The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[stonykill]

Thanks! I've begun to think that the way to get quality birds is to look for breeders here instead of hatcheries. Good to know!

breeders can be as big a gamble as hatcheries. You really need to check out the breeder seriously before buying. Some breeders are great, don't get me wrong, but others are like the puppie mills, just churning out chicks.

Never discount hatchery birds. A few generations before I got my Sumatra's the person who bought them bought them from a hatchery. If I was at all interested in showing (which I'm not) some of my Sumatra's are show quality. I also have 2 hatchery RIR's, 2 Hatchery white leghorns, and 2 hatchery EE's. All of who I bred with Sumatra roo's this past spring. Let me tell you, those offspring are fantastic as are their mothers, the hatchery birds. They lay well, they forage, they have natural survival instincts and are just great all around chickens. So really it depends on what you want from your flock. Before meeting Bee (online only of course) I was already practicing much of what she preached. Including breeding hatchery hens to improve on their quality's. I should say breeding the BEST of the hatchery stock to produce more...and better or at least equal stock.
I've said this before and I don't mean it in any bad way at all. I'm not a chicken snob. I don't care if it is a pure bred from good lines hen (such as 5 of my RIR's and 1 Black Australorp are) or hatchery stock or my home grown mutts. If the extra roosters process out nicely, if the hens lay well, if they all forage well, remain healthy, have natural survival instincts, and are great at being chickens.... I'm happy. Probably puts me in the minority..... but I'm ok with that.

 

[Bulldogma]

One of the things I would like to bring up is *How to introduce a new chicken(s) to the flock*.

How do the rest of you do it?

do not believe in lets *wait* and see when it comes to illness. If a bird is *off*, there is something wrong. I either find out what it is that day or the bird is culled. I sometimes let my emotions wait it out and I have usually regretted it. It is usually an older hen that I have affection for. Than I beat myself up for letting them suffer. I am human and I sometimes let my *girl* feelings make my decisions...lol

Great subject, Delisha! I just brought 2 new birds home yesterday. While I don't have a large setup, I DO have a quarantine coop with its own run.

First and foremost - I checked over both birds while still on the seller's property. Her birds were all in good condition, and these two had no signs of mites, lice or of being sick. Eyes were bright, vents clean and no bad smells. I was able to get a good look as both are finishing up a molt.

Upon getting them home, they went straight to the quarantine coop.

After quarantine, initially, they will be able to "meet" other birds through the wire for a while. Then I'll start letting them mingle with supervision. I'm going to be splitting up my flock for breeding purposes, so the new birds will be in with two other bantam chooks. One of which can be mean so I'll be keeping an eye on her. They'll have a roo in there too, and I'm hoping he will have an interest in keeping the peace as the two new girls are laying and the mean one is nearing POL, but not there yet.

Looking forward to reading what others do.

breeders can be as big a gamble as hatcheries. You really need to check out the breeder seriously before buying. Some breeders are great, don't get me wrong, but others are like the puppy mills, just churning out chicks.

Never discount hatchery birds.

More good advice.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Cooper, I've found hawks and owls come back daily once they know they can get the chickens. After a hawk attack last year, I ended up making a 12x12 enclosure - really, just 2x4's holding up a wood frame for the "roof" which is fencing. And I had some snow fence (old wood slats wired together) for the sides, and used chicken wire too. It made for a safe place for the hens. When the snow melted in the spring, I removed the snow fence so it was all open - still provided some protection overhead.
I did not put the snow fencing back until recently, when I had an owl attack. Now they are on lockdown again - which really isn't as bad as it sounds as in the winter, they don't go in the deep snow, only where I shovel. So I shovel out the enclosure, and they also have the whole length of the coop to be under as well.
Good luck with the worms.

the hawk is gone. think he migrated away.

 

[Leahs Mom]

One of the things I would like to bring up is *How to introduce a new chicken(s) to the flock*.

How do the rest of you do it?

I understand that many believe in *tossing* them in and let nature take its course, let the fit survive etc.(nothing wrong with this)
I do not.

I would never ever purchase a bird and bring it into my flock. I never have. I did not do it with my horses, goats, sheep, or any other live stock. Even with the purchase of a new dog or cat I took it to the vet or had the vet come out and check them first. Since I do not take my chickens to the vet or have the vet examine my chickens, I do it myself.

I keep the new birds in a different building. I introduce one of my birds into the new birds after 2 weeks. That does two things.
1. You can have separate coops and everyone looks and acts healthy and nothing will pop up. Introduce a new bird and you can have some serious issues. I would rather cull the introduced bird and new birds than my whole flock.
2. My flock has resistance to my land, the new birds are requiring that resistance being on the land and the bird I put in with them adds to the resistance. If they act and look good for two weeks, it is good to go.

I have had one of my birds act off when introduced to new birds once in all the years, and find this works best. That time I simply culled out the birds since I have no idea what it was and I was not going to deal with what ever it was. I did an autopsy and found nothing, however since I did not know..I simply over cooked the meat and composed it. It is better to cull one of my birds than my whole flock.

do not believe in lets *wait* and see when it comes to illness. If a bird is *off*, there is something wrong. I either find out what it is that day or the bird is culled. I sometimes let my emotions wait it out and I have usually regretted it. It is usually an older hen that I have affection for. Than I beat myself up for letting them suffer. I am human and I sometimes let my *girl* feelings make my decisions...lol

Interesting...never thought of "doing it in reverse" but sounds like it could save a lot of heartache in the end.

 

[stonykill]

The only way I introduce new chickens is through broody's. Incubated eggs become their own flock. New birds are only introduced here through broody's. If I want a different type of chicken, I find the eggs locally. But so far I have only introduced my favorite breed through egg purchasing..... barnyard mutts.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Not sure if you all have already seen this...

It's a very well-written article on chickens and compost. Worth the time to take a look!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/composting-with-chickens

 

[delisha]

Not sure if you all have already seen this...

It's a very well-written article on chickens and compost. Worth the time to take a look!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/composting-with-chickens

I enjoyed the article. Someone was kind enough to point it out earlier.

 

[delisha]

I feel it makes good sense to put one of my birds in.

The new birds can be perfectly healthy on there own soil. Or they could have had something like CRD, or foul pox or who knows what. I know mine do not. By introducing my bird to them if they had anything it would show in my bird. With out that bird, those new birds can look and act healthy until I put them with my birds. Only my birds would get sick, the new birds have already recovered, built a resistance, and are just healthy carriers that infected my whole flock.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I enjoyed the article. Someone was kind enough to point it out earlier.

Whoops! You're right! Sorry for the repeat and it's still a good article

 

[Leahs Mom]

I feel it makes good sense to put one of my birds in.

The new birds can be perfectly healthy on there own soil. Or they could have had something like CRD, or foul pox or who knows what. I know mine do not. By introducing my bird to them if they had anything it would show in my bird. With out that bird, those new birds can look and act healthy until I put them with my birds. Only my birds would get sick, the new birds have already recovered, built a resistance, and are just healthy carriers that infected my whole flock.

I'm thinkin' that approach would be good to put into the blog! How 'bout it, BD?