The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Sally .. how have you used yours..how did you put it up?

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

COPY and PASTE to your Favorite thread, Invite your friends!



Grab some eggs & Join us!
Great fun, Great Prizes & GREAT friends!

5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Sally .. how have you used yours..how did you put it up?

The main use we got from the one I ordered a little over a year back are:
1 ~ covered the shed style coop's run to end a hawk problem and let the 6 week old chicks graze a bit before winter. the run is about 28' x 50'. I ordered a 50 x 50 and cut off the scraps. We used zip ties to attach the net to the top of the run fence and to the fence 4 inches from the top. We have a privacy fence along the back of the run we used what I call U hooks to attach the net to the privacy fence. We have a garage that is the side of our run we used u hooks to attach the net to a set of long 2 x 4 wood pieces we then used 3 inch deck screws to attach the wood to the garage exterior wall with the net sandwiched between the wood and garage wall.
when setting up the net make it as tight as possible. The first time snow or ice hits, the net stretches / sags. We had to rehang ours to get it tight again. We procrastinated and were forced to rehang after a snow storm or not use the coop. Also it is best to hang any high or tight spots first.
The side uses from the scraps:
2 ~ The scraps have come in handy for many different brooder covers for chicks that can't fly straight there is a small window of about a week when the chick is talented enough and small enough to escape the net.
3 ~ The scraps make great repair kits should a pred. try to get through the net or the net get caught on something like the corner of the coop roof in a wind storm.
4 ~ I asked DH to make me a hoop coop. The hoop part did not happen instead it is a cubish box eyesore of a tractor. We used billboard tarp to make the covered part. We used the large scrap of leftover netting to make the front half a covered run. We then used chicken wire all around the lower part to keep little chicks inside. The net also covers the chicken wire to make a double layer since we did not use hardware cloth.
5 ~ The net is working as a divider to keep the chickens in our new coop off of the top of the breeder pens that don't reach the ceiling so we can use the top of the breeder pen for a shelf for stuff we don't care about getting dusty. Not having chicken poo on the pen roof will make moving the breeder pen outside for spring a bit easier too.
6 ~ the scrap net has been used to separate a breeder pen into 2 introduction pens, we now have a chicken wire separator but the net worked ok when I was having a few hens meet the new to them heritage hens. It would not work well for introducing chicks to mean hens as it takes them time to squeeze through the net and their rear would be pecked raw in the process.

 

[TeaChick]

Tea chick I'm not sure where you are but here in TN we have LOTS of minks and weasels. And they can fit through kitty bitty places. ;-)

Okay. Thank you! =)

Teachick, weasel's are every where.

What?!?!?!?!?
I had no idea!!! Thanks! =)

 

[TeaChick]

I agree. I freeze any chicks that don't make it and ones that are taken by other predators, and use them for bait in the trap... if I don't have anything else to use, i'll put a chicken wing (raw from the grocery) or some chicken livers in there but if I don't get anything, I have to trigger the trap during the day or i'll catch a chicken! LOL

edit: they don't bother the dead chicks, just the wings and livers. LOL

I don't have a trap, but DH has been talking about one, so I'll keep this in mind for if he gets one. =)

I wish it was true all the time..the silkies would lay such a pretty colored eggs

x2


Teachick

no chicken will remove another chickens head

even in a fight..eating is not part of the fight..males will make the other males pretty bloody..but death is pretty rare.

eating another chicken has to do with room and lack of feed and they eat the butt first.

Head removal is from a predator..and they will be back..they now know where dinner is..they will wipe out your whole flock..you need to protect that flock.

Thank you for your sympathy.
Thank you for the information and advice. Yes, based on what you're saying, it sounds like predation, not inter-flock fighting.

I have to agree, sounds like the work of a predator. Something from the weasel family most likely. Chickens will cannibalize but they I've never seen them decapitate another bird. It's not usually the part they go for...sorry for the image. If you have a trap I would set it and use the remains of one of your poor birds for bait. Maybe even freeze the other for future bait. I know if sounds morbid but its the only thing that worked for us. We lost 4 before catching a mink here and the chicken was the only bait it went for. I'm pretty sure there are members of the weasel family North America wide but other predators will do this too.

So sorry for your loss. I know it can be pretty upsetting to find them like that.

Thanks for the advice, I don't have a trap.
Thank you.

Teachick, sorry for your losses...

Thank you.

 

[NanaLynn]

Love all the egg colors!! Do the different colors have different thicknesses? I find that my dark Welsummer egg (I have two Welsummer chickens, but only one lays dark eggs - the other one's are cream colored!) has a thicker shell than the other eggs.

Thanks. Most of them are about the same thickness, but the darker maran eggs do seem a little thicker and my older EE that lays a darker green egg has pretty thick shells too. Sometimes with those eggs it is a little harder to crack them. I love the variety of colors from the different breeds, I'd love to have a Welsummer and one of those blue egg layers too!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
Tea chick Sorry about your loss. I'm with you though on not realizing that weasel's were everywhere. But I'm the opposite of you, I thought they were more in the south than the north. I guess I need to research that a bit more .

As for the frozen chicks as bait, I can only imagine the look on my mother's face should she happen upon a bag of frozen chicks in my freezer. For now the barn cats have been taking care of culled or did not make it chicks. But maybe I should reconsider that. Not that I'm about to hatch a chick just for a trap bait or cat food. I know I would have to keep the cats out of the trap somehow too.

 

[Kassaundra]

I have a male and female set of chickens that have formed a pair bond. The problem is I am not keeping that male, but want to keep the female. I have found a home for the male. My question is if I split them up will she get over it? I have never had two form a pair bond before.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: ok... it's not one I've researched before, so wasn't sure of the abbreviation.

 

[lalaland]

Finished digging out the chicken door end of the coop. Drifts were 3-4' high, and no sooner did I have the chicken door open then there were hens coming on out for some sun and fresh air. Some even were dustbathing in the powder snow that had blown under the coop.

Here's an update on Booster's comb, you can see the dead black tissue which I expect will fall off in a month or two.
His wattles are looking pretty good and healed up.


nice and dry looking too


just for comparison, here is how he looked when the frostbite first was showing up:



so you can see why I think it is an improvement. Poor boy. I still have to deal with him attacking my boots, and he gets harassed by Buster the alpha rooster. Not sure if he won't turn into soup this spring. Its easy to pick him up if I can corner him, and its always in the coop that he feels threatened and attacks because there isn't much room to maneuver. If it continues once he is outside, he will have to go because I can't imagine being bare legged and having him go for my feet!

I have a soft spot for him because he is the best hawk alert and always watching the skies. Buster, not so much!