The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[hellbender]

Happily married and old enough to be his Mama, but I'd gladly take what he's serving up in the white mug!!! Looks like he can cook too! Come on ladies, let's put out the word!!!

Thanks ladies. Can't get too much help.

By the way, he did of course harvest that buck (and several others) but the food pic is just something I saw some place and put away for an 'opportune time'.

The good news, he is a very good cook and makes buttermilk biscuits almost as good as mine. He bakes all sorts of yeast breads and he even has his own 'starter' for some great sour dough. His gal-pal or wife-to-be will not go hungry or be struggling in the kitchen all alone...

As an added kitchen bonus...you should see his '5 inch apple pies'! Yep, they are at least 5 inches from pan to top of pie and he uses his mom's secret crust recipe that I was never able to talk out of either one of them.

 

[armorfirelady]

Most maple, especially sugar maple should burn fine as should birch and pine should burn like paper! Sounds like you don't have a straight flue. I wouldn't burn any fuel (wood or coal) unless I had a straight flue..if you have a bend in the pipe, it creates problems with creosote...even with with well seasoned wood. Also, you would do well to cover your wood.

As for your Heeler...she's pretty old but they are the smartest dogs I've ever seen. I'm breeding mine to start out a couple pups in reserve and I have friends screaming for pups...They will be born in the chicken house and the second thing they smell will be chickens..the first will be chicken poop.

Chimney is as straight as can be. The wood is just very, very wet since we seem to have 3 feet of snow at all times this winter. My dry wood I started with burned just fine. I just ran out of it.

I know he not interested in dating 'children' and they need not be college educated but must be goal oriented and a 'team-player'...his words.

Some people may be older & still a kid at heart

You are very blessed to have a son who likes to hunt & such. I would love a nice juicy venison steak right about now (Tho is -30 windchill so I probably wouldn't be out grilling)

The good news, he is a very good cook and makes buttermilk biscuits almost as good as mine. He bakes all sorts of yeast breads and he even has his own 'starter' for some great sour dough. His gal-pal or wife-to-be will not go hungry or be struggling in the kitchen all alone...

As an added kitchen bonus...you should see his '5 inch apple pies'! Yep, they are at least 5 inches from pan to top of pie and he uses his mom's secret crust recipe that I was never able to talk out of either one of them.

All this talk about cooking is making me hungry. Its very rare (at least around here) to find a man who likes to cook or even cooks.

 

[hellbender]

Chimney is as straight as can be. The wood is just very, very wet since we seem to have 3 feet of snow at all times this winter. My dry wood I started with burned just fine. I just ran out of it.
Some people may be older & still a kid at heart

You are very blessed to have a son who likes to hunt & such. I would love a nice juicy venison steak right about now (Tho is -30 windchill so I probably wouldn't be out grilling)
All this talk about cooking is making me hungry. Its very rare (at least around here) to find a man who likes to cook or even cooks.

Thank you for the compliments...

Just to be clear...(I don't think I was)...You have a straight flue but do you have a pipe leaving the stove that has a 'bend' that sends the pipe into the wall or does the stove pipe go straight up through the ceiling using something like a triple wall steel flue?

 

[delisha]

Del - are you getting her locally?

She is a bit of a drive..but not too far up north..

Quote: I will take notes for sure..my main problem will be Joe. He will not like a pup being outdoors in this weather. Those pups are still inside with mom right now. It is a concern with me. I think that is why I wanted to wait till she was 10-12 weeks old. She would be outside. It is still - here.

Delisha: Were your eggs that you lost in your incubator? I bought a converter that runs off a car battery, can be plugged into a cigarette lighter, or hooked directly up to the battery terminals. We're all most out of wood... at least wood that is not buried under the snow. Have a 1/4 tank of oil that we haven't touched for 3 years. Hubby says that it would be good to burn the oil instead of letting it sit in the tank for longer... so we'll be cranking up the furnace just about the same time that I start the incubator. That'll keep inside temps nice and steady for a nice hatch!!! Congrats on the LGD. How exciting...


