The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

The snow is back.....UGH !!

Saw Sophie looking like she had something stuck in her crop. So into the dog crate she will go when I finally get home from running errands. I got 3 bags of spinach for her which I will have my mom start tomorrow. It figures she has a relapse when I'm scheduled to work doubles the next 3 days. I will toss Lucy in with her at night for a warmth buddy since the temps are still in the 30s at night.

My dog crate is all plastic and has a plastic bottom. Any suggestions what to put on the bottom? I know no litter but what about puppy pads ? Or just clean it to keep the poop mess to a minimum?

On a good note suppose to me in the 60s this weekend so getting a trailer of horse manure and Sunday the coop is getting its new billboard top after wrapping the coop with hardware cloth that is

 

[ki4got]

Ok... update from Red Ridge Farm.
Last hatch for the year is in lockdown. I've hatched several hundred but only about 30 RIR chicks, a dozen Rhodebars and a dozen F1 project Rhodebars are staying. Phew! Glad to turn the bator off for a few months.
I am rotating to different brooders and pens every Friday and am glad I don't have any more eggs set... I would be too crowded. And changing leg bands weekly on each and every F1 chick for documenting is becoming time consuming. But hatching is SO much fun. Lol

All of the RC RIR were spoken for before hatch. I suspect several folks will have some awesome RIR show birds and great starter flocks. I still have one or two trios of Rhodebars I need to sell - they are like Pringles... I tend to have too many. ;-) I always seem to have trouble parting with those but i know I need to find a good home for a few. Just haven't been able to being myself to advertising them and selling them to just anyone. Selfish I know.

The second the F1s begin laying (probably in Aug), I will fire up the bator again to get my F2s and BC1s on the ground before winter.

If I haven't mentioned it... I LOVE my heat plates. I have a small Brinsea and a large one with cover from Premier One. The cover is worth the money! And the premier one is easier and quicker to adjust height on than the brinsea. After chicken water nipples the heat plates would be my favorite poultry equipment. ;-)

well, my BIG push to hatch is for the big swap coming up next month (May 3). then i'll just be hatching for me for a while with a few here and there to grow out for the September swap (largest in the state, may and sept) and just our local swaps every couple weeks otherwise. my culls usually go to those ones.

 

[RedRidge]

Ok... update from Red Ridge Farm.

Last hatch for the year is in lockdown. I've hatched several hundred but only about 30 RIR chicks, a dozen Rhodebars and a dozen F1 project Rhodebars are staying. Phew! Glad to turn the bator off for a few months.

I am rotating to different brooders and pens every Friday and am glad I don't have any more eggs set... I would be too crowded. And changing leg bands weekly on each and every F1 chick for documenting is becoming time consuming. But hatching is SO much fun. Lol


All of the RC RIR were spoken for before hatch. I suspect several folks will have some awesome RIR show birds and great starter flocks. I still have one or two trios of Rhodebars I need to sell - they are like Pringles... I tend to have too many. ;-) I always seem to have trouble parting with those but i know I need to find a good home for a few. Just haven't been able to being myself to advertising them and selling them to just anyone. Selfish I know.


The second the F1s begin laying (probably in Aug), I will fire up the bator again to get my F2s and BC1s on the ground before winter.


If I haven't mentioned it... I LOVE my heat plates. I have a small Brinsea and a large one with cover from Premier One. The cover is worth the money! And the premier one is easier and quicker to adjust height on than the brinsea. After chicken water nipples the heat plates would be my favorite poultry equipment. ;-)

well, my BIG push to hatch is for the big swap coming up next month (May 3).  then i'll just be hatching for me for a while with a few here and there to grow out for the September swap (largest in the state, may and sept) and just our local swaps every couple weeks otherwise. my culls usually go to those ones.

Hmmm... I know we have swaps around here but I've never been to one. How do they work?

