The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[ronott1]

It depends on what kind of meat birds they are. The meat birds that ronott1 refers to are the Cornish X Rocks. And, as he stated, they are a heavy bird, and will not do well past their intended "harvest date". However, the Freedom Ranger and the Pioneer meat birds are a slower growing meat bird which reach market weight around 12 weeks. They do well in a free range situation, and can be held over to join the layer flock. I have a Pioneer who charmed me this summer, and she avoided the axe. She's a respectable little layer. In fact, she was the first of my spring chicks to lay an egg. So, unless the employees at TSC are able to tell you exactly what those cute little meaties are, don't buy them, unless you intend to eat them.

Usually TSC gets chicks from one of the big hatcheries. Chances are very high that they will be a Cornish x rock hybrid.

Ideal has a Cornish X Rock white broilier, a black broiler and a red broiler. The white is very fast, a 6# bird in 6 weeks. The Black and red broiler are 6#s in 7 weeks. Both of the say:

Red Broilers

Red Broilers are efficient producers of broiler meat for those who do not wish to have white plumage broilers. When broiler rations are fed, producers can expect to have six pound broilers in seven weeks or less. Since Red Broilers are more active than Cornish Rocks and grow slightly slower, they rarely experience leg weakness or Ascite, which is fluid in the body cavity. Red Broiler hens are not a good choice for efficient production of brown eggs.
They are not Freedom rangers though. They take something like 12 weeks for a 6# bird.

TSC will use a different hatchery based on where it is located geographically.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Ok, I'm losing my mind here! I agree with everyone's arguments about ventilation and not providing heat for these large combed/wattled birds but I'm at my wit's end.

Overnight I had four boys, the ones with the biggest wattles (no comb problems) had very swollen wattles in the morning and the bottom halves of them are all black. By the end of the day, their throats all around and at the base of their wattles are all swollen too. The wattles are heavy I suppose because all four of them have their mouths open. It is very difficult for them to eat because their wattles hurt so much.

So I broke down and put heat in their coops. I don't want to hear any arguments please. I go through this each winter and I just can't stand it anymore. My humidity is low so it must be the slight breeze that may come up is considered a "draft?" Coops are dry, no big manure accumulations.

Does anyone have any suggestions what I can do for these poor boys? I'm going to have to bring them in to feed them since they can't eat/drink without pain.

 

[ronott1]

Ok, I'm losing my mind here! I agree with everyone's arguments about ventilation and not providing heat for these large combed/wattled birds but I'm at my wit's end.

Overnight I had four boys, the ones with the biggest wattles (no comb problems) had very swollen wattles in the morning and the bottom halves of them are all black. By the end of the day, their throats all around and at the base of their wattles are all swollen too. The wattles are heavy I suppose because all four of them have their mouths open. It is very difficult for them to eat because their wattles hurt so much.

So I broke down and put heat in their coops. I don't want to hear any arguments please. I go through this each winter and I just can't stand it anymore. My humidity is low so it must be the slight breeze that may come up is considered a "draft?" Coops are dry, no big manure accumulations.

Does anyone have any suggestions what I can do for these poor boys? I'm going to have to bring them in to feed them since they can't eat/drink without pain.

There is a Cold folks home thread. It is a social thread but they do answer chicken questions.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/921630/the-cold-folks-home/9260#post_14530947

 

[Lacy Blues]

Thank you Ron, I'll check it out.

 

[armorfirelady]

Just wanted to share picks of my little peepers. Well they are not so little anymore. I swear the one makes me so a double take every time I see her. She could be Sophies twin. I hope she lays a nice dark brown egg. The other two we refer to cheeks. Love their puffy cheeks, no idea what color egg they will lay. These guys are almost as big as the others. Stella is still the biggest tho.

 

[armorfirelady]

Ok, I'm losing my mind here!  I agree with everyone's arguments about ventilation and not providing heat for these large combed/wattled birds but I'm at my wit's end.

