The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[arkansaschicks]

Thanks.... I have never paid attention to any of that stuff but she had such a convincing story as to why it works.

 

[delisha]

Ok I have 2 questions. First I know several of you feed your chickens raw meat so my question is why raw hamburger meat vs cooked? Second I was in the feed store today and they have their chicks in and this lady that works there told me that you can sex a chick by turning it over in your hand and a female draws her legs up and a male extends them out. I have never heard this before so I am just wondering if this lady is crazy

cook foods remove vital nutrients and fats
that is why it is recommended not to purchase pasteurized ACV.
sexing day old chicks is an art and even professionals and experts are only correct 70% of the time.
Other methods work 50% of the time

 

[arkansaschicks]

I guess it just natural for me to want to cook the raw meat I was just going through the freezer and found some trout and freezer burned hamburger meat and thought I would give it to the chickens. Thanks

 

[delisha]

I guess it just natural for me to want to cook the raw meat

I was just going through the freezer and found some trout and freezer burned hamburger meat and thought I would give it to the chickens. Thanks

watch the fine bones in fish..they can get stuck in crops

I debone my fish ..just in case unless it is fresh caught by the ducks..

 

[arkansaschicks]

Yes the bones had me very concerned!! I plan on deboning. Cleaning the freezer is turning out to be a big bonus for the chickens!

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
Wow, finally caught up with you guys. I read the whole thread - very informative. Glad to see plans are coming along on the barn - it looks like it is going to be beautiful. Nice horse trailer too - now I am looking at an old trailer with new eyes.. I have also learned a lot here about watching my chickens - I used to be the "throw food at them and collect eggs" chicken keeper, now I not only laugh at their antics and talk to them - but I keep a close eye on how they act, and walk, and eat.. but not obsess about their poops!

I also just processed my first solo rooster today - usually I did the killing (axe) and my mom and brothers would clean them. I used the bleed out method today - it was much cleaner! I also skinned him because I liked his feathers. I didn't see any directions to do the skinning, so I just did it like I have skinned the store bought chickens, very carefully - except the feathers kept getting in the way. I think I did ok for my first pelt - but time will tell when it starts to dry out... He was a defective Red Laced Blue Wyandotte from a hatchery - cross beak, stupid, and kept getting brain abscesses - so I finally put him out of his misery. Since I had grown up doing the killing that wasn't the hard part, but the processing wasn't as bad as I thought either. I never liked feather picking - so the skinning sort of avoided that whole part.

My only two cents to add so far is: when you use soap and water to de-worm your birds - make sure the soap is NOT antibacterial soap. So many dish soaps/laundry soaps today are antibacterial. When we started using soap for de-worming there wasn't any antibacterial soaps so you could use anything. Today I have to be careful to check all labels. Getting antibacterial soap inside any animal is not a good idea (including ourselves)- it messes with the good bacteria too.

Soap and water is much less traumatic than the kerosene, but doesn't kill the worms - just expels them. Also the fumes from kerosene can affect your birds lungs - so use a minimal amount, make sure it does NOT get warm (i.e. not in the sun), and remove it once they have drunk what they wanted.

About the chick dust - it is not what they DUST in that makes it dusty (although it will add to it) - its from the chicks themselves (dried skin, dropped feathers, dried poops, etc). So it doesn't matter which bedding you use (or even just newspapers) there will be dust. If you hatch in your incubator you will need to vacuum it out anyway. If you are going to have a separate hatcher then you might want to put the incubator as far away from the hatcher and the chicks as possible - to minimize the dust. The chicks will create dust when they dry off after they are born (from the egg whites that protected them while growing).

Also a note on Fermented Feed. It does not need to be kept in a warm place all the time to ferment. I have mine outside - it gets sun during the day and down to 30s at night. It still ferments. It ferments faster when it is warm - and slows down when it is cold. You don't have to have it inside your house, so just find a glass door or window in an unheated area - or outside if it stays above freezing - and let it do its thing!

Now I can stop lurking and share some of what I have learned as well. I have learned a lot from reading here, and have added my two-cents above.

 

[delisha]

Thanks for the helpful hints ChickenNmamma..welcome to the group

I wish I could ferment outside..it is still winter here. I am sure most wish they could FF outdoors.

 

[Bulldogma]

Welcome! We're happy to have you here, and thank you for your input! Hope we'll hear plenty more from you as we go!

 

[ChickNmamma]

Thanks for the helpful hints ChickenNmamma..welcome to the group

I wish I could ferment outside..it is still winter here. I am sure most wish they could FF outdoors.

Thanks for the welcome.

Yes, if it never goes above freezing like you get - then I wouldn't try it. However I have seen people in Texas and California hesitate to start FF because they "didn't want it in their house". I say - start it outside - but start it! My chickens love it, they eat everything (which in the crumble I usually have a lot of powdery waste) and I haven't had anybody turn up their noses at it.

Oh, I am also starting some ACV to grow the mother. I bought some really low priced bottles of unpasturized Apple Cider Vinegar at Grocery Outlet - with little threads at the bottom - cracked open all the bottles and put them on the counter with the caps ajar. Since I read that the fermentation microbes are in the air - you don't need to add any "with mother" vinegar to start them - but they will take a bit longer. I found the "with mother" at the store- but it looked about the same as what I bought - no nice blob of mother - and was 4 times the price - so I think I will stick with this method for now.

 

[Mumsy]

It's been 24 hours since I brought my Grey Silkie pullet 'Binkus' into the house. She has exhibited brain injury symptoms. The roo 'Stinkus' she is penned with started crowing recently and grabbing her by the crest. I can only assume he injured her in his exuberance.

Her symptoms were uncontrolled and involuntary head spasms. Inability to stand or walk. Inability to find the feed dish and water er. Random spastic stabbing her beak at the air. When I picked her up yesterday morning I was instantly alarmed at how light she felt. Very sharp keel bone. I don't know exactly how long she has been like this. Maybe a couple days. I was gone all Saturday.

Put her in a tub in the house with deep shavings. Immediately snipped the end of a Cod Liver oil gelcap and squeezed it onto her tongue. Did the same with an E gelcap. Cut a Selenium tablet in half and dissolved it in water. Took an eye dropper and slowly and carefully dripped that on her tongue as well. All this treatment is done with the pullet snugly bunted in a towel to keep her wings from flapping and keeping her from injuring her brain further.
Put her in the tub in a heated room and scrambled eggs with a little cream.

She cleaned out within an hour after the Cod liver oil. Drank the Selenium water on her own power once I dipped her beak. She ate the scrambled egg with great difficulty of head spasms and it was very sad to me to watch her struggle.

She showed improvement this morning. Standing on her own for short amounts of time. Completely messing herself so I stuck her bum in a pan of soapy water and got that clean.
Just checked on her. She is standing, walking a bit. Eating and drinking with much less spasm. Gave her the medical treatment of vitamins again. Took small scissors and trimmed around her eyes. Used some 'Angry Bird' vet wrap cut to size and put up her do so she can find the food and water easier. I think shes going to be fine in a few more days. She is going in the Silkie pullet pen for protection until shes matured and fully healed.