The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Good morning all. Hope you all are keeping warm. It was -14 here this morning when I got up. That's before the windchill. I think I prefer the 2 ft of snow we got the other day over these arctic temps.

I peeked in quick on the girls before I left and everyone was roosting still. We haven't had any frost bite problems tho.

Edie (EE) has had an almost white comb when the temps get frigid at night so I have been stuffing her between 2 of the other girls to help her keep warm. She normally roosts next to Stella with no one on her other side. So far so good.

My Mom wants me to put heat in the coop but I refuse. We get frequent power outages so if we lost power they would lose their heat. I did put a bale of hay in the coop & old run last week. The girls like to bed down in it during the day. And thankfully even with the cold temps the sun has been shining during the day so the girls enjoy sun bathing in the coop. The girls leave the coop long enough to go to the old run. Tho the peepers will venture out more often. I have been taking old fashioned oats & adding some water & heating it in the microwave. They seem to enjoy the warm treat.

 

[COChix]

Good morning all.  Hope you all are keeping warm.  It was -14 here this morning when I got up.  That's before the windchill. I think I prefer the 2 ft of snow we got the other day over these arctic temps. 

I peeked in quick on the girls before I left and everyone was roosting still.  We haven't had any frost bite problems tho.  

Edie (EE) has had an almost white comb when the temps get frigid at night so I have been stuffing her between 2 of the other girls to help her keep warm.  She normally roosts next to Stella with no one on her other side. So far so good.  

My Mom wants me to put heat in the coop but I refuse.  We get frequent power outages so if we lost power they would lose their heat.   I did put a bale of hay in the coop & old run last week.  The girls like to bed down in it during the day.  And thankfully even with the cold temps the sun has been shining during the day so the girls enjoy sun bathing in the coop.   The girls leave the coop long enough to go to the old run.  Tho the peepers will venture out more often.  I have been taking old fashioned oats & adding some water & heating it in the microwave.  They seem to enjoy the warm treat.

Brrr sounds chilly and like you I prefer the snow to the artic temps. Our girls like to bed down in fresh straw as well. I am picking up six bales today so I can refresh their bedding and add more to their run. Hope you all stay warm!

Does anyone on here use Sweet PDZ in their coop?

Also check out this video of Karl Hammer of Vermont compost. He got started back in the 90's and he had a radical idea to have his chickens work their compost piles. They have done it and when they started they were feeding no other grains to the chickens. They literally eat from the piles. This is something we are working towards with our compost business.

http://permaculturenews.org/2013/12/06/grow-chickens-without-buying-grain-feeding-compost/

 

[ronott1]

Brrr sounds chilly and like you I prefer the snow to the artic temps. Our girls like to bed down in fresh straw as well. I am picking up six bales today so I can refresh their bedding and add more to their run. Hope you all stay warm!

Does anyone on here use Sweet PDZ in their coop?

Also check out this video of Karl Hammer of Vermont compost. He got started back in the 90's and he had a radical idea to have his chickens work their compost piles. They have done it and when they started they were feeding no other grains to the chickens. They literally eat from the piles. This is something we are working towards with our compost business.

http://permaculturenews.org/2013/12/06/grow-chickens-without-buying-grain-feeding-compost/

I use it in my rooster cages and the chick brooders. It helps quite a bit.

 

[lalaland]

I feel for you AFL. Yesterday it was -28 outside in the morning, and that doesn't count windchill which is unspeakable. The girls were miserable, really didn' t want to move and really didn't want to eat. Thankfully, it warmed up by late afternoon to above zero, and today it was 4 above zero this morning.

They all think they are in Jamaica now with the warmth - it is a whip...running around, scratching, being normal. I haven't fed them this morning because I want them to clean up all the feed that has spilled and the extra scratch I tossed yesterday before leaving for work, hoping to give them something to do and to raise their body temp.

 

[COChix]

I use it in my rooster cages and the chick brooders. It helps quite a bit.

Thanks, picked some up yesterday. I am thinking we need to add a small gutter off one side of the chicken coop. Have noticed some moisture building along the wall during our recent snow melt. Humidity in the coop last night got up to 45%, should I be concerned with that level? Got to do some more detective work to see if that is the issue. Thus I grabbed the PDZ to put down along that wall until we have nice enough weather to address and assess the issue.

 

[armorfirelady]

I feel for you AFL. Yesterday it was -28 outside in the morning, and that doesn't count windchill which is unspeakable. The girls were miserable, really didn' t want to move and really didn't want to eat. Thankfully, it warmed up by late afternoon to above zero, and today it was 4 above zero this morning.

