The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[chick rookie]

My Stella BR sneezes when she eats fast (which is almost always...she is all about the food) & she squeaks when she sneezes

I don't worry about it to much its usually just when she has dry scratch she does this.


I noticed today one of the PRs has a tiny bit of frost bite on the tip of her comb. I haven't noticed it before so know idea when she got it. I am thinking tho it must of been this week tho when we had -30 wind chills. They were outside between areas even with the cold so I am guessing that's when she got it. I have a coffee mug upside down in their heated dog bow with water in it. It was to prevent combs & wattles getting in there. Maybe she got it wet when she was eating snow? I am not going to do anything with it but watch it.

On a good note 4 eggs today..........

that's a first since last summer.
Spring is certainly on its way Of course maybe shoveling out the garden was encouraging as well. Girls were happily *back scratching* (as my Mom calls it) all morning . Hopefully the arctic temps are gone for the year

I cant wait till Spring... I'm getting really grumpy... and my critters are getting tried of the barns and houses...

I have several of those I use for a variety of different locations...

i'm considering something like that to do fodder/sprouts over the winter maybe. I already have the indoor pond, complete with guppies. I would just need to build a rack to hold the fodder trays and a timer to run a pump for watering them.

comet goldfish work better for smaller tanks, as long as they don't freeze solid. as long as there's liquid the fish will live. trout grow much too large to keep in standard stock tanks, and they would need more food than local bugs would supply (you'd have to feed them) in the summer.

my indoor pond is roughly 150 gallons (when full), planted with true aquatics and hasn't had a filter on it in 10 years.

in a normal aquarium, there's a 2-step biological process using beneficial bacteria to convert waste to nitrates and then nitrites, which are removed by regular water changes. aquatic plants utilize all forms of nitrogen as the primary 'fertilizer' for green growth.

in my pond, I don't do water changes, but I do use it as my water 'bucket' for all the birds in the house (chicks, macaw, hospital) and the dog too, and simply fill it back up when it gets low.

with a truly hydroponic situation, you want a heavy fish density to provide the nitrogen for the plants. plants that would do best would be those that are primarily leafy greens. not sure how you'd supplement the phosphorus and potassium also required for flowering and fruiting. I haven't researched hydroponics much beyond the leafy greens...

saw a page on fb linked recently, i'll have to look for it again. someone detailed their plans of incorporating hydroponics with their ducks and fish for food. (tilapia).

Epcot in Florida (Disney offshoot) has a huge hydroponic system that provides all the veggies and tilapia served in the restaurants, and has for years. they've got a number of other very efficient systems to deal with things such as the huge amounts of raw sewage produced daily. that one was interesting too. raw sewage into a canal (don't remember how long, but thinking miles... ) at one end, clean water out the other and put back into the system where it began. and also harvesting TONS of water lettuce daily to use as a fuel source. again it utilizes naturally occurring bacteria to break down the waste and turn it into plant food. that may be a simplified description, but it's definitely food for thought

Here is what my girls have been up to since it is finally 32 (F) degrees here!!!! They actually are outside-- OUTSIDE OF THE RUN! and dustbathing! I provided a dustbathing area inside the run but I never see them use it.... guess they would rather scratch up their own frozen bare spot to dust-bathe in!





The red one actually has some "no-pick" on here so excuse her greasy look! (There are actually 3 of them involved in this dust bath!!!!!)I separated the aggressive one a couple of days ago and was going to wait another day or so to add her back in.... I felt terrible pulling her out but I had to do something! I know have the boys' video baby-monitor in there-- I can watch the roosts and parts of the floor area-- just trying to see if I have any more getting nasty or not! The perk is I get to hear the announcement when an egg has been laid! When my OES is in and the chickens are making so much noise he gets all worked up and has to go out and check on them!

yep my girls are loving it too...
they are waiting in line for turns in the fav. spot.

I have a rooster (my very best) who has always sneezed when he is eating. Never otherwise, just when he's eating. I dry feed usually. Do you think he has an allergy? Maybe it's just the dust? Has anyone ever had this happen? He is 8 months old, the dominant rooster, appears strong and healthy.

I had one that did that to but I didn't pay to much attention cause it only happened when he ate dry scratch... just figured it was the dust...

I just switched my flock from pellets to crumbles. My rooster is the same age, basically (hatched in April), and he has been having trouble with the crumbles. He looks like he's gulping for air, then he starts squeaking, once he gets his throat cleared he looks at me like I'm looking at him like he has puppies crawling out of his ears. Someone I know said his rooster died choking on crumbles. I've started wetting their feed. I try to avoid feeding dry off the ground now, but on occasion it's unavoidable. I put equal volume of crumbles and water in their food dishes and leave them in the hen house. They knock over all the dishes that go in there, but the wet feed doesn't come out of them, so I'm happy they're not wasting food or wetting their bedding anymore.
=)

I thought about wetting feed but it started raining before I could get out and pit feed under shelter ... well it was wet and it is still out there will have to dump all that feed tomorrow!!!! So know my answer to wet feed...

