The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

wonderful for chickens..they have been fermented!!

I give our spent grains to our chickens whenever we have them. Note: keep them in the fridge otherwise they will mold fast.

great! it made sense to me but wasn't sure about alcohol or anything since I know nothing about brewing. thanks!

 

[marktoo]

Anybody got any good possum recipes?

 

[texasmomma]

  Has anyone ever watched a cicada molting?  It was cool to watch!
This was before we had chickens; come to think of it, we haven't seen as many cicada skins since we started keeping chickens, but that was only last March, so....
Do chickens eat cicada?

We have a ton around here, with and without the chickens. The chickens eat them, and their skins, but if they can't reach them, they don't eat them. I haven't noticed that we have fewer with the chickens, though.

I'm sorry but that would either be trapped and removed or shot if it was me

We found a possum in the shed eating all of my BOSS one time. We trapped him and his friend, and they no longer visit. While they may look cute, they are mean, and I'm not going to give them a chance to eat my eggs or my chickens. We think it might have been a possum that got into the coop one time and ate the head off of one of my young pullets, but we're not sure. There was a heck of a fight in the coop that night.

Barley and other grains leftover from making beer?
I have a chance to occasionally get a couple of gallons of grains from some home brewers in the cities.  Any reason why these might not be great for chickens?

There is a farm near here that uses the spent grain for their chickens. I would use it if I had access to it.

We spent the last couple of days at a tournament. All but my eldest came home with at least one award. We have another tournament in 10 days and I have chicks in the incubator that are set to hatch the day after the tournament ends. It looks like 6 of the 9 are developing, which seems good for shipped eggs.

 

[ki4got]

Barley and other grains leftover from making beer?
I have a chance to occasionally get a couple of gallons of grains from some home brewers in the cities. Any reason why these might not be great for chickens?

I might rinse them and then use with FF... some of the nutrition has already been used up by the alcohol fermentation but there should still be some for FF to utilize.

 

[Jewelwing]

"Hahaha! LMAO!! That was a good one, Uncle Scott! Tell us another!"

A gift for the person that has everything.

Oooh, pick me!

They hiss, but they don't mean it. They're just scared and trying to scare you away. I raised one whose mama had been killed by a car with babies on her back. I took the one who was alive but had a broken leg. I splinted it, gave him penicillin injections (it was an open break), and bottle fed him with kitten milk replacer. The little stinker hissed at me every single time I came near even though I had him for over a month! I'd ignore the hiss and pick him up anyway. He'd settle down as soon as the bottle nipple was in his mouth. I released him into the wild when he was old enough.

 

[Jewelwing]

Tonight it was so windy and snowy and apparently scary that none of my girls would come out from under the coop to go inside to roost! I tried luring them out with noodles and calling them, but only two of the eight would venture out. I picked up those two and put them inside, then spent a while calling to the others and shining the flashlight on the noodles, to no avail.

I ended up crawling on my elbows and toes all the way to the back under the coop (didn't really want to army crawl in the who-know-what mess under the coop), grabbing a chicken, and holding her snug against me while I backed out. They were surprisingly cooperative for that! One decided she'd walk along with me while I carried another, and the last one decided she didn't want to be alone under the coop and so she came out on her own as well. So I only had to make four trips under the coop. Then I came in and washed my jeans, coat, and gloves!

Good grief, chickens!!

 

[Kassaundra]

I need a running away scared emoticon!!!!!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Tonight it was so windy and snowy and apparently scary that none of my girls would come out from under the coop to go inside to roost! I tried luring them out with noodles and calling them, but only two of the eight would venture out. I picked up those two and put them inside, then spent a while calling to the others and shining the flashlight on the noodles, to no avail.

I ended up crawling on my elbows and toes all the way to the back under the coop (didn't really want to army crawl in the who-know-what mess under the coop), grabbing a chicken, and holding her snug against me while I backed out. They were surprisingly cooperative for that! One decided she'd walk along with me while I carried another, and the last one decided she didn't want to be alone under the coop and so she came out on her own as well. So I only had to make four trips under the coop. Then I came in and washed my jeans, coat, and gloves!

Good grief, chickens!!

This is why we put a barrier all around the bottom of our hen shed. I envisioned this kind of scene and preempted

 

[mlowen]

I just got this in my Science Daily email:

Vinegar kills tuberculosis, other mycobacteria.

Date:​

​

February 25, 2014

Source:​

​

American Society for Microbiology

Summary:​

​

The active ingredient in vinegar, acetic acid, can effectively kill mycobacteria, even highly drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, an international team of researchers reports. It is possible that acetic acid could therefore be used as an inexpensive and non-toxic disinfectant against drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) bacteria as well as other stubborn, disinfectant-resistant mycobacteria. Research continues into its potential uses, from sterilizing medical equipment to being used as a common disinfectant.

 

[flagirl]

my friend had a possum get in her coop and kill several hens one nite. she knew because it was still in there in the morn.