The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lazy gardener]

I change mine when it looks like it needs to be changed, or add more material if it's getting sparse. I put a dried chopped citronella leaf in the bottom of each box, also a dusting of DE and permethrin when I completely clean them out.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@MrsHall28
This is what I do. Others will do differently so hopefully there will be lots of answers!

My main objective w/a nest box is to be sure there is not mites inhabiting it and that if any poo gets in there it is removed.

Mine don't often get poo in the nest but when they do I just scoop that out by itself.

In my nests I put down a thin layer of wood ash if I have it, followed by a layer of pine shavings, followed by a good amount of dry grass clippings that I dry and save in bags from cutting the lawn. They love making a nest in that grass! I also put in a handful of nestbox herbs that are supposed to be mite/bug repelling. (I purchase the nestbox herbs dried .....but in the summer when I have herbs growing, I'll put in whatever I have like bee balm, lemon balm, oregano, thyme, basil, lavendar, mints.)

The girls make their own nests in this.

When the nests seem to be trampled down I might fluff the grass up (maybe once every couple weeks), put in a little more grass if needed, and another handful of herbs and let them remake the nests. I've never taken it all out but would if there were a mite infestation.

When I do the "fluffing" every couple weeks, I pull back everything from the sides/back and bottom with my hand and spray down the sides, back and bottom of the nest with a home- made spray that either has the white vinegar/orange peel cleaner to which I've added a few drops of peppermint essential oil, eucalyptus oil, a cinnamon stick, some cloves and sometimes oregano oil and/or lemon grass/citronella. If I don't have the vinegar/orange peel I just use white vinegar with the essential oils and the addition of some orange oil if I have it. I particularly go out of my way to spray this into the area where the seems meet along the edges where bugs may go to hide.

The purpose of the spray is just to be mite and other bug deterring.

This seems to have worked well for me.


ETA: I don't always have ALL those essential oils around. I just use what I happen to have!

 

[armorfirelady]

I empty it when I think it needs it. When the chicks were sleeping in there I changed it more frequently. Normally I just add some shaving and wood ash once In awhile when it gets low.

 

[BlueMouse]

I have a couple that like to sleep in the nestboxes

I change the nestboxes more frequently than I would like. Wood ash, wood chips, then hay or grass clippings. Generally after a broody has hatched in a box I have to change/clean the whole thing, other than that it's about every other week. If my bantam would roost with everyone ELSE it would be every couple months or less. If it's been dry, and I keep on top of it usually I can just peel the hay/lawn clippings right off the top and the wood chips and wood ash are still clean and dry. Maybe sprinkle a bit more wood ash then, but mostly just leave it be. Gonna go clip me some herbs and put them in there now. I always mean to and forget. And I have herbs coming out my ears.

 

[Shan30]

she's eating and drinking, but not much improvement in her neck. She can hold it straight for a while, but it seems to take a lot of effort, and when she gets tired it just twists back around agian. I'm giving her lots of liver and egg, vitamin e and polyvisol w/out iron. I have brewers yeast and the nutridrench on order. Should be arriving Friday. 

How is she doing today? Any change?

 

[lazy gardener]

LM, I like your idea of vinegar and lemon/orange. Would it work with citronella? Can you refresh me on how you make yours??

 

[armorfirelady]

I was trying to come up with an idea to keep the chickens from digging up my fruit trees looking for bugs. I had fencing upright around it but it was a pain to keep pulling the tall grass and weeds. I took it down hoping the girls would leave it alone but of course they didn't

So I thought a piece of plastic fencing flat on the ground would work. The center hole is wide enough so the trunk doesn't touch it yet protects it from digging. As the trunk gets wider all I need to do is cut he hole larger. I tacked it to the grass with gutter spikes. Eventually The grass will grow over it and I can mow over it to keep it low

 

[Leahs Mom]

@lazy gardener

I posted earlier in the thread but I'll re-post here:

ORANGE CLEANER:
Okay. Here's what I do.

The basic cleaner can be found all over the internet. Here is one from Fresh Eggs Daily so you can get the idea. I DON'T MAKE IT THIS WAY...BUT THE BASICS ARE POSTED HERE:

http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2012/06/homemade-orange-peel-white-vinegar-coop.html

It was kind-of a fad last year to make the orange cleaner....not just in chicken circles but around places where folks like using something less chemical as a cleaner.

HERE'S WHAT I DO:

For the basic cleaner, I stuff as many orange peels as I can into a 1/2 gallon jar. There has to be enough space at the top to put something into the jar to push those peels totally under the vinegar as they will mold otherwise. They have to be totally submerged.

In the jar, you can put OPTIONAL ITEMS...I usually use a cinnamon stick and some whole cloves in the jar. I like the smell it adds. I DON'T worry about things like vanilla beans...WAY TOO EXPENSIVE in my opinion for a cleaner.

Pour white vinegar over all and use something to keep everything under the vinegar. I always keep half gallon jars of this steeping on top of the fridge. That way I can get out whatever I want into a sprayer when needed.

You can "make it as you go"...just put as many peels as you currently have in the jar and put in enough vinegar to cover them when pressed down tight. Keep adding peels and vinegar as you have them.

I really don't clean my chicken house so I've not used it as a cleaner out there. If I ever do I suppose I could use it.

You can see the small jar inside these jars pushing the peels down.

This is a finished batch waiting to be used.


This is the batch I just started. We're adding peels whenever we have them.




FOR MITE/LICE USE IN THE CHICKEN HOUSE
I put it in a sprayer and add a few drops of peppermint essential oil, eucalyptus essential oil, and/or lavendar essential oil. I sometimes use all of those or whatever I have around that is a mite/lice deterrent.

I use that to spray the edges of the nest boxes - only in the cracks around the edges UNDER THE NESTING MATERIAL. I do that about 1x/month or so. Also spraying it on the roost crevices.


Drying orange peels in next post.

 

[Leahs Mom]

DRYING THE ORANGE PEELS - DON'T WASTE THEM!
I am planning to do a blog post about doing this for Leigh. Still will if I ever get it together. THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS ARE COPYRIGHT...PLEASE ASK FOR PERMISSION BEFORE REPOSTING ANYWHERE.

I also took the orange peel out and sliced it into thin strips after it had steeped and put it in the dehydrator. It was a very strong vinegar smell so you might want to take your dehydrator outside! Anyhow, I sealed the dried "vinegar orange peels" into a canning jar with my vacuum sealer and also had a hand-full of those to the nests when I put in herbs.

I love that the peels and everything does not go to waste.

Here are some of the photos:
Here are the orange peels after having steeped in the vinegar. I've strained out the vinegar/orange cleaning liquid and these are leftover.




Squeezing out all the extra liquid from the peels. This gets strained and put into the sprayer with the rest of the vinegar/orange cleaner. There is a lot of liquid left in those peels and squeezing gets more out!



Then I cut them into strips.



Then I dry them in the dehydrator.



Then I seal them into jars with my vacuum sealer and store them away. I add these to the next boxes when I put in dry herbs every 3 or 4 weeks.

 

[Leahs Mom]

The original posts start here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...eeping-thread-ots-welcome/30520#post_13287436 and there was a bit of "discussion" following in the next several posts.