The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Sally8]

So lately Stella the BR has been hoping the compost pile wall to get in the veggie garden. She spends her day hopping between the two. Today she apparently decided to hop the fence to the yard & was wondering around the wood pile. Thank goodness the dogs were in when my Mom walked over to feed the girls

She had to fill the food container then give her a snack walk, snack, walk, etc to get her back in the veggie garden then into her area.

I plan on putting netting up tomorrow over the compost. I will see if that keeps her in but I am guessing she will just start jumping the metal fence to the veggie garden. She apparently thinks the ground cover in the veggie garden is much tastier than the grass and clover she has access to.

Anyone ever try clipping their birds feathers? Anyone have a link to it?

I think I should of named Stella.........Stinker

I'm way behind on my reading but we used to trim them early on and I still have 2 that get out and try to lay eggs in the bushes. Usually they quit flying/hopping over as they get older, but not always. The turkeys we always had to trim. Only clip 1. They can balance to fly with 2 trimmed wings. They need to be off balance. I noticed the next photo after your post shows how to do it. Should be easy for an EMT.

BTW - They grow back, quite quickly.

 

[Sally8]

The pee, or the growing? Both probably lol

After sitting for my twin 3 year old grand daughters since birth, I'd say it would be the incessant training. (Theirs, not mine. lol)

 

[aaggjg]

oh, I really hate to tell you this aaggjg, but.....the word organic doesn't mean what it used to. THe big food factory companies have had it changed. Now it can include so many things that you would assume aren't in "organic" foods. IMHO, you are better off trying to eat local, knowing your farmer/source of food, growing your own....the percentage of ingredients has really changed in the federal rules. This happened about 5-8 years ago, and they don't even have to list everything. I used to manage natural food coops, and so I am not just speculating here.

Cornicopia Institute is an interesting watchdog group on this topic.

I know it is so disheartening .....

 

[ki4got]

Quote: well, when fermenting feed, does it NEED to breathe or can it be sealed?

 

[PetRock]

I got the scoop from Amazon - here it is (it has a plastic grip on the handle, but at least that doesn't touch the food!):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BGBKXVS/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LM, I kept meaning to ask you to post about your waterer, ever since you mentioned it! I just kept forgetting when I was at the computer, remembering when I was at the coop! I just have a glass bowl out, and this morning it had about 1/16" of ice on the top.

I'm not emotionally prepared for winter yet!

Quote:

I got the jar on the advice from Leah's Mom, and it was about $10 at Walmart. I have to warn you, though, that the lid doesn't seal like smaller jars that look like this. It's just glass sitting on glass. That said, I think it does a great job of keeping the odor down anyway! My DH (I actually call him my AH - not what you think! - for Awesome Husband) is very sensitive to smells and complains about them a lot, and although he wasn't happy about the idea of me fermenting food on our kitchen counter, he hasn't said anything about the smell. He just thinks it looks gross. I'll probably have to move it if we ever have company over that aren't friends we know well (luckily that's pretty much never!).

I did see this jar on Amazon (cost more, plus shipping!), and in the reviews, someone said she smeared some silicone caulk around the top where it rests on the jar. That was to prevent the glass lid from resting directly on glass (she was afraid it would chip?), but it might help seal in odors too. I didn't do it, though. So far, so good.

Thank you for the link for the scoop! I bought my jar at Target and it was in the $10-12 range. Target is closer to my house than Walmart so I figured that I saved the difference in gas. I took a break from fermented feed when the weather was so hot here in CA and used the jar to make sauerkraut.

 

[Jewelwing]

well, when fermenting feed, does it NEED to breathe or can it be sealed?

Yeah, good question to ask. I'm gonna refer that one to Leahs Mom. I think it depends what kind of fermenting you're trying to do. Also, even if it's "sealed," you still open it up to stir it, scoop some out, put more in, etc.

But she can answer much better than I can.

 

[Leahs Mom]

well, when fermenting feed, does it NEED to breathe or can it be sealed?

Karen - go read the articles on ff on the blog. If you're doing lacto-fermenting you want it to be as air tight as possible. I'll send you a link.

 

[Leahs Mom]

CR - I am working on a post about the glass waterer. Should have it soon. Just have to get my photos together.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I looked at scoops like that but I realized that because I use powders in mine (nutribalancer mineral mix and fish meal) I prefer not to have such large gaps in mine. If I didn't mix the powders in and just added them later when feeding (like rr does) that would work okay for me.

Nice looking scoop!

 

[Jewelwing]

Thank you for the link for the scoop! I bought my jar at Target and it was in the $10-12 range. Target is closer to my house than Walmart so I figured that I saved the difference in gas. I took a break from fermented feed when the weather was so hot here in CA and used the jar to make sauerkraut.

I like Target better than Walmart, but have an hour drive to get to the closest one!

Where in the Bay Area do you live? I went to Los Gatos High (lived in the Santa Cruz Mtns), lived in Berkeley for a while after college, then lived in Davis for 8 years.