The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[jockeyeba]

Since everyone is into baby pictures right now.. Here are a couple to join in the fun. Silkie chick above. Weirdest colouring I've had hatch. It has two white dots on either side of it's head. Almost like eyebrows. I'm curious to see what it will look like older. If I had to guess at this age, I'm going with male. See the FF crust? And my favourite little splash Ameraucana bantam who is 8 weeks old today. Dovely. Before she got her beard, she reminded me of a dove. They are so tiny. Probably the size of a 3 week old Barred Rock chick. They'll be just about a pound and a half full grown.

Cute chick pic & that pullet is adorable

 

[Leahs Mom]

Okay...finally.

To recap... I only had 1 egg hatch from the 7 I set with my broody. Was trying to find some close to same hatch date that I could add under her to see if she'd accept them to raise as hatch mates. Interestingly I found someone who had a hatch the same day and the day after mine - WITH EGGS FROM THE SAME SOURCE - and within driving distance. That's pretty amazing....so these kiddos are likely from the same source although the girl I got them from also had some from 1 other source so some may be his as well.

These are all Swedish Flower Hens w/a hatchery RIR broody.

Here's the baby we hatched (the yellow one):





Had a good bit of discussion regarding whether mom would accept the new kiddos. I placed them under her after dark on New Year's Eve. I was surprised at how quickly the babies just settled down. I thought they'd be a little freaked out by the dark since they've only known a heat lamp since their hatch but there seemed to be no anxiety for them at all.

Then...I got up before dawn to go out and watch how mom would react. Plan was to remove them from her and brood them w/a light if she looked like she wasn't going to accept them. I sat out there WAY TO LONG in the cold for my liking... How do chickens keep those skinny little feet warm anyway?

When they first came out she acted like they'd been there all along!

Here is right after they came out. The little yellow one that's away from the crowd is the one we hatched. The three w/mom are the new kids. Mom is showing them how to find food:







After they'd been out a minute or two it was time to call them in to warm up. She hunkered down in this corner all day long with the kids coming out from time to time then going back to keep warm.



I had put some food there in front of her later in the day and she called them out for some lunch. It's amazing to watch her communicating with them. There's "Come and Get It" call; "Get under here quick" call; At one point you could hear crows cawwing outside and she said something that made them go totally silent; and others as well... Very cool to see and hear all this!




You can see it but.... THERE'S A PARTY GOING ON UNDER THERE!



You can see a few more photos here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/a/6337029/broody-and-babies/

 

[Leahs Mom]

One more...This is "little gray"...every time food is announced this baby is right on it! I had put out a "mom size" piece of liver for mom and this kiddo took it and was trying valiantly to eat it!






And see the spectators behind there??

 

[delisha]

lol
It is so funny to watch little baby's get so much food in.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Anyone looking for something good to help with their dog's teeth should try Nylabone for power chewers http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3521486 . My dog will destroy (and eat) any other toy there is... tennis balls, chew toys, etc, although he's been unable to eat a Kong. He LOVES his Nylabone, and at 13 years old his teeth are fantastic, have not had to be cleaned once. He will hold his Nylabone between his paws like a popsicle and spend lots of time chewing on it (great stress reliever too), sometimes it sounds like he's gonna break a tooth off but that's never happened. One will last him 6-9 months. Nylabone makes many types of dog chew toys but the really hard, inedible power chew ones are what works well for my dog.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

One more...This is "little gray"...every time food is announced this baby is right on it! I had put out a "mom size" piece of liver for mom and this kiddo took it and was trying valiantly to eat it!


And see the spectators behind there??

Great pics!!! Wonderful way to start the year off.

 

[Sally8]

Isn't it amazing how quickly they fuzz up and look so cute. Congratulations everyone with the new babies.

Ashdoes, what a beautie she is!

 

[SandBsmom]

Hey Leahs mom. I am wondering if you can share more about your broody set up. I will be hatching (hopefully) my first broody babies in the spring. (Interestingly enough we are planning on Swedish Flowers and Olandsk so it was fun to see you babies.) I am not sure how I want to set up my hen and nest. I was thinking of building a small seperate coop and run next to my main one but it looks like yours is in your main coop. Can you share more about it? And anyone else who has a set up that works please chime in. I need as much info as I can get!

 

[Ashdoes]

Anyone looking for something good to help with their dog's teeth should try Nylabone for power chewers http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3521486 . My dog will destroy (and eat) any other toy there is... tennis balls, chew toys, etc, although he's been unable to eat a Kong. He LOVES his Nylabone, and at 13 years old his teeth are fantastic, have not had to be cleaned once. He will hold his Nylabone between his paws like a popsicle and spend lots of time chewing on it (great stress reliever too), sometimes it sounds like he's gonna break a tooth off but that's never happened. One will last him 6-9 months. Nylabone makes many types of dog chew toys but the really hard, inedible power chew ones are what works well for my dog.

I've seen those, but never picked one up. My Bostons have such small mouths I'm always worried about something being too hard. I buy the rope chew toys, and my boys teeth are nice and clean. Waffle (avatar) has a really odd teeth setup, so he won't chew on a lot of things, he was two before we could get him to eat one of those tiny milk bones. We also use the pedigree denti-bones, and they've been working really well.
I will remember the Nylabone for Maiden though, since she'll be able to chew much bigger things than Bean and Waffle. Thanks

 

[lalaland]

keep the pics coming!

delisha am keeping my fingers crossed on your hatch project.