The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Have they jumped up there to use the nest boxes yet? I am thinking of either moving or adding a box or 2 and wondered if it causes havoc when the box is moved. You know how these kiddos are such creatures of habit.

Stella was in the nesting boxes bright & early this morning. And someone else laid later in the afternoon. So I guess the new shelf for the nesting boxes get 8 tails up

 

[CoopChick719]

PS: Don't ever google "female fire fighter".

Don't ever misspell weather while googling either!

Don't look for whitehouse.com either! It's whitehouse.gov. My Mum & Dad made that mistake once.

I hope you get rid of your mites. I don't want to use chemicals so I used the neem oil and wood ash and Nustock. So far so good. Checked last night and no mites. 8 more days to go to see if any of their eggs hatch

Thank you AFL! I hope you are rid of your mites too!! I lost another bird tonight, one of my Red Stars. Found her dead under the nesting boxes.

I'm not sure if it's the mites or if it's worms.

Oh...and Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians

X 2!! As I sat at work today, I looked at my calendar and thought "Dang, I'd be eating turkey right now if I lived in Canada!"

LM--How do you get those cute little emoticons? I tried using them one time on here but no picture came up just the link for the picture.

 

[mlowen]

Does anybody on this thread have Leghorns in your flock? I just have 5 birds, but there are significant differences in their behavior as well as body type between them & the dual purpose birds. Maybe it's due to their laying already, while their "sisters" are not, yet. But the Barred Rocks and Wyandotte seem to be [how shall I put this?] not too B-R-I-G-H-T. They are mostly interested in vegetables--grass, leaves of plants, seeds--and a lot of what looks to be dirt & rocks! The Leghorns are hunting! They want meat. They dig furiously and constantly for worms & bugs. They are first to come running when I walk anywhere near them. They jump up to look out the window as I unlock the coop door. They are almost frantic, if I bring them some ground beef or liver. The others will certainly eat meat, are VERY interested, but nothing like the Leghorns. Do you think it's the breed or the fact that they are producing eggs and need the extra more than the other girls?
Just so y'all won't wonder: I am feeding them all enough (maybe too much.) They get fermented feed each morning and they have dry feed in a hanging feeder all the time. They get some scratch & boss (to encourage turning the deep litter.) And veggie & meat scraps.

 

[camilleathome]

I'm so stoked! I ordered a dehydrator and it should get shipped out today!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Oh...and Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians

I get most of mine at this place: http://www.sherv.net/doctor-emoticon-1297.html

For this forum, you can right click them, choose "copy image", then paste over here. For some other forums you have to use the urls.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm so stoked! I ordered a dehydrator and it should get shipped out today!

Did you get an excalibur?

 

[camilleathome]

Did you get an excalibur?

No I couldnt affoard the nine tray which I really wanted so I got a nesco(That has just as good ratings but its round) its a kit with six trays, six mesh and six fruit rollup trays plus a book and two jerkey spice packets!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I have an old Nesco that I'm using (got it free as a "hand-me-down".) In the US you can get extra trays and assessories at the regular stores like Walmart, Meijer, etc. which is nice if you want something quick.

When they come out w/the ss interior excalibur I would like to own one of those but they ARE PRICY! Thing I like about them is that you can remove all the trays and use them for other things like keeping yogurt at a constant temperature while it's culturing, raising bread dough, etc. Also supposed to be a better air circulation...and the adjustable shelf heights lets you put larger items in. Plus the larger size, of course.

But if size is the only motivation, you could get several nescos for the price of the excalibur!

 

[delisha]

Does anybody on this thread have Leghorns in your flock? I just have 5 birds, but there are significant differences in their behavior as well as body type between them & the dual purpose birds. Maybe it's due to their laying already, while their "sisters" are not, yet. But the Barred Rocks and Wyandotte seem to be [how shall I put this?] not too B-R-I-G-H-T. They are mostly interested in vegetables--grass, leaves of plants, seeds--and a lot of what looks to be dirt & rocks! The Leghorns are hunting! They want meat. They dig furiously and constantly for worms & bugs. They are first to come running when I walk anywhere near them. They jump up to look out the window as I unlock the coop door. They are almost frantic, if I bring them some ground beef or liver. The others will certainly eat meat, are VERY interested, but nothing like the Leghorns. Do you think it's the breed or the fact that they are producing eggs and need the extra more than the other girls?
Just so y'all won't wonder: I am feeding them all enough (maybe too much.) They get fermented feed each morning and they have dry feed in a hanging feeder all the time. They get some scratch & boss (to encourage turning the deep litter.) And veggie & meat scraps.

It is the breed. Leghorns are hunting machines, and I love them. There are many breeds that hunt all day long and prefer to forage. The others are not hunting because you do over feed. They will all hunt hard if they are hungry. Half of the breeds do what ever is easier. If there is a food dish, they take that option. A hungry bird is an efficient bird. Feed at night for a while and see how they do, before winter sets in.

 

[camilleathome]

I have an old Nesco that I'm using (got it free as a "hand-me-down".) In the US you can get extra trays and assessories at the regular stores like Walmart, Meijer, etc. which is nice if you want something quick.

When they come out w/the ss interior excalibur I would like to own one of those but they ARE PRICY! Thing I like about them is that you can remove all the trays and use them for other things like keeping yogurt at a constant temperature while it's culturing, raising bread dough, etc. Also supposed to be a better air circulation...and the adjustable shelf heights lets you put larger items in. Plus the larger size, of course.

But if size is the only motivation, you could get several nescos for the price of the excalibur!

Deffinetly. I will most likely get one eventually but for now the nesco will do a great job!