The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

Hi, I've just caught up.(220 posts) I planned on quoting multiple people, but I don't know how, so....

Thanks Leah's mom for the reply. I'll try to remember to empty the cups at dusk and see what happens. I'm stressing my flock by switching their water on them so often!
Aoxa: Beautiful brooder! Oh, good idea about having guests wear booties. I have my visitors wear plastic grocery bags on their feet. And as always, beautiful pictures.
Sally 8: Very sorry about your mom.

And....

Hello to all who found this thread!

I'm here too, just lurking mostly.

So much good reading and knowledge and a nice group to follow.

Gale

To quote multiple posts, click multi on the right. Do all the posts you want to reply to, and then click post a reply on the far left at the bottom or the top of the page.

 

[Eggcessive]

Are your silkies from a hatchery? As hatchery silkies tend to see well enough to roost. Just my thoughts.

Yes they are from a small hatchery that buys breeder eggs, one is bearded, the other not.

 

[Maven]

Howdy everyone!

Sure hope that maybe Fred, Al, Walt, Vicki, NYREDS, Ridgerunner, et al will eventually mosey on over here. It will be very sad if they don't. There is still SOOOOOOO much to learn from them all!

Christy,

The threads are locked, but they are not gone. The moderators went through a lot of trouble to clean up the OT thread so they could leave it on the board instead of just deleting the whole thing. I was a moderator on another forum for years and I know what a pain in the patootie that can be to do! To reference it any time, go to it here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/605260/chickens-for-10-20-years-or-more-pull-up-a-rockin-chair-and-lay-some-wisdom-on-us

Then, you can just bookmark it in your favorites and use it as a reference any time you like.

Delisha,

Thanks for your thorough and thought-provoking reply.

It looks like in Missouri, I'm exempt from inspection on eggs, as long as I sell them from my property...which is what everyone else seems to be doing.

To sell chicks and/or hatching eggs legally, I would need NPIP certification, which is what you were talking about, I assume.

Jeff,

I just got my NPIP packet from the state last week. email Rose Foster at [email protected] she is very nice and very prompt at returning inquiries - I had my packet within a week of emailing her. Here is a copy of the email I received from her after my initial inquiry so you have a little info on it now, if you haven't written yourself already...

"Thank you for contacting the Missouri Department of Agriculture regarding the National Poultry Improvement Plan(NPIP). It is a program for poultry breeders and hatcheries that sell day old poultry and or hatching eggs as well as those who are involved in competitive showing or exhibiting purebred poultry.

There is currently no cost for the basic level of participation which is pullorum-typhoid clean. To test for pullorum-typhoid, each bird must be handled to collect a drop of whole blood that is mixed with antigen on a testing plate. Results are immediate so you will know your status the day of the testing. Additional testing would incur fees as they are optional. Depending on the time of the year we may have federal funds for avian influenza testing and we would advise you of that option.

We do not have electronic applications so a packet will be mailed to you. Once you receive the packet, look it over and let us know if you have questions. Birds must be 4 months of age for the pullorum-typhoid testing and time of the year selected for the first flock test will be your anniversary test thereafter. Flocks must be tested once per year.

I have attached a document with more information. Also, complete and return your application at least 60 days prior to when you would like to schedule your flock test so we can work you in with current participant testing.

Thanks again for contacting the Missouri Department of Agriculture regarding the NPIP."

In RE to your sellling eggs there in the Springfield area - I am in a real rural area here in SEMO and like yours, my area is saturated with eggs. But St. Louis is only a couple of hours away, and I think once I get my egg business really up and rolling in a year or so, I'm going to go and try to contract with a local small restaurant that does the whole organic/free range/hipster type menu.

Being as Springfield is a fairly decent size city, you might have luck with something like that as well - some downtown bistro type place that has that type of menu. A lot of those places LOVE to buy local - pride themselves on being able to tell folks where the food they are eating came from.

Good luck!

Good to 'see' everyone over here. Now let's send out some positive vibes to get the OTs over here and get back to learning from them!

 

[Eggcessive]

Has anyone else had trouble getting on BYC in the evenings lately? I couldn't get on here Monday PM and another evening last week (maybe Friday.) No problem with other websites, so I'm getting paranoid.

 

[delisha]

Has anyone else had trouble getting on BYC in the evenings lately? I couldn't get on here Monday PM and another evening last week (maybe Friday.) No problem with other websites, so I'm getting paranoid.

They are just updating..

 

[Maven]

Has anyone else had trouble getting on BYC in the evenings lately? I couldn't get on here Monday PM and another evening last week (maybe Friday.) No problem with other websites, so I'm getting paranoid.

So far I haven't had any problems but I could just be lucky - they could be doing simple system upgrades, that can slow things down for a while sometimes.

Also, if there is VERY heavy traffic on the site, that can do it. Around Friday/Saturday night is when the OT thread blew up and then got shut down and I am sure that generated a LOT of traffic for the server at the time.

 

[Maven]

Quote:

 

[JeffOeuf]

Maven,

Thanks so much for passing that along!

I had thought of the restaurant idea, but it would entail a much larger flock than I have now. Not sure that's a bad thing...but it would take some serious consideration. I was thinking more along the lines of picking a heritage breed that needs help and appeals to me aesthetically, then spreading chicks of that breed all over the area.

 

[Maven]

Maven,

Thanks so much for passing that along!

I had thought of the restaurant idea, but it would entail a much larger flock than I have now. Not sure that's a bad thing...but it would take some serious consideration. I was thinking more along the lines of picking a heritage breed that needs help and appeals to me aesthetically, then spreading chicks of that breed all over the area.

I like this idea as well. Like you, I have been faithfully following the HLF thread and soaking up every bit of wisdom I can there from the breeders.

Have you decided on the breeds you are going to go with yet? The Mr. and I said we really like the BAs and the BOs when we got our hatchery stock, and I do still want them, but boy-howdy those NHs they have been showing, along with Kathy's Delawares are truly sights to behold.

I am not ready for heritage birds YET - I want to learn everything I can on my hatchery stock first so when I go to heritage it isn't a hit/miss thing - I'll already have my husbandry down pretty well so the investment won't be so much at risk.

You and I are actually close enough that I would consider getting some of the stock you finally decide on so that we have birds from the same strains to work with, and we aren't SO close that it could be a problem (we are probably about 200 miles apart - not the 500 recommended, but something to work with). Just depends on the birds, I want good dual purpose birds of old heritage quality. I'm open if you like the idea.

Something to think about for the future.

 

[Maven]

Gotta run - laundry is calling - back later!