The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

After a nice week with temps up to the 60s woke up to snow on the ground. We are suppose to get storm that's coming from west coast on Sunday......hopefully it's after I get on the airplane & am in Florida

As you can see Stella thought perching on a frozen zucchini would keep her feet out of the snow. Never mind she has been walking in it all morning. She flew from here to near the coop door where I was giving out leftovers.

As for pop doors mine open/closes on its own. The girls decide if they want to come out or not. I have 3 tots who are chased from food. They wait till big girls have their full then help themselves

 

[armorfirelady]

Apparently my attempt at chicken talk to convince her to lay in the nesting box. Above her didn't faze Sophie. She was not impressed I was in coop. She growled and squaked away. Oh well at least she left me a nice dark egg.

Sally8 your tots are doing so good here. I'm enjoying them every day even their antics

I put shavings down in their run where water was sitting. Temps been 32 since I got up and all I could think of was aoxas Nora .......puddles are covered so no risk of frost bite. I'm not worried about the mud being a problem. Plus now they will have to use water bowl instead of drinking from dirty puddles. Yuck!!

 

[CoopChick719]

One of my NNs keeps jumping the dutch doors and laying her egg in the hallway on the concrete floor 

There's always one that's gotta be different!

I hate having to leave for work in the dark.  This morning I left the coop door shut - 30 below zero windchills and high is below zero too.  Then all the way to work I worried that I should have opened the coop door!  geesh.

LOL you sound like me!!! I worry about stuff like that too.

After a nice week with temps up to the 60s woke up to snow on the ground. We are suppose to get storm that's coming from west coast on Sunday......hopefully it's after I get on the airplane & am in Florida

Have fun in Florida!!

 

[aoxa]

I hate having to leave for work in the dark. This morning I left the coop door shut - 30 below zero windchills and high is below zero too. Then all the way to work I worried that I should have opened the coop door! geesh.

lucky girl! I've gotten a total of 3 pullet eggs from Princess, one of the sulmtalers - but there might be more that I haven't found. Sulmtaler thread people say the breed doesn't like to lay in nests!

I think it's a crested thing..(Silkies excluded).

My Polish hens NEVER laid an egg in a nest.

 

[delisha]

I have a few that love to lay on a hay bale and one loves a cardboard box. I just toss a cardboard box in one of my nest boxes for her. This time of year the eggs are all over since I gather so often and no eggs are left out for other hens to find and lay on top of. I added metal shelves and tipped the unit on its side to make nesting on the ground to help with the broody girls this winter. (the shelves were found on the side of the road). It was all dented up, but the girls don't care.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I wish I could do that in the morning but I leave for work before sunup. Could do it on the weekends, though.

On the slats width, I'd have to go out there and measure. If you make something from wood, you could experiment until you get it to a size that works and they could be adjusted as they grow as well. The width you need depends, of course, on the size of your specific kiddos.

I just happened to see these metal fence panels at Lowes last winter that looked like they would work. I picked up 2 of them to make a corner and they worked really well size-wise. My fenced dog kennel run was smaller at that time so just 2 worked well.

Couple weeks ago I got 2 more as I now have more room and added them on. I just use zip ties and remove them when I don't want them up anymore.










This is the smaller corner for last spring:

 

[TeaChick]

Wind chill tomorrow is supposed to be -20....they don't stay in the coop...when the door opens out they go. We'll see what happens tomorrow. If I was home (I leave for work @ 3:00AM) i would lock them in. I guess they have a choice.

Mine don't stay in by choice either. IDK why. I mean, it's not nearly that cold here, but if the door is open, they only go in there to lay and once in a while we'll see one walk in there and peck around, then walk out. They don't hang around in there by any means. lol
And if it's raining, it's impossible to get them to go in. lol They're all over the yard getting all the worms and bugs that are trying not to drown. lol

Yeah, IDK what I'd do if I left at that time. Mine are allowed out about 9-ish, when we're done letting the dogs run around. On shopping days they don't get out until somewhere between 10 and 12 though.

I'm just glad I can get them in there at night now. I had a time and a half with that!!!

 

[TeaChick]

We have a light on a timer for them. I am not sure they are molting though. They don't seem to have any feathers missing, and there are no feathers in the coop. Do they always molt in the winter?

Yours are too young to molt.
This not laying thing has been a thing this year for a lot of ppl. There was a thread about it and a bunch of ppl were complaining about it; not just newbs like me either, ppl who've been chicken-ing for 15 years or more have been saying that they're not getting half as many eggs as they should for the hens they have, even considering it's winter.

Just keep things healthy and consistent for them and they'll start laying.
What breed(s) do you have?
Some breeds lay better in the winter than others.

 

[TeaChick]

Scott, I like them to have a choice. They know where the coop is and will go in if they want.

Only thing I worry about is if some of them are mean and keep others out but I haven't heard you say you have any problems with that.

I have a problem with that. Sandy, the lightest (buff color) of my gold Comets, pecks Black Beauty (my black Jersey Giant) anytime she tries to do anything. Beauty got sick not long after she got here, but we've got her better, but she's not up to her full weight yet, but when she is..... I just wanna be there to watch when she shows Sandy who's at the top of the pecking order then!!! lol

 

[TeaChick]

I assume that the reduction in eggs could be compensated for by breed choice and by increasing one's laying flock before winter, then culling and hatching next winter's laying flock in the spring time.
I'm new, so is this correct? If not, please help me understand.