The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

I lost Sophie last week. I'm sure it was because she was internally laying. She was acting fine but it was hard to tell if she was puffed out or not since it was so cold lately. She was in the nearing box at night & the next morning dead. I didn't do a necropsy because of my work schedule. I sure hope one of my pullets lays a dark egg now.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Just got an email notification that Premier is offering 10% off all their electric netting on Dec. 15 & 15 only. YOU NEED TO H AVE A CODE so if you're interested, PM me and I'll give you the information.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I got that same email. But I was not as nice, I just deleted it instead of thinking to share.

 

[lalaland]

AFL, sorry to hear about sophie. ALways sad news.

I found out today that my flock will not eat whole cranberries, and I wasted a whole pound on them!. Next time will grind them up and add to feed .

The 5 new hens that are point of lay are doing great with the regular flock. This wass the absolute easiest flock integration I have ever had - I kept the flock in the coop and let the new girls explore the run. Some of the new girls look similiar in coloring to the current flock, so when I finally let the flock out of the coop - there were some surprised hens, a little bit of squabbilng, and presto! I have to say i think helpful factors were the larger number of new hens (5!), the similarity in coloring for some of them, and the new hens feeling pretty comfortable in the run before being faced with strangers.

Everyone seems healthy...I am continuing to do as much immune boosting as I can possible do, due to the mareks death earlier this fall. I know they are much more susceptible to anything that they could have normally thrown off, and I know to be realistic I will likely see some losses in the upcoming year. But after getting through these past weeks I am feeling much more hopeful.

It was an astonishing 48 degrees today! Snow has nearly melted and there is alots of bare ground and mud. yuck

 

[Leahs Mom]

When I had my molt girl inside, she would eat the cranberries like they were candy. It was really surprising to me. She almost acted like they were raw meat. Maybe there was a nutrient that she was craving...

 

[lazy gardener]

I ground up all the berries that were not good enough to make it into the cranberry sauce... along with the pumpkin guts and cooked skins. Mixed that slurry with the girls pellets and they had a feeding frenzy over them.

 

[Lacy Blues]

My girls LOVE cranberries. I have a nice real fast chopper that I send them through and then mix into their fermented feed.

 

[konachicks]

My girls LOVE cranberries.  I have a nice real fast chopper that I send them through and then mix into their fermented feed.

My girls love when I fermented their chick feed but for some reason their grower feed keeps getting mold. Same process, storing/stiring etc. any idea why? Always covered with water too

 

[Leahs Mom]

I've heard some people say that they had problems with certain brands and when they switched to a different brand of feed, they quit having problems. You might want to try a different brand and see if that clears it up for you. I know there were 2 different brands that were mentioned that folks had trouble with that were sold in different parts of the country.

It might be as simple as that.

 

[Lacy Blues]

What kind of mold? Reportedly white mold is ok.

If it were me and depending on how long it takes you to get through your batch, I would make less. I use up almost all of my feed that has been fermented morning and evening. I have a bucket for each. Each day, I add new feed and though it doesn't ferment for more than 24 hours, they gobble it up. I always wipe the sides of my bucket when adding water to the new feed. I don't let any feed stay stuck and built up on the sides but wipe it down into the feed.

I have two plastic lids from pies bought at the store that fit my buckets perfectly. They don't seal the air out but just keep anything else from getting into the bucket (including my dogs).

Oh, and I don't cover with water. I'd have soup if I did that.