 

[ki4got]

Quote: Hmmm... I know we have swaps around here but I've never been to one. How do they work?

well, for biosecurity reasons, I only take what's going to be sold... and only what I'm willing to practically give away just to get rid of it... otherwise it comes home and goes back into quarantine.

the swaps we have here, people line up in an area of the parking lot, set up their cages however they like (some just drop the tailgate, set the cages on the ground or whatever). unless I'm using the trailer, birds travel in totes in the car and then move to the cage(s) that I transport on the roof rack, and sit on the ground while I'm there.

this last swap, I took all the mixed breed, ee, and other unusable birds that I don't really want to continue growing out till the big swap next month. (including a midget SFH pullet... October hatch, she's smaller than my bantam cochins. about like an oegb!) sold her as a colorful pullet, nothing special. got what I was asking for most of the older chicks, the youngsters, nobody was really interested. toward the end, I dropped the price and took $2 each for them. gave away the last few (20 for 15 ee/mutt chicks) only thing they cost me was incubator space and a few days worth of food, so I still came out ahead. made enough on the 'junk' birds to fill the gas tank, buy lunch and a bag of feed. so overall it was a plus.

 

[Leahs Mom]

GMO refers to using DNA from another species to 'improve' that species... it does not mean selective breeding to change the color, type or size...

so no, livestock animals are NOT GMO... they are just selectively bred for their individual traits. there's a huge difference between the two.

Well...actually...there are some GM animals, unfortunately.

But what you are saying is right regarding what we do with our chickens. At least for the moment.






Quote: http://www.genewatch.org/sub-572167


http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary...ring/geneticallyengineeredanimals/default.htm


Quote: http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary...ng/GeneticallyEngineeredAnimals/ucm113597.htm

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/resea...e-examples-of-genetic-engineering/mad-science

 

[misbhaven]

Interested also about the swap I have never went but heard depending on the swap depends on what will be there the one I am going to wil lalso have rabbits, and dogs it is a bird and small animal swap. I am going to one in eastern Iowa in about 2 weeks.....but that one requires NPIP and testing to have been done within the last 90 days..but that one will have a tester and a Vet on site...I already told my son we are taking a large dog crate, a cat carrier and a chick box but only going to look for a "rabbit" but just in case I will have every kind of cage I should need..It would have to be something really good though...

 

[Sally8]

Interested also about the swap I have never went but heard depending on the swap depends on what will be there the one I am going to wil lalso have rabbits, and dogs it is a bird and small animal swap. I am going to one in eastern Iowa in about 2 weeks.....but that one requires NPIP and  testing to have been done within the last 90 days..but that one will have a tester and a Vet on site...I already told my son we are taking a large dog crate, a cat carrier and a chick box but only going to look for a "rabbit" but just in case I will have every kind of cage I should need..It would have to be something really good though...

That is very funny. At least you are realistic!

 

[armorfirelady]

Well Sophie is in the dog crate in the old run with a towel on the floor a handful of grit, water & a few spinach leaves. She is not happy but I told her at least she will have visitors since the other hens were going in & out to see her. Her behavior is nowhere extreme as before so I am hoping a few days in here will rectify her. After the spinach leaves are gone she won't have anything but water till Thursday. I've decided she won't get Lucy for a sleeping buddy either. The crate in the old run will be warm enough for her and 2 hens in there would just mean a mess with the water lol

Her wattles and comb are a great bright red so I take that as a positive. Later I need to check her crop. Forgot to when I stuck her in there. I want to see how much it goes down so I can monitor it. She was out all morning so it's def has stuff in it now.

 

[Jewelwing]

So...what would you consider the dividing line between acceptable GMO's and unacceptable GMO's when trying to keep chickens naturally. Every single chicken any one of us has is a genetically modified organism.
I'm not trying to be controversial, just looking for some opinions/conversation regarding GMO and backyard flocks. I also am against the Monsanto monster that has come to be, but I feel that the term "genetically modified organism" has received a critically bad wrap.
For instance, would all beef and chicken meat have to be labeled GMO if that becomes a stipulation by the FDA or the USDA?
I have a feeling all this talk about GMO'S is going to come back to bite us in the butt...not all GMOs are created equally. I believe we need to find a way to separate selective breeding and other more natural ways of genetic modification such as splicing plants from the alien laboratory monstrosities.
Sorry if this doesn't come out right, it's hard to follow a thought when you can't see your whole text box

I totally understand what you're saying. If you think of the actual definitions of each word "genetically modified organism," of course you're right that all domestic animals and crop plants have been modified over the centuries by selective breeding to slowly change them into having more desirable traits for our use.

