The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[countrygirl74]

Yay, Yay, Yay!!!!

After all these weeks of you all hearing my complaining and not so very patiently waiting... I got my first egg!!!! AND GET THIS... I think it was my one and only little silkie hen who is just 20 weeks old. Who would have thought my silkie would start laying first! All my other birds that age will lay brown when they start, except for the 1 EE and I think it's too small for the EE.

BUT - you gotta hear the story...

Spent a couple hours outside today, letting everyone have some supervised free-ranging... decided to add another roost to the coop as all these new babies I have will need some roosting space eventually. So, I cleaned out the coop pretty good and added a roost. I scooped up all the old shavings out of the nesting boxes, etc. and THREW it all onto the ground, then KICKED it all around the run to add to the deep litter. Then I walked around to grab my hammer and there by the food dish was a little creamy white egg. It had come out with all the bedding I had thrown out and rolled right there. I have no idea what box it was in, or how long it's even been in there!! I have checked every day and never saw it! I put it in the shavings to see how I would miss it and sure enough, it completely disappeared - it was definitely camouflaged. Now I have to be a little more diligent about looking for the eggs.

It's the creamy one next to the brown store-bought egg.

 

[countrygirl74]

Busy day today here!!

Welcome to all the newcomers!! I love this thread and think you will too!

Thanks to all who shared their wonderful photos... love seeing pics!

 

[zinia8]

It's  a wonderful idea. They will learn to forage on these sod pieces. Natural grit, minerals, greens, bugs, and worms. The earlier they learn, the better all around. Eventually use sod from areas frequented by adult chickens, the chicks will be naturally exposed to bacteria from this sod that will help build their immunities. This is the short version. Others on this thread can give much more detailed information on the benifits of giving sod to chicks.

I just threw a chunk of sod in the brooder with the 2wk olds.I have 5 hens running the yard. Keeping my fingers crossed that nothing bad happens. Peeps are on FF/non medicated crumbles with avc in the water. (I do have corid on hand.)

 

[countrygirl74]

I would say though, at least for the first few days, I like to be sure I can see the droppings to monitor the chicks. Not sure how that would work on dirt.

X2 - So... I use paper towels for the first week or so, then switch to pine shavings. I do have a batch of chicks on the wood pellets (which is labeled as "animal bedding" at my local feed store) right now because I had some leftover from last fall. But, pine shavings are less expensive for the amount that I get. My older chickens that are already outside have a mix of some straw and pine shavings. I use more straw in the winter for warmth, but just pine shavings over the summer. Never use cedar!

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Wow! I am so glad you started this thread. I want to do chickens. I am also all for doing things as naturally as possible. I will not use chemicals as I have many health problems caused/agitated by them. I am so excited to see this thread to read through and pull what I think will work in my situation.

So grabbing another coffee and off to read the rest (much as I can sit for)!

 

[TheH Klan of 10]

I just threw a chunk of sod in the brooder with the 2wk olds.I have 5 hens running the yard. Keeping my fingers crossed that nothing bad happens. Peeps are on FF/non medicated crumbles with avc in the water. (I do have corid on hand.)

FF? I am wanting non medicated food... What does the FF stand for? And what is avc?
And corid? And if anyone uses apple cider vinegar in the water how much per gallon ?

 

[Sally8]

.

This hen is saying, "What the.....Where's my egg?" Love it! Thanks

 

[armorfirelady]

Welcome to all the newbies. Delisha congrats & hoping to see cute chic pics soon country girl congrats on your 1st egg.
Aoxa beautiful pics as always

I Was gone all weekend and when we got home today spent the rest of the day outside working on taking the old garden fences down so the veggie garden will be triple the size this spring. Hens loved me pulling the fence out as they thought the good stuff was there. I moved the pallet the pumpkins were on all winter and found out a fat mouse was living under it. My mom started laughing and I tried to draw the girls attention to it (they were enjoying Johnny cakes) and finally one saw the mouse and started chasing it. Talk about comedy relief.....that mouse turned around quick and the hen jumped 3 ft in the air. But then she started chasing it again but the mouse buried itself under the dirt in the garden so she lost interest in it

I also repurposed the old weathered wooden fencing to make hawk huts (areas hens can run to when hawk out). While they won't survive if the girls roost on them or with heavy snow on them I couldn't beat the cost FREE

The skeleton of the hut using old fence post and extra wood post

Hut covered in some camo duck blind material I bought last fall on sale. I thought it would work to deter Bear my dog from staring at the chickens all day but it didn't so it was repurposed. But the material survived the snow so maybe I can use other stuff around perimeter of the hoop coop for shade that will let air circulate.

 

[countrygirl74]

Welcome to all the newbies. Delisha congrats & hoping to see cute chic pics soon

country girl congrats on your 1st egg.
Aoxa beautiful pics as always

I Was gone all weekend and when we got home today spent the rest of the day outside working on taking the old garden fences down so the veggie garden will be triple the size this spring. Hens loved me pulling the fence out as they thought the good stuff was there. I moved the pallet the pumpkins were on all winter and found out a fat mouse was living under it. My mom started laughing and I tried to draw the girls attention to it (they were enjoying Johnny cakes) and finally one saw the mouse and started chasing it. Talk about comedy relief.....that mouse turned around quick and the hen jumped 3 ft in the air. But then she started chasing it again but the mouse buried itself under the dirt in the garden so she lost interest in it

I also repurposed the old weathered wooden fencing to make hawk huts (areas hens can run to when hawk out). While they won't survive if the girls roost on them or with heavy snow on them I couldn't beat the cost FREE



The skeleton of the hut using old fence post and extra wood post


Hut covered in some camo duck blind material I bought last fall on sale. I thought it would work to deter Bear my dog from staring at the chickens all day but it didn't so it was repurposed. But the material survived the snow so maybe I can use other stuff around perimeter of the hoop coop for shade that will let air circulate.

Very cool! I need to make some of those!

 

[Sally8]

Welcome everyone new to us! We love having you.

aoxa Every time I see the pic of Susan and the little goat it brings tears and goose bumps. She looks so very happy!

Your pic's are beautiful as usual and I love everyone else's too. I don't mean to exclude anyone. Thanks for sharing.

I just came home to a huge surprise. A baby turkey! When Rosie's pile got what I thought was too large 15+ I would take the unmarked ones and put them in the incubator not really knowing how far along they might be. It's quite light in color but they change. As soon as I can I'll post a pic.

We need to continue to see pic's of all the new babies!