The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

I guess I should state too, that the ice forming at the top ISN'T SOLID. It's just around the glass edge and the center of it is open. It's like a ring of slush up there around the open water in the middle.

 

[Lacy Blues]

We don't have any snow though.

I got the last of the waterers set up. I have to put a wire on them to hold them where they are. Sometimes my dorky birds paw at them and knock them over. It doesn't help much in keeping their coops dry so I wire them with a loop of wire that slips over the top to hold them in place.

I'll have to start buying some of those heated small bowls like that whenever I see them on sale.

Got my boys all fed this morning. The last one was so funny when I put him back in his pen. You know how when you have new hatchlings and they start falling asleep with their beaks touching the floor? That's what this guy was doing. His beak was almost in the shavings and then he would sort of wake up and do it all over again. I hope he lays down and has a nice nap in those shavings. It will do him some good.

I figured out the best way to feed them. I started out trying to open their beaks enough for me to slip some food in there and most of the time it would work but a lot of the time they really didn't want me messing with their beaks. So...

I started my gently grabbing the fronts of their comb and just lifting up. They would open their mouths nice and wide and I would have the food ready to pop in there, let go of the comb and let them swallow. I'm still feeding ff and I have a popsicle stick that I get about a half teaspoon at a time on the end. It's nice and wet so it will stay on the stick and also make it so he doesn't need to drink a lot of water afterward. Anyway, I take the loaded popsicle stick and just swipe it on the corner of their mouth to deposit the food. They each ate about 1/2 cup of food and I know this is not really enough to sustain a big rooster but it will keep his body functioning while he heals up and eventually can eat on his own. I will have to do it again tonight. OH JOY, but it's for my birds and I'm willing to take the time for a while to take extra care for them since I know it is needed and I also know it is temporary.

 

[mlowen]

I figured out the best way to feed them.  I started out trying to open their beaks enough for me to slip some food in there and most of the time it would work but a lot of the time they really didn't want me messing with their beaks.  So...

I take the loaded popsicle stick and just swipe it on the corner of their mouth to deposit the food.  They each ate about 1/2 cup of food and I know this is not really enough to sustain a big rooster but it will keep his body functioning while he heals up and eventually can eat on his own.  I will have to do it again tonight.  OH JOY, but it's for my birds and I'm willing to take the time for a while to take extra care for them since I know it is needed and I also know it is temporary.

I'm so glad they are doing better and very impressed with your determination to stick with them and your brilliant feeding technique!

 

[mlowen]

Sometimes the iPad does the quote thing right and sometimes it doesn't. No idea if I'm part of the cause, or if it's just "magic."

 

[lazy gardener]

I don't know if this will help those of you dealing with pendulous wattles in this frigid weather, But, I've put a gallon milk jug full of water in my 5 qt. heated dog bowl. this creates a moat of water around the jug that is about 2" wide. As the girls drink the water down, I pour more water out of the jug to keep the water in the moat up towards the rim of the bowl. The flock gets FF, so even with 16 birds, they don't drink that much water in the course of the day.

 

[Lacy Blues]

That is a good idea too! Thanks.

 

[lalaland]

lacy I might try your trick of pulling on the comb....poor little angelina didn't make it into the coop tonight. It was dark when I got home and I found her snuggled in the hay under the coop. Her crop was empty. Brought h er inside to take a look

got a teeny bit of water down her and she rejected food. Smushed a little in her beak...poor baby is pretty weak and tottery. Hope it isn't a mareks thing.

I am kind of sorry I brought her in because there is noise here and she was so peaceful in the hay. But it is high windchill, below zero temps, and I have weasels.

good luck with the roosters.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I would get some pellets of whatever she normally eats. Make it with warm water to help warm her up. If you have a popsicle stick, they're real handy and smooth enough that they won't leave splinters.

I just hold the boys on my lap with one arm across their back, use that hand to lift the comb and your dominant hand to put food in. Good luck.

Just put her someplace dark and quiet when you've gotten some food into her. Maybe in a box or basket that has air holes and drape a towel or blanket over. Leave one end open for exchange of air.

It doesn't sound like mareks. It's likely the wind chill. You've heard how people who are dying in the snow lay down to rest and find they they are really quite warm after all, haven't you?

 

[COChix]

I don't know if this will help those of you dealing with pendulous wattles in this frigid weather, But, I've put a gallon milk jug full of water in my 5 qt. heated dog bowl.  this creates a moat of water around the jug that is about 2" wide.  As the girls drink the water down, I pour more water out of the jug to keep the water in the moat up towards the rim of the bowl.  The flock gets FF, so even with 16 birds, they don't drink that much water in the course of the day.

Here is what I ended up with but don't think it will work long term, was already freezing at -1. Will try your suggestion next or maybe a glass jar like shown earlier.

I started reading this and found it fascinating and figured no better place than here to share.

https://archive.org/details/openairpoultryho00wood

I am sure some of you have already read or heard about open air poultry houses, this is an old school book all about that very subject. I would love to try and build a coop like shown in the book.

Hope the link works. I did check the gang about and hour ago as it was -12 here, the coop was 14 and we had 16% humidity. So no light for tonight as the coop should stay above 0.

 

[lalaland]

I would get some pellets of whatever she normally eats. Make it with warm water to help warm her up. If you have a popsicle stick, they're real handy and smooth enough that they won't leave splinters.

I just hold the boys on my lap with one arm across their back, use that hand to lift the comb and your dominant hand to put food in. Good luck.

Just put her someplace dark and quiet when you've gotten some food into her. Maybe in a box or basket that has air holes and drape a towel or blanket over. Leave one end open for exchange of air.

It doesn't sound like mareks. It's likely the wind chill. You've heard how people who are dying in the snow lay down to rest and find they they are really quite warm after all, haven't you?

yeah, I say mareks just because often a bird exposed to mareks will succumb to something else because their immune system is overwhelmed with the mareks. And watching her this morning, well she has the muscular issues mareks has - and she won't swallow. Poor baby. I know I could force feed her by tubing even with food her prognosis is so poor I hate to put her (and me) thru that. Although her crop was empty yesterday, she had two totally normal droppings overnight but again, no luck with food this morning. She just let it fall out of her beak, ditto with liquid.