The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[atmaclean]

Yes, it drives him crazy to talk about other things besides chickens. He will live... because he is respected and liked in here reguardless of his .ummm..scolding.

Well the title of this thread DOES say "OTs welcome" Hey, I think a lot of us juggle working full time, raising kids, keeping up a farm and whatever else. I'm also in graduate school full time. If we have time to read through all the posts - even just skimming them, surely, anyone else can! I appreciate all the good info I get from everyone on this list!! Everyone has been extremely helpful!

Angela

 

[Leahs Mom]

Jack! The woods on wheels is working out well!

. The humidity levels are low, and the temp inside the coop is a good 10-15 degrees warmer than the outside temps. Thanks SO much for your thread. Good timing, sir! I noticed you added a run, sorry about the predator losses. Nice to see you around.

Could you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE post some photos of that woods on wheels???

Way back in the thread there was talk about feeding broody chicks separate. I couldn't find it again.

Any hoo...I don't have a broody yet but have had plenty in the past. I like to keep the baby chicks on starter feed and their water dish cleaner and easily accessed for just them. This is my set up that has worked twenty years ago and how I will do it again. My dishes are vintage glass. vintage meaning as old as I am or older. Hah!
I made show pens for conditioning and training bantams way back when. Since I plan on doing that again I needed to work on my old cages a bit. The chicks can leave momma broody and roam in and out of the cage easily and the larger birds in the flock can't.

Could you elaborate on this a bit...How did you make it - what materials did you use?

Ok, let me get us back on track then. I have a deep litter question. I may have been very confused about this. Do you use DL IN the coop or in both the coop and yard? I have a 6x8 shed coop with a vinyl tile floor so deep litter doesn't work there but I also have a 16x23 half covered fenced run that the chickens are in most of the day. I have just dirt and bark out there and I rake poop up every day but I have started laying down alfalfa for them to pick through and am starting to get quite a thick floor of hay stalks. Should I leave it???? Does deep littler work outside? I do live in the Seattle area so it's wet, wet, wet. I'm afraid I would just have a rotten primordial goo but maybe not? Advise?

I use deep litter inside the hen house that has a vinyl floor. I put down a layer of dirt originally from the garden to have some native "bugs" in there. Has worked fine for what I'm trying to accomplish. Here is an article on deep litter you may find interesting. I thought the comments about having a bit of ammonia as a cocci deterrent was interesting. http://www.plamondon.com/faq_deep_litter.html

In our outdoor "dog kennel run" I began building up litter there as well. Wood chips and some of the litter from inside when it gets too deep. In the summer I'll likely be putting grass clippings in there as well. Mostly because I don't want the hard pan ground and I want to build deep enough that next winter there will be enough insulation to keep bugs growing under that litter. The hope is that they will still be able to scratch down deep and find something good to eat!

 

[Leahs Mom]

One thing I forgot to state about that deep litter article - I WOULD NOT ADD LIME. If you read the article they state that it can burn their feet.... I would just NOT USE LIME!

 

[armorfirelady]

I'm having a terrible chicken night.. My turkeys nearly killed my cochin rooster. They ate up a lot of his comb, and he has lost a whole lot of blood. He's eating like a champ right now and I have him all cleaned up and in the basement in a big dog kennel until he can regain some composure. He is very weak from the blood loss. 

Also one of my Ameraucana bantam chicks in the outside brooder was FREEZING. Brought her in as well. I think Carlton will be okay. Once I get my breeding pens built this weekend, he can have one of those to recover in. *sigh*

Oh and one of my broodies chicks died. Not sure what happened there. So she has one lonely chick. What a day...

Hugs Aoxa to you and your hens. Hopefully tomorrow they will be on the mend !!!

Ok, let me get us back on track then.  I have a deep litter question.  I may have been very confused about this.  Do you use DL IN the coop or in both the coop and yard?  I have a 6x8 shed coop with a vinyl tile floor so deep litter doesn't work there but I also have a 16x23 half covered fenced run that the chickens are in most of the day.  I have just dirt and bark out there and I rake poop up every day but I have started laying down alfalfa for them to pick through and am starting to get quite a thick floor of hay stalks.  Should I leave it????  Does deep littler work outside?  I do live in the Seattle area so it's wet, wet, wet.  I'm afraid I would just have a rotten primordial goo but maybe not?  Advise?

 

Ok, let me get us back on track then.  I have a deep litter question.  I may have been very confused about this.  Do you use DL IN the coop or in both the coop and yard?  I have a 6x8 shed coop with a vinyl tile floor so deep litter doesn't work there but I also have a 16x23 half covered fenced run that the chickens are in most of the day.  I have just dirt and bark out there and I rake poop up every day but I have started laying down alfalfa for them to pick through and am starting to get quite a thick floor of hay stalks.  Should I leave it????  Does deep littler work outside?  I do live in the Seattle area so it's wet, wet, wet.  I'm afraid I would just have a rotten primordial goo but maybe not?  Advise?