Lala I always think of you when we gets these arctic temps. No offense but you can keep them in MN

 

[NanaLynn]

there is a video on youtube called backtoeden ,

this guy used only mulch for his garden and never waters. he has about 35 chickens for eggs and to top dress his garden. we did something similar when we lived in Miami, fla and covered our front yard with 2 ft of mulch, free from tree trimmers, and grew beautiful native bushes and did not have to mow. am now going to try this on our veggie garden and have contacted a tree trimmer who is more than happy to drop loads off for us. tired of pulling weeds, and the hens are picky about what weeds they prefer=of course their preference is my kale and other greens.

I saw that awhile back and got the idea to compost right in the chicken run. It's been working great, I throw all the scraps in the run and the chickens work it right down with all of our leaves that we toss in too. I can't wait until the spring when I can shovel out some of that compost. I broke up my separate compost bins and only use they're run now. I also threw in a pickup truck load of wood chips too.

We put wood chips all over our flower garden beds and veggie beds too and they've been growing well since. That video does have some great ideas. I had no weed problems in my garden last season.

We can get wood chips for $10 a pickup truck load from our city yard waste office.

 

[vpatt]

I watched that video and love the idea! I am going to start my compost soon......well I actually have started some in the the small tumbler and have some under a tarp. But I will probably just add that to a compost heap on the ground. The only thing better would be if we could just pile everything on the garden in the winter....but the garden is too close to the road to do that. I am going to make leaf mold too.

 

[COChix]

I love that story. I wish more would use the chicken method.  I know my hens love having access to the compost pile during the warmer months. 
Lala I always think of you when we gets these arctic temps.  No offense but you can keep them in MN 

Yes I saw this about 6 months ago and loved it. It has become a big focus for me with the chickens and it seemed only logical to combine them into my BF compost business. We have four different piles of compost and four tumblers full. We get some manure delivery from some farmer friends down the road and we then build our piles along with all the produce we get. Our chickens eat pretty darn well, especially In the summers. The winters it is more slim pickins on the greens. Not sure if I will get my fodder project up and running before my surgery. I am working on getting the waterers set up (I have the parts on order). I have a couple different feeders picked out that I like, have to show BF and he will build them.

I saw that awhile back and got the idea to compost right in the chicken run. It's been working great, I throw all the scraps in the run and the chickens work it right down with all of our leaves that we toss in too. I can't wait until the spring when I can shovel out some of that compost. I broke up my separate compost bins and only use they're run now. I also threw in a pickup truck load of wood chips too.

We put wood chips all over our flower garden beds and veggie beds too and they've been growing well since. That video does have some great ideas. I had no weed problems in my garden last season.

We can get wood chips for $10 a pickup truck load from our city yard waste office.

Nice, I like what your doing. Never thought about seeing if we can get wood chips delivered and that is cheap. Funny everyone is so freaked about what to feed their chickens and if they should feed this or that. I can tell you from watching them, they do select items out of the compost pile that they like and can eat. They don't eat things like orange rinds and other such things. I am less and less concerned about that aspect of chickens.

I watched that video and love the idea! I am going to start my compost soon......well I actually have started some in the the small tumbler and have some under a tarp. But I will probably just add that to a compost heap on the ground. The only thing better would be if we could just pile everything on the garden in the winter....but the garden is too close to the road to do that. I am going to make leaf mold too.

Nice, glad you enjoyed the video. Funny I don't tell everyone about it, not everyone is open to this idea. Figured this was the perfect thread.

Spent the day cleaning out the gangs coops, nest boxes and run. Put a nice bottom layer of Sweet PDZ and DE on the coop floor and then added 1 1/2 bales into the main coop and nest boxes. Added the other 1 1/2 bales to their run and second small coop and nest boxes. Boy did we have a happy flock, lots of sweet noises coming from them while they scratched away. Instead of composting their old bedding from the coops and nest boxes, I covered a good portion of ground around the outside of the coop and just outside the run. Nice to have a larger area covered by straw instead of mud. After doing those changes in the coop the humidity dropped from 41% to 35% so I felt like that should help with the humidity level. Now I can really determine if the wall is taking on dampness and we can address.

 

[Leahs Mom]

In our area we can get wood chips free. If you call around to tree services, some of them are thrilled to drop chips at your yard if they are working in your area. It saves them from having to haul them back to their property - especially if they have several loads and their workplace is way on the other side of town.

Try calling around and then you just have to wait till they're in your area.

Been using them in my run for at least 2 years and they keep the ground healthy for the birds too. No slick, compacted, unhealthy ground.... and we dug some out for 2 of my daughter's gardens last year - 2 pickup truck loads full of the most beautiful dirt under the top chips.