The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Sandstorm495]

I have a question! Since this is a natural chicken thread, any Natural ideas for curing sour crop? Also does anybody know if too much bread causes sour crop in chickens? Thanks, and hope to get a reply soon!

 

[Sandstorm495]

Since we were talking about horses earlier- I have to show these pictures

& I do have a chicken question too

Can 15 week old chicks be put in with older chickens? 2 8 1/2mo. old roo's, 2 8 1/2 mo. old pullets & 3 older hens? It's a nice size coop & a big run.......

And cool horse pics by the way...

 

[jendodd79]

I don't mean to rain on anybody's parade or anything but

... "OTs welcome" means Old Timers welcome. Altho straying off topic seems to be allowed on this thread, and pretty well tolerated by most, lol. (I think BDM was trying to encourage knowledgeable and long-time chicken people to chime in on this thread

, since 2 other active threads that had a lot of OT input were locked not that long ago).

So funny! I've never heard that before!

I apologize for being so randomly chatty, I took it as "off topic" because that's all I've ever heard of as an acronym before

 

[jendodd79]

I won a lot of races on Arabians

I would love to watch Arabian racing!! None up here in western Canada

 

[Melabella]

Morning everyone....

So in constantly assessing Duke and trying to learn here, read what qualities a good roo is about, I am always watching. I imagine the most important thing a roo can do for his flock is of course, keeping watch and protection. In this respect, Duke seems to be quite proficient, he is always on the lookout. On another front, I have noticed as Duke climbs aboard his ladies, he is using biting their necks seemingly to help in him getting them to submit, and also for balance. I notice a few times that some feathers come along with it, and a few of the girls have started this bare spot thing to the right of their combs, starting down their necks. One of my BA's Dahlia has really been getting a horrible bares spot, that in this weather, has been very cracked and red, and dry. I have been worried that blood would come, and then we'd have a real problem.
Here is not the greatest picture but it's the best I could do holding her and the camera at the same time.

I was able to get her away from Duke yesterday, and cleaned it up a bit, then covered the entire area with some NuStock.


I really tried to massage it on to the bare, dry cracked skin. I now noticed smaller similar spots starting on two other girls.

Question being, do all roosters do this kind of stuff when mounting hens. I remember discussion on the GB thread about a roo that does damage to his hens being a cullable offense. I have learned a lot since discovering that I had a missexed roo from my hatchery order, and now see a lot of the good points to having a roo, but in trying to figure out if Duke is indeed one I want to have around, if this keeps happening, should it be something I don't want to have around the girls?

Any thoughts are appreciated...off for another cup of joe...
MB

 

[aoxa]

The weather is turning. I think tonight when I closed up it felt warmer. It is going to snow tomorrow. warmed up enough to snow.

My DH is taking me out to eat tonight for a reward for applying for a job and going on an interview..he is so wonderful. He told me I could not get a job. Now he is taking me out.
My interview went well..I might get called back for a second interview.

The chickens seem happy..they did not want to go in for the night. I am getting nervous about that broody...so cold for baby chicks. Tonight when I went in to shut up she was off the nest..drats I found the extra eggs I thought the girls were not laying. Going to be a bunch of unhatched eggs.

The DH and I are going to go threw all the eggs tomorrow and I am going to chuck the empty eggs..He is also going to help me weigh them and log them.

For once I wish it would warm up enough to snow. This morning does feel warmer.

Even though I'm behind I want to pose a question for discussion.

About Moulting
My oldest girls will be a year on March 25, so still technically pullets. I have read that pullets don't moult during their first year.

-It appears to me that every bird has moulted except for the 2 RIRs - and most of them just started at the beginning of January. Is that odd?
-Why in the heck would a bird moult in winter or even late fall? Seems counterintuitive...like they should drop feathers when its warm and keep them when its cold?

-One of the BRs has a strange "crop circle" on the back center of her neck. It looks like a circle of feathers about the size of a 50 cent piece was just gone and now it's full of new quills that haven't opened yet. I can only see it if she fully extends her neck. She's also scruffy other places, with loose feathers, but not like the "crop circle". Anyone seen anything like that?

My 1st year hens born around the same time (actually a few weeks earlier) all molted. I'd say it's normal based on that.

Mumsy, I am looking forward to your detailed information about show cages and how to make them ..I have only one..can you also talk about cage and show conditioning please..
Axoa..can you also give a step by step in show preperation

I probably need improvement in my training

The chickens I plan on showing, I pick them up at least once a day. I gradually start to stroke them, touch feet, open wings.I have a table I place them on. The cockerel is a freek show and i had to put food on the table to get him to stay. He still is a freek show about the table but is getting better. Right now i can't cage train because i am using it for a brooder. I will start putting them in the cage for a short time to longer and longer time.

