The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Than

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas. My Mom knew how much I missed my George so she got me a Roo that I could have The light inside is on a timer. And he is very quiet

He is beautiful!

Thanks he goes well with my other rooster I got from friends. They said they searched for awhile to find it, I decided it was to cute to pack with the Christmas ornaments so it's hanging on the mantle

 

[Pozees]

Than
Thanks he goes well with my other rooster I got from friends. They said they searched for awhile to find it, I decided it was to cute to pack with the Christmas ornaments so it's hanging on the mantle

Awww!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Finally got some photos of the 2 waterers.

I was originally using this outside in the kiddo's safe place but when it got really cold out, I quit putting them out except for the last hour or so of the day. The adults were intimidating them and they wouldn't come in the hen house and it was just too cold. So...I brought it in for them.

This is a 1 quart heated dog bowl. Did various things to make it work with the jar feeder but ended up using Scott's idea. The blue heated bowl is filled with grit for a base for the jar waterer to sit on top of. The bowl with the grit is then filled with water and the jar waterer on the grit that's filled w water. The water conducts the heat to the jar waterer and keeps it thawed.

That is a 5 lb. honey jar instead of a quart jar. Holds quite a bit more than a quart. Working well...you might try this AFL with your quart heated bowl. My adults drink from it too and those bases are only about $1.99 each.

The kiddos are now 16 weeks old.





And here's the glass waterer on the heat bases taken from the larger dog bowl waterers. I put some red electrical tape on the outside of the glass bowl so they could more easily see that it was a water bowl.





You can see how the 2 bricks are spaced apart under it so that the cord and some ridge thingies can sit down in the gap under it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I use leaves we raked up in the fall for the run, and pine chips in the coop for my deep litter. I didn't really want to use the pine chips in the nest boxes because I don't know what chemicals might have been used on them - I just buy them at Rural King. Of course, I don't know what's been used on the brown paper either. I guess I was hoping that by using different material in the nest boxes than I use for the deep litter that I would help the chickens figure out that the nest boxes are different than the coop floor. Obviously that isn't working as planned....

My girls LOVE grass clippings in the nest boxes. I rake some up in the summer and store in garbage bags. They love making nests in it. I just refresh it with more from time to time. Maybe next summer you could save some up.







In the broody box too.

 

[delisha]

Finally got some photos of the 2 waterers.

I was originally using this outside in the kiddo's safe place but when it got really cold out, I quit putting them out except for the last hour or so of the day. The adults were intimidating them and they wouldn't come in the hen house and it was just too cold. So...I brought it in for them.

This is a 1 quart heated dog bowl. Did various things to make it work with the jar feeder but ended up using Scott's idea. The blue heated bowl is filled with grit for a base for the jar waterer to sit on top of. The bowl with the grit is then filled with water and the jar waterer on the grit that's filled w water. The water conducts the heat to the jar waterer and keeps it thawed.

That is a 5 lb. honey jar instead of a quart jar. Holds quite a bit more than a quart. Working well...you might try this AFL with your quart heated bowl. My adults drink from it too and those bases are only about $1.99 each.

The kiddos are now 16 weeks old.


x


And here's the glass waterer on the heat bases taken from the larger dog bowl waterers. I put some red electrical tape on the outside of the glass bowl so they could more easily see that it was a water bowl.
x

x


You can see how the 2 bricks are spaced apart under it so that the cord and some ridge thingies can sit down in the gap under it.
x

Nice!!



as far as seeing who is laying..vent color will let you know also. A laying hen has a pinker wetter looking vent in most cases. Young pullets are yellow and pale and tiny.(depending on skin color)

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: Since they are new to laying it will be a compare kind of thing. But a non laying pullet having never laid an egg should have a dry closed vent while a laying hen should have a moist more open looking vent.

I remember lots of pictures from books at the library but here is a more than detailed study available online too.
afspoultry.ca.uky.edu/files/pubs/Evaluating_egg_laying_hens.pdf‎

 

[delisha]

Quote: BCM? are they pipping?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Hmmm. Interesting. I'm using plain brown paper (that comes as packing material in boxes - I order a lot of stuff online!), so ink's not an issue. I never thought about it sticking to the eggs.

I use leaves we raked up in the fall for the run, and pine chips in the coop for my deep litter. I didn't really want to use the pine chips in the nest boxes because I don't know what chemicals might have been used on them - I just buy them at Rural King. Of course, I don't know what's been used on the brown paper either. I guess I was hoping that by using different material in the nest boxes than I use for the deep litter that I would help the chickens figure out that the nest boxes are different than the coop floor. Obviously that isn't working as planned....

We use shavings and leaves and stuff for bedding, and hay in the nesting boxes. We tried shavings in the nesting boxes, but the hay works a lot better in our opinion ... our girls are vigorous scratchers, so just kick the shavings out of the boxes, which might be because the boxes are pretty big so they *can* scratch around in them.

 

[Leahs Mom]

No...those were from a year ago and NOT ONE HATCHED. Shipped eggs under a broody... I think setting shipped eggs upright in an incubator have a better chance of hatching.

 

[delisha]

Quote: No...those were from a year ago and NOT ONE HATCHED. Shipped eggs under a broody... I think setting shipped eggs upright in an incubator have a better chance of hatching.
BCM's are hard to hatch in an incubator..You need to remove a layer of dark color in strips on them..I will be hatching some this spring under a broody..eventually..I have so many broodys yearly I do not think i will have a problem..i wish I did..I have another bird gone broody..I think someone forgot to tell them it was winter and not a good time to raise baby's. I have two raising chicks and two broody..sheesh