Here's a surprised coon....I expected to see him explode but he didn't until he figured out he wasn't going anywhere. Still got to weigh him. He's huge.



He kinda tore the snow up and I even had a picture of him hanging upside down from the railing. Still kinda makes me feel bad that we can't coexist.



Came home last nite to an unplowed road....my neighbor, who is retired and notoriously lazy, was at the bar and had left me to do it. I work in the snow all day and come home to a road with snow so deep I can barely make it up the hill to the house while he's drinkin'.

So I plowed him out and myself out. Then I hung that coon from his outhouse...looks like a freaking bobcat hanging there it's so big and he still hasn't noticed it yet. Watched him come home and he parked his truck within 20 feet of the outhouse with the headlights lighting it up. Have another beer.....

our dogs got one of those the other night, wasnt time to get any pic's and the pic's I could have got.... no one would want to see/....

If my dogs didn't do the dirty work for me, I would be forced to take a similar/same route. Most chicken keepers know that coons are just about the apex predator...smart and deadly. Mink/weasels follow closely at second, IMHO. Good job!

I agree but they need to be in manageable numbers......it would help if the idiots from town would quit feeding them.

my neighbors feed them then quit then start back up again and I always know when they don't.... they come here looking for an easy meal.... my chickens...

My 'Night Shift' (Patterdale Terriers) takes care of all denizens of the night, including mink and weasels.

Just a note of caution: While coons are generally active at night, the sows are very active during early spring and summer days and nights, teaching and feeding their young.

Although the Patterdales are confined during the time chickens are loose, the Heelers kill or tree lots of coon during daylight hours. Usually when they tree, there is a whole family in one tree....easy pickins'. Sad in a way but it has to be done.

I have GP and 4 others that do the patrolling for me

 

[TeaChick]

Tea chick: Did you know that if your tomato plants are disease free, you can cut off the tip of a healthy looking shoot and root it in water to make a new plant? Good way to propagate for you folks in warmer climates. I bet you could do the same thing with a cucumber. It would be a good experiment.

I did not know that. Thank you!
Yes, I'll have to get some cucumber seeds this year and then the kids can do the experiment with shoots later in the season.

I know.... about Wyandotte not being in there... I have silver laced and every time I type it.... it drives me crazy!!!!

me too!!!

I hate, hate, hate the red zig zag line!!!!!

smart aleck. not in the BYC dictionary but in Websters. Wyandotte isn't in the BYC dictionary......

this part bothers me.
The other part, I don't care about, if I can't get the red zig zag out from under what I'm trying to figure out how to spell, I just put "(sp)" after it and go on.

I knew what you meant....I was just being a smart alic.

(How do you spell alick anyway?)

hahaha very funny (I don't know; if it weren't for spell check and trial-and-error (lots of errors), you wouldn't be able to read what I type)

 

[CourtsCacklers]

Wow...It is always so "surreal" when I hear about a house burning down. So glad they were all okay!

Thanks! We were all so thankful too as we stood there and watched it burn.... complete loss. I guess my point was that fire safety is NOT something I take lightly. Saw something the other day about household batteries (particularly 9v) ones are prone to starting fires if the negative and positive connect....this is why one should never keep loose batteries (whether thought to be good batteries or bad batteries) together where they can rub together. The connections should also be electrical taped. How many of us-- prior to knowing this-- just throw loose batteries in a drawer. I had never given it any thought till I saw the video on the Mother List.

 

[TeaChick]

I cant wait till Spring... I'm getting really grumpy... and my critters are getting tried of the barns and houses...
yep my girls are loving it too...
they are waiting in line for turns in the fav. spot.



I had one that did that to but I didn't pay to much attention cause it only happened when he ate dry scratch... just figured it was the dust...
I thought about wetting feed but it started raining before I could get out and pit feed under shelter ... well it was wet and it is still out there will have to dump all that feed tomorrow!!!! So know my answer to wet feed...

our dogs got one of those the other night, wasnt time to get any pic's and the pic's I could have got.... no one would want to see/....


my neighbors feed them then quit then start back up again and I always know when they don't.... they come here looking for an easy meal.... my chickens...

I have GP and 4 others that do the patrolling for me

If I had a dry dish of feed out and I was thinking about trying wet feed, then the dry feed got rained on.... I would just leave it out there for them to eat. Just me.
To each his own. =)

 

[Scott H]

It's not just dust, extention cords...sometimes those things just pop. I've seen it mentioned multiple times on this site when people use them in their brooders. No fires but glass in the coop makes me nervous. YRMV

 

[armorfirelady]

 
@CourtsCacklers
....just checked out your coop. Very nice...love the barnwood! Your husband did an awesome job.
Gotta wean those girls off that heat lamp tho.....Wyandottes are cold hardy and I'd hate for all that work to go up in smoke.
If I ever give them supplemental heat I think I will heat the roost with a length of heat tape...much safer and mo gentle heat.

