The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Bulldogma]

Okay. I have FINALLY waded through the processing photos and am ready to post.

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Fantastic post! Thank you for sharing!

 

[flagirl]

leah's mom-the guy I buy goat's milk from also has lots of ducks. I bought a processed,dressed duck from him and he used a blow torch to burn the pin feathers off. He said that is the way his father always did it when growing up in south america.

 

[Leahs Mom]

leah's mom-the guy I buy goat's milk from also has lots of ducks. I bought a processed,dressed duck from him and he used a blow torch to burn the pin feathers off. He said that is the way his father always did it when growing up in south america.

I have seen the torch on the feathers....what I haven't seen is the torch burining the lower legs and feet like he did. Burned them quite crisply!

 

[southerndesert]

i'ld be interested in knowing how many of you free feed, and how many of you limit the feed to once or twice a day - still working this one out.

We have always free fed and use pellets, keep around 50 to 60 birds most all the time as it is a good number for us to pay costs and make a small profit. Never gave much thought to any other way as it is how grandma did it years back, then us, and works well on our small operation....

 

[Melabella]

For all you experienced Rooster peeps out there...

Today as I was doing what I do best,,, mucking stalls, I was listening to what sounded like another egg song from one of the girls. I have gotten to know three different songs from three different pullets. The others seem to go about laying an egg quietly without making much noise at all.

Well, I thought I heard a loud, and I mean loud egg song, so I went out to the coop to see who might be laying. It was Duke my rooster imititating the same exact song my barred Rock does. She is very loud and animated as she is about to lay. It has a distinct squawk at the end.. very strectched out. Is this normal roo behaviour. It's different than anything Ihave heard him do before. It was hysterical!

I tried to get my phone out to video tape it, and of course, he stopped!

MB

 

[stonykill]

For all you experienced Rooster peeps out there...

Today as I was doing what I do best,,, mucking stalls, I was listening to what sounded like another egg song from one of the girls. I have gotten to know three different songs from three different pullets. The others seem to go about laying an egg quietly without making much noise at all.

Well, I thought I heard a loud, and I mean loud egg song, so I went out to the coop to see who might be laying. It was Duke my rooster imititating the same exact song my barred Rock does. She is very loud and animated as she is about to lay. It has a distinct squawk at the end.. very strectched out. Is this normal roo behaviour. It's different than anything Ihave heard him do before. It was hysterical!

I tried to get my phone out to video tape it, and of course, he stopped!

MB

totally normal. It can get really loud around here sometimes between the hens and the egg song, the roosters joining in, and sometimes it gets the ducks carrying on

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Thanks...and good to see you here!

Some of us here do the fermented feed but I also leave out a small amount of dry free feed too. They don't eat much of it but it's always available!

Since I use a "mash" type feed that's somewhat powdery, it's not quite as easy as the pellets so I have to use the leftover powder creatively. One way I've done that is to dump it into the fermented feed bowl from time to time.

I also melt a little lard from time to time and mix on the dry feed. One of the guys said they did that to help condition feathers and skin for their show birds and I've done that ever since I read that.

 

[delisha]

Quote: I do not free feed. Never have. My birds also free range, so what I do might not work for you. Even in winter with snow on the ground they find food. Some breeds you can free feed, most you can't. Some will spend all day hanging around the feed dish and over eat. Fat chickens are unhealthy chickens. Die early, have internal issues mostly in egg laying. The feed you give them should be enough to make up for what they might not find during the day.

If they have a yard to go look for food..try an experiment. Don't feed all day. At lock up time, feel crops. I doubt you will find an empty one. Obviously this will not work if you have caged birds. They totally rely on you for everything.

You have to determine what is right for your chickens. Pick them up. Feel the keel bone. Who is fat? Who is thin? You will know more when you start to butcher. When your birds get older. If your birds are 3 and 4 years old and still laying and you are not loosing birds to myterious illnesses, or from prolapses, you know what ever it is that you are doing is working.

Free feeding is great for meaties to grow them out quickly for butcher and for growing chicks.

You do need to do what is right for you....and what work for you while considering what is good for the chickens.

 

[delisha]

Quote: x2 ...normal. sometimes the cockerel willl climb into the nest with the hen and sing or encourage while laying.
I have always called it bragging rights.

 

[delisha]

Quote: I have never used a torch on chickens. I do not eat the feet. I have saved them and boiled them for the pigs when we used to raise them.