The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Ok... question for those of you who breed purebred chickens...
My cockerels have always gotten along just fine as a group prior to breeding season. When breeding season starts they ate divided into breeding pens with their own girls (I set my first of eggs on Jan 1st -yeah).
But... In trying to decide how to house my breeding roosters after being season is over in a few months. I know some breeders keep their roos in cages the rest of the year. I'd like a little better living conditions but don't know what's practical. I cannot see putting 4 mature roos back together so am curious what other folks do and house they house their mature roos during the summer and fall when they can't all be with the main free range flock.
There area lot of ways to skin this cat... I'd like to hear all the various things people do.

I just open the doors after breeding season is over..the whole flock intermingles. I am just putting some back into breeding pens now..I have one coop that is not usually set up into breeding pens. I will be changing that this year.

The brick breeding pen will be done this spring so I have those for Orps.

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I would love that..I would put you all to work learning how to butcher chickens

I would turn it into a class..I would bribe you all with fresh bakery and delicious chicken recipes.

 

[Sally8]

I have to ask bec I see it all over: I think DH refers to husband, but what's the "D" stand for?

I used to wonder too. I think it's darling or dear.

 

[fosterson]

Spinach and Swiss chard are higher in oxalates than all the other greens. .. says someone who can't eat then due to 7 lithotripsies. ;-p

Bless your heart. You're only the second person I know that's got that problem with oxalates and kidneystones besides myself. It's a special sort of private #*!!, isn't it?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: The cat brought some of the rabbit remains to the back door this morning. He does not like the head, tail or back feet. The rest is gone from what I can tell and the cat is not begging for food today. The remains are gone too now. Anything the cat won't eat gets buried or bagged and trashed. Sorry for the chickens but i don't want to risk them eating it raw and I'm not cooking it.

 

[lazy gardener]

My cat's rejects go in the compost. I don't necessarily follow the "no meat in the compost" rule. I figure that if it's raw, it will disappear in short order. Not to be gross, but one day the cat caught a mouse and left it on the ground in my garden. I returned a few hours later to see nothing but a pile of loose fur, full of squirming insects inside.

 

[Shan30]

Depends upon your mood at the time of the post.

Hahaha! Exactly what I was thinking

 

[TeaChick]

Stella is a barred Rock that I got from Sally8 on here. She is the youngest of my flock & now the biggest. She was so tiny when I got her .....

She fit in the palm of my hand. Now it takes 2 hands to hold her

She is also the official greeter, talker & food inspector.

She's pretty. I see all these pretty birds and I want one of every breed and coloring. I'm in sad shape. lol
Eddie (our roo) is our official greeter. Snoodle is the talker, and IDK, I guess Sandy is the food inspector (although they all just eat like they've never been fed whenever we bring anything out; they're out of the compost pile or their feeding area less than five minutes after we drop food of any kind anyway, so it's not like they're really starving, I guess they're just really curious to know what's on the menu). lol


Yes apparently there are normal blizzards & then there are Buffalo blizzards.........I believe Hamburg had one of the top snow falls for the blizzard. But funny story we didn't have near the same amount of snow that we did for the blizzard of '77 that shut everything down for over a week.
http://www.buffalonews.com/gusto/te...his-is-cnns-definition-of-a-blizzard-20140109 this is the link about definition of a blizzard & then a buffalo blizzard

I didn't know there was a difference in blizzards between where they hit. lol

I wouldn't be concerned about a child who is old enough to understand that if he/she touches something that it will hurt them. The jolt given by the fence is enough to get your attention if you are grounded. However, when I am wearing dry shoes, I can grab right ahold of it and perhaps not feel anything. I run my charger on a deep cycle battery. At first I thought it was defective, until I took my shoe off and put my bare foot on the ground while holding the fence. Now, THAT got my attention! I would be concerned about any one with a heart condition being around an electric fence, and there is a warning to avoid shocks to the head. If you are kneeling, or have a lot of ground contact, you will get a good wake up jolt. My cats both respect the fence, and occasionally, a chicken will contact it when reaching through to get a bug. You'd have to use your judgement, re: young children. Personally, I'd be concerned about impulsive children under 4, and wouldn't have an electric fence on during the day if I had a creeping infant or a toddler. Contact with the fence is noxious enough that you won't want to repeat it, but I often test it by resting a finger on it. (Call me a slow learner!)

My g-father had his goats in an electric fence. I was the oldest, so they just warned me and my brother, but our much younger half-siblings, they kept a close eye on. It wasn't a high voltage, just enough to keep the goats in (mostly) but not bad enough to hurt the grandkids. lol
You're right about it really only taking one jolt to learn. =)

 

[Leahs Mom]

Here's Jake hanging in the shop....

Maybe you could get a new little one and send him out with Jake. Maybe he'd learn from his elder how to behave toward the animals? Then maybe the transition won't be so hard when it's his "time".

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[SallyinIndiana]

My cat's rejects go in the compost. I don't necessarily follow the "no meat in the compost" rule. I figure that if it's raw, it will disappear in short order. Not to be gross, but one day the cat caught a mouse and left it on the ground in my garden. I returned a few hours later to see nothing but a pile of loose fur, full of squirming insects inside.

Most of the time my cat does not have left overs, just rabbits. Mice and starlings he eats whole, tails feathers no problem. Because of that I don't put his leftovers in the compost pile. Now meat from the house that the toddler does not eat or scraps from cooking the chickens get that.

 

[Scott H]

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He's good with the chickens.....interloping dogs....not so much. He walked up to one last night, don't know whose dog it was, nipped it on the butt and sent it packing...the whole time I was admonishing him to "be nice".