The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[pigeonguy]

I did the sane took out about half the D/L day before yesterday. Had some spots that smelled also hard not to in a winter thaw. Even though it is being turned by the time I turn it the poops are already froze. Plus the coop I have right now is a little small since the tree fell on my house trailer / shed coop. Better that than the house though. I will rebuild it come summer.

 

[aoxa]

Thank you Aoxa..
I ordered Silkie Eggs from Catdance..the DH is so happy. They should be here by Wednesday..we are having good weather and I hope it continues. I might ask her to put in a hand warmer. Just in case...

So glad to hear you ordered from some of the best silkie breeders. She's the only one who I've heard of that sells hatching eggs or chicks. She's not afraid of someone else hatching birds better than her own. I would be!

Camille, glad to hear they are doing well! Hopefully Henry will get over his fascination.

I had such a busy day yesterday. 2 farm visits. Very fun. First one had a notebook and took a bunch of notes, and I convinced her to do fermented feed.

She was very eager to learn, and actually owns a Fibre company where she collects and spins fibre from alpacas and sheep. She taught us a bit as well!!

 

[camilleathome]

Quote:
We had a blast at the farm. I loved all of your animals. The chicks are settling in well. They didnt eat any FF so I gave them some dry as well so they had choice and their chowing down.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

The thing is mine and it won't be disappearing any time soon. 


I didn't like doing it and I didn't want to do it, but I had to do it - the girl was in so much pain and I had to end her suffering right then. I prefer the hatchet method, but at 3:30 AM in the mudroom... it just wasn't an option. If we make the commitment to care for these birds, at some point we have to make the commitment that we will do the right thing in an emergency situation - even if we have to do it ourselves. So worth getting over the fear factor when it means ending suffering.

((HUG))

My iPad won't let me give you a thumbs up or high five but I agree. Killing something is never easy. When I saw our dog laying in the road, I ran toward him chanting, please don't let him be alive. It was 5:30 am and I didn't want to do it but I will never let anyone of my animals suffer. It's time to be a big girl.

I just gave you a thumbs up on the mobile and rushed right back to desktop.. I don't like it either. . Did it work?

 

[aoxa]

We had a blast at the farm. I loved all of your animals. The chicks are settling in well. They didnt eat any FF so I gave them some dry as well so they had choice and their chowing down.

They wouldn't eat the FF? That's weird. They loved it here. Never even had a chance to try dry

Maybe too much garlic?

Glad you enjoyed it! We enjoyed having you. Susan's probably going to take you up on that offer of that canned onion thing. Can't remember what you called it, but she's been talking about it haha.

 

[camilleathome]

Quote:
Shes more than welcome to it . I have a standing deal over here with my friends/co-workers. If you give me back the jar. Ill give you more stuff to try when I can more XD. Though if you guys ever want to get together next canning season we can do some canning as well. I plan on canning some tomatoes(There is a upick for tomatoes in bouctouche. and maybe some applesauce or something as well next fall and other stuff as well. Every year I try more and more to get myself more comfterable with canning And the stuff I made was sweet and sour pickled red onions

 

[aoxa]

Shes more than welcome to it . I have a standing deal over here with my friends/co-workers. If you give me back the jar. Ill give you more stuff to try when I can more XD. Though if you guys ever want to get together next canning season we can do some canning as well. I plan on canning some tomatoes(There is a upick for tomatoes in bouctouche. and maybe some applesauce or something as well next fall and other stuff as well. Every year I try more and more to get myself more comfterable with canning And the stuff I made was sweet and sour pickled red onions

My MIL has a cold room full of canned goods. I'm not a fan of anything pickled, but I love fruit preserves and salsa. Susan loves pickled anything.

I have lots of jars, I'll get her to give you one before you give her the sweet and sour pickled red onions. She will really enjoy that.

ETA: She just said she'll bring you a dozen eggs in exchange for it as well

 

[camilleathome]

Quote:
Id love that! . My mom and her friends always do that, barter and exchange etc lol. One say for example gets a pile of moose meat, give some to the other, In exchange gives her a meat pie made from it. The other has a huge garden and will share her pumpkins, gets fresh pumpkin pie from it, Mom i a chef but this year working at the kids camp she didnt get to grow her own garden so her friends hooked her up and got food made from their bounties in exchange etc XD. Can you tell Im originally from the country? I had 20 pounds of black beans a while back( Need to get more actually Im out) And mom cant get access to cheap beans and such where she is so when I came down home she traded a moose roast and steak for a few pounds of black beans XD. I love that mindset.You dont see it often anymore. . Oh if we get this place Al wants to set up some beehives. For honey and to help polinate our gardens . Fresh honey! and beeswax etc

 

[Mumsy]

Lots of good posts since I was on! Too many to comment on....


So I learned something. Even if you can't smell the ammonia at the surface, If an area in the deep litter isn't getting stirred down to the lower level from time to time, the ammonia will still build up under there. So now I'll be more diligent to be sure it's stirred down deep everywhere.

It was time to take care of the litter and it was a good opportunity to be out there to observe and be sure everything was going okay with the door open between the adults and mom and babies. It was 59 degrees! All the big girls laid outside for awhile.

Supposed to have freezing rain mixed w/snow tomorrow

I know what you mean. It takes a while for me to read each post and there are many I wish I could comment on but I would be sitting at my computer for ten hours if I did! All of the pictures from everyone are great. Good news, sad news. Such is life.

It really does take close observation of what's going on in the DL. All but one of the ground floor pens in my barn are on dirt floor. Making sure to fork the corners is hard but must be done. I'm slowly working a deep litter in the Gray Silkie top floor breeding pen. It's small with wood base. Because it's small and the two Silkies tend to sit in the same spot it gets compacted in just hours. So I have been stirring it twice a day when I check on them. They get a chunk of grassy sod every couple days to peck and scratch. I stir that spent thing into the DL of their pen too.
Our temp is 22 degrees and the ground has been frozen for a week. That Thermo Cube I purchased turns a light source on in the Silkie pen at 35 degrees and it hasn't gone off. The Silkies don't sit under it but it does keep FF dish and their water bottle hung on the cage sides from freezing.
This Spring I will be switching birds around to different pens. All on the ground floor have pop doors to the outside. Three into paddocks and two into the orchard.
I want all the Silkies to have access to the orchard when they have chicks. But I want my Silkie flock to be separate from the main layer flock. Some work needs to be done before that can happen.
We are nearly ready for the turkeys. Then in March the Heritage RIR chicks and eggs will arrive. A lot to do between now and then. Ground is frozen hard. No fence posts can be struck yet.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Oh if we get this place Al wants to set up some beehives. For honey and to help polinate our gardens . Fresh honey! and beeswax etc

Have you seen the top bar beehives? My husband and I learned about them last year and will likely start a hive or 2 this spring. We had been reading a lot about it and it sounds like a much more NATURAL way to do beekeeping. I met a lady on the "Chickens in the Road" blog and forum who invited us to come up and see their hives which they build themselves. They live about 2 hours north of us in MI. They also had goats, chickens, a llama named Jeff and a horse. It was great fun! From the research we've done I think this is the way to go on the bees! Here's a couple of links on top bar:



http://www.stellerapiaries.com/Kenyan_Top_Bar_Hives.php

That Thermo Cube I purchased turns a light source on in the Silkie pen at 35 degrees and it hasn't gone off. The Silkies don't sit under it but it does keep FF dish and their water bottle hung on the cage sides from freezing.

Glad to hear about the thermo cube! I guess with weather that cold you can't test to see if it will ever shut off!!!

I'm so glad it warmed up here - if only for a couple of days!