The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TeaChick]

I'm here !!!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: All this time I thought it stood for off topic.

As for being a parent, I find I get much more joy from my children than any animal. Even when the baby had colic, I would not have traded him for a kitten or a puppy.

 

[TeaChick]

All this time I thought it stood for off topic. Me too; I was kindly set straight after I posted the pics of the puppies. ;-)

As for being a parent, I find I get much more joy from my children than any animal. Even when the baby had colic, I would not have traded him for a kitten or a puppy. Yeah, I've promised mine motorcycles if they'd stop crying, but never thought of trading them in for a pet of any kind. None of my kids are easy ppl to live with (they come by it honestly on both sides lol), but I love them with all my heart and wouldn't change a thing about how difficult life has been with them for any nicety of life without them.
Okay, I'm starting to tear up, so...

 

[delisha]

Yes, I've heard the rattling throughout the day. Maybe this cold spell has stressed them..

Do chickens get colds? I've read varying answers to that question. I'll hold out on antibiotics until I see how this pans out.

Chickens do not get colds..
I do not see any sign of illness. I see chickens that are too fat..they need to slim down or this summer is going to be really hard on them. Your one Cornish holly cow...that poor girl can't get through the door...lol

what is " OT's welcome " can I get in on this too?

Old Timers..
You are welcome to join as well as anyone..

Quote:

 

[chick rookie]

WELCOME!!!! Welcome to my world-- only my girls aren't beating up on a roo--- one is just beating up on another and everyone else stays out of the way. Been dealing with this since the weather became extreme and they are less than thrilled to go out in the snow. After trying lots of "boredom" reducing tactics-- adding a mirror to the coop, hanging suet, a dust-bathing station-- and increasing protein in their diet (raw meat) because of possible protein deficiency causing feather picking from just one hen(aggressor) to another (just one of my 6 total), it is still an ongoing issue. I noticed this and have been closely monitoring it for a week. Today, I made new accommodations for the aggressor for a few days before I will try to add her back in! I did this as a last resort-- Your issue is a bit different if all of your girls are taking part in beating up the rooster. I know who is doing the picking and beating up and it is only one hen. I resist ever messing with "pecking" order but I refuse to go out there and find my friendliest hen dead because one hen has a burr up her butt....

you won't drive us nuts :O) We love new faces!

I had a broody hen that was starving herself, She was also the mean hen in the flock, but after bringing her in the house to try and break her broodiness (n which failed, ( until I took her back out ) once I gave up and put her back out to deal or not, she started beating the snot out of any and every one that got in her way, she must have ran into a tougher hen then she was cause now she don't fight no one any more. So maybe you bringing her in will actually help.

worked for me and that's not even y I brought her in. lol

we are going to get our Roo his own little place cause when DH went out to check on him just a while ago he witnessed the beating poor Big Man was taking... when I tell him about it .. it aint no big deal, when he see's it it is a big deal.... oh well getting what I wanted... Big Man is getting his own place!!!! yip yip hurray !!!!

 

[chick rookie]

I know what you mean "thank God" for BYC!
I don't ferment (it just gets nasty for me and I lose feed that way), but I wet the feed and that makes it so the chickens aren't knocking over their food or water (because the water/feed mixture stays in the tub).
My hens just killed my jr. roo, but he was new, so I just separated out the new chickens from my original flock. Now that they've killed I won't be trying to introduce new chickens into that flock again. Hopefully, someone can address whatever your issue is; you'll probably have to give a little more details.
We're already nuts. ;-)

this Roo is 9 - 10 mths old I got him from another member along with 7 other chickens last Saturday, I didn't put them together until Monday after Sunday daylight get together went so well.... they have had the normal pecking order stuff butt nothing bad, and this Monday I noticed Big Man ( Cochin ) was being run off the feed, and then a hen went and pecked him a few times and he ran away, then another and another and so on.... I have to stand by the feeder with him so he can eat, I have kept an eye on this and it is not getting better. I have added feeding stations as suggested by other members and still the same. I have 2 Roo's a EE Roo and the Cochin Roo ( Big Man ) and 24 hens, should be plenty of hens to Roosters ratio. Don't know why they waited a week before all this started???

forgot: DH is against fermenting cause he says "why feed our chickens rotten feed ?" lol so still researching...

 

[chick rookie]

Of course!

cool every one on BYC has such great personalities. I love this site.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Most of us here will quarantine any new birds in a place away from the rest of the flock for the better part of a month before integrating with the flock.

This accomplishes several things. The most important of which is that the new birds have immunities to things in the environment from which they CAME. The existing birds have immunities to the current environment. These may not be the same, so each group has the potential to cause illness in the others.

The typical looks like this:
-2 Weeks totally separate

-Then get 1 bird from existing flock and add to new birds. That way if there is an illness you only lose one of your existing flock and you can see how the new birds do. About 2 weeks like this.

-Then if all goes well, move them to an area in which they can all see each other but not get at each other. Give that another week or so.

-Then remove the division and see how they do together. This is way better done if they have a large area they are running in outside so there's lots of space.


That was the "Reader's Digest" version.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Well....not EVERYONE..... Hope you don't run into that crowd because most of us have and it's not pleasant

 

[aaggjg]

Here is a cool video animation of chick embryo development