The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Is your electronet turned on? If so, do a test and see what watts you're getting. I'd say that snow would ground it out and take down your wattage...and put a drain on your battery.

 

[armorfirelady]

Yup its on. But it's plugged in. I will have to find the tester and see what it reads. It's suppose to be in the 60s by the weekend.

My battery for pop door I think is drained. The sun is shining now and my friend stopped and scrapped the solar panel off so hopefully it charges up the battery some.

 

[Jewelwing]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MargaretYakoda

Wing clipping question:

I am considering clipping the wings of our girls. I'd leave the roo with full wings, since he tends to stick by them pretty close. I want to clip their wings because every girl now regularly flys over our fence. Our five foot chain link fence.

My partner is concerned because he believes that having unclipped wings will help the girls escape predators. I think the girls are getting themselves into more and greater possible danger by letting themselves out of the pasture whenever they please. Worse, even, they are getting very close to the road.

Our house is only about 15 feet away from a relatively busy road. Most of the area we have hoped our girls would free range on is our back yard, which is about an acre of blackberry berry brambles and apple and walnut trees, which borders on to a city park. But no. They prefer the small strip of front yard, under the medlars.... sigh...

Anyhow, I would like to clip the wings, and then maybe put up a short plastic net fence to keep the girls away from the road.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

This clip will show you how

I get it - this "clip" will show you how!

My mom loves beef liver, and would sneak it into dishes and we never noticed... She made a goulash with liver and we ate it without noticing, but alone? nope.. I do not like liver..

I don't care for chicken liver (my mom loves both chicken & beef liver) and I've never tried deer liver, but I LOVE beef liver if it's cooked right. To do that, you really need schmaltz (chicken fat rendered with onions - here's how: http://www.sadiesalome.com/recipes/schmaltz.html). You fry the liver (cut thin) in the schmaltz, but you have to be sure not to overcook it. I fry it over high heat so the outside gets a little crispy but the inside is not too far from raw. When it's cooked too much, it gets dry and pasty and that horrible consistency that no one likes.

It's fantastic just like that, with salt, of course, but it's also super delicious with onions (also fried in schmaltz).

Also (and it sounds really gross when I write it out), the blood from the liver is yummy too when it's fried like this. You pour it in the pan after the schmaltz is melted and cook it like an omelet or a crepe. That used to be my favorite part when I was a kid. Fried liver juice. Mmmmm.

My husband refuses to eat liver because of its function in the body. Seems like that's where all the toxins would be concentrated. So I don't make it very often (only a few times in a decade), and I'm sure my kids can't even remember eating it before.

Speaking of "gross" things to eat, beef tongue is also really good, boiled with spices the way my mom does it (I don't have the recipe), then sliced, salted, and eaten on a sandwich with mayonnaise! It's another one my husband won't eat.

 

[Jewelwing]

Quote:

Super secret recipe for everything.... Garlic and butter. Done.

And then salt it!!!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Quote:

And then salt it!!!

Salt!

 

[aaggjg]

Ok just wondering if anyone has BCMs? Sophie is 29 weeks and no eggs yet. This week I noticed her comb has finally reddened up. She has also seemed to double in size. Anyone have any thoughts?

I am thinking it has to be soon?

And for those who have no white stuff.......but electro netting is still up !!

Girls are not impressed. Only went out when I took some scratch out for them. I think if Stella poofs out anymore she will look like a blowfish

she was quite vocal when I took a couple pics. Her breath puffing out its so cold. Maybe she was telling me she was not impressed I am in the house with the woodstove

She looks great!!! I'd say soonish.... I'm trying to remember when my BCM started laying but am totally blanking! When I am waiting for my hens to start laying I always remind myself the later they start the better it is for them!!!

 

[armorfirelady]

Yes I know later is better. My PRs were born in May & didn't lay till December last year lol so I am used to waiting. Can't wait to see how dark her egg is.

On a good note girls finally did venture outside. I had taken snow off some of the leaves in the compost and they are happily spreading them out in the yard again. I forgive them because they are at least outside

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Wow! Lot of posts in the last day!

 

[Jewelwing]

Well, the chickens are alive after the cold night last night. We got a dusting of snow, though, and they are not happy. They didn't want to come out of the coop, even for breakfast! A few of them ventured out, but then went back in. Their left-over ff from yesterday was frozen solid, as was their water dish. So I scraped out the ff onto the leaves in the run as best I could, then put more in and put one of the two containers in the coop (usually I have them outside under the coop deck).

They eventually came out, and now are happily foraging in the weeds near their house. I've spent the day so far attaching 1" rigid foam insulation to the thin OSB panels I used to cover up the windows that have been covered for the winter. Also the big (2' x 5') window in the door, since glass isn't a very good insulator! They already have fiberglass insulation in the walls, and I'm working on putting about 5" of dirt on the roof, but I'm not there yet (that's a lot of buckets of dirt to haul up a ladder).

I was worried about them last night, seeing how cold it was supposed to get with wind chill (it ended up only getting down to 28 F, but with winds gusting up to 35mph). I hope they don't have too much wind inside the coop. I've covered up most of the windows, so I hope they have enough ventilation! It's a 6'x6'x6' coop for 9 chickens, and they now have 4 square feet of ventilation, all near the top of the coop (2 sq.ft. on the front wall & 2 on the back wall). But the ADOR1 has all those holes on the side for the gear to catch, and it's right under their roost. So I worry about it being drafty on them as they roost, but I don't know what to do about that except block off the pop door hole every night after they're tucked in and remove it every morning. But then, what's the point of having an automatic door?

In the summer they have way more ventilation! Then they have 24 sq ft then. Is 4 sq ft enough for winter in that size coop with nine birds? I use the deep litter method.

I also can't decide if I should have their ff and water inside the coop or outside. It seems like it would add humidity inside, but freeze faster outside. Thoughts?

 

[armorfirelady]

Chaos here is my coop. We had strong winds and almost 6 inches of snow, this pic was taken this morning. The bottom on each side of the door is open to air. The top halves are covered but still gets ventilation since they are not tight. The right side has about 6 inches open at the bottom the length of the coop. The back side (south) has a plexiglass window and the pop door is below it. The rest is covered in canvas but the bottom half is not tight so still ventilation but keep the breeze out. The left side is covered with canvas as well. But again bottom half is not tight. (I roll them up for summer) in the 2 sides about 8 inches up is 2 vents about 3x6 inches for ventilation. They are lower than the roost.

It was in the low 20s last night with freezing rain, high winds and snow. This morning the water and ff which are outside were frozen. I just dumped them and refilled the water. My guys didn't want to come out either but they finally got hungry enough to come out. I am going to keep the water & food outside as long as I can.

A little snow did blow in a corner but the rest of the DL was dry. As long as there are no drafts ventilation is good. We normally are in the 20s most all days during the winter and last year their roost was in front of an end that was only covered on the top half. The bottom was left open. No frozen feet or frostbite roosting right in front of it. It's the humidity in a coop that causes frost bite not the cold I learned last year they wouldn't freeze. When u check on them at night after they are roosted put your fingers in their feathers and on their feet. Bet they are warmer than you are

Eta: their roost is right next to the plexiglass window. They are usually fighting on who gets to roost next to it it's not air tight since its canvas siding with duct tape to hold it to the plexiglass.