The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Miss Lydia]

Here we go again.......

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Here we go again.......

And what does this mean?

 

[Melabella]

I have a question for all you experienced owners of egg layers.

Some of my girls are getting very close I think,, large very red combs, Duke doing the chicken nasty, couple of girls going up and down the ramp to the coop,, ( they never go back in the coop until bedtime) during the morning last two mornings. I have been leaving them in the run until early afternoon, then give in and let them out to range around. Do first timers, and girls just laying lay in the morning? I'm afraid to miss any eggs, especially the prized FIRST egg, out to the dense brush and many evergreens they hang out in. I have heard no egg songs that are decernable. Do girls lay eggs at 4 in the afternoon?

I know, I know,, I sound clueless,,, but guess what.... I am!

thanks guys..xo
MB

 

[Melabella]

And what does this mean?

Hi maiden,

It's my 53 year old brains way of keeping up with the thread. I go out to the barn, come back, and 67 pages later,, can't remember where I left off. It's the only way I survived on the GB thread!

MB

 

[stonykill]

I would assume that many coops would to keep breeding pens for pure breeding. That's a whole lot of coops though!

I have one big barn. Going to be making separate breeding pens out of old pallets my brother saves from his shipping job (Sameday Courier)
Takes talent to build 9 coops with scrounged materials.

tried to multi quote...failed

Pics? I think I have some. I'll look later.

2 are for pure breeding. 2 are for my selective mutt breeding, 1 is my former shed that around 20 Sumatra's have taken over and 3 hens including Mama always go broody in, and actually #9 is empty right now as the Runners and Pekins now live together. But once I get a chance to build a run, this years Sumatra's hatched from a bator ( the few I kept) will move out of the chicken tractor ( I count that as a coup) and into a larger permanent area.
I'm my grandfathers grandson in many ways. He taught me well on how to live frugal. And if you can't fix it yourself, it probably doesn't need fixing

 

[ChickChickChicky]

To lalaland who was looking for Buckeyes in MO, this ad is on Kansas City craigslist (the guy is out of Kingston, MO)
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/grd/3464418140.html

 

[stonykill]

I have a question for all you experienced owners of egg layers.

Some of my girls are getting very close I think,, large very red combs, Duke doing the chicken nasty, couple of girls going up and down the ramp to the coop,, ( they never go back in the coop until bedtime) during the morning last two mornings. I have been leaving them in the run until early afternoon, then give in and let them out to range around. Do first timers, and girls just laying lay in the morning? I'm afraid to miss any eggs, especially the prized FIRST egg, out to the dense brush and many evergreens they hang out in. I have heard no egg songs that are decernable. Do girls lay eggs at 4 in the afternoon?

I know, I know,, I sound clueless,,, but guess what.... I am!

thanks guys..xo
MB

they lay when they have to lay. I've had girls go in the coop to roost and stop to lay an egg. I've had eggs laid off the roost (thankfully I use deep litter

)

 

[Melabella]

Did you guys see this vid that has gone viral? What do you think? Some people saying it's a fake, but looks pretty authentic to me, unless its a trained bird with a dummy used first, and after the camera goes shaky, they come up to a real toddler on the ground. Nothing has come up on Snopes yet. I certainly think Golden Eagles are capable of this,, as evidenced in another story that earlier in the year.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article4634906.ece

Link has a photo that may upset someone, I post it only to show that hawk/eagle attacks can be quite dangerous, not just to our chickens!


MB

 

[Melabella]

they lay when they have to lay. I've had girls go in the coop to roost and stop to lay an egg. I've had eggs laid off the roost (thankfully I use deep litter

)

Yikes, I have wondered that as well! Off the roost! That will be my luck,, finally get an egg, and find it on the ground broken in two! Stony, just see that you are in NY,, I'm in Dutchess, not too far away.

Cheers!

MB

 

[Pullet Surprise]

I have a question for all you experienced owners of egg layers.

Some of my girls are getting very close I think,, large very red combs, Duke doing the chicken nasty, couple of girls going up and down the ramp to the coop,, ( they never go back in the coop until bedtime) during the morning last two mornings. I have been leaving them in the run until early afternoon, then give in and let them out to range around. Do first timers, and girls just laying lay in the morning? I'm afraid to miss any eggs, especially the prized FIRST egg, out to the dense brush and many evergreens they hang out in. I have heard no egg songs that are decernable. Do girls lay eggs at 4 in the afternoon?

I know, I know,, I sound clueless,,, but guess what.... I am!

thanks guys..xo
MB

I can only tell you what mine have done.... and it sounds like yours are getting closer. Nobody in my flock is interested in laying past 3:30 - 4:00 right now (shorter days). Keeping them in until mid day should lessen your chances of losing an egg. It's up to the chicken when they lay, morning or afternoon, but most of my eggs are coming in the morning now due to the daylight issue. And not all of mine were really vocal with the egg song and some are sneaky and silent still. So I think you are doing the right thing, if you want to latch onto that first egg for sure.