The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[tjo804]

If you are just wanting to raise chicks for the experience, Why not try broilers? their whole life span is 6-8 weeks they are still cute cuddly chicks and available at TSC and at the end you will have a freezer to stock.

If you don't want to process them yourself you may be able to find someone who will (for a small fee) do it for you.

just a thought.

 

[CoopChick719]

Don't go to the store, vpatt!

you'll see those cute little fluffy butts and just have to have some! That's what happened to me. DH came around the corner and heard me saying I'll take 2 of those & 2 of those. Then he saw 2 white silkie chicks and said we'll take those ones too. I said with my luck they'll be roosters. Sure enough

 

[lalaland]

Hey, I know some of us have posted about growing forage for chickens, and I have posted about wanting to replant part of the run, fence it off from chickens until it has grown, and then let them eat. Sonya9 on another post posted about this mix http://www.groworganic.com/omega-3-chicken-forage-blend-irrigated.html

I'm going to try it this spring. just thought I'ld share in case anyone else is interested

 

[tjo804]

An idea for planting in the run that I keep meaning to try is by making a raised bed but not filling to the top with soil then top it with chicken wire. this will make it so you can plant most seeds for grains and grasses by dropping through the wire but the chickens wont be able to eat the seed or roots of the plants just what comes up through the wire.

 

[flyladyrocks]

I was just thinking about this as I stare out my back windows at the 6 inches of freshly fallen snow over the 6 inches that fell last week as it continues to fall. It is beautiful.
Thanks for sharing. I'm contemplating just planting my whole yard with this and seeing what happens. We have little grass. Just clover and other misc. Ground cover the chickens love. And the girls do very well tilling everything. They can't possibly eat all the seed I hope!

 

[flyladyrocks]

I was just thinking about this as I stare out my back windows at the 6 inches of freshly fallen snow over the 6 inches that fell last week as it continues to fall. It is beautiful.
Thanks for sharing. I'm contemplating just planting my whole yard with this and seeing what happens. We have little grass. Just clover and other misc. Ground cover the chickens love. And the girls do very well tilling everything. They can't possibly eat all the seed I hope!

 

[jtn42248]

I was just thinking about this as I stare out my back windows at the 6 inches of freshly fallen snow over the 6 inches that fell last week as it continues to fall. It is beautiful.
Thanks for sharing. I'm contemplating just planting my whole yard with this and seeing what happens. We have little grass. Just clover and other misc. Ground cover the chickens love. And the girls do very well tilling everything. They can't possibly eat all the seed I hope!

You might be surprised. I am not sure about chickens but wild birds eat, on average, half their body weight in food a day. So, if chickens do the same and you have a 7 pound bird then they may eat up to 3.5 pounds of food a day. Assuming they do the same as wild birds that is. I know mine would give a hog farm a run for its money in terms of the food I give them each day. Between free feeding and snacks and scratch and treats and what they claw up out of the ground they are little piglets. And, they are not fat for their breeds.

 

[ronott1]

You might be surprised. I am not sure about chickens but wild birds eat, on average, half their body weight in food a day. So, if chickens do the same and you have a 7 pound bird then they may eat up to 3.5 pounds of food a day. Assuming they do the same as wild birds that is. I know mine would give a hog farm a run for its money in terms of the food I give them each day. Between free feeding and snacks and scratch and treats and what they claw up out of the ground they are little piglets. And, they are not fat for their breeds.

Chickens are not wild birds and have been genetically selected to live more on grains.

According to Extension.org:

Commercially raised pullets receive three diets during the growing phase: starter, grower, and developer. Most feed stores sell only one or two types of feeds for raising replacement pullets.

FEED​

PROTEIN LEVEL (%)​

AGE OF BIRDS​

FEED INTAKE/10 BIRDS/ AGE PERIOD​

Chick starter

20-22​

0-6 weeks​

20-29 lbs​

Pullet grower

14-16​

6-20 weeks​

120-130 lbs​

Layer

15-18​

20 weeks on​

18-24 lbs/week​

All purpose*

16​

All ages​

​

* Feed if only a single feed is available, and use during the entire growing period.

About a pound a week per laying hen sounds about right. Notice that you need a lot more feed when they are growing.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I don't know if any of you have seen this short video but this is what I have been thinking about doing for my birds. I live in the desert and there is almost NO vegetation except for some sage brush. Nor is there any shade, unless I provide it... so this would work well for my situation.

The plastic they use would need to be perforated for drainage and the space underneath provides shade and maybe a little bit of moisture. I would build grazing frames for the top so the chickens couldn't tear up the roots and I'd have a drip line sprinkler system put on it. I don't need watering duties on top of everything else I need to accomplish at dusk. I would probably also make a hoop structure over the top to attach shade cloth to. I have a load of pallets that I've been collecting and hope this will be a successful part of some larger yards for my birds to run around in.

 

[chicalot]

On the subject of brooding chics....
After finally breaking one of the tabs on my Brinsea heat plate, I decided to try the premier heat plate. Adjusting the legs on the premier is so much easier and I was able to buy 2 for almost the price of 1 brinsea. Highly recommend looking in to the premier plate. Plus you can get the covers for them. I didn't yet but plan to. It works well. Now I'm extremely ready for warmer weather.some of these chics are way too big to be living in the house. I have 5 teens and a dozen littles here, yikes!