The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[BentoMinion]

Comparing that to the feed I use for my chickens: mine is just coarsely ground raw grains, fish meal, and some nutribalancer. In my case, it is RAW GROUND GRAINS that are being soaked rather than COOKED, HIGHLY PROCESSED GRAINS/GRAIN PRODUCTS that are used in dog food.

Do you grind your own grains? If so, how?

 

[aaggjg]

OMG Countrygirl74 those pictures of your wet NaNa might be the cutest most pathetic thing I have ever seen!!! Love it!!!

Aoxa what is a Bowtie on a NaNa? I know nothing about the breed.

Mumsy & BDM congrats on the HRIRs!! I just saw some at a show a few months ago and I had no idea they were RIRs!! The color is so dark and fabulous!!

So if my girls poopy bottoms & light weight is due to worms... What else should I do?? I thought this could be the case so I have been giving them a ton of chopped fresh garlic mixed with chili peppers daily. I had been mixing in some wormwood powder but just ran out. In their water they get ACV and I was putting in black walnut .... I just started adding a drop of soap .... Is that proven to do anything?? Or is it just an old wives tale???
So I guess the question is ... How do I know if these remedies are working? And how long should they take??? Oh I forgot to mention the fresh pumpkin I gave them too.... They don't really seem that interested in it ... I'm probably going to have to try another tactic with that

Thanks for any suggestions!!!

 

[Mumsy]

Where did you get your HRIR's?

Ron Fogle in Arkansas. I did a lot of research online and on the Heritage RIR thread on BYC. I chose Ron's line because his breeding is excellent. His birds are magnificent. And most important to me...He is an honest and open gentleman to do buisness with. He marked his eggs out of three pens. He will give me advice which chicks to pen together when they mature. I'm also getting two week old chicks shipped from him. I will have to wait and see how that goes. His eggs are in incubation now.

 

[armorfirelady]

Mumsy-
I remember when you first started posting on this thread about Johnny. Its amazing how far you have come since then. A beautiful healthy Johnny, his girls, lots of silkies & now HRIR's.........

I think you got the chicken bug back

I enjoy your posts on the updates about your chicks and your knowledge.

How is your silkie with the head shake?

 

[Mumsy]

Mumsy-
I remember when you first started posting on this thread about Johnny. Its amazing how far you have come since then. A beautiful healthy Johnny, his girls, lots of silkies & now HRIR's.........

I think you got the chicken bug back

I enjoy your posts on the updates about your chicks and your knowledge.

How is your silkie with the head shake?

It didn't take me long once I found BYC forum. Wish I'd have had this awesome resource twenty years ago.

Thank you armorfirelady. I share what I can and glean good info here too.

Sadly, the little Grey pullet has taken a turn for the worse. The head shaking had ceased. She was moving around and eating and drinking. I moved her from the intensive care cage in the chick house and put her in an isolation pen in the middle of the barn so she could be with the flock but protected. She looked fine last night at lights out. This morning she can't stand or walk. Just a limp noodle in my hands. She is back in the intensive care cage but not eating or moving. She has poo with urates but I believe this pullet is not going to make it. She is not quite seven months old. Never layed. I fear this Silkie has something very wrong inside her. She is from the same breeder Trav got his ill fated Silkie chicks from. I don't like bad mouthing a breeder on a public forum. Especially when that breeder is not here to defend her birds. But....Something is going on and it's not good. This silkie feels like feathers over a skeleton. No weight to her at all. I will do a necropsy and hope you all can tell me what you think when I post pictures. I haven't done one on a Silkie in twenty years.

 

[CoopChick719]

And speaking of photos...


My daughter and one of our chickens dancing together.


Bad hair day!


My daughter has named her "Dorthy."


And look! I made suet cakes using Mumsy's recipe! The only trays I had that made cakes the right size for the suet cage were some heart shaped ones I had used for my middle daughter's birthday a number of years ago. Perfect size... and cuter than anything I'd normally put together. <3 <3. LOL!!

Thank you, Mumsy, for sharing how to do this! The closest town to us has a chain supermarket, but since its in a really tiny town, they had no problem with selling me a huge thing of suet for nothing. The birds LOVE the suet cakes, and I like how hanging them keeps my daughter's quarantined Silkies busy all day.

Hi BDM, I know this is from Dec. but I just wanted to say how cute your daughter is! I remember when mine wanted to wear cute little dresses. Love your birds too!

 

[countrygirl74]

Mumsy - so sorry to hear about your silkie. I think we were all holding out such hope!

Thanks for all the comments on the chick pics - here's the new ones we picked up yesterday!

 

[aoxa]

OMG Countrygirl74 those pictures of your wet NaNa might be the cutest most pathetic thing I have ever seen!!! Love it!!!

Aoxa what is a Bowtie on a NaNa? I know nothing about the breed.

Mumsy & BDM congrats on the HRIRs!! I just saw some at a show a few months ago and I had no idea they were RIRs!! The color is so dark and fabulous!!

So if my girls poopy bottoms & light weight is due to worms... What else should I do?? I thought this could be the case so I have been giving them a ton of chopped fresh garlic mixed with chili peppers daily. I had been mixing in some wormwood powder but just ran out. In their water they get ACV and I was putting in black walnut .... I just started adding a drop of soap .... Is that proven to do anything?? Or is it just an old wives tale???
So I guess the question is ... How do I know if these remedies are working? And how long should they take??? Oh I forgot to mention the fresh pumpkin I gave them too.... They don't really seem that interested in it ... I'm probably going to have to try another tactic with that

Thanks for any suggestions!!!

A bow tie is a tuff of feathers on the front of the naked neck

 

[CoopChick719]

My nephew is obsessed with egg collecting. He said to me "You know. I want to be a farmer and have chickens when I grow up!" Nearly busted a tear duct. It was way too cute.





First egg!

Aoxa, HE IS ADORABLE! LOVE THE CHICKEN COSTUME!!

 

[delisha]

As far as worming with pumpkin..it is the seeds from the pumpkin not the actual pumpkin.