The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

I hatched out a few Gold laced chicks. I was going to wait till spring, however someone pointed out that I have only one mature Gold Laced and something might happen over the winter to her(Coyote food).





It was a bit too dark to take pictures this morning, but, I could not resist since I had the camera handy.

 

[RedRidge]

Thanks, rr. The more birds I get - which is nowhere near what you have - the harder it is for me to determine who's laying too. I'm thinking if i have that problem w/ so few, how would I keep track of it it I had double the amount.

I may consider the 4 year thing myself. I'll have to see what's happening at that point. My first birds are only 1.5 years old right now.

Actually... by the time fall culling is over each I don't have that many birds.
I tend to cull very very deep.
I will end up with 20 production layers to take through the winter, 6 SFH (2 trios), 3 Rhodebars (2 roos and 1 hen), 10 HRIR (8 pullets and 2 cocks).
Plus I will keep a production cockerel just to perpetuate next year... and then there is Muccle my d'Uccle.
So I guess I will be wintering 41... gee I hadn't added it up... but with the addition of the 6 SFH that IS more than I usually over winter. LOL

 

[armorfirelady]

Hmm... I hesitate to say "I've never had mites"... so I won't say it...

But... we heat with wood... plenty of ash to go around... in addition to the fire pit.
We dump buckets of ash on the garden each week all winter.
I also have a dirt floor in my inside coops.
So... now everyone has me paranoid because I was toying with putting shavings or hay in my breeding pens this coming season... bad idea?

I have always been told that straw harbors mites. I have used hay in the past but basically just use pine shavings and whatever free DL I can find. Grass clippings, weeds, leaves, wood chips, etc. I never had a problem till last week. I was very lax in putting out wood ashes this summer. I believe that's why the hens got them now. That wont happen again. I heat with wood as well so they will always have ash available to dust bathe in year round. And I have a dirt floor also.

I figure the mites have always been around but the ashes just kept them from getting out of control on the hens. Kind of like I always know there are fleas around but dosing the dogs keeps them off of them. its all in the healthy balance of creepy crawlies and prevention methods

 

[mlowen]

I posted this on the DIY thread, but wanted to shared with "my friends" directly.

I've been using a plastic quart milk jug to give the "girls" oyster shell. It's very hard to fill--spilled all over the place. I wanted to make an oyster shell feeder out of a coffee can but couldn't figure out how to cut out the "distribution" holes. Then I remembered the little rocket stoves we made in Girl Scouts...we used a punch can opener! So I punched triangles in the bottom, bolted on a small pizza pan I found at Goodwill, and voila!

 

[delisha]

I posted this on the DIY thread, but wanted to shared with "my friends" directly.

I've been using a plastic quart milk jug to give the "girls" oyster shell. It's very hard to fill--spilled all over the place. I wanted to make an oyster shell feeder out of a coffee can but couldn't figure out how to cut out the "distribution" holes. Then I remembered the little rocket stoves we made in Girl Scouts...we used a punch can opener! So I punched triangles in the bottom, bolted on a small pizza pan I found at Goodwill, and voila!

great job and very creative!

 

[armorfirelady]

Milo wen that's is really cool!!! You are so creative

Delisha I love the chicks

So can anyone tell me what the problem with this pic is?

:/ I should of named her trouble.......she spends her day hoping back & forth over the garden fence. Little snot thinks the tomatoes are better in the veggie garden. And apparently the dust bathing is better to :/ I left her in there just to see if she can get back over. She can but prefers it when you open the gate for her...........

3 rd dust bath in ashes tonight. Last night I didn't see any mites but the girls were still full of ashes from when I dusted them Thursday night. I also put a new roost in made of the tiger wood. Let's hope the mites are doa !!

LM- I finally remembered to measure the height inside the hoop coop. 5 ft 10 inches to the the DL so probably 6 ft without the DL

 

[SoManyHats]

I see this thread has over 22,000 posts. I know there's probably a lot of great information in there... But how to get through it all? My question is why BYC doesn't give this huge topic (natural chicken keeping) its own forum? Has anyone asked?

 

[aoxa]

I see this thread has over 22,000 posts. I know there's probably a lot of great information in there... But how to get through it all? My question is why BYC doesn't give this huge topic (natural chicken keeping) its own forum? Has anyone asked?

This idea has been brought up a lot, but hasn't really gone anywhere on BYC unfortunately.

You can search the thread for the info you are looking for.Up at the top there is a few buttons. One of them says: "Search this thread"

 

[SoManyHats]

This idea has been brought up a lot, but hasn't really gone anywhere on BYC unfortunately.

You can search the thread for the info you are looking for.Up at the top there is a few buttons. One of them says: "Search this thread"

I didn't know I could search a thread! That is helpful, thank you!

 

[armorfirelady]

So I am curious. Any suggestions on how long I should be forcibly dust bathing the hens in wood ashes?

Today makes a week since I saw them. They have been dusted 3 times and had Nustock on their legs twice (I ran out of Nustock but more ordered) With 2 pans of ashes available at all times so they could dust bath themselves.

I took out the DL & threw it away when I found them and sprayed all wood with neem oil. Then I took out all the wood except the frame holding the hoop coop together. There is now a roost made out of tiger wood that claims to be insect repellent.

They have had garlic at least 3 times, some other herbs that are natural insect repellent, yogurt & cayenne pepper in their FF. I gave them extra meat protein at least 4 times including liver in case they were becoming anemic from the mites. Tomorrow they will have chicken hearts & livers.

Initially I saw the mites on the black hens easiest. Red who went broody then started moulting is still pale. But she still has pin feathers coming in. The 2 other PRs are moulting and it seems Edie is as well. But everyone but red has bright red combs and wattles. If I got 2 eggs in one day this last week that was a lot.

I haven't seen mites on anyone since Thursday. Just ashes. I also noticed the scratching I used to see when they roosted is almost non existent. Only Stella scratched while I was just in the coop. The last week all would be scratching or preening when I went in. I never found mites near their vents. Always on their back or under their wings.

So do I let them be for a few days and see if mites are found again at night? Or keep dusting them every couple days for another week?