a pen full of BCM roo's.

(Maybe 1 isn't)

 

[Leahs Mom]

Egg size varies to genetics and not size of the chicken. My smallest chicken lays the largest egg. She is also my oldest chicken. My Gold Laced Orpington lays the next largest. I have two Sussex who lay an average size egg and the girls are large birds averaging 8 lbs.

Pullet eggs do get larger, some will almost double in size. Cornish eggs are quite small when pullets and at sexual maturity they are huge.

Darn. You mean the emu egg won't help?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Pictures, Sally.

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes he is trying to show dominance. 

Will it get worse depends not only on how you respond but on the genetics of the roo.  I recommend showing him quickly that you are in charge.  This is not the best time of year but a hose sprayed on the roo wins some respect.  Being held upside down in front of the other chickens wins respect.  Getting hit with a broomstick, rake, or pvc pipe also does some wonders. 

The roosters I have had that got aggressive, we either processed or rehomed.  The ones we rehomed I had spent a lot of time trying to teach them I was in charge.  They knew I was in charge but still tested me every so often.  Then one of them decide to see if I would protect my little ones.  he had no more than started his attack dancing and puffing before I went all nuts on him.  He was gone that week and in a tiny isolation pen less than 10 minutes later. 

now I have Heritage RIR roosters and they are friendly as puppies.  my children can catch be in the yard when they are free ranging and the roosters don't even glance their way unless their is food involved.  After seeing how friendly a rooster can be, I won't even try to train an aggressive rooster.  It is not worth it to me.  Maybe if it was a special show breed or had some real money value to it, but definitely not a production rooster when they are a dime a dozen so to speak.

I also have some of the heritage RIR's that are kin to yours, and they are all the most docile sweetest birds of all thebreeds I have raised.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Interesting article on effects of GMOs and the increase in usage of glyphosate (Commonly Known as Roundup):

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...mail&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20131006Z1

One of the purposes of GM crops was to grow something that can withstand high amounts of glysophate and also has a "termonater gene" to keep the seeds from being able to propagate themselves, rendering them sterile so that people would have to continue to purchase the seeds every year rather than plant seeds from the prior crop.

A few short quotes:

"Epidemiological patterns show there’s an identical rise in over 30 human diseases alongside our increased usage of glyphosate and the increased prevalence of genetically engineered proteins in our food"

"Glyphosate is not “just” an herbicide. It was originally patented as a mineral chelator. It immobilizes nutrients, making them unavailable for your body. It’s also patented as a potent antibiotic that can devastate human gut bacteria"

"The EPA recently doubled the amount of glyphosate allowed in food. Soybean oil is now allowed to contain a whopping 4,000 times the limit at which it can impact your health"


Imagine how small of an amount would affect a little animal like a chicken compared to the body size of a human adult.
Store-shelf, grain-based feeds all contain GM grains.

Read the whole article and some of the linked articles for more information.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Roundup scares me. I do not use it at all, but I did many years ago. I did have less weeds in the garden back then, but I really feel its just not worth it to continue to use it.