The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

I do not find those pictures gross at all..I find them interesting..Thank you so much for sharing.

After blowing it up and doing some visual inspection i see no evidence this was a chick or a developing embryo.

I conclude that my original guess was correct.. it is a growth that started in the ova duct and was encapsulated as it entered the tube.

Thank you so much for doing this. You have helped many people who will run across this phenomena. We can say we seen it first! And you can say you experienced it first.

That does not negate the fact I recommend culling. I strongly suggest you never breed this bird.

What ever you decide, you need to do what YOU feel is best for your birds not what I suggest.

 

[arkansaschicks]

Thanks for ll the thoughts!! She is officially on watch alert mode. If it happens again then something is really wrong and she will have to be culled. Sad cause she has been a really good layer.

 

[delisha]

Congrats on the broody...!!!!



More new chicks!!! And Silkies at that!!

Aoxa..how are the chicks?


I talked to catdance lady..she said her eggs have a habit of piping on the wrong end... I am having some stressful moments..

 

[arkansaschicks]

I do not find those pictures gross at all..I find them interesting..Thank you so much for sharing.

After blowing it up and doing some visual inspection i see no evidence this was a chick or a developing embryo.

I conclude that my original guess was correct.. it is a growth that started in the ova duct and was encapsulated as it entered the tube.

Thank you so much for doing this. You have helped many people who will run across this phenomena. We can say we seen it first! And you can say you experienced it first.

That does not negate the fact I recommend culling. I strongly suggest you never breed this bird.

What ever you decide, you need to do what YOU feel is best for your birds not what I suggest.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at it closer for me!! That's why I enjoy following this thread so much because you all are so interested in giving and gaining new information. Everyone keep up the great work!! Yes I will be watching her closely. She is one of my barnyard mixes so I will not be breeding her. She has been a good layer and is a sweetheart but I would hate for her to suffer. Thanks so much for your advice and I will cull her if I see this is a real problem. Boy if that is the case I will be going back thru some old post since I have not had to do it before. I will post and let everyone know what happens with the next egg...if there is one. THANKS!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks for all the ideas on marking my girl. BTW...it is one of the 10 mo olds so she's one of the big girls, not one of the babies. I now have about 5 different things I could try that are all excellent.


Del: You mentioned the inspection that they do at your place for your certification. Could you enlighten us on what's involved in that and what you have to do to maintain the certification?

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Del: You mentioned the inspection that they do at your place for your certification. Could you enlighten us on what's involved in that and what you have to do to maintain the certification?

x2

 

[Leahs Mom]

Wow this is a long thread, I searched "soy free layer feed" and it directed me here. I am raising my laying hens naturally and organic and have a question about feed. My husband is afaid soy will make him girly (haha) so we recently switched to soyfree organic feed. It's about 21$ for a 50lb bag, really no different than the soy. I am unfamiliar with the benifits of soyfree. Does anyone have any info on this topic, pros or cons. I was worried the eggs would taste fishy because of fish meal but they actually taste better to me, richer flavor. Thanks ahead for any answers, Claire

I am a soy-free feeder...and don't eat soy or products with soy myself. There is a lot of research on soy and it's dangers out there. Here is a little brochure put out by Weston A. Price Foundation as a brief starting point. There are some links in it. I'm re-posting this from an earlier post in this thread. (Better do a blog post, I guess!

)

One thing is that soy is toxic to chickens in it's raw state and must be roasted before it can be fed.

My line that most of the folks here have read before (so sorry for the repeat) is that I've never seen any chickens sitting around a campfire roasting soybeans. It is just not something that you'd see any chicken eating if they were able to choose their own food source. I even know one gal who planted various grains and legumes for their chickens in a garden and they would not touch the soy - not even the greens of the plants. They cleaned everything else out of the garden.

It seems that soy was never meant to be consumed by people or animals as it has various anti-nutrients and toxins. It is well-documented to cause issues with thyroid and, like your hubby said, is full of "plant estrogens" (Layman's term) that do cause havoc with male and female hormone balance. It was originally used as a cover crop that was tilled under to increase nitrogen in the soil in which another crop was going to be planted. Marketing has been amazing for the product, and has convinced people that it is a "super health food". Sadly, it is quite the opposite.

That was brief... Might want to read the book: The Whole Soy Story.

 

[Leahs Mom]

And... A couple of links to go w/that brochure.

http://www.westonaprice.org/faq/faq-soy?qh=YToxOntpOjA7czozOiJzb3kiO30=

www.westonaprice.org

 

[Mumsy]

I talked to catdance lady..she said her eggs have a habit of piping on the wrong end... I am having some stressful moments..

Did you lay the eggs on the floor of your incubator or do you set them up in a carton or turner? Forgive me if I missed you talking about this earlier.
Would it make a difference how the eggs are positioned in the incubator for hatching? This must be a peculiarity bred into her strains. What has your experience been with chicks that pip on the small end of the egg? A lot of us here are hoping for the best for your Silkie chicks del. You've been so diligent with them from the moment you got them.

 

[Melabella]

Yippeee! I have my first broody! My daughter's white Silkie wouldn't get off the nest and pecked my hand today when I tried to check under her. I went inside and grabbed the rest of my SFH eggs (sold a batch but had 5 left over). I handed them to her one at a time - - it was so much fun watching her grab those eggs under her chin and roll them under her! Jury is still out on if I'll leave her in the small coop with the other bantams or separate her. I may put her into the giant dog crate for privacy.

Wow,, That is awesome. Looking forward to updates on this... jealous! Congrats!