The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Lala - we somehow need to get you some Swedes.

(Little Gray is a full SFH. The others are mixed w/a SFH daddy.)

 

[Nickeyo]

Ok here are some pics of my pullet getting some natural exercise

 

[lalaland]

Lala - we somehow need to get you some Swedes.

(Little Gray is a full SFH. The others are mixed w/a SFH daddy.)

oh I definitely agree! I was so sorry when my promised 4 sfh chicks turned out to be anything but.

 

[delisha]

Nice pictures everyone!!

 

[lalaland]

Ok here are some pics of my pullet getting some natural exercise

Don't you love it when they all decide to go airborne and are just skimming the air above the ground? amazing you could get a pic of it.

 

[aoxa]

Two more sexing side by side tips for you guys.

Sexing crested breeds such as Houdans and Polish can be done later on by their crests if you can not yet see the cockerel's pointy saddle/hackle feathers. By 12 weeks old the crest is noticeably different between the two sexes. Cockerels look like rock stars and pullets have a round afro.


Silkie sexing.. One of the hardest breeds to sex. Especially for those new to the breed. The roosters aren't always clear and sexing tips I have given you previously won't always apply. Often times males have very tiny combs. Not much larger than a pullet. Their hackles and saddles are longer - but not always obvious to someone buying a Silkie for the first time.

The biggest give away that you have a cock bird is by their crest.. Males have whisps of feathers coming out of their top knot (this is known as 'streamers'). I find the males look like they have mullets - business in the front, party in the back.

 

[armorfirelady]

Loving al the pics. My girls yesterday were doing the flying thing as well. My favorite is when they have their wings out and zoom around the yard. Tots were doing it for awhile and the Edie & Sophie would chest butt. Made me laugh to watch their antics

The Ping pong balls in the waterer didn't stop it from freezing. I am going to try them in one of those black rubber bowls and see if they will keep it unfrozen. Girls were complaining about the cold till they realized I had left over pasta and green beans. Suns shining so we should defrost soon

 

[aaggjg]

Walking this evening and heard a cooper's hawk. I've been learning my hawk calls by using the web site that has recordings of the calls. I keep going back to it and listening so that I can id them if I hear them. This morning I let everyone out of jail and stayed out about 1 hour so that I could keep an eye on things then called them back in. Later in the afternoon I was going to let them out again but when I came out "mamma's" head shot up, she began growling and ran into the coop. Everyone followed. There were no birds to be heard; no squirrels. Nothing. So I assumed there must be a hawk nearby but didn't see anything. I turned around to go back to the house and across the road - a very long ways off - was a hawk perched on one of the light poles. Not at the side of the road but about a quarter mile back away from the road. Amazing that the kiddos either saw it or heard it but they went right inside. It was a long way off but I walked way up front and zoomed in. Soon as it saw me pointing at it it flew away.

LM isn't it amazing?? My girls did the same thing yesterday... They growled and froze. I searched and searched the trees saw nothing but I had heard the hawks earlier in the morning..... Then out of nowhere a very large hawk with a cream belly flew over my yard. They girls always know way before me!! Funny they don't freeze and growl at hawk calls but they know when they're getting too close for comfort!!

 

[ki4got]

Quote: LOL most of mine are more capable of flapping for all their worth and running as fast as their legs will go. flight? that happens only from a higher altitude and goes down quick. but they are capable of amazing jumps of 6-7 feet straight up. go figure. (the Dorkings that is - the cochins don't jump or fly worth a hoot and the blrw tend to fly as well as rocks float too)

 

[lazy gardener]

When I was a kid, I had a bantam rooster that I would repeatedly throw out my second story bedroom window. He and I both thought it was great fun!