The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

I was going to be a S.... A.. and make a coment to both of you about OffTopic but some would not appreciate my sence of humor

I am so excited about my lil chicks outside. If they make it in this weather they are going to be some awsome chickens. They are so quick!! as soon as I open the door to the box they dash back under mom..stinkers..I have no dea how many she has under her. I know it is one Orpington..they will be the black chicks. I see a bunch of shells under her when she raises up, but, broken shells and whole eggs are going to look like bunches when she only lifts up the front of her.

 

[Arkansas81]

Thanks about all the words about off topic talking..I am guilty of doing it a bit too often. I feel like I am constanlty being scolded and it is uncomfortable. I do not like feeling like I have to monitor what I say and I constantly need to clarify what is and is not off topic.I am sure many of you feel the same way.

I disagree about *claws coming out*...that has never happened on this thread. Great people are here who share gereriously to everyone. There is respect here and a general feeling of closeness and welcoming to everyone.

I love this thread and the gathering of so many different people. It simply works with the variety of the things going on. People are going to come and go. This is a popular thread and it move very quickly.

Thank you all for the oppertunity to enjoy your company. I feel privlaged and honored.

Well said Delisha!

I am grateful for everyone's knowledge and warm contributions! I feel like I am able to provide a lifestyle that some wish that they could provide for their families. Like I said I knew NOTHING about farming but I learn daily and all day about everything needed to keep barnyard critters.


I can only hope that all of these peeps stay around here for many years to come. I personally don't have anyone that I can go ask a "silly'' question to, so I am happy that I can get on here and talk to people all around the world.


I have a "chicken" question what other uses other than the obvious can you use the deep litter-litter for? I am getting quite a pile of it in the compost pile...so I was just wondering..thanks!

 

[delisha]

Mumsy will probably be the best person to answer that question.

I use it for many things

1. in the garden
2. in path ways to help foothing to the coops
3.. in the duck runs to keep the ground from getting hard
4. in broody areas to give chicks antibodies
5. Paths in the woods
6. over the new seeds I plant in the grass

 

[PeepsCA]

Sorry to bump this back up but yesterday delisha asked if Silkies were harder to incubate. A few of us talked about this but I've been thinking about it. So...Started to poke around and found this other thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/242301/are-silkie-eggs-harder-to-hatch-than-other-breeds-opinions-please/10

She wonders if the large vaulted skull found in some strains of Silkies prevents them from hatching as easily.

The chicks that died in the shell in my bad Silkie hatch ALL had huge vaulted skulls! My eggs came from a show Quality breeding pen from a long time and highly respected Silkie breeder. Out of the five Silkies that hatched for me, three had large vaulted skulls. The one I culled for Severe Wry neck did too.

But...The question remains...Does it present a problem for some Silkies to get out of the shell?

I incubated several batches of Silkie eggs this past season, many of them Vaulted from a mixed flock of 2 well known SQ lines. As a lot of people have reported with their hatches, quite a few of the eggs I incubated did not make it to lock-down either (I chalked most of it up to being them being shipped eggs and the typical 50% hatch success rate on shipped eggs, plus some ended up having blood rings) so I didn't bother opening up the eggs that didn't hatch from the first couple of hatches.

Then, after a couple more disappointing hatches I started getting curious... and opened the eggs that were late deaths or lock-down deaths. Those that were late deaths or during lock-down deaths were ALL Vaulted chicks or me too. All of the Vaulted chicks that did hatch successfully for me were all on the small size. Seems that if the chicks are normal sized to a little on the large size, then the extra lump on their heads prevents them from having enough room to pip, spin around in the egg and zip... or they just get that big head stuck in a bad spot and then wear themselves out/ expire trying to change position to be able to hatch.

IMO it's also possible that being Vaulted their head takes up too much space in the air cell and doesn't give them enough oxygen in the air cell, which may also play a role in causing them to expire before pipping and/or hatching. Next time I incubate Silkie eggs I plan on allowing extra ventilation that will allow more air into the incubator to see if that might possibly help more Vaulted chicks hatch.

None of this is proven fact, just guessing/assumption on my part based on my own observations compared to all of my success with hatching keets, quail, turkeys etc, all in the same incubators (Hovabator 1588s) and all with similar temp and humidity.

