The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

ok, if you haven't seen this, and you like dogs or chickens, or both, LOOK!

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/v...oberman-versus-chickens.brian-blanchette.html

 

[ki4got]

My husband pulled this lil guy out of the bushes tonight after my lil dog cornered it. I was going to bring the dog in for bed but she was in hunt mode over this opossum. Didnt want to shoot at 10:30 at night so its caged in the back of the pickup and my lil dog decided to stay out all night to babysit it. Glad it was in the bushes and not the hen house! I'm pretty sure it was after my daughters luonhead bunny that I had caged on the porch after cleaning its big cage today.

DEATH TO POSSUMS!!!

ok at least the ones that come around bothering my chickens. and the ones that stand in the road challenging the car as we're bearing down on it at 55mph... Darwin never said survival of the stupid...

 

[ki4got]

ok, if you haven't seen this, and you like dogs or chickens, or both, LOOK!

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/v...oberman-versus-chickens.brian-blanchette.html

yeah my cat was trying to fend them off this morning so he could eat breakfast. LOL

but all the girls together outweigh him. LOL heck, all together they outweigh me probably!

 

[aaggjg]

So nugget came out of the coop about an hour after the other girls..... She stayed out maybe 10 mins and is now nestled in a nest box hiding from the world.

Meanwhile, 3 crows just escorted a hawk over my property.... Cream colored belly. Love my crows!!!

 

[iwanaplae2]

Ok so I have a few questions about making up my own feed mixes. (I know the answers are somewhere in this thread but I don't have time to search through it) I've been researching "recipes" and found a corn/soy free recipe I like. Which was really hard to do btw... Now I do not have the time or energy to do FF or sprouted feed. But would really like to do all the seeds and grains. For now, because of cost, I'm only looking to supplement their current commercial feed. Here are my questions:
1. I have five girls, how much grain mix should I expect to feed them a day?
2. A lot of the recipes call for adding kelp. If I'm supplying fresh produce, is this necessary?
3. Pros/cons of brewers yeast?
On a side note I'll be buying my ingredients from my local grocery bulk foods department. (I've already priced them out. Prices not to bad). Our only feed store in town does do custom feed mixes, but on a way larger scale than I need or can afford.
Here's what I'm planning on mixing:
Oat Frosts
Black oil sunflower seeds
Hard red wheat berries
Structural berries
Rye berries
Millet
Sedans seeds
Flax seeds
Brewers yeast (?)
Kelp (?)

 

[lazy gardener]

RE: Husband vs. Wife turf wars where hubby loves his lawn mower just a little bit too much: my hubby has a nick name. I call him Mr. Mows it all! He just loves to mow the lawn. Has also mowed rhubarb, zucchini, tomatoes, and high bush blueberries, and once tried to mow down a cherry tree.

It's a successful wife who can plant the seed of an idea in her husband's mind, and carefully nurture it, until he comes up with the "original idea" all by himself! Otherwise, much valuable couple time is wasted argueing!

 

[ki4got]

RE: Husband vs. Wife turf wars where hubby loves his lawn mower just a little bit too much: my hubby has a nick name. I call him Mr. Mows it all! He just loves to mow the lawn. Has also mowed rhubarb, zucchini, tomatoes, and high bush blueberries, and once tried to mow down a cherry tree.

It's a successful wife who can plant the seed of an idea in her husband's mind, and carefully nurture it, until he comes up with the "original idea" all by himself! Otherwise, much valuable couple time is wasted argueing!

rofl wish I had something worth mowing... what grass we had is long gone between my 'free range' horses and chickens. plus anything edible that I tried to cultivate... like strawberries, most garden flowers etc.

tho it would be nice if he decided to bushhog some stuff... we've got LOTS of pokeberries, burdock and other nuisance burr/weeds that nobody will eat.

 

[Leahs Mom]

tho it would be nice if he decided to bushhog some stuff... we've got LOTS of pokeberries, burdock and other nuisance burr/weeds that nobody will eat.

Goat.

Then you wouldn't have a thing left. It would be like a desert.

 

[iwanaplae2]

Ok seriously...sigh... Hubby (new to the actual caring part of chickens) is now arguing with me over what we can and cannot feed the girls. I've been studying the BYC since March of this year. He's only JUST started researching other websites. Like this one: http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html#A
Now a lot of what is listed under "toxic" I've read numerous occasions that people on here feed all the time! Things like cabbage, garlic (not that I would), chard... Now I have feed the girls cabbage,tomatoes,and chard, and they love it! I've not seen any ill effects what-so-ever. And they eat clover out of the yard all the time.
Opinions...anyone?

 

[ki4got]

Quote: ROFL that image is just WRONG! like a goat crossed with piranha...