The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[JanetMarie]

@lalaland How stressful! I've had new moms kill their chicks. They were one year old hens. The next year I let them try again, and they were good moms.

Yesterday two chicks hatched at day 19 under my broody. Last night I put her in a pet carrier with the door removed on the floor, with her two chicks, and one egg pipped, the other egg not pipped. She has her own room in the barn with the chicks. She's a first time mom, not a year old yet.

Did you find the chick?

 

[lazy gardener]

That's tough LL. Sorry you had such a hard time. I trained my broody chicks to a cat carrier, and it made the job super easy of catching them and moving them around. What I did was put the carrier in the broody pen, and Mama and babies would snuggle in there. Then, when I moved them out to the tractor, I'd catch Mama and move her first. Then, the babies could easily be herded into the cat carrier, and carried to the tractor. Carrier would be left in the tractor all day, then, I'd repeat the process. After a week or so of this, all I had to do was wait till the rest of the flock had gone to bed, then open the tractor and the run door. Mama and babies would sample a few greens on the way, but otherwise, they'd make a beeline for the coop to go to bed. I've no doubt that you could use a cat carrier to catch littles in the run, as they will be running away from you and seeking a place to HIDE. An other option would be to use some fencing to create a dead end spot, then chase the bird you want to catch into that dead end. Helps to have a bit of a top over the dead end so the bird won't fly over it. Deer fencing works super, cause they can't see it. You can use that to your advantage.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@lalaland

I certainly hope things settle down with those kiddos soon. That sounds demoralizing! I just like things to be easy.


I'm going to share a video that @Faraday40 posted for me yesterday showing how she had her chicks trained to go from coop to an outdoor pen. She trained them w/food goodies to go back and forth. Maybe there is something you could do similar for both moms and babies?

I love the music she chose for this... between watching those kiddos running back and forth and the "silly" music, I was laughing and laughing when I first saw it.

 

[Sutremaine]

I had a pretty tough afternoon yesterday.

That's rough. If it happens again with this batch of chicks, perhaps leave the straggler to settle in the run before scooping it up? It's pretty hard to stop chasing after a chicken when you really want to catch it, especially when it's prancing around and cheeping wildly, but eventually it'll stop charging back and forth and sit down for the night.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
That's a great point.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Another reason NOT to use straw in your gardens and chicken pens:

http://thegrownetwork.com/hidden-dangers-straw-bale-gardening/

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Another reason NOT to use straw in your gardens and chicken pens:

http://thegrownetwork.com/hidden-dangers-straw-bale-gardening/

Always question perfect and sterile products. A whole bale of just straw comes from a heavily sprayed field, it's the only way to get only straw in a bale, weeds are always showing up. We bale our own hay and I use it for bedding and feed. I haven't tried gardening in bales, I like raised beds. Good article, and a reminder to question everything.

 

[slordaz]

well broody is taking em all over the place now lol, she's had em out and a bout since 5 days old but was keeping em close to where they were being kept, she kicked everyone out except the ones laying eggs in nests or sitting on nexts to take them into the hen house.

 

[lazy gardener]

Another reason NOT to use straw in your gardens and chicken pens:

http://thegrownetwork.com/hidden-dangers-straw-bale-gardening/

All the reason to buy directly from the farmer. I buy from a fellow who lives less than 4 miles from me. Even though I know him, I be sure to question him every season before purchasing hay from him. "Where was it cut? Your land? Have you used any pesticides or herbicides on it?" His hay is nice and weedy. And I can tell you that I am tickled pink to see the diversity of plant material in those bales. Do they carry weed seeds? You bet? Will they sprout in my garden? Yep! Does it bother me? Not so much. Ever heard of green manure? Peeps pay big bucks to buy seeds to throw in their gardens that will sprout. I get green manure crops for free, and they are loaded with biodiversity to mine minerals from the soil, and to pump lots of humus back into the soil... even to provide forage for my chickens. Got problem weeds? How bout thistle, dock, bind weed, and burdock that likes to grow in my lawn? Or evening primrose that acts as a trap crop for Japanese beetles? I really don't care much. Just toss more mulch on in the garden, and mow the lawn, haul out some weeds if they compete with the veggie crops. Soon those veggie crops will be bigger and over shadow any weeds. I've not bought hay or straw from a feed store for more than 10 years, and choose not to because of the many articles such as the one above. Know what is going into your soil. My MIL has been paying a lawn service to treat her lawn for Japanese beetles. Then she got upset because she had NO birds in her yard.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@lazy gardener
Yep...I don't care about the weed and the seed. My main concern is the stuff in the manure and if they put manure on their fields...even if they don't use other chemicals. We have a nice local lady that sells organic hay nearby in square or round bales. Good folks and they get my business.