The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[jockeyeba]

Hi! May I join?

from Texas

 

[jockeyeba]

Walked out this morning & 1 of the AG pullets that roost in the trees-only 6 of 23 go into a coop at night was walking through the horse pen with one of the horses following. We managed to herd them into the backyard & into a pen before one of the 16 babies were squished by a horse

 

[Bulldogma]

Walked out this morning & 1 of the AG pullets that roost in the trees-only 6 of 23 go into a coop at night

was walking through the horse pen with one of the horses following. We managed to herd them into the backyard & into a pen before one of the 16 babies were squished by a horse

Yay!!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Trav - hope your hen is OK. Let us know.

She passed over night. She had no poop or urates in the tub either. I told myself if she didn't pass and had no poops, then I would cull her to end the suffering. She was in a lot of pain. But she beat me to it.

ETA: she was only around 10 weeks old

 

[jendodd79]

If only

To really get a hen to go to the right box, you need to pick her up, carry her into the laying area, sit down with her on your lap and hypnotize her. To hypnotize her, you face her away from you and move your hand up and down over her eyes. They will close. After about 30 seconds of her eyes closing, you get up and carry her to the box that you wish her to lay her eggs in, and whisper several times, your box, your box, your box. Then you go back to the spot where you originally hypnotized her and set her on the ground and snap your fingers.

Works every time.

Some may laugh, but it is an ancient Chinese Secret.

Loin

If only I fit in the box...

 

[Bulldogma]

She passed over night. She had no poop or urates in the tub either. I told myself if she didn't pass and had no poops, then I would cull her to end the suffering. She was in a lot of pain. But she beat me to it.

ETA: she was only around 10 weeks old

Sorry, Trav!

 

[midnightroo]

Glad I could help with the chickweed. I think it is funny that some of you have to buy it. It is all over the place here, can't get rid of it, at least before chickens I couldn't. I will look around some more about native or invasive plants that can be eaten, like thistle, jand pass it along when I find some good information. Though, for those of you free ranging, it doesn't matter because they will find all the goodies when they are out and about.

Mellabella- your kittie is too cute on those eggs.

Bulldogma- so jealous of your new coop. Please take photos as you work on it. Your broody chick is so tiny! I hate to lose any eggs I might finally get, but I would love one of mine to go broody this spring.

Turtle- I am sorry about your hen.

 

[lalaland]

midnight roo, I am downright jealous that you have chickweed growing right now! I usually don't weed it out of the garden (same thing with sorrel) cuz it is so great for the girls.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

You know if you're not into FF, you can just wet down their feed a bit with herbs in it. No fermenting necessary.

Wet feed is better for them than dry, and you don't have to do it every day.

I started out with wet feed before switching to FF.

Bread is not good for chickens at all. It's like McDonalds to humans.

I will try the wet feed tomorrow. I ran out of time to make the bread today. Is it just store bread or even homemade bread that is bad for the birds?

I am glad everyone is eating!!!
Bread amongst other things can cause sour crop. In the case of bread, I think it is the process of turning to sugar in the hen's crop that is the cause of this. The sugar then allows yeasts to grow in the crop and adhere to the lining, so that the problem persists. If this is allowed to continue then opportunist bacteria can also start to infect the crop and you have a very nasty problem.
Dried out bread or hardtack soaked in buttermilk is OK to feed. The buttermilk acts like FF and will help to protect the crop and intestines.
Cooking or baking herbs or any natural food removes vital ingredient and vitamins. That is why it is recommended to use Unpasteurized and uncooked methods in most natural recipes.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/614951/help-me-with-sour-crop-please

thanks for the link

Where did you get the ball thing? I've tried putting greens in a square suet holder but doesnt work well. I know cut them up with scissors into small pieces but if I could find something like this it would work even better

Meyer hatchery has them.

Does anyone have a link to more info about the Johnny cake that was mentioned?

 

[lalaland]

I will try the wet feed tomorrow. I ran out of time to make the bread today. Is it just store bread or even homemade bread that is bad for the birds?

bread! i suppose you could argue home made is a little less bad, but it is still bad for them - because of the yeast/sour crop issue. and not all that nutritious either.