The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[subhanalah]

thanks everyone.  I'm still miserable.  watched the videos.  have them separated out which is pretty difficult in my small open floor plan house with only two interior doors. heading to hardware store to get eyehooks to lock doors with as the doors are really pocket doors and slide, and lucy can open them no matter what I wedge underneath.  spoke to a cat behavorist (who knew there was such a thing).  am taking both in for vet exam (oh the unplanned expenses) wed to see if underlying medical issues - apparently an ill cat can provoke the same kind of survival behavior you see in chickens when they beat up ill hens!

I'm so glad you were able to find a specialist to talk to! Who would have thought to take them to the vet!?

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote:
I haven't tried them but I bet the stuffed ones look wonderful.... a nice cream cheese/cheddar/garlic stuffed inside and arranged on a plate. Sounds good and pretty too!

Thanks for the info !!!

thanks everyone. I'm still miserable. watched the videos. have them separated out which is pretty difficult in my small open floor plan house with only two interior doors. heading to hardware store to get eyehooks to lock doors with as the doors are really pocket doors and slide, and lucy can open them no matter what I wedge underneath. spoke to a cat behavorist (who knew there was such a thing). am taking both in for vet exam (oh the unplanned expenses) wed to see if underlying medical issues - apparently an ill cat can provoke the same kind of survival behavior you see in chickens when they beat up ill hens!

Fingers crossed its something easy. And yes my cats are the same way. They can open and cupboard or door they want. I had to put child proof locks on my dresser drawers because I would I always find it open with a cat napping inside

 

[lazy gardener]

off topic sort of! I can't get out to the chickens this morning because of world war xxxx in my house. I have two rescue cats who have lived here in harmony for about 15 months. both about 18 months old. THey spend much of their time on the screened porch.

Last night there was a ruckus and lucy came flying after mia in full attack mode. I think lucy got startled and is now in a fear agression pattern - its awful. she is so scared you can smell the fear, and she has been growling and fighting since 9 pm last night.

Mia just ignores her growling and when lucy attacks, mia runs. they run faster than me, so I can't see if there are actual physical encounters.

Kept lucy locked in bedroom with me, she was restless. In the morning, I got mia to play with her paws under the door and when I opened the door a crack, they sniffed and mia licked lucy's head. all ok for 5 minutes until mia came into the room from another direction, and lucy again decided she was an intruder and attacked.

this is awful. googled it and seems in most cases you have to rehome a cat. you can try keeping in visual contact, just like chickens, with barrier separating, and after WEEKS try physical contact.

It is less than 24 hours and I'm a wreck. Lucy is crying in the wire cage (chicken cage!!) and wants out. I've never heard of this and i'm miserable. lucy is miserable, she was so scared with mia that she peed and pooped while running after her.

So sorry for your difficulty. Regardless of what started this impasse, you've got a difficult problem on your hands. You may be dealing with misplaced aggression: when an animal has a sudden stressor, perhaps in this case, something as simple as a Tom cat or dog passing through their yard. Because they can't take out their aggression on the stressor, they take it out on the nearest living thing. And it becomes a set pattern. There is a product on the market called Feliway, which is a cat pheromone associated with calming, contented behavior in cats. It can be used as a spray, or as a plug in similar to the Glade room fresheners. I don't know how effective it is, but it may help you out. You might need to keep the cats in separate rooms for a while, then after they've calmed down, (several days at least) the next step would be to allow each cat into space that the other cat has occupied, but the other cat is not present. Or perhaps bring a blanket that Lucy has slept on into the room that Mia is staying in. (and vice versa) When you do this, be sure to give each cat a special treat and lots of loving when presented with the scent of the other cat. The next step would be to allow them to see each other but be separated by a barrier that they couldn't reach through, and again give them treats in each other's presence. Finally, you do supervised small visits in the same room, again with treats so they associate being in each other's presence with good things. If all else fails, you may need to re-home one of them. Life is too short to allow pet drama to keep your home in a state of turmoil.

I've tried a search, but I'm not having much luck, so I'm asking here. I processed 7 RIR hens today that were given to me by a friend. The hens were 2 years old and, if laying at all, were laying soft shell eggs. I've had them about 5-6 weeks and they've been free ranging the entire time. I did/do have some chicks/poults in the barn with them, but the babies are in a grow out pen in a closed stall and the hens were in and out of the barn, not the stall until about the last week (only poults in the stall during this time) when they figured out how to get in. Wings were clipped,. so no flying.

Anyway, 2 of the hens had a yellow fluid filling the body cavity. There were free floating bits of fat in the fluid. The fat looked almost curdled. The liver looked fine, heart normal but not firm like in other birds I've processed. The intestines had small nodules all over the outside, about the size of the head of a pin. They covered almost everything. There were undeveloped eggs, but all very small. Some were a clear, green tinged color, which I hadn't noticed in the other hens. The other hens had many eggs of different sizes. All 7 hens acted normal. Although, I did see one hen "breed" another the other day. I thought that was a bit strange. All the hens were eating, running around and being chickens. Any thoughts on what this might be? These chickens were for dog food, but I wasn't comfortable feeding those 2 to my dogs. Maybe if it was cooked, but not raw, so I tossed them. One other hen had nodules on her intestines, but no fluid or curdled looking fat. Thanks!

