The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

I wish I could add advise for mean chickens..I have been breeding for so many years for temperament I do not have issues with injury except with fenced in males. They will fight with each other through the breeding fence..as soon as breeding season is over and they are all let loose, I do not have fighting. I do have a hen who will kill other young birds and chicks when they get too close to her own. Only one. She will try to kill me too when she has young. Other than that she is sweet as pie. I tolerate a mean hen when she is protecting her chicks. I need that in my line a bit more. Most of my broodys are good feeders to chicks, but lack aggression to attack other animals when chicks are approached. One of my hens will even let the dog approach chicks. I dislike that more.

 

[RedRidge]

If she is smart she will learn to avoid getting picked on... like my d'uccles for instance. I have 3 that I use for live incubatos but they get picked on. But the are smart, they figured outa place to roost in the coop to narrow for the LF so they spend their time I the coop therebecause they get picked on when they come down. When they ate out they are fine, but they Hey picked on in tight quarters. So, they have their own little feeder up high in "their spot", they squawk somewhat patiently for me to feed them after everyone else each morning, and no one bothers them up there. I rarely make exceptions for "special needs" but these three girls are very useful to me.

If I ever have just one that is truly nasty they go in the freezer. But being top dog and being nasty ate two different things. There will always be a queen bee, but it's the nasty I will not tolerate. I remind everyone periodically that they are all replaceable (except my husband of course).

So....are you saying that you remove the "lowers" if they don't learn to fight back?

Yep... But the top dogs get removed also If they take their station in life for granted. Remove the nasty and frequently the lowers will fit it better. If not the lowers get removed too. But frankly I rarely have a problem with the hens, only a few every once in a while. When not breeding I expect to be able to walk up to any of my roos and pick them up without a fight. When they are breeding I permit them to be protective of their girls so I don't push it so as to give them no reason to ever worry about my entrance into their pen. If they are nasty to me with no reason, they are history.
I have had Production RIR come at me for no reason... Rodney comes to mind. Mean SOB! After Rodney was plucked and cleaned I gladly posed him with all his organs in a bowl next to him and took his picture and sent it to my husband at work. The guys at his office gota buzz out of it. Lol
Ironically I have never once had any of my HRIR roos take one mean step toward me... they are sweet as pussy cats.

 

[aoxa]

I wish I could add advise for mean chickens..I have been breeding for so many years for temperament I do not have issues with injury except with fenced in males. They will fight with each other through the breeding fence..as soon as breeding season is over and they are all let loose, I do not have fighting. I do have a hen who will kill other young birds and chicks when they get too close to her own. Only one. She will try to kill me too when she has young. Other than that she is sweet as pie. I tolerate a mean hen when she is protecting her chicks. I need that in my line a bit more. Most of my broodys are good feeders to chicks, but lack aggression to attack other animals when chicks are approached. One of my hens will even let the dog approach chicks. I dislike that more.

I need more of this as well... I have hens that will run when approached, leaving their chicks behind.

I have one broody that will kick butt for her chicks. She is the best broody I have. She does not kick mine.

 

[Turkeytruff]

Thanks for all the advice everyone! In answer to your question Aoxa, and Delisha,she brooded for 20 days a month or so ago and then left the nest. The chicks were fully developed in the shell, but they were cold when I returned from work and I stuck them in a bator but no use.
She has been broody on and off for 2-3 months. She is about 8 months old and was raised by a broody, & is 1/4 silkie.
I went back into the hen house late last night and all was settled. No growling, chick underneath burrowed to the back of her- I think it's working. About to check again this morning. Have 2 more little beauties popped in the night so will see how it goes with the first one and decide again tonight if I put them under her as well. I have an eco glow with a week old straddle legged chick under it and the newbies try to burrow under her legs which doesn't work as they are taped together -so I'll figure something out like blocking part of it off...

 

[Jewelwing]

I found my new junior rooster pecked to death this morning.
Separated the other new chickens; I could just see walking in to each of them dead the mornings in a row & there's no need of that.
I'm so ******!
I guess I have two separate flocks now. Wish I weren't. so nice and hast let them basically kill/starve for innocent chickens before I figured out that they're just....like this.
I'm just so ******!!!!!
Sorry.

How do you know they pecked him to death? Could he have died for some other reason and they pecked him because he was dead? I'm not trying to be contrary - I really want to know.

My roo looks pretty good this morning. Comb is only slightly off. The hens were unhappy to see the roos getting special treatment while they were still locked up. I didnt see any more green poo. When the roos are finished eating, I'll let the hens out and lusten for sneezing. My dad's silly cat is eating as much of the yogurt/egg mix as the roos

. I bet she leaves the big girls food alone!

