The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

@armorfirelady
Hey, I hope you don't get hit too hard with the storm - same to anyone else in its path. You certainly got enough earlier this year. Hang in there!

For once we are not getting this storm. I am next to Lake Erie on the other side of NY We just have some light snow falling. I can do without 7 ft of snow for many, many years.

Anyone have a great soap recipe they want to share? I have tried 2 now and I think I might enjoy basic soap making. Still a ways off from the fancy soaps with the colors and fragrances added but the basic soap is neat to make.

If you find one and would like to share I am interested as well. I haven't made soap yet but its on my to do list.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Anyone have a great soap recipe they want to share? I have tried 2 now and I think I might enjoy basic soap making. Still a ways off from the fancy soaps with the colors and fragrances added but the basic soap is neat to make.

If you find one and would like to share I am interested as well. I haven't made soap yet but its on my to do list.
I have found this site.
https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html
It has information about the various oils that can be used in the soaps. They have recommendations too such as using cheaper oils like lard or soybean oil for half of the oils.

 

[chicalot]

Lacy Blues and COChix, did you use treatments on your roosters frostbite? We had one day with negative wind chills and it got my rooster good. His wattles are dark black half way up. I've been waiting to see but he's obviously uncomfortable, shaking his head back and forth. Still does everything he should though.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I used coconut oil and vitamin e oil rubbed into the wattles (very gently) every day for about a week.

Make sure he can still eat... watch him. What I did was bring them in and help them eat. They were willing and hungry but swollen wattles hitting the side of the feed dish was just too much after one or two bites.

If you do a search of this thread, select posts from me, I tell in fairly detailed descriptions, what I did to help them. You only need to go back about a month. It happened right before Christmas.

 

[COChix]

Lacy Blues and COChix, did you use treatments on your roosters frostbite? We had one day with negative wind chills and it got my rooster good. His wattles are dark black half way up. I've been waiting to see but he's obviously uncomfortable, shaking his head back and forth. Still does everything he should though.

I did apply bag balm to help prevent further damage, besides that I had an old Calendula salve I used twice after about two weeks. His wattles were damaged about 1/2 way up. I did make sure he got some probiotics in his feed as well. He did drop some weight but is back to gaining it back and has healed well. Rocco did a lot more head shaking than Bruno.

 

[Amberjem]

 

[vpatt]

I have found this site.
https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html

It has information about the various oils that can be used in the soaps.  They have recommendations too such as using cheaper oils like lard or soybean oil for half of the oils. 

I used to use their lye calculator to make recipes and I ordered some supplies from them. From-Nature-With-Love is another supplier. And you can google the Soapnuts Library for recipes.

 

[potagergirl]

I want to thank everyone for the help you gave me with my first broody hen. I followed the instructions perfectly I think and now have eggs in the incubator as well as having the LF blue Cochin eggs I ordered under the broody hen. I also got her nest and all last night without having to disturb her. Hubby wasn't sure if the over sized bake sheet was going to work but I got it slipped under her without any problems. I was laughing while hubby carried pan/eggs/bird across the yard to the broody house because she didn't even wake up. He couldn't believe how easy it was. It did bring up another conversation....

hubby wants to put cameras around the chicken houses. We had talked about it before and I thought it was a little silly but after reading on facebook about people having their chickens stolen I'm not thinking its silly. We live just off a main highway I don't even want to imagine how I would feel if someone took off with my little beauties.
Do any of you have cameras/video around your chickens?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I want to thank everyone for the help you gave me with my first broody hen. I followed the instructions perfectly I think and now have eggs in the incubator as well as having the LF blue Cochin eggs I ordered under the broody hen. I also got her nest and all last night without having to disturb her. Hubby wasn't sure if the over sized bake sheet was going to work but I got it slipped under her without any problems. I was laughing while hubby carried pan/eggs/bird across the yard to the broody house because she didn't even wake up. He couldn't believe how easy it was. It did bring up another conversation....

hubby wants to put cameras around the chicken houses. We had talked about it before and I thought it was a little silly but after reading on facebook about people having their chickens stolen I'm not thinking its silly. We live just off a main highway I don't even want to imagine how I would feel if someone took off with my little beauties.
Do any of you have cameras/video around your chickens?

It would be so nice to aim a camera right at the nests in winter. To be able to simply look at a monitor without walking out in the cold to check for eggs would be worth it to me. But come spring, I'll forget all about the cameras and spend my money on hatching stuff or brooding stuff.

 

[lalaland]

I want to thank everyone for the help you gave me with my first broody hen. I followed the instructions perfectly I think and now have eggs in the incubator as well as having the LF blue Cochin eggs I ordered under the broody hen. I also got her nest and all last night without having to disturb her. Hubby wasn't sure if the over sized bake sheet was going to work but I got it slipped under her without any problems. I was laughing while hubby carried pan/eggs/bird across the yard to the broody house because she didn't even wake up. He couldn't believe how easy it was. It did bring up another conversation....

hubby wants to put cameras around the chicken houses. We had talked about it before and I thought it was a little silly but after reading on facebook about people having their chickens stolen I'm not thinking its silly. We live just off a main highway I don't even want to imagine how I would feel if someone took off with my little beauties.
Do any of you have cameras/video around your chickens?

made laugh at the image in my mind of the broody asleep on her nest on the bakesheet, getting carried across the yard!

I think locks are a better security measure than cameras, or gates on the driveway - anything to prevent or slow down access. dogs too!