But the way the phrase "Genetically Modified Organism" is used in today's lingo, it means just what Leahs Mom says - it means laboratory modification using recombinant DNA technology to insert genes into an organism that has no business having them. With selective breeding, we just kind of speed up the natural selection process, but with recombinant DNA technology we can give organisms traits they would never have developed in a million years. Maybe we should have called them "Genetically Engineered Organisms" instead. But that probably would have scared the public, and we can't have that!!

It's kind of like how the word "organic" has come to mean "without the use of man-made chemicals." Really, it started out just meaning anything that contains carbon atoms in its molecules. In that sense, ALL living things are organic, whether they have been sprayed with pesticides, genetically engineered, or whatever. But we all know what we mean when we say something is organic.

I know you said you're against the Monsanto Monster, but just for the fun of it, let me say some things about that *cough* company, in case anybody reading this isn't familiar with the story. What they've done (besides creating Agent Orange and DDT) is create GM crops that are very resistant to the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate), meaning that farmers can spray tons and tons of Roundup (sold by guess who?) on their crops (instead of tilling their fields) to kill every last weed without worrying about hurting their crop. What's more, they've patented their seeds, which means that the farmers can't save seeds from year to year - they have to buy fresh ones from Monsanto every year. Oh, and if you're a farmer whose field is even sort-of near one that uses Monsanto's GM crops, and some of those seeds waft over onto your fields in the wind (which you're kind of upset about if you're trying to be Organic), not only does Monsanto not get in trouble for contaminating your fields with their unwanted seeds, they get to sue you (and win!) for raising their patented crops without buying them.

Now what's happening is that because of the overuse of Roundup and cross-contamination of normal plants with those carrying Roundup resistant genes, many of the weeds are also developing a resistance to it, so even more Roundup has to be use, and the cycle continues.

And there's so much more, including Monsanto's brilliant way of getting everything they want by placing employees in key government positions and buying their way out of lawsuits. It's actually pretty incredible, and someday maybe a movie will be made out of it. For anyone that's interested, here's a good article:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-07-24/restaurants/the-monsanto-menace/

Be aware that there is a Huge difference between GMO and hybrid. Might be good to read up a bit on that to understand the difference. GMO is actually taking genetic material from one organism and inserting it into the gene of an unlike organism.

One of the biggest issues for me is that with GMO crops, they are modified to allow them to withstand huge amounts of glyphosate and other very toxic herbicides and pesticides. This is taken into the plant and therefore not just on the surface of the plant. Anything that ingests those plants is getting those chemical compounds in very toxic amounts.

Just had a new article on glyphosate problems come in this morning. Reproductive system seems to be especially affected in humans and animals alike with exposure to glyphosate. Not to mention many other ways the body is affected which has been documented and continue to be documented with more time and exposure.

I know I've said it before, but I highly recommend Sandra Steingraber's book, Living Downstream. You will get tons of enlightening information about such things as P53 gene mutations, PCBs, PCE (perchloroethylene), permethrin, petrochemicals, phenoxy herbicides, phthalates, plastics, PVC, and the Precautionary Principle - and that's just from the P section of the index. (Did I have you at "plastics"?

)

I know it sounds like a huge textbook of dry facts, but it's actually a very readable personal story about her own fight with cancer (diagnosed when she was 20) and her subsequent search for environmental causes of cancer, which led her to all sorts of revelations about all sorts of health problems that are on the rise. She's been called a "poet with a knife," and I find all of her books to be riveting reads as you get sucked in wanting to find out more, both about her personal story and about the facts she uncovers regarding chemicals in society. And she writes so beautifully!

Here is her website:

http://steingraber.com/

Here is the trailer to the documentary that was based on her book:

If we lived closer, I'd let you borrow my copy of the book!

 

[Jewelwing]

Sorry about my rant!