The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Sally..I have chicks out in the coop too. I have only seen one. I think I hear more. The one peeking out is not the Orpingtons. I gave her 4 Orpington eggs and I see no black. That means more eggs were layed in her nest than I had thought.

How do others keep tract of eggs in nests? Do you mark them? Separate the hens at onset of nesting?

 

[delisha]

Thank-you for the warm welcomes. Ooooh. I've never done a hatch a long before, How do I get involved in the Easter hatch a long?

Look for the Easter hatch a long thread and hop on

Welcome to this thread..glad to have you here.

 

[delisha]

Mumsy,

I agree with your assessment of too high humidity..these chicks are way to big. You can see it in the neck it was kinked to hard while inside the egg. Death in fully formed chicks is heartbreaking. This thread can help others when they make a decision to hatch on how to do it closer to nature and not use artificial excesses like high humidity. Keeping a hatch close to how a hen hatches works best.

 

[midnightroo]

Thank you for the information Mumsy

I posted pictures of deep litter for someone yesterday that had asked for them..
Did you have questions in particular about DL? I would like to know why you needed pictures out of curiosity.


Off topic solution



I would like to know what changes everyone has made since coming to BYC and what have those changes done for you and your flock.

I have started to add unacv to my water, trying to grow mealworms, and will most likely do ff at the end of the month. I have learned that I might be a wimp, but my chickens are not. I am glad to be able to go somewhere were my interest in doing things naturally, chickens & gardening, are not considered odd , but welcomed.

Thank you for everyone for sharing your wealth of information and for letting me know I am not alone in my quest.

 

[delisha]

Quote: What have you noticed in your flock since you started adding UPACV?

 

[jendodd79]

everyone with an incubator needs to get on the Easter hatch a long..they have great prizes..I won a gift card from Lowes and 2 dozen eggs for the NYD hatch a long.

I wish!!!!!

 

[jendodd79]

Thank you for the information Mumsy..Thank you also for posting the pictures. I am glad you are joining the hatch a long. Your wealth of information to me and others is invaluable.


Thank you everyone for sharing your chicken experiences and all of your questions.

I posted pictures of deep litter for someone yesterday that had asked for them..
Did you have questions in particular about DL? I would like to know why you needed pictures out of curiosity.


Off topic solution



I would like to know what changes everyone has made since coming to BYC and what have those changes done for you and your flock.

I came to backyard chickens before getting my chicks, but as far as what changes I've made since coming to this thread:

I started the deep litter method, have started conditioning my run, created fermented feed, and have filed away a ton of knowledge about chicken pathology.


Concerning the OTness of the thread, there seems to be as many posts made about how off topic things are, as there are things that are OT, (which also clutters up the important posts).. People can't form relationships off of pure business, and I think this thread has thrived because of the relationships people have formed. When I joined this thread, I found it to be the perfect mix and have been enjoying it immensely.

 

[jendodd79]

I have a very silly question, but still curious and on topic.

Do hens that stop laying still go broody? Just trying to pre-plan 3-4 years from now when my current little flock is done laying, what I can do with them. (Maybe I'll have a farm by then )

 

[countrygirl74]

I am sooooooo frustrated!!

I posted this information on my Arizona thread and hope it's okay to post here as well as I would love some feedback on things I can do to increase my ratio of hens because this is ridiculous...

When I ordered my batch of chicks from Ideal Poultry, I specifically asked for all hens - NO MALES, not even any to keep the others warm in transit as suggested. I was willing to take responsibility for any losses. I asked them to not throw in any extras or anything. The only straight run I ordered were 3 silkies and I knew I could get roos in there.

Well, here we are about 4 months later... our FAVORITE hen started crowing this morning. A beautiful Americauna which I was hoping to get pretty eggs from. They also DID send me an EXTRA Australorp which also turned out to be a rooster and is now crowing too. Then, next thing I know, our one and only speckled sussex they sent me is starting to crow. And from what I can tell, 2 of the silkies (the blue and red) are both roos.

That leaves me with 1 white silkie hen, 2 barred plymouth rocks, 1 rhode island red, 1 Americauna, and 2 australorps that are scaring me a bit with looking like roos. Do Australorp hens have bigger combs and wattles then other breeds?

That's like 5 roosters to 7 hens and that's if I'm lucky and the other 2 Australorps are hens. I expected that there may be some error in sexing, like maybe I would end up with 1 roo or something but this is ridiculous. I am going to have to start all over with getting enough hens for the eggs I want to get and butcher some of our favorites. Is there a more accurate place to order chickens from?

One more thing I've noticed... It seems like what Ideal called "Americauna" is actually "EE" based on the photos I have found. So, I guess I have EE's, not Americaunas - do they mislabel them there?

 

[Mumsy]

Concerning the OTness of the thread, there seems to be as many posts made about how off topic things are, as there are things that are OT, (which also clutters up the important posts).. People can't form relationships off of pure business, and I think this thread has thrived because of the relationships people have formed. When I joined this thread, I found it to be the perfect mix and have been enjoying it immensely.

I agree with you jendodd79. Less whining about Off T. It's counter productive. If I have to worry about every thing I post here, I would have to just stop posting. I love the blend of friendliness and information too. That is also why I hang out here more than any where else.

I didn't learn about using Un-ACV or wood ash, or Nu Stock, or FF on this thread but I have shared my experiences using them here many times (probably too many times) how it has helped my rescue roo Johnny from the brink of despair and unthriftiness from a severe mite infestation back to supreme health. I don't know if all of his 13 eggs in my bator now will hatch, but they are ALL fertile. Yay for natural chicken keeping benefits!