I think you're describing egg yolk peritonitis. Hens will mount and tread each other, especially in the absence of a rooster as a dominance act.

it probably is in your yard it is generally considered a weed...i looks like a flat green flower , they leaves are about an inch wide and pedal shaped ...the whole plant is usually about 4 to 6 inches across ..

Plantain looks different in different parts of the country. Our plantain leaves can be up to 3 or more inches across. I've heard that the young leaves are edible, having a somewhat asparagus flavor. However, i don't know where i heard it, and certainly don't want to suggest that someone run out and have a plantain salad without thoroughly doing their homework on the subject!!!!!

 

[misbhaven]

I didn't suggest eating Plaintain either!! my chickens do though ... i have some of the bigger ones in my yard too but the stems turn colors etc to make the salve the all green plants work best..

back to the salve those old jar candle warmers work great for the fast method..basically a low heat heating plate..
another good salve is dandelion salve ..works on mild pain like a stiff neck etc..

I have combined plantain,dandelions and Organic Calendula flowers I got those off Ebay pretty cheap
http://montanahomesteader.com/make-dandelion-salve/

"Calendula has a long history of use as a wound-healing and skin-soothing botanical. This lovely marigoldlike flower (although called pot marigold, it is not a true marigold) is considered a vulnerary agent, a substance that promotes healing. Calendula also has anti-inflammatory and weak antimicrobial activity. It is most often used topically for lacerations, abrasions, and skin infections; less commonly, it is used internally to heal inflamed and infected mucous membranes."
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wel...herbal-remedies/calendula-herbal-remedies.htm

 

[armorfirelady]

I didn't suggest eating Plaintain either!! my chickens do though ... i have some of the bigger ones in my yard too but the stems turn colors etc to make the salve the all green plants work best..

back to the salve those old jar candle warmers work great for the fast method..basically a low heat heating plate..
another good salve is dandelion salve ..works on mild pain like a stiff neck etc..

I have combined plantain,dandelions and Organic Calendula flowers I got those off Ebay pretty cheap
http://montanahomesteader.com/make-dandelion-salve/

"Calendula has a long history of use as a wound-healing and skin-soothing botanical. This lovely marigoldlike flower (although called pot marigold, it is not a true marigold) is considered a vulnerary agent, a substance that promotes healing. Calendula also has anti-inflammatory and weak antimicrobial activity. It is most often used topically for lacerations, abrasions, and skin infections; less commonly, it is used internally to heal inflamed and infected mucous membranes."
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wel...herbal-remedies/calendula-herbal-remedies.htm

Thanks for the info. I def have enough achy joints with my arthritis & am always looking for natural ways to combat it. And when the ingredients are free in my yard it makes it even better

 

[armorfirelady]

So I just got home from work & thank goodness I walked into back yard before letting the dogs out. 2 little black chicks were in the backyard!! Apparently the little stinkers can go they the electric netting without getting shocked. I scooted them back in and watched them step on the wire. Those little stinkers better start growing faster so they stay inside

 

[Sally8]

anybody else have rabbits beside me sounds gross but rabbit droppings contain high levels of b vitamins and the chickens actually eat the rabbit poop...so the get their vitamins naturally even if kinda gross but  bonus clean under the rabbit cages..

This is all so gross and wasn't going to mention it but our back yard is fenced in to dogs and chickens (about a half acre or so). I never notice dog poop or chicken poop. The chickens apparently eat after the dogs and the dogs eat after the chickens. Ewwwwwwww.

 

[lazy gardener]

Ultimate recycling! Totally gross, unless you happen to be a dog or a chicken! The thing that gets me is how a dog will throw himself up in the air, and land on his shoulder on a pile of smelly poo, and grind it into his fur! The ultimate canine cologne! Or how they'll go running full tilt, and dive into a pile of manure... yummy!

 

[subhanalah]

I like the fact that the animals help manage each other's poop...better in than out I say lol.

 

[Sally8]

He is my best friend. At least one video a day but most days 2! He kept them fed and brought them watermelon & corn on the cob, they love when he watches them. And everyday day a funny report on progress of the chicks. He has been dubbed Korn King when he watches them

. He even bought a plastic owl for them when he saw the hawks one day. My crows flew the nest before we left.
They are stinking cute !!!! I finally got to hold one today


@Sally8 thanks again for letting me experience the babies. It's going to be so hard to give them up. If that grey one is a pullet I might just keep her

Your friend did indeed seem extremely nice. I wonder why I ever incubate chicks when it is so easy letting Mom's do it. Here are sister hens to yours with their babies, cousins to yours (I think) They both sat on the eggs the whole time. Just like yours, some are pure BCM and some
are EE or OE. I know why I incubate. You all post pic of your chicks hatching in incubators in January and I pull my incubator out!!!! Not my fault!!!!!





This pic is Edy's Sister. She has 3 chicks under her but hasn't brought them out yet. She's a nasty hen when you approach her with a hand outstretched.



This is Twisted Sister who actually started with the first 2. 3 in a nest is 1 too many. She is my EE and got her name for killing her chicks the first 2 years. she is a very protective Mom of 7. Some are BCM and some should be olive eggers.



This last pic is what you get when the nest is high jacked. I named him/her Jacob because of the beard (s)he is sporting.