The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[hellbender]

Our average low temp in January is 35. Permaculture sounds very interesting but I don't know much about it. Not sure about vermiculture. Seems like the worms and bugs just appeared in my compost last year. They are selling red worms for $12. here. I was afraid it sounded too complicated after talking with the farmer who was selling them. That I would either drown the worms or heat the pile up and kill them. I didn't want to worry about worms. LOL.

I did have a pile of sod that was much smaller and sat for a year. Think there were some bees that nested in there. After a year, the sod pile had broken down and I couldn't see any grass or roots. I was surprised. Mixed it with some chick bedding and poo that had broken down. Am going to test the Ph and nutrient level. I suspect it isn't good as the soil I tested where there is lawn was terrible and the bedding was pine (crazy high in carbon), but it looks better that the original soil. I have no idea what I am doing, but I'd like to improve the soil with the chicken manure and cover crops.

I bought a cover crop the local garden store makes with some crimson clover and will check the local chicken store as they sell many cover crops. I didn't know dandelions were helpful!
My backyard is full of them. The bees like them. Maybe I should plant more dandelions... lol. The pile is about 2' high. I have some OG rye I will throw in. Also got a book, Free Range Chicken Gardens and will see if they have suggestions. Looks good and is giving me hope I can figure out how to have chickens, garden for food, garden for chickens, habitat for pollinators and wild birds and have a pretty backyard. My cover crop will be an experiment as I can't imagine seed will grow sown into straw and coffee grounds. Thanks for the suggestions. Will be rereading them as I keep researching

I suggest the last thing you might want is any sort of wild birds...

 

[beginnergirl]

I suggest the last thing you might want is any sort of wild birds...

I absolutely want wild birds! I have chickadees, woodpeckers, jays, bush tits, hummingbirds, cedar waxwings, nuthatches. I LOVE birds. We even have Cooper's hawks. Beautiful birds. But I am watching my pullets. They are out when I can keep an eye on them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think hellbender is referring to things like sparrows and starlings that eat your chickens feed, poop in the water, and leave you their diseases.

 

[hellbender]

I think hellbender is referring to things like sparrows and starlings that eat your chickens feed, poop in the water, and leave you their diseases.

BINGO !!!

 

[shortgrass]

I think hellbender is referring to things like sparrows and starlings that eat your chickens feed, poop in the water, and leave you their diseases.

[COLOR=FF0000]BINGO !!![/COLOR]

X3... Ugh stupid sparrows we actually have a sparrow hawk that roosts in our trees because we get sooooo many if those little buggers! You know its bad when you're calling predators with wild birds

I would suggest if you want wild birds, concentrate on the ones thatvwont eat chicken feed ... Hummingbirds! Blue Jays aren't so bothersome, unless you have a cat lol, they live cat food more than grain... Woodpeckers, a-ok. Finches, great... Sparrows, Starlings, ugh pests.


Yeah, you'd be better off without the worms lol, those do take special care sometimes...

What you are doing is essentially permaculture. It's taking what you have naturally on hand, and using it to its fullest potential to make a garden that needs no maintenance and no water. Right? all permaculture really is, in a nutshell, is sustainable farming!

I'll give you an example if large scale permaculture, at the beginning of the thread is an excellent article
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/990759/chickens-in-permaculture

You live in a nice warm area! Take advantage of not getting solid freezes, get a cover crop on there and play with it

 

[Leahs Mom]

Does anyone on here keep honeybees?

 

[TexasOverEasy]

Does anyone on here keep honeybees?

I have 15 hives at my ranch. You know, was just going to have one or two......

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Thanks for all the "stick" blender info! Wow...$149 for one of them!!!! That really is "fancy-pants"!


Now...
All of you that have them, tell me what things you use them for. I know I'll use it for mayo. What else?

Once in a while I make mayo. I still have not found a recipe that suits my DH.
I have made several batches of soap with it. Ohh it is marvelous at soap making.
Other random uses, mincing onions, chopping peppers, making eggnog (this can be done in the ninja blender too),..

Just to see if they tasted differently I scrambled eggs with it once. The eggs tasted the same as when I had used a fork to scramble them. I like using the fork better as it is much less clean up.

 

[beginnergirl]

I think hellbender is referring to things like sparrows and starlings that eat your chickens feed, poop in the water, and leave you their diseases.

What are the common diseases carried by wild birds? West Nile and avian flu are not here. Pox is the only disease I am aware of and it is treatable if not too advanced.

Wild birds don't eat the chicken feed as it is in the coop as is water. I don't see any of the birds causing a problem. I wash the water containers twice a day and have been with the chickens when they are outside when water was outside the coop.

Feed sunflower seeds to wild birds in feeders inside a cage that only chickadees can get and thankfully starlings do not have the beaks to crack open any fallen seeds. Dog keeps starlings out of the yard too. Sparrows are annoying but they leave when chickens are in the yard.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What are the common diseases carried by wild birds? West Nile and avian flu are not here. Pox is the only disease I am aware of and it is treatable if not too advanced.

Wild birds don't eat the chicken feed as it is in the coop as is water. I don't see any of the birds causing a problem. I wash the water containers twice a day and have been with the chickens when they are outside when water was outside the coop.

Feed sunflower seeds to wild birds in feeders inside a cage that only chickadees can get and thankfully starlings do not have the beaks to crack open any fallen seeds. Dog keeps starlings out of the yard too. Sparrows are annoying but they leave when chickens are in the yard.

every late summer early fall there are a lot of sparrows around here flying weirdly, dying in my water buckets, and at least one of my chickens will come down with some disease with the same uncoordinated behavior, and we end up culling. You are lucky to be able to keep the birds out of your pens, I free range mine and keep them in a large pole building so we constantly have sparrows and starlings we are battling, they poop everywhere, die everywhere, and eat a fair amount of my feed. My husband has a rat trap set in my shed, doesn't catch rats because they are too smart but he is catching a sparrow every day.