The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Sally8]

My only splayed legger was my little mille fleur d'uccle, Sarge, and he needed 3 full days of the bandaid hobble. I tried to put it back on for a 4th day, but couldn't get it to stay by myself, so I just let him go. He's 2 years old now and doing well, except for the time he jumped into the scratch garbage can and got stuck for 12 hours with the lid on. LOL, his comb was blue and he couldn't stand, but thankfully the little guy recovered. We were trying to round up 9 young roos at the time while bribing them with scratch, and we put the lid on without checking. I felt terrible!

Very funny. I'm sure we all have stories that we are reluctant to share because we feel awful. My Tom Turkey got locked out of the coop one night. DH had locked the door that night but didn't ck and the next morning he was first out and never said anything. I went out of my mind trying to find out what to do for Blackhead because he had all the symptoms. After 3 or 4 days DH final came clean after he had to help me poke down meds to 3 adult turkeys twice a day. I'm thinking that Chuck just beat his wings against the fence until he was sore and that is why he dragged one wing for a month. The hoops I jumped through for the med. We don't have a vet to treat poultry locally and I'm not sure I'd pay the $64.25 for the office visit. At least yours didn't go hungry.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
My current broody is still on the floor w/11 week olds. She has quit protecting them during the day, but stays w/them at night. I'm thinking it's because the weather is so cold still.

 

[aoxa]

Hello all,

I have a question for all you experienced Rooster peeps,

How long does a rooster generally remain fertile? How long can they keep up as good guardian and protector? And for another newbie question, do they molt just like the girls do? I imagine they do, but they have different stresses on their bodies, and was wondering if they do.

Thanks for any input all.. got another 8 inches of snow here last night.... I am SO DONE with the white stuff, and the cold.

MB

They don't mate as much as they did as juveniles at 2 from my experience. Jagger had calmed down quite a bit, but was still servicing his girls, and I still had lots of fertility from him. George was 6 and fathered maybe 20 chicks last year.

As far as a *plucker*. I vote no. If you get your water to the correct degree, you simply *wipe* the feathers off. No actual plucking involved except a few on the wings. I say..use a candy thermometer. Boil the water. Add the thermometer and dunk at 180. I dunk them three times and try to wipe the feathers off the legs. I keep dunking until you can simply wipe off. A dunk is the whole bird in and the whole bird out.

Thanks for your views on this Del. I did not dunk up and down, I dunk down and swished and probably over did it. The skin was starting to cook!

My current broody is still on the floor w/11 week olds. She has quit protecting them during the day, but stays w/them at night. I'm thinking it's because the weather is so cold still.

I've had a broody still with her chicks at 12 weeks, and by 14 she was done with them. I've also had them leave their babies as early as 3-4 weeks old. Usually only in the summer do they leave them that early though.

 

[aoxa]

I'm incubating duck eggs!

Calls & Runners. Not for me, for a friend. I had to wash these eggs. They were really dirty. Those of you with ducks know what I mean.. I spoke with Jamie and he said he washes them if dirty. I didn't use any soaps just warm water and paper towel.

Here's to baby duckies!

 

[Bulldogma]

I think it would be fun to put out a Natural Chicken Keeping e-book!

Yes - we'll have to get on that! I think it's a great idea!

 

[lalaland]

well, I got Justine's ebook, but only the chapter headings show up on the kindle. I'm going to see what I can find out about what the issue is....maybe borrow a laptop to put it on and see if I can see it that way. The chapter titles look awfully enticing!

 

[aoxa]

well, I got Justine's ebook, but only the chapter headings show up on the kindle. I'm going to see what I can find out about what the issue is....maybe borrow a laptop to put it on and see if I can see it that way. The chapter titles look awfully enticing!

I'm asking for you lala. Hope I can see what's up.

I have a kindle, but it's hidden somewhere in the boxes we still have not unpacked since moving last April! I just read it from the computer.

ETA: Response from Erin: Hmmm...that's bizarre. I tested it on a Kindle fire, e-ink and my old kindle and didn't have that issue. This might seem like a silly question, but are they moving past the table of contents?

 

[lalaland]

I spent a half hour with kindle support doing the usual (remove, reload, try again). The tech tried it on a device at her end too, I assume a kindle touch as that is what I have, and also had problems. looks like the written content just shows up as black screen.

I read it on the cloud reader, though - lots of beautiful pics. Justine, your chapter just made me cry.

Interesting perspectives from people running the gamut from hardly any experience to years of experience, from little tiny flocks to giant flocks. I think I liked the pics the best, and the idea of kelp tea made from granulated kelp. gonna look for that.

Definitely worth the tiny amount of $!

 

[aoxa]

I spent a half hour with kindle support doing the usual (remove, reload, try again). The tech tried it on a device at her end too, I assume a kindle touch as that is what I have, and also had problems. looks like the written content just shows up as black screen.

I read it on the cloud reader, though - lots of beautiful pics. Justine, your chapter just made me cry.

Interesting perspectives from people running the gamut from hardly any experience to years of experience, from little tiny flocks to giant flocks. I think I liked the pics the best, and the idea of kelp tea made from granulated kelp. gonna look for that.

Definitely worth the tiny amount of $!

Lala, that's so nice of you to say. Not that it made you cry so much as that you worked so hard to read it Would you mind leaving this comment on the Amazon page? Reviews are great!
I hope this gets sorted out. You shouldn't have to have trouble reading a purchased e-book.
I passed this on to Erin as well: she is quick to reply: Erin Kelly Bizarre...I'll have to see why that is happening!! Grrr.

 

[dcba flock]

I'm sorry if I missed this back a ways but what is the title of the Ebook?