The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[camilleathome]

Are you kidding me BDM? You really won't get any more? I think I have to move to Virginia....home of the great Secretariat!

. one of my favorite pictures of him.. rarely seen, with Eddie,,, his devoted groom Barn10, in the back walking ring.. Belmont Park, NY

p.s. Talk about Standard of Perfection, this is about as good as it gets.

He is just so beautifull. Im going to meet Bear hopefully this wenesday my possibly very first horse . I officially found a boarder which means with a horse at my barn I can officially adopt Bear so long as I go see him and make sure I want to take him on. I have butterflies in my stomach Im so nervous. I feel like a girl on a first date. I almost cried when her current owner told me she tells bear everyday that Camille is coming to see him!.

Here are three videos I was given of him. First one is of when he was a bit younger.

these are more recent videos
he's the smallest

And that's him standing behind the palomino

 

[Mumsy]

Go Johnny & Phoebe! Isn't it amazing how much more orange your yolks are than the store bought one??? It never ceases to amaze me! Congratulations to the happy couple and as great a roo as Johnny is, I hope you get some of his wonderful qualities passed on down to another generation. This will be a really fun hatch to watch when the time comes.

Thank you Pullet Surprise! Truly.
I saved the broke out eggs in a bowl to show my hubby when he comes home from work. I want him to see the difference. Even in a first small pullet egg compared to an expensive store bought junk egg.
Finding out whether my Johnny was fertile after being a cast off cockerel in an abandoned field. Rescued by me. And then getting so infested by mites he nearly died is the final happy out come. I've never had much respect for Production RIR roosters but Johnny has changed my opinion 360 degrees! He is smart. Savvy with free ranging. BIG. And takes no nonsense from the hens.
It just gets better finding out that my two mixed breed Orpington hens lay everyday and are smart as whips as far as free ranging. I am very much wanting to find out if all these great traits between Johnny and his two big fluffy butt girls are passed along. My two daughters are keen to find out as well. They will each get three or four pullets from the hatch hopefully. My girls will let me know how they turn out. These will be their first chickens since leaving home as adults.

 

[pigeonguy]

I did a similar exercise this morning, thinking that once you calculated the perimeter of an acre, it didn't matter what shape it was. If you look at the numbers, turns out it doesn't work that way. 1024 for an acre and a half only works if it is a perfect square. In the case of one acre, it would be 836 (rounded up a little -- 209 multiplied by 4), but once you start making a rectangle of the space, it isn't as efficient. Using the numbers in Pigeonguy's post, the first one makes the best example, since it is extreme. If your one acre paddock is 9 feet by 4840 feet, you'll need 9698 feet of fence to enclose it...two long sides and two short sides. The closer you are to a square the more efficient your use of fence to create an enclosure. Obviously, if you're doing perimeter fencing, you can't do anything about it, but this kind of opened my eyes to laying out temporary paddocks.

OMG you are absolutely right does not make sense when I say it but numbers don't lie. I must have had the original thought stuck in my head. When I did the numbers because obviously I did not pay any attention to them. Thank you so much for catching that.
This hoovers (s**ks) Took me like an hour to figure those numbers and then they were wrong. How embarrassing.
Think I should edit the original post so no one makes the mistake of believing it.
Sorry aoxa

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
I love reading this.

 

[delisha]

Mumsy..
That is so exciting..Fertile and ready for hatching. Perhaps we can do a hatch a long. Fire up that bator!

 

[Turkeytruff]

sorry haven't had my computer since Dec 28 and sorely missing these forums; sneaking on and off my DH's laptop to read my emails doesn't cut it!
Aoxa, you mentioned about never being able to go away. I put an ad online in the local "used____" .com asking if anyone was interested in doing some animal care swapping. Got 4 lovely thoughtful replies and met some new people which is great, since we only moved here 2 years ago and it takes about 30 years before 'you're not from 'round here are you?' isn't so important. So far I have done a long weekend care for one person and will be swapping care with others (being careful of biosecurity of course).
Maybe that is an option for you?

 

[countrygirl74]

I have a question to ask some of you more experienced "chickeners" - yes, my own made up word for people experienced in taking care of chickens.

I bought some pine shavings from Cal-Ranch a couple weeks ago but found it wasn't quite enough, so I went to my local feed store to get more and WOW is it pungent! I could hardly stand driving home in the same vehicle. I asked it it was OK for chickens and they said yes, they all use it all the time... I am just hesitant to put it in the runs. I don't use it in the actual house with the nesting boxes as I just clean out straw but I am trying to get the deep litter going in their run. Do you think these pine shavings are going to be okay for my ducks and chickens? I've heard about cedar being bad and having a very strong scent, but this pine is pretty strong. What should I do????

 

[Ashdoes]

Hey Stony!....I have a question for you about ducks. Now I'll start by saying what I really want is Sebastopol geese, but they're pretty hard to find at the moment. So I'm looking into ducks and wondering which you would recommend. I have two Bostons that do really well with the chickens, as long as the chickens show them to stay away. I would need a breed of duck that's maybe a bit taller like the Cochins and bossy like my barred rock. Noise doesn't matter, and egg production isn't exactly important either. What would you suggest?

my duck experience at the moment is limited to 2 breeds. Pekins and Runners. Both get along with chickens fine. Sumatra hens and roosters are in and out of the duck pen all day long. My Runners for the most part aren't bossy. The Pekin girls can be. I've watched them chase away a rooster giving a hen a hard time. My Pekin girls don't put up with anyone's nonsense. And my Pekins lay a decent amount of eggs. They are pretty vocal. But I like that

. The Runners are taller than chickens but don't weigh a lot. But like I said they get along with my chickens just fine. I know others have other breeds. Miss Lydia and Aoxa have ducks as well as others. Lets see what they say. Geese are on our "to get' list.

Thanks I really like the look of the runners, but don't think that's what should make my decision. I feel like once we get a pool set up we'll just jump in and see what we find in the area. I am really hoping to find some Sebastopols near by, even a couple hour drive would be fun and something we like to do.

 

[pigeonguy]

Does anyone know why we can't just use regular chicken wire with a fence charger. Has anyone tried it?

 

[delisha]

I have a question to ask some of you more experienced "chickeners" - yes, my own made up word for people experienced in taking care of chickens.

I bought some pine shavings from Cal-Ranch a couple weeks ago but found it wasn't quite enough, so I went to my local feed store to get more and WOW is it pungent! I could hardly stand driving home in the same vehicle. I asked it it was OK for chickens and they said yes, they all use it all the time... I am just hesitant to put it in the runs. I don't use it in the actual house with the nesting boxes as I just clean out straw but I am trying to get the deep litter going in their run. Do you think these pine shavings are going to be okay for my ducks and chickens? I've heard about cedar being bad and having a very strong scent, but this pine is pretty strong. What should I do????

Make sure it is pine..read the lable..if it is pine, open the top of the bag outside of the coop. Just toss a few handfulls in and stir. Check back later and see how it is. If all is well and the chickens seem fine..I would just add a little here and there. Fresh pine is very strong.It just might need some air time.