I'm so glad your flock seems to be fine!

o ok cool, well I'm most defiantly not an OT, I have had chickens for 2 years but for some reason I never had any problems till this winter, which is y I was looking for answers and found BYC, thank God... have learned so much, now I'm looking into fermented feeds and other ways to lessen my feed bill... lol chicken math went overboard... lol birds not going hungry... just looking to save a little.
A member on the Ind. thread sent me cause I am having a problem with my hens beating up on a Roo and she said you were just talking about this so I'm checking that out.
Thanks for the welcome hope I don't drive ya nuts... lol

Hey, I saw you're in Terre Haute - I'm just about an hour west of you, in Charleston, IL! Well, in the country near Charleston, anyway... We love the Thai food restaurant in Terre Haute, bring takeout back whenever we go there. I'll be driving right through Terre Haute on my way to pick up my mom from Indi in a few weeks.

And even if you do see it coming, often you are completely helpless to stop it. No greater heart ache than seeing a child that you have nurtured go down the path of destruction... and no greater joy than experiencing the wonder of creation through a child's eyes. Also, an incredibly humbling experience watching the prodigal find his way back.

Well, I hope that happens with mine. I agree with all that you said! The whole world is new again when you have a child to show it to.

They'll come back to you.

I was a very, very bad teenager. I caused a lot of heartache and feel guilty about it now. I am 26 and my mother and I are best friends now. It passes if you were there for them during that rebellious/stressful time. No matter how petty things are that upset them, it is very real to them. It does seem like the end of the world when something as small as a friend ditching you occurs.

As soon as I moved out and was on my own, I reached out to my mother and really bonded. I don't know why I gave her the trouble I did.. It's very confusing being a teenager.

People keep saying they have it easy, but you couldn't pay me to be a teenager again.

I agree. I'd never want to be young again - way too much uncertainty and stress. But I'd love to have that body back!

Kids don't always come back to you. My brother is 44 and hasn't spoken to our mother in probably 20 years (our father passed away over ten years ago, but they didn't speak either, although our parents had been split up since the mid-'70s). My brother has never let our mom meet his wife or any of his three kids. Her heart breaks fresh every time she thinks about that, especially her grandchildren. To me, that's unspeakable. If he has a problem with his mother, whatever, but to deny his children their grandmother? No way. She's an awesome grandma, too. His wife is from Ukraine, and she has no family in this country, so my husband and I and our kids are the only family they have in thousands of miles. My brother was such a sweet little boy, too!

Yes, a lot of kids pass through the rebellion and come through stronger for it, and for that I am thankful, but some decisions result in a life time of hurt that can't be undone... but for the grace of God, even those things can turn into a blessing in the end.

Agreed... I would not go back and do my teen years over again. And, regarding the hardships that come with parenting a difficult or rebellious child... if I had it to do all over again, would I? Even if I knew what was ahead? Yes, because if I gave up the hardship, I'd also give up the blessing.

Yes, as for my own kids, I wasn't talking about them being rebellious or difficult, but just failing at life. I hear this happens fairly often to young people, especially boys, so we're just waiting for our 22 yr old son to figure his own way out, while giving him emotional support. Very painful to watch, though. This was a boy who was one of the best students in his class in high school, got into several very good colleges, did very well his first year in college, and then sputtered to a complete stop in the middle of his second year. He stopped going to classes, in fact stopped pretty much everything. He holed up in his room for several weeks, only sneaking out at night to go to the bathroom or to the vending machine for food. He lived in a single room in a suite in a dorm. Luckily, as he sank deeper and deeper into a self-loathing depression, he sent us an e-mail before harming himself. Anyway, that was three years ago now, and he currently lives in a trailer and works part-time making minimum wage, with no plans for the future whatsoever. He doesn't socialize with any of his old friends because he's too embarrassed about how his life is turning out, when everyone expected that he'd find the cure for cancer or something.

The weird thing is that a lot of his cohort from high school have had similar experiences. I think only one of them actually made it through college so far! Plus, his freshman year roommate from college also dropped out a couple weeks after my son did. But he's been working full time and going to night school.

We just have to be patient that our son will figure it all out.

Oops, perhaps I've said too much. Now you all know some of the dysfunction in my family (oh, yes, there's way more!).

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.

Oh, wow, I didn't know that was an option!

 

[Jewelwing]

Here is a cool video animation of chick embryo development

That was totally awesome!! Makes me want to hatch some of my own!

 

[chicalot]

Is this ok for brooding my single chic in the house? I can drape a towel over it to block any draft or get a bigger tote if I must. Still hoping it makes it out of the egg

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Is this ok for brooding my single chic in the house? I can drape a towel over it to block any draft or get a bigger tote if I must. Still hoping it makes it out of the egg

Not much room for it to run around. Personally, I would make it bigger. And get some friends to go in there too.

 

[chicalot]

The best I can do is friends in 21 days. Is it okay without a top for a few days?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

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