Overnight I had four boys, the ones with the biggest wattles (no comb problems) had very swollen wattles in the morning and the bottom halves of them are all black.  By the end of the day, their throats all around and at the base of their wattles are all swollen too.  The wattles are  heavy I suppose because all four of them have their mouths open.  It is very difficult for them to eat because their wattles hurt so much.

So I broke down and put heat in their coops.  I don't want to hear any arguments please.  I go through this each winter and I just can't stand it anymore.  My humidity is low so it must be the slight breeze that may come up is considered a "draft?"  Coops are dry, no big manure accumulations.

Does anyone have any suggestions what I can do for these poor boys?  I'm going to have to bring them in to feed them since they can't eat/drink without pain.

Sorry to hear about your Roos. I've never had to deal with large wattles here.

We have had temps in the 50s all week. I actually had to pull back some of the plastic on the coop to let more ventilation in on both ends and open the window all the way. I think for now it will stay that way till snow gets blown in. Girls crows together when it's cold at roosting time and I opened the plastic at the bottom so even if wind found its way in its below them. And their roost at opposite end of the window.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Lacy Blues

Just some thoughts....

One thing I'd check is to be sure they aren't getting their wattles in the water bowl. That'll do it every time. If you feed wet feed, same thing. If the wattles are laying on the wet feed while they eat, it will cause frostbite. Those 2 things can be at least partially alleviated by having small opening waterers and feeders that they can only get the beak in. Sometimes if they get the wattles wet, they'll shake their head and fling it all over and it will also get on the combs.


Otherwise, I think if I were in a very cold situation and was having that problem and couldn't see an obvious cause, I'd probably try a sweeter heater.


Last year I had a frostbite case after my roo boy got wattles in the wet feed. It just took one time. I did chronicle it with photos. I had read so much about the ways people treat and in almost every case, it appeared to me that they caused more damage by trying to treat it.

I decided to WAIT AND OBSERVE before treating. I watched for any signs of wetness/rotting or otherwise deteriorating.

To be noted, however, is that I removed the source of the frostbite so that it wasn't happening over and over by fixing the one feeder that allowed him to get wet wattles.

When he first got it it looked very painful- and I imagine it was by observing his behavior. I felt that touching it to put on all the possible remedies would cause a great deal of pain and didn't want to add to that. I did observe and never ended up putting anything on it. I'm glad I didn't. He healed very well.

But if he had exhibited deterioration (wetness, oozing, etc.), I would have brought him into a warmer area...but NOT put him in and out and in and out. It would be in for healing, then re-acclimating once it got consistently mild enough. That was another thing I would read about people bringing them in then putting them back out way too quickly - over and over again. It certainly caused more damage to the birds.

I know 3 other folks that did the same as me whose birds had MUCH WORSE frostbite on wattles and combs that also waited to treat until they saw deterioration. None of them had to . Maybe they'll stop in and share their experiences.

I took a progression of photos. This is just 3 of them beginning with the day he got it. (I have many more with dates and both side profiles and front facing.) But just wanted to put this in as a visual synopsis. Temperatures were pretty consistent throughout the period of single digits to low teens at the highest.

Day he got it.


2 weeks later.



A month later.

 

[armorfirelady]

Leah's mom he looks like he a pernament mad look on his face lol

 

[Wasson6Pack]

I know about fermented feed, but we feed is what just adding a liquid to dry feed and feeding it right away or waiting a bit first?

 

[Lacy Blues]

Thank you LM. My boys have the same color and more of it. Their wattles are also very very swollen. The only pictures I've seen that come close are pictures of coryza but it's not that. There are no respiratory issues at all and it happens overnight.

One bantam male has it on one wattle (the side facing the coop door) which I have subsequently closed.

I will try try to get pictures tomorrow and I can promise you, they will make you cringe.

The feed pans might be an issue with some of them but the one that is the worst has a feed pan only about 3" wide, maybe a little more. When I've watched him eat, his wattles would still be outside the dish so not laying in the ff. Maybe I can get a narrower dish for them anyway and see if it helps.

Tomorrow though, I think I'm going to be bringing roosters in the house to feed them and get some moisture to them. They'll go back out and depending on the temperature and any wind, I may or may not keep their coops closed.