The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[suncatcher]

[quote na
me="Leahs Mom" url="/t/729605/the-natural-chicken-keeping-thread-ots-welcome/25900#post_12582598"]Be sure to chime right in!  It might take you a long time to catch up
[/quote]

LOL, I was just thinking the same thing! I am on page ten, and plan to read the entire thread, might not hear from me for awhile!

 

[Leahs Mom]

[quote na
me="Leahs Mom" url="/t/729605/the-natural-chicken-keeping-thread-ots-welcome/25900#post_12582598"]Be sure to chime right in! It might take you a long time to catch up

LOL, I was just thinking the same thing! I am on page ten, and plan to read the entire thread, might not hear from me for awhile!

[/QUOTE]

We can't wait THAT long!

You'll have to let us know about yourself, your chickens, etc.!

 

[delisha]

I think it was mentioned before, but what are some good ways to use the chicken bones after roasting the chicken?

You can make soup with the bones.dry them out by baking...than grind the bones up into a powder and add to feed..

Quote:
AFL - when you give them a turkey carcass, do you have any concerns that they might get a small piece of bone or something that would get stuck in the crop or hurt them in any way? I still haven't been so bold to give them a cooked carcass for fear of bone splintering or some such thing.
I am pretty careful with cooked chicken bones..I worry about the dogs. All other bones I am not too worried.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote:
AFL - when you give them a turkey carcass, do you have any concerns that they might get a small piece of bone or something that would get stuck in the crop or hurt them in any way? I still haven't been so bold to give them a cooked carcass for fear of bone splintering or some such thing.
Nope never thought of that. So far no casualties on little bones. But I do know they pick every bone clean. The carcass is pretty intact when I give it to them. But my Mom has taken individual bones in a bag over and dumped it without a problem. I also give them leftover chicken wing bones & no problems.

If anyone had a problem it would be Stella. She eats so fast and then sneezes out a squeak and food comes out of her beak. I would of thought she would learn to eat slower by now lol She does it with FF, yogurt, etc. But not every feeding thank goodness. Perhaps she is learning to chew her food now

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I have made the broth, how long and how hot should I bake the bones. Is a standard food processor good enough to grind?

 

[TeaChick]

We can't wait THAT long!

You'll have to let us know about yourself, your chickens, etc.!

This.

LOL, I was just thinking the same thing! I am on page ten, and plan to read the entire thread, might not hear from me for awhile!

You're brave!!!

 

[RedRidge]

LL bones (chicken, beef, lamb, and pork) go to make bone broth here.
Bone broth is a mainstay... hardly a day goes by that I don't have bones my crockpot. I cook the chicken bones on low for 24 hrs or so... The others for twice that long. Broth gets frozen and saved for times of year when we aren't processing as many.

 

[Leahs Mom]

RR - after you do the broth and remove the bones, do you grind the bones for feed?

 

[aoxa]

we are -27 F here with the wind chill..Inside the coop is around 0. I have many windows to let in the sunlight. I also have a sun roof.





This is baby..she is my old momma..she just kicked her 5 week old chicks to the curb and is back to nesting today..

coop door is always open unless the snow is blowing in. They need to come out to eat and drink. That bucket is a drink station. They can drink water and stay out of the snow. I do toss Boss and ther goodies in the DL to keep them busy indoors since they do not go out a much as normal.
24 hours..
Vit E, selenium, and liver.
If improvement in 24 hours she should be OK.

I don't think she will be. I plan to cull tomorrow night. She was really bad this evening, but I did get some food into her. Also culling that blind rooster. He's not gaining weight like he should. Sigh... Sometimes having a farm sucks... I get attached to the ones I try to get better, but I will be strong and end their suffering.

 

[Scott H]

Originally Posted by ChaosRules

K. I'll put some plastic up over all the windows & openings except for two triangles up at the roof peak on the door side.

Yes, I know I should have a coop page!


Here in the first picture you can see the windows that are boarded up and the windows that are open. In the second picture, all the windows on the near wall are covered, either by wood or plastic.


This is the inside, with the roost on the right (and the decoy eggs in the nest boxes!). I think I'll put plastic over all those open windows, so the three sides of the coop that you can see in this picture will be (more or less) airtight and insulated. The roof is pretty well insulated, since it has about 5" of dirt on top, plus snow on top of that!


This is the the inside of the coop looking out. I think I'll leave that far right window covered in plastic and undo the plastic on the little triangle window (the wildlife camera is in that one, aimed at the nest boxes). If that's not enough ventilation, I can uncover part of the plastic-covered window. I built that little structure over the pop door opening so that air coming in around the edges wouldn't blow right on the chickens on the roost above it. Hopefully the air gets deflected so the girls don't get their feathers ruffled! A bonus is that I can easily scrape off all the poop that gets on there overnight, and toss it out into the run. When it's frozen, the poop just pops right off the vinyl!

Just for fun, here's a side view. The windows on the door side are under the "porch" roof, so they're more protected anyway, so probably better to have them open to air than the ones on the other side (which are open now). Luckily last night, even though it got to 5F, there was no wind, so I think the girls were fine. They still haven't come out yet today, though! But good little Dina did lay me an egg (ninth day in a row!).


OK, I'm gonna try just having a little triangle open up near the roof on one side and see what happens. Maybe I'll lay down some more wood chips too.

Are those your nest boxes hanging off the side? Are they insulated? I guess the girls don't mind if they're not? Mine are inside the coop, but the doors that open to the outside aren't insulated, so I'm guessing it's not very toasty in the nest boxes. Plus, there's probably some air leaking in around the edges of the doors on the back of the boxes.

That's ridiculously low, in my book. And an 80 degree swing is also unreal.

Your coop is fine! A few little crack does not a draft make.....vents are well above their heads. Nice coop!!!