The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
You could take a look at how that insert tray thing is made and copy the idea with diy materials. Looks like a nice roll-down under the front roost and the roost pivots up to get the eggs out. You can see it in the video.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

whatever I build will be from scratch. currently I have milk crates sitting on the floor under a shelf. but they're a PITA to get eggs out of since I don't bend so well anymore.

Totally understand that. My nest boxes have a front entrance for the birds, and a back entrance por moi. The back entrance is a hinged lid and it is outside the coop ... SO civilized. Some of the nesting boxes are on the same wall as a double row of roosts in the dormitory ... and only "younger" members of the team seem to enjoy gathering eggs from that direction.

Now I just need to arrange a civilized hinged "back door" for the washer & dryer.

 

[TeaChick]

Just catching up, something I learned after making the video, for you non sewers is thrift store pillow cases work well for sprouting bags too.

Do you remember what page that's on?
Or could you post or PM me the instructions? (well, if that's something you could do "real quick")

 

[TeaChick]

Today this morning we found a hidden rest of chicken eggs!

they were under the tarp where the hay bales are.
we have been letting them out around 11am and so we found 8 hidden eggs and the 2 from today which is 10 yaaaa

Good for you finding the hidden nest!!!
I've got to go looking for one b/c I'm thinking my Cochin might be laying, but she's definitely not laying in the hen house.


@ Delisha:

Well, I'm touching base. I can't read everything that's posted every day, but I don't want to be forgotten either. lol
I got my SLW cockerel and roo and a SLW/BO pullet. They're pretty and I'm so excited!!!

DS's hatch is going well; although nothing is hatching yet and it's day 23, but... first hatch, etc.

I'm hoping to be able to start hatching "soon"; although IDK how soon. Very soon, I hope!!!

21 days till hatch..have you candled those eggs?

Yeah, we candled over a week ago, and every single egg had a well-defined air sac and a growing little blotch about the middle. Some of them looked like the blotch almost filled the shell completely (I guess that might have been the angle; DH is my candling box and he doesn't do it the way I would. lol).
Anyway, we had a rocky start, so IDK when they really started developing or when they really should hatch. I'm going to give them another week b/c that's 26 days from when we got things settled and consistent for them. Then I guess....IDK......what do you do with eggs that don't make it but don't go bad????
I want to candle tonight, but I haven't talked to DH about it yet; we'll see.

 

[TeaChick]

Hi everyone, would like a bit of advice on how to treat a listless chicken. She's a 9 month old Cream Legbar, and today I went out to let the chickens out to forage in the yard and noticed her standing in the corner all alone and quiet. I picked her up and put her under the tree with the others, and she pretty much just stood there while everyone else went crazy scratching through the leaves for bugs.

I checked her over, no sign of discharge anywhere, no bad smells, no labored breathing, no signs of anything out of the ordinary except for a droopier-than-normal comb. Stands with tail drooping down. Couldn't feel her crop, no obvious swelling or deformities anywhere. Seems kind of thin.

She wouldn't eat or drink for me, (not even freeze-dried mealworms) so I made her drink 3cc of water from a syringe. She swallowed fine. She spent the rest of the day in a dog crate curled up in the corner. Poop seems watery. At bedtime, I stuck her beak in the waterer and she drank a little, then I put her on the roost in the coop to sleep with the others.

Tomorrow I'll isolate her again and try to get her to eat. But starting Monday I'm back to work and won't be able to fuss over her.

My birds are in a covered run all day, eat organic feed (Scratch N Peck naturally free grower) and I throw in greens every other day. Oyster shells are always available. On weekends they get random treats like ground liver mixed with garlic and oregano, and some time out on the grass.

I was thinking of making a slurry with hard-boiled egg yolks and some infant vitamins to see if she'll perk up. Any other suggestions?

By the way, it has been unseasonably hot and dry this month = it was 80 degrees again today and the run has been very dusty.

I'm not an expert, but that sounds exactly like two of my hens which I subsequently lost (and I was fussing over them everyday; I'm a SAHM, so I work "here"). Anyway... A friend of mine took the first one that got sick and nursed her for me, but she was too far gone and died that day. The second one to get sick, I nursed her and she got better; I gave her a scrambled egg (shell and all) with about 1 oz of plain yogurt and 1/4 teaspoon of ecinechia (sp) every day for about 5-7 days, and then let her sleep on the brooder (where I'd had her isolated), but she pecked around the yard with the other chickens during the day (I free range). The garlic and oregano is good; if I had a sick chicken again, I'd put that in the egg mixture too.
I hope all goes well and she turns around and gets better for you!!!

all eggs have that white spot... the fertilized one will be larger and more of a bullseye look. the unfertilized one will be smaller and solid, no center portion.

Well, humph!!!
What does the smaller, solid, no center dot on the yolk mean?

 

[TeaChick]

You were right.

Although I couldn't feel anything in her abdomen last night when I checked her before bed, this morning she had egg contents hanging out of her cloaca. I popped her in a warm bath and was able to get the rest of the soft shell out intact from the middle of the prolapse.

Now I'm off to read about prolapse and to see if anyone has long term success with a problem like this.

Thank you!

Glad you found out what it was!!!!

well, had a slight 'almost oops'... I had set some eggs, wrote down the lockdown date as the 18th... well yesterday I opened the incubator to take the eggs out and put them in the hatcher, there's 2 mille fleur bantam cochin chicks looking out at me! LOL

6 more eggs were also due at the same time as well. so they went to the hatcher (3 had pipped already!).

last night had a nice blrw pop out before bed but no other progress on the 2 pipped eggs. this morning I had another blrw and a red dorking running around the hatcher! first chicks of the year!

the other eggs had quit somewhere along the way, but with the pipped ones I didn't take the time to candle like I normally do...

Yay!!!
Please hope that my DS's hatch goes well; we're waiting. It's like the last week you're pregnant, but you can't schedule an induction. <anxious emoticon>

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'm not an expert, but that sounds exactly like two of my hens which I subsequently lost (and I was fussing over them everyday; I'm a SAHM, so I work "here"). Anyway... A friend of mine took the first one that got sick and nursed her for me, but she was too far gone and died that day. The second one to get sick, I nursed her and she got better; I gave her a scrambled egg (shell and all) with about 1 oz of plain yogurt and 1/4 teaspoon of ecinechia (sp) every day for about 5-7 days, and then let her sleep on the brooder (where I'd had her isolated), but she pecked around the yard with the other chickens during the day (I free range). The garlic and oregano is good; if I had a sick chicken again, I'd put that in the egg mixture too.
I hope all goes well and she turns around and gets better for you!!!



Well, humph!!!
What does the smaller, solid, no center dot on the yolk mean?

That's the female half of the genetic material.

 

[Scott H]

What's a SAHM?

 

[Kassaundra]

Do you remember what page that's on?
Or could you post or PM me the instructions? (well, if that's something you could do "real quick")

Instructions for what?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

What's a SAHM?

Stay At Home Mom?