The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

CR -

 

[CourtsCacklers]

LMBO


Feed what?
I'm having to skim b/c I missed seventy-something posts.  

meat-- but ya know-- gave the girls liver today-- it has been out there for hours-- they won't eat it.....

 

[aaggjg]

Switch your bait to BEER! They love it and die happy

REALLY?!?!?!?!?!? Can you tell I am excited??? As its warm here they are multiplying like ......

 

[aaggjg]

meat-- but ya know-- gave the girls liver today-- it has been out there for hours-- they won't eat it.....

wow .... If you want to start a chicken riot in my yard just bring them meat, live . mealworms etc etc. Is this the first time they have had it??? Did you cut it in small pieces?? It just takes one hen to get a taste and the others will quickly follow!! I have a few pigs in my group and they attack everything .... other hens quickly learn it is YUMMY

 

[TeaChick]

meat-- but ya know-- gave the girls liver today-- it has been out there for hours-- they won't eat it.....

Oh.
I just put out the carcass of roast chicken or the bones from pork chops, etc. (I have to put them in the hen house so that the dogs don't get the cooked chicken bones).
So you didn't cook it, but you cut it to bug sized pieces, right?
Hmmmm Maybe they want it cooked? It is cold out after all.

 

[TeaChick]

I just got some new chickens last Thurs (about ten days ago). The newbs were hatched at the end of Sept and my established flock was hatched in March and I bought the hens as chicks from the feed store, so this is the only home they have ever known. My roo is from the same breeder as the three new chickens and he is a month younger than my hens. The new chickens are a pullet and two cockerels (one of the cockerels is larger and has started to crow, yes, we're sure of his hatch date).
My situation is this:
My established flock will not let the new chickens eat at all. They take turns eating and chasing the new chickens off the food. The rooster gets into this and he chases, not only the cockerels, but the pullet and now he's chasing my banty off the food as well.
The new chickens are hanging around in more of the yard and the established flock mostly leaves them alone when they are all about the yard, but if the flock is getting water or eating together, they chase the new chickens away.
I have tried not to interfere, b/c I know that can mess up flock dynamics and the new chickens might never become part of the flock that way, but I've got to make sure that everybody eats, right? So, I've let the pullet eat out of my hand, or I'll spread the food around and kind of stand in the middle and let the new chickens kind of hide behind me so they can eat. I try to be hands-off, but I threw the feed can (a plastic peanut butter jar, and I have terrible aim) at my Sr roo when he started chasing my banty off the food.
What do I do?
How do I make sure that all the chickens are getting enough food?
(I'm sure that some of the established flock would eat more than their fill just to make sure the new chickens cannot eat, not b/c they're hungry)
How do I take good care of my chickens and not interfere with the integration process?

 

[Ms Jellybean]

If I had to guess I would say she had an infection from an egg breaking inside her before this one formed. That would explain the yolk on this egg, her decline & death. But I am a newbie of 2 years so its just a guess. You would have to see what the OT's have to think
I don't have fruit flies around my grains I am trying to sprout. They are in canning jars.

I have no ideas about the mold on the fodder. I think people have said they use a diluted bleach solution to prevent this?? Leahs Mom or Kassaundra would know better.

Fruit flies would be caused by fermenting seeds. Mold would be from not draining well enough, too frequent watering or too warm a temperature.

Here is a good article on sprouting. I use this sprouter for my seeds. Easy peasy to use. No rinsing or soaking required (larger seeds may need to be soaked though). It works great.

 

[Shan30]

meat-- but ya know-- gave the girls liver today-- it has been out there for hours-- they won't eat it.....

If mine won't try something I sprinkle something they already love on it so they will accidentally try it.

 

[Shan30]

REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?  Can you tell I am excited???  As its warm here they are multiplying like ...... 

They definitely like beer. Nothing like choking on live bugs while cleaning up the morning after a "gathering".

 

[Scott H]

Natural way to catch fruit flies is ACV in a glass with one drop dish soap.....