The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[RedRidge]

Quote: This is the one I have.... this company sells hand grinders also...
http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=61324&criteria=hammermill

 

[aoxa]

oh, I am seriously in love with your coop. The porch overhang! and it looks rodent tight! I like how you have the chicken ramp coming up through the porch deck. And the color! I don't think I've seen metal siding in that color, did you paint it?

x2! Such the cute coop! Love the little chairs!

 

[Sally8]

I raise and show Orpingtons..that is a really nice chicken that represents a buff Orpington. A buff Orpington is all one solid gold color. Males can take 18 months to fully mature and tails and hackle feathers usually come in at 16 weeks when they start to sexually mature.

Your Buff Orpingtons are so beautiful! I wouldn't mind seeing other pic's of them time to time.

Wouldn't mind seeing other pic's of them sometime.


Worms...so the big question was:

Do birds get an overload because they are in a weakened condition ... OR... Do they get into a weakened condition from having an overload of worms?

I'm also curious with that comment. I think I'd disagree with the thought of culling a bird with worms. My opinion is that I don't see it as a viral or bacterial problem. My chickens have been known to eat all kind of rodents. Crows, Doves, all kinds of birds eve a snake, have been seen in the run eating. All could have worms as well. I don't like the idea of giving them meds for anything and other than 1 worming years ago, never have. (My dog attacked Sizzle doesn't count) I'm just saying that I wouldn't cull for a worm overload. (My chickens are only valuable to me, not to the $ world.)

The Composite Wood still isn't perfect. Not sure how this happened. We've had the porch for about 5 years. It will be easy enough to fix, just costly for a 3 foot piece.

 

[armorfirelady]

This is the one I have.... this company sells hand grinders also...
http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=61324&criteria=hammermill

Thank you

 

[armorfirelady]

Did someone ask me about price of commercial layer vs whole grains?

 

[ki4got]

I'd love to use composite board as posts for our garden fence, but it's sooo expensive! We just built our house (well, we're still finishing it off on the inside!), and we had some leftover Trex from the deck (we were thrilled when the contractor who did the shell package said he'd use Trex - after giving us the quote we'd already accepted!). I used those leftover planks to build the deck and stairs for the coop:

that is one of the cutest coops I've seen in a while. LOL

 

[aaggjg]

I hear my hawks every morning. I'm only out with the girls I the morning during the week.... So who knows maybe they come back at other hours.
So they must have a schedule.... The girls kept growling and freezing this morning and I looked & looked and nothing. Well a large hawk flew in and perchedon a power line running across the neighbors yard. He/She was very pretty... Red chest, dark bands on wings .... Red Tail hawk!??? I'm going to have to look it up.
I think my local hawks have put eat morning coffee yard playtime on their schedules. Right after the hawk flew away a crow returned.... Still no sign of the squirrels this morning. They're not stupid

Delish, I "soaked" nuggets eye. She is a feisty little one. You'd think I was torturing her! I don't see anything around her eye. No visible cut or scrape. Soaking consisted of wiping the eye & surrounding area and trying to hold the cloth over her eye.... i was not very successful with that part.... Poor thing has NO feathers on her belly and seriously lost a good 50 while I was trying to soak her eye!! She feels like a porcupine! I'll post her pathetic picture from this morning when I get to the office.

 

[aoxa]

I hear my hawks every morning. I'm only out with the girls I the morning during the week.... So who knows maybe they come back at other hours.
So they must have a schedule.... The girls kept growling and freezing this morning and I looked & looked and nothing. Well a large hawk flew in and perchedon a power line running across the neighbors yard. He/She was very pretty... Red chest, dark bands on wings .... Red Tail hawk!??? I'm going to have to look it up.
I think my local hawks have put eat morning coffee yard playtime on their schedules. Right after the hawk flew away a crow returned.... Still no sign of the squirrels this morning. They're not stupid

Delish, I "soaked" nuggets eye. She is a feisty little one. You'd think I was torturing her! I don't see anything around her eye. No visible cut or scrape. Soaking consisted of wiping the eye & surrounding area and trying to hold the cloth over her eye.... i was not very successful with that part.... Poor thing has NO feathers on her belly and seriously lost a good 50 while I was trying to soak her eye!! She feels like a porcupine! I'll post her pathetic picture from this morning when I get to the office.

She is a cutie patootie. I like her a lot

 

[ki4got]

just a quickie update on the new little girl who wasn't doing so well at first...

I weighed her when I got her, she weighed approximately 7 ounces (hard to stand still on the scale) at between 12 and 16 weeks old... I started feeding FF a week ago, and weighed her this morning. she's up to a whopping 12 ounces now! and they're cleaning the dish out big time. way more than 1/2 cup per bird I saw someone else mention, but I don't care. LOL she's eating and gaining.

(munch munch munch)

still gaping occasionally but much improved since i got her... I'll dose her again for the gape worm tonight (2nd dose of ivermectin tonight should hopefully get the rest).

 

[Leahs Mom]

K - mine ate WAY MORE the first month on ff. Then they cut back. Making up for lost time I think! What did you use for gape worm?



In worm news -
I have a quote I want to share later on the big question from one of my chicken manuals. Just don't have time to type it out right now.