The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

armorfirelady, how is your coop holding up with the snow?

It is holding up well. I tend to use my roof rake when there is more than 6 inches on it. What I really need to do is get out there and shovel all the snow that I have pulled from the roof away from the side of the coop. While snow is a great insulator its going to take forever to melt if it ever gets above the single digits. But its been to darn cold to go out there and shovel.

I for one have had enough of snow and temps below zero. Thankfully the hens have survived these horrible temps. It is amusing to see them puffed out triple their size when the temps were -11. They actually have been out and about. I have given them some extra hay on the frigid temps to bed down in during the day when they want to. And I put shavings down on their walk way for them to walk on. The only casualty was the headed dog bowl for their food. Apparently a week of temps below 0 finally had its toll on it. Thankfully the feed store had one left. I am hopeful maybe it will work again once it defrosts lol


I think Spring got lost or ran away because its so cold lol

 

[Lacy Blues]

@Lacy Blues
How is the sour crop?

She looks like she feels better... in her eyes. You know how you can tell they don't feel good by their eyes? Same as kids. I've been force feeding her coconut oil and bits of beef. Once, I gave her a hard boiled egg all chopped up with a raw egg yolk to moisten it. She takes a few sips of water but really doesn't seem interested in eating/drinking. I even put one of the feed cups of her pen mates on the outside of her crate's door... hoping their eating frenzy at feed times will spur her to eat.

Yesterday I didn't force feed her. I gave her a small handful of shredded cheese and she barely picked at it. It's been over a week by now. I'm wondering if it would be safe to give her the regular food? I'm really hoping she'll be hungry today.

 

[flyladyrocks]

Organize? who me??
Um well let's talk about this for a moment. Hmm yes well I took the ice-cream out of the freezer to get me a bowl. I placed it on the counter and thought I better look in on the new chicks.
After looking in on all the birds I returned to the house and decided to put in a load of laundry. Let's forward this to when hubby got home. I had to explain why I let the ice-cream melt on the counter while I was busy doing other things when my first goal was to get a bowl of ice-cream.....me organize??

 

[flyladyrocks]

Sour crop question . . .

Don't have it but in reading hte discussion, I was wondering if anyone knows why you would not put raw apple cider vinegar in the water. If sour crop is a yeast issue and ACV is great to comba yeast, is there a specific reason why you don't put it in the water?

@Lacy Blues glad she's feeling better - hope she continues to improve and is more enthusiastic about eating and drinking. Yes, you can tell in their eyes. I can tell in other chickens eyes. As much as I love looking at chickens when I go to the fairs there are so many that just look sad and depressed, and also possibly sick. It makes me so sad.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@flyladyrocks
The reason you don't use ACV is because vinegar is a YEAST ferment. There are different kinds of fermentation.

ACV is made by yeasts that digest the "sugars" in the apples and produce alcohol. Then Acetobactor bacteria digest the alcohol and produce acetic acid.

That is the short of why you don't want to use ACV.

 

[lazy gardener]

I read a while ago about someone who treated sour crop by using a vaginal suppository. they cut it up into small pieces, and fed a small piece/day (maybe force fed it) to the chicken, and she perked right up. Of course, this is off label use, and I'm not recommending it, just passing along what I'd read.

 

[COChix]

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@flyladyrocks

The reason you don't use ACV is because vinegar is a YEAST ferment.  There are different kinds of fermentation. 

ACV is made by yeasts that digest the "sugars" in the apples and produce alcohol.  Then Acetobactor bacteria digest the alcohol and produce acetic acid. 

That is the short of why you don't want to use ACV.

Thank you for that tidbit! PS - I am out of Ovations atm.

I read a while ago about someone who treated sour crop by using a vaginal suppository.  they cut it up into small pieces, and fed a small piece/day (maybe force fed it) to the chicken, and she perked right up.  Of course, this is off label use, and I'm not recommending it, just passing along what I'd read.

Interesting...

 

[sunflower4you]

So cold here the heated waterer that is outside has not thawed out in 3 days! Even though it is plugged in 24/7! Small dog dish with fresh water in the coop 3 times a day is the only way to get them some water. I've also found that they love eating lettuce when it is very cold - romaine. I figure lettuce has a very high water content so I feel they have less chance of dehydration. I can handle winter since I grew up with long winters, but this 30 degrees below normal average temps is getting very very VERY old. So. Done. With. Winter.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Iceberg lettuce has a very high water content... and precious little else.

 

[sunflower4you]

Agreed. I never buy iceberg. I have been feeding them romaine since that is what the grocery store had when I asked for old greens.