BTW, I'm so very sick of winter that I could

.

I have a converter. I had to weigh the cost of gas over the loss of eggs. I wrapped the incubator in blankets and hoped for the best. I used the converter/generator to keep live chicks warm.

Oh..and yes, if the cows are being fed grains they do come right out pretty much undigested in the cow patties. Chickens love 'em and yes, there is a good bit of soaking and fermenting going on in that process

kinda gross but they love cow patties.

 

[delisha]

Speaking of OT's making mistakes.

I had a beautiful young black English Orpington. A friend wanted him for her breeding program and I examined him a few days ago to make sure he did not have bugs etc. His feet looked good, but he was pretty light and I felt his keel bone. It was not sharp, but it is unusual for me to feel keel on my Orps. They are pretty hefty. I think he weighted about 5lbs and I expected him to weigh 7. i was a bit shocked. I did not want to sell this skinny bird to any one...So I watched him at feeding time and noticed he was picked on and no one let him eat...Ok so i hauled him in the house and put him in the basement. I placed a bread pan full of FF in front of him and left him all day. Later that day.. I picked him up and was delighted he weighed a ton more and put him back outside...guess what I found the next morning...

 

[Leahs Mom]

By the way you and my mom should start a "give us grandbabies" club.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Speaking of OT's making mistakes.

I had a beautiful young black English Orpington. A friend wanted him for her breeding program and I examined him a few days ago to make sure he did not have bugs etc. His feet looked good, but he was pretty light and I felt his keel bone. It was not sharp, but it is unusual for me to feel keel on my Orps. They are pretty hefty. I think he weighted about 5lbs and I expected him to weigh 7. i was a bit shocked. I did not want to sell this skinny bird to any one...So I watched him at feeding time and noticed he was picked on and no one let him eat...Ok so i hauled him in the house and put him in the basement. I placed a bread pan full of FF in front of him and left him all day. Later that day.. I picked him up and was delighted he weighed a ton more and put him back outside...guess what I found the next morning...

Okay...so tell us the rest of the story. And your assessment.

 

[chikenscratch]

a dead bird? A large poopsicle? tell us

 

[RedRidge]

This is incredibly kind and sweet of you. Firewood is not easy work just to keep one house warm never mind taking on a second out of the goodness of your heart.


Our last hydro bill was $420 and this one is $275 using wood heat. Occasionally we turn on our 2 year old high efficiency Mitsubishi heat pump. How is that even possible right? Hydro rates are going crazy here. Winter is usually pretty much over by now so we only have a few weeks worth of wood left. Oh well we snuggle more when its cold anyways


Snow coming off the coop roof ripped the gutters off and killed the last of the fencing so I know what my plans are this weekend! Oh and getting the brooder set up! New babies yay!

I'm extremely fortunate.  I have free natural gas and so is my water free...I have a artesian spring so it doesn't hurt me to help others once in a while.  I have eggs delivered to my wood person and a few other folks who have a hard time of it.  This weather has been especially hard of everyone but the less fortunate have taken some pretty hard hits.

We heat with wood exclusively. Our wood stove has a reburner so it's very efficient, but we will likely use an extra rick or two this year above or normal annual 3 cords. It's just been a weird winter. We usually keep 6 cords at any given time... 3 cut and another 3 split and ready. I can't imagine heating any other way... I'd never be warm.
Not to mention our zero electric bill.

 

[delisha]

Quote: See below..

a dead bird? A large poopsicle? tell us

Yes..a very dead bird

I let my confidence in my birds over come common sense. I did an autopsy on him and I was very surprised at what I found in some area's.

I did take pictures..It was a remarkable discovery. I did kill him. However I think if he did not have a particular issue i discovered he would have died. At least that is what I am telling myself. k
Kendra..poor Cuties now has to take chicks instead of a breeding male..
She is out of a breeding season. I wonder if I should take her hen..at least she would have some chicks..what do you think?