 

[Arkansas81]

Mumsy will probably be the best person to answer that question.
I use it for many things

1. in the garden
2. in path ways to help foothing to the coops
3.. in the duck runs to keep the ground from getting hard
4. in broody areas to give chicks antibodies
5. Paths in the woods
6. over the new seeds I plant in the grass

thanks delisha. hmm that seems like some good suggestions. i am defenatly using it in the garden this year! i've put a little bit in my worm farm, seems to be breaking down very nicely. i started with night crawlers, man they were huge!! my daughter thought i was awsome for letting her keep worms

. i can remember as i was a child i just loved playing in the dirt and the worms. i used to totally gross out my sister, now the funny thing is that my daughter does the same thing with the worms, finds the biggest ones and chases my sister around the yard with them. jessica gets such a thrill out of it

. mom and i just hang on each other laughing the whole time...what memories!!

 

[delisha]

My daughters name is Jessica too..

You are welcome btw

 

[Pullet Surprise]

I'm going to say this once and then that's the end of it...I too do not feel comfortable about being scolded about possibly being off topic. For one reason, the definition of being on/off topic is different for different people. There are pearls of wisdom in topics that may not appear to be strictly on topic, but for me have clicked and were directly chicken keeping related. I appreciated Mumsy's knowledge of botany. We are struggling with fencing issues, soil conditions etc...we don't have the lovely pasture that so many of you have and so therefore are trying to compensate in other ways. Providing plants that chickens like is a part of that compensation....well yes, that leads to what plants, seeds that are renewable and what will grow in this climate & soil. It made a very big difference in my thinking about what to do with the space I have. the discussion on alternative worming was quite important to me as well and I learned so much, what were the properties of one
product vs. another and how that information applied to what we have on hand at any one time. So what may seem as trivial boring dribble to some may have good impact for someone else.

I also have kept my mouth shut and kept my hand off the key board when members on this thread have posted the death of chickens, and pets, when in reality I wanted so badly to say..I am sorry for your loss. I did not want to take up precious space in the thread. I am not happy with myself for being that big of a 'chicken" . But each one of your losses was marked and a big Group "sorry" goes out to all. What has that got to do with chicken keeping? Well, a week ago I sat with one of our own aged cats as he went down hill and eventually passed. I didn't post of course...but what went through my mind the whole time was "If this were a chicken, I would not let this go on any longer...what can I do for poor ol' Andy?" and I hope it doesn't offend anyone, but I was so trying to figure out how to smother him when it was taken out of my hands and he passed on his own and I did not have to act. So yes, big chicken again. Yes, I know where my food comes from, Yes I have culled, Yes I am doing so many things with my small flock of hatchery mutts that I have learned on here and previous threads. But to just blow everything off to 1. build a coop 2. get chickens 3. feed and water chickens 4. cull chickens when you need to etc. is to say that we have learned it all, so therefore we could go one step further and say "what's the need for threads like these if we now know it all?" Have we then passed into some elite, secret, chicken keepers guild and passed our apprenticeship? I think not. I have a lot more questions and I don't always feel lately that I am safe in asking them as I would hate to put this thread in peril for others as it might possibly be considered off topic, when to me it is right on. I don't like having to worry about that. It is counter productive. Yes, this thread started with a lot of history, but dang it...there are others that I've read that have gone from A to on-beyond-zebra and no one has batted an eye.

The trick is balance, just like keeping chickens. There...whewww nuff said ...love y'all, oldies & newbies (well, almost all said...newbies are so important lest we think we've learned it all)

Khris

P.S. just to let you know how powerful this thread is...I have come to appreciate Silkies!

 

[jockeyeba]

Thanks about all the words about off topic talking..I am guilty of doing it a bit too often. I feel like I am constanlty being scolded and it is uncomfortable. I do not like feeling like I have to monitor what I say and I constantly need to clarify what is and is not off topic.I am sure many of you feel the same way.

I disagree about *claws coming out*...that has never happened on this thread. Great people are here who share gereriously to everyone. There is respect here and a general feeling of closeness and welcoming to everyone.

I love this thread and the gathering of so many different people. It simply works with the variety of the things going on. People are going to come and go. This is a popular thread and it move very quickly.

