The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[jockeyeba]

New chick picks..coming up I have internal pips on my shipped eggs!! woo hoo finally............ lol...you can barely see them One black????????????? I don't have a black anything... My hen must have visited the neighbors roo..that hussy!

YAY!!!!!! :cd My hen must have visited the neighbors roo..that hussy!

Too cute

 

[jockeyeba]

Just for a smile....

 

[jockeyeba]

Busy day today so I have a LOT of catching up to do reading wise, but before reading through everything I wanted to share this! It finally came! Hooray! So as soon as the kids are back in school and my brain gets some rest, we'll be doing our first Nu-Stock give-away on the Blog! I'm keeping one tube for myself, and the rest will be given away - probably at the rate of one a month - to readers. :yiipchick

Can't wait!!!

 

[lalaland]

Silkie question from a neighbor - I haven't ever been lucky enough to have silkies, so I'm passing the question on to some of you who have silkies - can a silkie roo successfully mate with standard breed hens?

 

[Mumsy]

I have question please


How does the poop get through the tiny holes?

Good question. 1/4 inch should be just big enough for baby poops. Poults older than a couple weeks and I think it will be a problem. My only other option was 1/2 inch hardware cloth and I think that would cause foot problems for babies. I do have a wire brush to keep near and brush those stubborn stuck poopies away. Living on an island doesn't give me many options for sizes on mesh. The reason I used zip ties instead of cage clips was ease of removing and replacing if neccessry. I'm going to find out very soon after getting the poults and getting them on FF turkey starter if it will work.

 

[Bulldogma]

lalalands Silkie question reminded me I need to share a story from this morning.

As I posted yesterday, I have started to let the new Silkies out to free range. My 9-year-old daughter also has a bantam cochin that we bought as a pullet but he turned into a roo, and he is now mature. The Silkies are the first mature hens he has ever been around, and today, for the first time, our bantam roo got to mate with a real, live hen and not just a shoe (as he has tried in the past).

I witnessed the entire thing, and for a first timer, the kid did pretty good! He called the hen over, did his little drop-wing dance and she squatted for him. He took some of her fuzzy head feathers in his beak and mounted up and did what little roosters do. He completed his mission and got down...

...and spent the next 5 minutes trying to spit Silkie hair out of his beak!

He had his tongue working and even put his foot into his mouth to try to scrape the fuzzies from his tongue! I almost pulled a muscle laughing at him.

 

[lalaland]

lalalands Silkie question reminded me I need to share a story from this morning.


...and spent the next 5 minutes trying to spit Silkie hair out of his beak!

He had his tongue working and even put his foot into his mouth to try to scrape the fuzzies from his tongue! I almost pulled a muscle laughing at him.

lol, makes a great pic - I can just see it !

 

[aoxa]

Do any of you guys know of Grumpy Cat?


To refresh your memory...

Well you wouldn't believe the man my fiance ran across in the mall. She stopped and stared.. Grumpy cat? She watched him from afar while drinking her coffee. This man's expression never faltered.

So I bring you...


Grumpy Man.

I don't like shopping with my fiance, but I don't look THIS miserable.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Aoxa (Is that your real name? You have taught her well...she took that pic like a pro! Very funny

 

[aoxa]

Aoxa (Is that your real name? You have taught her well...she took that pic like a pro! Very funny

My real name is Justine

I know right? Very impressive