 

I had the same question!! My little chicken house is also vinyl floor but I have been keeping a deep litter in it anyway and throw on a pair of gloves and mix it around every couple days. I completely change it out when I notice it getting too wet.  I also started a dl in the run (uncovered). The nice thing about having it in the run is that it keeps it from becoming a huge muddy mess when it rains. I am in Arizona and while it is normally very dry here, when it rains, you can end up with several inches of mud on the bottom of your shoe! I am using a mix of straw and pine shavings. The only thing I am having trouble with is the chickens scratching all the litter into their food, so I am looking into ways to elevate the ff dishes. I am also assuming that I will always need to provide some sort of grit since the ground is not always visible?? Another question I have is when you do deep litter in the run, do you just throw out treats and/or scratch into the deep litter or is that not good? Seems like their squash gets covered in pine shavings sometimes and I don't know how much of the silly shavings they are ingesting. Thanks for any advice on this for both me and SandBsmom!

I have a 4x8 run are made from wooden lattice. It has a slant roof over it but it is still open to the weather except not so much during the winter since I put heavy plastic around it but it still has openings that get rain/snow in there. I have used DL since I got the hens in August. I have a mixture of hay, straw, pine shavings, leaves, pine needles, pine cones, dirt, wood ashes....just about anything I picked up in the yard. I turn it once a week. I only add more to it once or twice a month. I throw boss/corn in there once a week or so for the hens to do their part in stirring it up. When I turn it over its about 2 feet deep easily and then hens compact it down to about 8 inches. They have gotten their fresh veggies in there in inclement wx like heavy snow. I just turn them under and they decompose. They love to dust bathe in their DL. The DL smells like fresh earth to me. It does get damp around the edges where the elements can get to it but no mold or mildew. I have about 3 inches open below the plastic and 6 inches at the top for ventilation. The area below the roof is also open so there is plenty of ventilation to keep the air flowing. The last 4 days my hens have not set foot out of this run. Their choice as i have opened the pop door and shoveled every day in the large enclosed area. Still no smell and there are hen circles from where they are dust bathing, digging, etc while they stay in. I also have several roosts in here so there is plenty of room for them. I plan on adding peat moss as soon as it hits the shelves to help with composting and I think will help with moisture in the DL as well.

And here is my proof that the DL is working and that it does produce heat to the ground below:

I have NEVER seen an earth worm in December when the temps had been below freezing for over a month. I was quite surprised to find him as I turned the DL....the dirt under the DL is easily broken with my pitch fork to be turned into the DL. This guy was a tasty snack for one of the hens......now I know why they look like they are digging to china in the run & coop.....there is good eats under there

 

[Mumsy]

Could you elaborate on this a bit...How did you make it - what materials did you use?

Certainly. I'll take better close up pictures tomorrow. It's basically a hodge podge of welded wire fencing pieces and parts. The bottom is new 1/2 inch hard ware cloth. I just did add that bottom because I want to use this cage this coming summer to show train the Silkies before a show.



Helps keep feathered feet from getting raggedy. I use this cage for bantams to prepare them for cooping and feeding in close quarters. It has two compartments so I can use it for two birds to train at once. Just like they will be cooped at a show.



For feeding broody chicks that hard ware cloth bottom will work as a steady level surface to hold my glass dishes for the chicks and prevent them from scratching filth into them. This is just a messy cage with spaces in the front wide enough for chicks to pass back and forth through. The only real tools you need to build cages is good wire cutters and cage pliers and clips.

I tend to use up stuff I have laying around when ever I can to save $. If you had an old bird cage or rabbit cage you could also just take wire cutters and make a nice roomy chick size opening in it. For making an actual cage to train birds for show, I'll draw a plan and make a materials list tomorrow for you.

 

[pigeonguy]

Awww....Thank you. It was kind of more him walking me. I used a little kitty harness on him and a long silk ribbon. He just kind of foraged around the grounds and I followed. By the third weekend I could gently tug on the ribbon and he would follow me for a few steps at a time. Patrons to the fair were astounded and would stop dead in their tracks when they saw us. Many many people wanted to have their picture taken with the chicken. When it was really crowded I would put him on my fore arm to keep him safe from being trampled on. You would not believe how many people asked me if he was a real chicken. So many city folk had never seen a live chicken. I was dumb struck by that.
Loved that picture too
Oh...On that subject of all the horse people on this thread? I am also a horse breeder and trainer from way back. I used to breed Arabians, trained for people, and gave riding lessons to children and adults. Sold my last horse in 1990 when my fourth child was born.


Heres an old picture of my sis and I back on the farm riding our cow ponies. I'm on the bay. 1969. Hows that for an old photo? Hah!

Sitting on the dock of the bayWatching the tide roll awayI'm just sitting on the dock of the bayWasting time

I had a bunch of stuff marked multi don't know what happened oh well.

 

[delisha]

Great information as always LM!!

Please take care of yourself! What are you selling?

 

[Mumsy]

Sitting on the dock of the bayWatching the tide roll awayI'm just sitting on the dock of the bayWasting time

You crack me up! Hah!

 

[delisha]

Mumsy, you gave me a great idea for feeding chicks in the next couple of days..the chicks should be hatching next week.

 

[Mumsy]

Mumsy, you gave me a great idea for feeding chicks in the next couple of days..the chicks should be hatching next week.

Yay! Sometimes I get it right. Glad to be of help to get those thinking juices flowing for you.
Chicks mean more cute pictures!
Tomorrow I do my seven day candle. Going to find out if Johnny will have progeny!