Thank you all for the oppertunity to enjoy your company. I feel privlaged and honored.

I know! What if we Post "Off Topic" in big letters when we're not going to talk straight chicken stuff so some people can just skim past if their not interested in peoples everyday real lives

 

[jockeyeba]

I'm going to say this once and then that's the end of it...I too do not feel comfortable about being scolded about possibly being off topic. For one reason, the definition of being on/off topic is different for different people. There are pearls of wisdom in topics that may not appear to be strictly on topic, but for me have clicked and were directly chicken keeping related. I appreciated Mumsy's knowledge of botany. We are struggling with fencing issues, soil conditions etc...we don't have the lovely pasture that so many of you have and so therefore are trying to compensate in other ways. Providing plants that chickens like is a part of that compensation....well yes, that leads to what plants, seeds that are renewable and what will grow in this climate & soil. It made a very big difference in my thinking about what to do with the space I have. the discussion on alternative worming was quite important to me as well and I learned so much, what were the properties of one
product vs. another and how that information applied to what we have on hand at any one time. So what may seem as trivial boring dribble to some may have good impact for someone else. 

I also have kept my mouth shut and kept my hand off the key board when members on this thread have posted the death of chickens, and pets, when in reality I wanted so badly to say..I am sorry for your loss. I did not want to take up precious space in the thread. I am not happy with myself for being that big of a 'chicken" . But each one of your losses was  marked and a big Group "sorry" goes out to all. What has that got to do with chicken keeping? Well, a week ago I sat with one of our own aged cats as he went down hill and eventually passed. I didn't post of course...but what went through my mind the whole time was "If this were a chicken, I would not let this go on any longer...what can I do for poor ol' Andy?" and I hope it doesn't offend anyone, but I was so trying to figure out how to smother him when it was taken out of my hands and he passed on his own and I did not have to act. So yes, big chicken again. Yes, I know where my food comes from, Yes I have culled, Yes I am doing so many things with my small flock of hatchery mutts that I have learned on here and previous threads. But to just blow everything off to 1. build a coop 2. get chickens 3. feed and water chickens 4. cull chickens when you need to etc. is to say that we have learned it all, so therefore we could go one step further and say "what's the need for threads like these if we now know it all?" Have we then passed into some elite, secret, chicken keepers guild and passed our apprenticeship? I think not. I have a lot more questions and I don't always feel lately that I am safe in asking them as I would hate to put this thread in peril for others as it might possibly be considered off topic, when to me it is right on. I don't like having to worry about that. It is counter productive. Yes, this thread started with a lot of history, but dang it...there are others that I've read that have gone from A to on-beyond-zebra and no one has batted an eye. 

The trick is balance, just like keeping chickens.  There...whewww nuff said ...love y'all, oldies & newbies (well, almost all said...newbies are so important lest we think we've learned it all)

Khris

P.S. just to let you know how powerful this thread is...I have come to appreciate Silkies! 

 

[jockeyeba]

Thanks about all the words about off topic talking..I am guilty of doing it a bit too often. I feel like I am constanlty being scolded and it is uncomfortable. I do not like feeling like I have to monitor what I say and I constantly need to clarify what is and is not off topic.I am sure many of you feel the same way. I disagree about *claws coming out*...that has never happened on this thread. Great people are here who share gereriously to everyone. There is respect here and a general feeling of closeness and welcoming to everyone. I love this thread and the gathering of so many different people. It simply works with the variety of the things going on. People are going to come and go. This is a popular thread and it move very quickly. Thank you all for the oppertunity to enjoy your company. I feel privlaged and honored.

[COLOR=4B0082]Well said Delisha! I am grateful for everyone's knowledge and warm contributions! I feel like I am able to provide a lifestyle that some wish that they could provide for their families. Like I said I knew NOTHING about farming but I learn daily and all day about everything needed to keep barnyard critters.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=000080]I can only hope that all of these peeps stay around here for many years to come. I personally don't have anyone that I can go ask a "silly'' question to, so I am happy that I can get on here and talk to people all around the world.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=008080]I have a "chicken" question what other uses other than the obvious can you use the deep litter-litter for? I am getting quite a pile of it in the compost pile...so I was just wondering..thanks![/COLOR]