The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[galefrances]

Hello everyone I'm finally back.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. My computer has been down for a couple weeks now and I finally have been able to catch up. Hello to all the new people. Congrats to all who have hatched new chicks or gathered their first eggs. I haven't been able to read everything, but have scanned as much as I can. So many beautiful pics too.

The weather here has been horrible. Very cold temps and high winds.

Leah: I noticed you have discussed your water cups...I'm afraid mine froze once the temps dipped below 20. I now have a heated 3gal. waterer. I hate it, but at least it doesn't freeze. I can't wait until I can go back to the cups. The water stayed cleaner and it was so much easier to fill.

Out of my 12 hens I have been getting 7-9 eggs a day, which is great! I am having an issue though that I hope someone can help me with. One of my hens is laying their egg from the roost. I have a poop board filled with PDZ so it lands softly. I know she's up on the roost because there aren't any prints in the sand. Has anyone heard of hens laying from the roost? Seems very odd to me. How in the world do I correct this? First, I have to figure out who it is. It's been so cold, so I haven't wanted to sit out there to watch. Any suggestions? I was thinking of setting up a baby video monitor. I think it was Leah or Delisha who talked about how important it is to know which hen is laying what egg. I agree, but with 12 hens and some nasty weather so far I'm going to have a hard time figuring it out. Well, I welcome and appreciate any responses. Thanks.

 

[Mumsy]

Hello everyone I'm finally back.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. My computer has been down for a couple weeks now and I finally have been able to catch up. Hello to all the new people. Congrats to all who have hatched new chicks or gathered their first eggs. I haven't been able to read everything, but have scanned as much as I can. So many beautiful pics too.

The weather here has been horrible. Very cold temps and high winds.

Leah: I noticed you have discussed your water cups...I'm afraid mine froze once the temps dipped below 20. I now have a heated 3gal. waterer. I hate it, but at least it doesn't freeze. I can't wait until I can go back to the cups. The water stayed cleaner and it was so much easier to fill.

Out of my 12 hens I have been getting 7-9 eggs a day, which is great! I am having an issue though that I hope someone can help me with. One of my hens is laying their egg from the roost. I have a poop board filled with PDZ so it lands softly. I know she's up on the roost because there aren't any prints in the sand. Has anyone heard of hens laying from the roost? Seems very odd to me. How in the world do I correct this? First, I have to figure out who it is. It's been so cold, so I haven't wanted to sit out there to watch. Any suggestions? I was thinking of setting up a baby video monitor. I think it was Leah or Delisha who talked about how important it is to know which hen is laying what egg. I agree, but with 12 hens and some nasty weather so far I'm going to have a hard time figuring it out. Well, I welcome and appreciate any responses. Thanks.

This is going to sound weird and I haven't tried it myself. I have heard of a breeder that squirts food coloring into the vents of her hens. She knows exactly which hen laid which egg by the color smears left on the shell. She does this when she wants to collect certain eggs for hatching from selected hens. It doesn't hurt the hen and doesn't hurt the egg. If you do this and it works...please post pictures. This is one of those strange things I read somewhere and never forgot.

 

[lalaland]

This is going to sound weird and I haven't tried it myself. I have heard of a breeder that squirts food coloring into the vents of her hens. She knows exactly which hen laid which egg by the color smears left on the shell. She does this when she wants to collect certain eggs for hatching from selected hens. It doesn't hurt the hen and doesn't hurt the egg. If you do this and it works...please post pictures. This is one of those strange things I read somewhere and never forgot.

I've never tried it, but farmer down the road a ways told me this was the way to figure out who was laying what!

 

[Mumsy]

I've never tried it, but farmer down the road a ways told me this was the way to figure out who was laying what!

It only takes a few drops squirted inside the vent. You don't get a vividly colored egg. Just a streak here or there over the shell.
When the time comes I want to keep a breeding pen of pedigree chickens, this might be a useful idea. I wouldn't use this system on show birds.

 

[delisha]

I personally feel it is a great idea Mumsy..thanks


and welcome back to the thread Gale Frances

 

[Sally8]

This is going to sound weird and I haven't tried it myself. I have heard of a breeder that squirts food coloring into the vents of her hens. She knows exactly which hen laid which egg by the color smears left on the shell. She does this when she wants to collect certain eggs for hatching from selected hens. It doesn't hurt the hen and doesn't hurt the egg. If you do this and it works...please post pictures.  This is one of those strange things I read somewhere  and never forgot.

That sounds great. I've been trying to find out how to tell who is laying what. I haven't seen liquid food coloring in a long while. I'll have to raid my mothers cupboards.

I set a bunch of eggs today in my incubator. My temps range around 100 but last spring mine would jump to 102 briefly. I seem to get mostly female. I dry incubate even during lockdown. As they start hatching the humidity jumps up high very fast. Occassionally, I add a little water. It stayed at 16 percent last year and nearly caused the death of me. I'm not sure if I will even use a hygrometer this year. I'll try to get a picture soon. I'm on the iPad and DH has computer. He works his pretend farms ever since he retired last month.

 

[delisha]

how exciting! so many with new chicks. We will be posting so many pictures!

 

[Leahs Mom]

how exciting! so many with new chicks. We will be posting so many pictures!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Hey Turtle--Love your avatar BTW!-I ferment my feed in the basement next to my furnace. There really is no smell at all when you have the bucket covered; and even when you open it it smells kind of like sourdough starter...not at all unpleasant!
If you can have an area at 60 degrees or so that should be fine, a little warmer is even better!
All you have to say is, "but Honey, it's for the little chickens!" I sure wish we only had cold for a few months...jealous!
Good luck! TerriO--the one with TWO R's!

Thanks, It was fun swimming with the turtles in Hawaii a year and a half ago, so much so we are going there in a couple of weeks to Oahu to see the Pro Bowl(trip my wife won).

 

[jockeyeba]

Do you have an egg sicky in it? I am awful I do not remember every thing that is in there
What each stage looks like?
What a developing fetus looks like etc?
Before and after pics?
How about pullet size eggs as they progressively get bigger? We have tons of new people who have brand new laying pullets and it might be a great project for someone to do.

 

Since I have the 5 eggs my BLRW pullet just started laying I'd be glad to keep a picture record, I already put her 1st 2 days egg pictures on here anyway