Bath day before show..keep dry and off ground.

What do you pack?

Blow dryer..baby wipes..paper work..nail file..vasaline. clean bedding.. gloves..empty cages..

I'll get into detail about what I do in just a bit.

I have a question! Since this is a natural chicken thread, any Natural ideas for curing sour crop? Also does anybody know if too much bread causes sour crop in chickens? Thanks, and hope to get a reply soon!

Yoghurt - plain no sugar added. Massage that crop. You do not need to make them throw up, as it can aspirate them if you don't do it properly. Monitor their bowl movements closely. Keep bird warm.

and


Question again.

What should I do...

I'm having trouble with Darn Starlings! A flock of 20-50 of them continually come and roost in with the chickens during the day and eat their food! What can I do?! I am terrified of them contracting diseases from the wild buggers.

And of course they are wasting my hard earned money. It's been happening every day. It started with just a few. I was fine. Thought it was funny. It is not funny now. They are crapping all over everything!

 

[Sally8]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/84141/north-to-alaska

note how little they do

Would you think then that if a lot are lost in frigid temp that it could be due to humidity? It's very cold here (esp at night) and mine seem fine so far. Today should be the end of this cold snap for ,us.

Stony, don't give up on us here due to the "other stuff" we all value your input and love your stories and pictures. So many of us have "other stuff" we just have to share. In our minds, it just goes with chickens. lol

I've had 2 hens leave their nests. I found the eggs frozen and one had a baby chick all developed ready to come out. Both hens were 9 months old. Tomorrow is hatch day for my incubator. With the outside temps being so cold, the incubator temps consistently dipped to 99.

I've read here about moulting and these cold temps. Mine already did in the late fall and were just laying great. Now I'm lucky to get 2-4 eggs out of 16 hens. Is it due to the cold? And will they continue once it gets warm?

 

[Mumsy]

Thanks for all the great DL info guys. I'll have to be rethinking how I approach my run.

One of you posted a picture of your incubator a few thousand posts ago. It had a water weenie in it and a separate little circle in it. Was that you Delisha? I'm curious about all the stuff in there and the reasons. I haven't totally decided yet whether we will broody hatch, incubate or a little of both so I am trying to educate myself. I'm still worried that if we broody hatch the chicks won't be as people friendly as our flock is now. But I need incubator info just in case.

That was my incubator.


The water weasel (water weenie made me laugh) is full of water and doubled on itself. I put my probe thermometer inside it 24/7. It gives me an accurate inner egg temp reading. The probe thermometer is purchased in the food gadget aisle at the hard ware store.
I use five separate thermometers in each corner of the bator. Three at egg level and one on the floor. They are calibrated and give me fairly accurate temp readings. My thermometer/hygrometer was purchased in the reptile cage section at the pet store. I rely on it the most. I'm doing a dry hatch. This means I have added no water at all into the incubator. My indoor/bator humidity reading is holding steady at 32% Bless our Pacific Northwest weather! Hah! I will bump it to around 55%/60% using sterile sponges dampened with warm distilled water at lockdown.
When I turn my eggs, I change which cup they rest in every time. That moves the eggs around so none sits in the same place more than six hours at a time.
I am hatching eggs from two pullets covered by Johnny. At lock down I will insert the hardware cloth cage I made and put just Edith's eggs in it to hatch. This way I can keep the chicks separate from each other for progeny testing. I'm going to be breeding and hatching pure breed colored silkies and Heritage RIR. I'm practicing my technique's on Johnny and his girls to see what needs tweaking later on.

Candled the fourteen eggs this morning. 100% fertility! They are viable!

 

[aoxa]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/738823/genesis-hovabator

This is going back to the incubator topic about the genesis. Peeps and I aren't the only ones who value our Genesis Hovabators.

I just hatched out 35 chicks for a friend this week for a friend and more are still in the incubator. His expensive incubator just quit and he called me to see if I was hatching. I told him no but I could have some incubators ready in less than 2 hrs. I just plugged in my 2 Genesis units and they were ready for eggs before the eggs got here. I also have an expensive Dickey unit that will do literally hundreds of eggs at a time that is a wonderful incubator. But for quick start up with no worry I have nothing but faith in my Genesis. No knock against any other incubator but I know of no other incubator where you can plug it in and not worry about having to adjust it (ever) for under 200 with the egg turner. A great little incubator and PERFECT for a novice or experienced poultry lover.

 

[atmaclean]

Since we were talking about horses earlier- I have to show these pictures

& I do have a chicken question too

Can 15 week old chicks be put in with older chickens? 2 8 1/2mo. old roo's, 2 8 1/2 mo. old pullets & 3 older hens? It's a nice size coop & a big run.......

Wow! What awesome pictures How old is the top picture??? That is a big mare - especially for a little tike

Angela