The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SallyinIndiana]

In non chicken news, I now have 2 kids ~ soon to be does in a couple of months. One is black the other is brown. They are of great stock and the owners also raise meat rabbits.

 

[bobbilynn66]

Hi all,
I've been lurking here for awhile now and I've just gotta say I love this thread ! Im a total chicken newbie and I've learned so much from you all! So thank you everyone !

And now I have a silly question ... One of my pullets has just started laying (yay!). One of my other chickens who I'm pretty sure is also a pullet seems to try and mate her occaisionally- at least that's what it looks like from descriptions I've read. Do hens do this sometimes or is my pullet really a cockerel ? Here is a picture of her

 

[Sally8]

Yes I certainly am. Little grey is not so grey anymore. New feathers are coming in black. And her comb is pinked up I've got them for a couple more weeks. My mom went on vacation and I promised I wouldn't rehome them until she got back. The guy taking them doesn't care. He just got 15 day olds Friday. He wants to give me eggs to hatch for him. I told him if he gets a broody hen next spring he won't need my girls to do it lol

I want to zip tie the ones I think are boys and see if I got them sexed right. I think my chances of grey being a girl are slim. Guess I need to look at Edie's pics at the same age and see if she looks the same.

@Sally8 grey came out of the blue egg, so she will be an EE. But I'm curious if you got grey chicks whose new feathers came in black. I'm really curious to see what she feathers out as. And I noticed today she has grey feathered legs now. She certainly didn't have them before now. It's fun to see how much they change. Of course the black one with the white tux breast is adorable as well

Usually the grays' neck and head feathers turn dark and the rest stay gray. I have a lot of grays this year. I'll try to take pics tomorrow. My son has my computer but I'll try with this iPad.

 

[lalaland]

Hi all,
I've been lurking here for awhile now and I've just gotta say I love this thread ! Im a total chicken newbie and I've learned so much from you all! So thank you everyone !

And now I have a silly question ... One of my pullets has just started laying (yay!). One of my other chickens who I'm pretty sure is also a pullet seems to try and mate her occaisionally- at least that's what it looks like from descriptions I've read. Do hens do this sometimes or is my pullet really a cockerel ? Here is a picture of her

She looks like a pullet to me, but now and then you get one that fools everyone. Is she crowing? Hens do occasionally exhibit mating behavior, kind of a dominance thing.
You will probably just have to wait til she lays an egg or crows....looks nice and healthy!

Welcome to byc and the thread, and congrats on your first post!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Hi all,
I've been lurking here for awhile now and I've just gotta say I love this thread ! Im a total chicken newbie and I've learned so much from you all! So thank you everyone !

And now I have a silly question ... One of my pullets has just started laying (yay!). One of my other chickens who I'm pretty sure is also a pullet seems to try and mate her occaisionally- at least that's what it looks like from descriptions I've read. Do hens do this sometimes or is my pullet really a cockerel ? Here is a picture of her

is it a black star chicken, if so it has the color pattern for a hen.

 

[lazy gardener]

Welcome BobbiLynne. Don't be shy about posting. It's what keeps the conversation flowing. No conversation = dull threads, and no learning potential for any of us!

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

Shan30 - If you chick hatches, and you see they have splayed legs, get a thin band-aid, and wrap one end of the sticky side to one leg, and then bring the other leg close (like in a standing position), and tape the other leg. I had a chick from last year's hatch, that had splayed legs & feet. Unfortunately with that little one, it was so bad, it passed a week later. Then a few days later, I had another chick hatch with splayed legs (feet were good). I did the same thing with the band-aids on the legs, the next morning the chick was standing straight and tall, and had taken the band-aid off itself. This chick grew up to be one of the two roosters I now have, but is the secondary rooster of the flock.

 

[subhanalah]

my favorite thing is to let things like broccoli grow after the head are harvested the deep green leaves continue to grow all summer and the rabbit love them...cabbage etc all work for this

you should avoid gassy foods like cabbage and broccoli, they get gastric problems very easily, and bloat can be deadly to rabbits.

 

[flyladyrocks]

Hi all,
I've been lurking here for awhile now and I've just gotta say I love this thread ! Im a total chicken newbie and I've learned so much from you all! So thank you everyone !

And now I have a silly question ... One of my pullets has just started laying (yay!). One of my other chickens who I'm pretty sure is also a pullet seems to try and mate her occaisionally- at least that's what it looks like from descriptions I've read. Do hens do this sometimes or is my pullet really a cockerel ? Here is a picture of her

 

[misbhaven]

you should avoid gassy foods like cabbage and broccoli, they get gastric problems very easily, and bloat can be deadly to rabbits.

they don't get lots of it. mine get mainly plain pellets..with green's here and there beets green,kale,garden weeds etc...plain old grass clippings. if they are nursing some oats and BOSS also just a little a couple times a week helps with their milk production..it is on the occasional list of foods Broccili,Cabbage not heads just the leaves are very healthy just not supposed to feed large amounts..very high in Vitamin A..
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=49434
http://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/rabbits-feeding-and-nutrition
http://www.coloradohrs.org/articles/diet_veggies_generic.asp

Occasionally chick food not on purpose i have some growing out in a pen with some Poult's and the eat the chicken food sometimes. I figure oh well those 3 are freezer bound anyway

on the up side I have 4 bantam that have started laying this week ...and I suspect one of those Cornish crosses I got a light brown single yolk egg today the size of a turkey egg on the floor of my coop never found one on the floor before ever in that coop..other suspects SLW, white rocks...but they all sit in the boxes and practice...and 2 new Broodies..The Other three failed horribly fighting over eggs 2 were just missing think they got eaten one broke open at 15-16 days..one went stinky..
hows does everyone entertain their chickens ? mine seem sometimes like they are just plain bored and that is when the teenagers as I call them (gang of 5 to 6 month old cockrels seem to misbehave usually late afternoon)...