The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

LM you wanted to know how my girls like the cabbage? Well I put it out last week when we had the arctic temps and it froze but since its warmed up they have been picking at it & eating it. Its still sort of frozen but they are still working on it (I never knew cabbage had so much moisture in it......can you tell I don't eat it?

)

Today was a banner day.......5 eggs !!!! 1st time ever for that. hopefully it continues.

I wonder if it makes it more palatable to them if it's been frozen and thawed?

And...your kiddos are saying spring is coming too!!!!

 

[delisha]

-13 here today..it was supposed to be 30. it is getting pretty frustrating. The plow came by and I now have a 5 foot rock hard drift to dig out in the morning across my drive. I am really over this winter stuff.
I am jealous of your beautiful incubator Justine..someday I will have one of those..I have eggs I would like to hatch but no room in my incubator..ohh well. Too cold to ship any where to anyone..sad state of affairs.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote:

-13 here today..it was supposed to be 30. it is getting pretty frustrating. The plow came by and I now have a 5 foot rock hard drift to dig out in the morning across my drive. I am really over this winter stuff.

the arctic weather is done soon. While we have has cold temps here they only get below 0 with the wind chills. Good test for the hens tho...they are all surviving with no heat

 

[ki4got]

whos starting to breed yet? im hoping one of my phoenix and weans will brood some friesian and phoenix eggs

starting to breed? you mean you have to stop? the only thing that's slowed me down is a lack of eggs, and then a lack of unfrozen eggs. LOL

it's sad, really... i set 45 eggs, roughly, in the last 2 weeks. all but 7 were clear from freezing...

but I've been hatching right along during my own egg drought, a friend's eggs (every one she'd let me have!) and I just set another 33 or so last Thursday.

 

[ki4got]

Red Ridge ~ do you combine chicks to minimize the number of brooder set ups you have? I am finding that my staggered hatching is demanding a lot more brooder set ups than I planned for. So far I have been able to mix chicks that hatch within a week to 10 days of each other but it would be nice to be able to combine these double batches too at some mid point. I was thinking maybe around 4-5 weeks.

Another question. I'm thinking of getting a used sportsman incubator. Where would be the best place to look for a used one or get an awesome deal on a new one?

I combine chicks within 3 weeks of age, usually... but finding I need to limit the numbers per brooder once they start getting more size to them. i'm having to move chicks around right now because i'm getting some head-pecking going on with a few of the smaller ones, so they've been moved to a lower population / younger group.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:

Snapping Turtle Tracks

These are adorable!

uh... RIIIGHT! obviously you've never had close contact with one of these 'adorable' monsters. LOL tho they do make a good stew if they're cooked right.

the last one I had contact with was every bit of 30" long including it's tail, and took a serious chunk out of the 2x4 I was using to push it off the driveway. ended up shooting it instead since he was determined to take a chunk out of my front tire too. (running it over would have ruined the meat...)

 

[Jewelwing]

LM you wanted to know how my girls like the cabbage? Well I put it out last week when we had the arctic temps and it froze but since its warmed up they have been picking at it & eating it. Its still sort of frozen but they are still working on it (I never knew cabbage had so much moisture in it......can you tell I don't eat it?

)

Today was a banner day.......5 eggs !!!! 1st time ever for that. hopefully it continues.

How many chickens do you have?

I have eight pullets, and I think they're all laying now. Yesterday I got seven eggs!!

 

[Jewelwing]

I have a question. A guy my husband works with said he has three chickens, and a month ago when it was really cold (-15 before wind chill), they stopped laying for a couple of days. Nothing unusual about that, but then he said the next day he came out to check and there were seven eggs in the nest boxes! He swears they were holding them inside and then when it warmed up, pop, pop, pop (someone must have laid three in one day!).

What do you think? Is that even possible? I know this guy has embellished stories in the past, but before I tell my husband chickens can't do that, I wanted to know if you guys think it might be true. I thought it might be more likely that the chickens had kept laying eggs, but hiding them under whatever he has in the nest boxes so he didn't find them until it warmed up and he looked harder. I've never seen his setup.

I know it takes about 25 hours for one egg to go from the ovary to being fully shelled and laid, but could a hen be working on a few at the same time, so they all come out closer together?

 

[hellbender]

uh... RIIIGHT! obviously you've never had close contact with one of these 'adorable' monsters. LOL tho they do make a good stew if they're cooked right.

the last one I had contact with was every bit of 30" long including it's tail, and took a serious chunk out of the 2x4 I was using to push it off the driveway. ended up shooting it instead since he was determined to take a chunk out of my front tire too. (running it over would have ruined the meat...)

Love snapper soup! I have some every year...after the females have had time to lay their eggs. I catch them from my ponds and feed them for about 2 weeks...to get them cleaned out.

I think this coming year, if my arthritic hands give me a reprieve, I'll clean and freeze a couple or five...Turtle chowder sounds pretty good right about now!

 

[misbhaven]

I had a giggle while lurking I seen the footprint chart I have a full grown male 2 yr old. Saint Bernard his paws are. Probably 5 or 6 inches. At night you can see and hear coyote way off he barks that uber deep bark and they run away..I guess they used to come up almost to my house according to the neighbor but they haven't came within a half mile since I have had him. I am sure they can tell by smell and sound there is something bigger then them living here