The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

May not have been the "best" time to do it with the extra stress of a move AND the stress of the weather becoming colder at the same time.

I do not think there is ever a *good* time to move hens from one place to another. I agree with Lacy about the yogurt. Maybe putting some of their favorite goodies in there will help the transistion as well?

I think I may lose my barred rock soon. Not illness, just obviously slowing down the older she gets. She'll be 3 in March and she's a hatchery girl. When I observe her she just seems "slow". Of course she is in the middle of molt and looked that way last year too. 3 seems young but I guess when you're a hatchery kiddo you may not last quite as long as you might have otherwise.

We'll see. Maybe I'm just observing the molt slow-down.

My older girls who will be 3 next spring have slowed down as well. I am just assuming its because they molted so hard this year. They finally came outside yesterday when it was 65. Thankfully their pin feathers are in so hopefully the feathers are ready to pop soon. Snow warning for tonight & arctic freeze on its way.

I am down to 17, of which 4 are from this year's chicks. No roosters. Health issues? well, poor Angelina, who was the one who was somehow scalped as a chick, is blind in one eye, has a crippled wing and very crooked and scanty feathers, has just developed hypermetria which is when they high step - the knee goes up to the chest and then down each step. It is indicative of brain lesions which is common in a form of mareks.

Funny thing about her - with this years molt most of her feathers came in white!

about your barred rock....I have a 6 year old hatchery ee who is doing ok. And a couple of 4 year old welsummers and astrolorps.

Everyone is in the same coop - hooray!

Sorry to hear about your injured hen. That's weird how her feathers came in a different color !! And I am hopeful my hatchery girls last longer. Between the break during the winter & the FF I am hopeful they have many more years to lay.

 

[armorfirelady]

Well I found the lungs !!!

He weighed 3 pounds 3 ounces after he was cleaned up

not much there after cooking but he was very tasty. I don't care for brown meat & my Mom wont take it so the hens will have a nice feast on the carcass & wings & legs after work.

He certainly looked bigger in real life. He was very tall. I am guessing he would of needed a few more months of growing out to give us some more breast meat.

At least I know I can cull if I need to now

 

[lalaland]

I was wanting to find something scientific about why hens cackle after laying. This article does not address that question, but it's pretty good general information about chicken behavior.

http://www.extension.org/pages/6617...mall-and-backyard-poultry-flocks#.VGNDob6przI

mlowen, that was really interesting! I didn't know some of the stuff in the article - really enjoyed it. thanks for posting it!

 

[Lacy Blues]

not much there after cooking but he was very tasty. I don't care for brown meat & my Mom wont take it so the hens will have a nice feast on the carcass & wings & legs after work.

He certainly looked bigger in real life. He was very tall. I am guessing he would of needed a few more months of growing out to give us some more breast meat.

At least I know I can cull if I need to now

You might try his brown meat. It will be TOTALLY different than your store bought birds.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I have a english black orp who stopped laying for the winter. Her replacement has been ordered.

This is just her first year, right? Just curious - do you plan on making stewing hens at the end of every couple years with yours and doing replacements?


On the hatchery BR...I will be interested to see how she does. I only have ONE BIRD laying at this point and only about every other day. The pullets haven't started yet. Late starters in my opinion as my other birds of this breed started at about 21 weeks and these area already 26. But is is fall/winter and the others were that age in the spring.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Okay boys and girls. I feel like I'm running a CAFO here. I HATE that these birds are in the barn without current access to outside. I plan on having them wait at least until the weekend before letting them go out. And by then we may be covered w/snow and they may not WANT to go out.

I'm waiting till the weekend as I want them to be confined long enough to know where the new residence is. And that may not be long enough. I guess we'll see.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

This is just her first year, right?  Just curious - do you plan on making stewing hens at the end of every couple years with yours and doing replacements?


On the hatchery BR...I will be interested to see how she does.  I only have ONE BIRD laying at this point and only about every other day.  The pullets haven't started yet.  Late starters in my opinion as my other birds of this breed started at about 21 weeks and these area already 26.  But is is fall/winter and the others were that age in the spring.

No, not exactly. To be honest, I'm not sure what my long term plans are. I just know I've got a hen who is twice as big as everyone else and I don't need her... This is more of a flock evolution in progress.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Now that I think about it, I haven't read much about long-term flock planning and management. I'll have to look for some articles.

Does anyone want to share their methods?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Now that I think about it, I haven't read much about long-term flock planning and management. I'll have to look for some articles.

Does anyone want to share their methods?

I think that people like @aoxa and @delisha and @SallyinIndiana and @MumsyII and @ki4got would all be helpful in answering that. And some others that I'm not thinking of at this minute. I'm hoping some of them will comment on this!



@hoosiercheetah
Have you read Harvey Ussery's book? It's worth buying. He has a lot of the articles here that are very interesting: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Poultry.html

Scroll down the bottom of the page for the articles list.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Thanks for the info; I'll follow it up!