I turned the heat lamp on tonight even though it's just getting down to low 20s, because my girls are soaking after spending the day foraging in the rain.  I didn't even let them out of the run, but they spent the day hunting through the leaves in the uncovered part.

I saw how wet they are and worried that would be a problem as it gets below freezing (it's low 30s right now).

Usually I only turn on the heat lamp if it's going to be below 0.  My coop is insulated, but it's never more than a few degrees warmer inside the coop than outside.  Maybe because the door takes up most of one wall, and it's mostly glass?  Plus the sliding window in the door doesn't seal well, so there's air coming in around it.

Otherwise, I agree.  I was hesitant to turn it on tonight, too, but I worried with all that wetness
You guys will tell me if I should go turn it off, right?

Everyone raises their hens the best way they believe in.

I live near buffalo,ny. We are know for cold & snow. My girls have never had heat even when the temps were -30 last week. I put in extra hay for them and hang plastic down from the roof of the coop as a wind block. To bad they roosted on the wrong side of the plastic . Regardless they had no complication. Mrs green has a tiny bit of frostbite on the tip of her comb. I only saw it because she got close to me a couple days ago. That's it. They were all outside in those nasty temps to go btw their coop and old covered run. My girls are in a hoop coop. Lots of air movement in there and the cold is def insulated out of the coop lol

Today it rained all day & they were out in it. Still no heat. They preen and dry out some. The temp here now is 37 but it's going to drop overnight. I have no doubt they will be fine. Their feather protect them from rain and snow. Much like a ducks feather I believe.

I don't heat the coop because I want birds that can survive our temps. And if we lose power I don't have to worry about losing hens that are not used to cold weather. That's why I don't lock them in the coop either on cold days. If they want to go out in it it's their choice. Even tho I think they are nuts when they are out in torrential rains

 

[CourtsCacklers]

Everyone raises their hens the best way they believe in.

I live near buffalo,ny. We are know for cold & snow. My girls have never had heat even when the temps were -30 last week. I put in extra hay for them and hang plastic down from the roof of the coop as a wind block. To bad they roosted on the wrong side of the plastic

. Regardless they had no complication. Mrs green has a tiny bit of frostbite on the tip of her comb. I only saw it because she got close to me a couple days ago. That's it. They were all outside in those nasty temps to go btw their coop and old covered run. My girls are in a hoop coop. Lots of air movement in there and the cold is def insulated out of the coop lol

Today it rained all day & they were out in it. Still no heat. They preen and dry out some. The temp here now is 37 but it's going to drop overnight. I have no doubt they will be fine. Their feather protect them from rain and snow. Much like a ducks feather I believe.

I don't heat the coop because I want birds that can survive our temps. And if we lose power I don't have to worry about losing hens that are not used to cold weather. That's why I don't lock them in the coop either on cold days. If they want to go out in it it's their choice. Even tho I think they are nuts when they are out in torrential rains

That is what I love about this site. We can all learn from one another and we do all do the best for what we believe in-- from the way we house our birds to the way we feed them and the way we 'treat' them! I am sure over the years I will change some of my management practices as I become more confident in my chicken farming

--

In some parts of Alaska the kids go out to recess when the temp gets to -30 F. Here in Northwest Ohio they cancel recess at much higher temps (cancel school when it is just barely below 0)-- that is extreme for us.... Everyone, in all different parts of the world have different climates and different things they are used to. While some of us might be able to endure 30 below-- we aren't going to handle it as well as those in Alaska that are used to it. That being said, in extreme conditions-- that are not typical of our area-- and that the chickens are not hardened off to, I just don't feel right about leaving them to the elements. This has been a crazy year of extreme conditions. That is a choice I make-- while some risks might be involved-- I minimize them as much as possible.... We did have a power outage the other night-- one of the nights that the windchill is below 0. We actually have a generator that back-feeds the whole house and the mini-barn in the event of a power outage... if weather was extreme and I didn't think the chickens could handle the temperatures-- they would still be taken care of.

 

[CourtsCacklers]

It's not just dust, extention cords...sometimes those things just pop. I've seen it mentioned multiple times on this site when people use them in their brooders. No fires but glass in the coop makes me nervous. YRMV

YRMV?

 

[Scott H]

Your results may vary

 

[ki4got]

well, i'm about 7 pages behind and falling further. LOL so I give up.

spent the majority of my time outside today wiring in the big hoop pen so no more birds get pulled thru the sides (I hope)...

tomorrow's plan is to finish the 2 breeding pens I've been trying to get done and possibly start on the push up tent frame pen(s) (no tops so i'd just put deer netting over it to keep hawks out) to use for babies/grow out...

then the weather forecast says we go back to being winter again Monday. bleh! but hopefully I can get some birds moved around before then.