The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

That is pretty darn good at 19 1/2 weeks! What breeds are they? Those EE's do take longer I have read.

Earliest I got was 18 weeks old. Even my Red Sex Links can't beat that!

Came from an old english game mix.

 

[pcappy2]

My hatch date was 7/8/12.............I thought she would have laid a few weeks ago?? Its our first egg, from first chick out of first incubator batch. Feel like we have been waiting forever

 

[Melabella]

My hatch date was 7/8/12.............I thought she would have laid a few weeks ago?? Its our first egg, from first chick out of first incubator batch. Feel like we have been waiting forever

Congrats pcappy2!

Wow, you raised her too,, that must be very exciting! Get out the pics!

MB

 

[mrsamplias]

TURKEYS. Well I love mine too. Rosie did stop a hawk attack in progress with a hen. But she won't stay home and the neighbors openly admit to shooting her with air guns "because it doesn't hurt" they said.

newbie question: do the turkeys fly over fences? do you raise turkeys for the eggs/meat, just as with chickens? (I'm learning so much here!! )

Finally found an egg this morning....right under the roost. Trying to figure out how to post a picture!!!

so exciting!! congrats!!

Guess what guys? I have a second girl laying!

It's just so wonderful!! Enjoy!!

Me too! These photos of my first batch of kiddos are in a box in the basement with a sod piece! Funny how fast they could destroy that sod and how often I had to replace it.

From a "natural chicken keeping" perspective, this was a great way to give the littles some exposure to the local bacteria, nematodes, etc. since they weren't outside until later. If you're using a brooder where they can't get outside this is a great introduction and they sure love scratching in the dirt and grass! Amazing the things they found in there to eat - even in those little pieces of sod.

Another fantastic idea! Cutting and pasting onto a Word Doc!
So thankful that everyone generously shares their experiences and ideas!! Love this group!!

 

[texasmomma]

I can't find the cord to my regular camera, so had to keep the chickens penned up in order to get close up pictures of them. Edited to add that these are junky phone pictures. These three are not laying. One is squatting for me.

The girl on the right is squatting for me. Yesterday, when she squatted, I pet her back. She did the shuffle of her feathers after that. I was so surprised! The one on the left is Blackie. She's always been smaller and has never grown her wattles or comb as large. These are both hatchery birds and they have ff all over them.





This is a better pic of Splash's comb - on the right.



The worthless Wyandotte. She is named Kaia. Her comb and wattles have gotten a lot redder recently.




Just thought this one of Kaia was funny. Stink eye!

 

[pcappy2]

I'm sure, first egg is not this big of a deal to an old timer. But wanted chicks forever, found this site and lurked and lurked...took notes and basically absorbed everything you all have posted. Just luv this site. When I'm out there watching chicken tv, I'm always thinking about what I've read. I sprout there wheat grass, have a heated dog bowl. Acv in water, neighbors saving his firewood ash for me.....need to do FF but I leave for work at 4am..I'm still trying to figure that one out. That and posting pics, my Internet is one step up from snail mail out here and my skills are almost as slow!!
DH asked me how many eggs was it gonna take before this wasn't soooooo exciting..........

 

[Sally8]

I hatched the 2 turkeys with my chicks. They have been raised together until about a month ago. I saw Rosie stomping some of my hens that were dust bathing. Over on the turkey thread, I relayed this story and was warned against thr Tom mating with chickens and killing them. The woman I bought the turkey eggs from said that she never had this problem but had heard of it. Even though I clip Rosie's one wing, it's only a day or so and she can hop/fly over a 6 ft fence. She and Chuch are now in a 10 x 12 ft dog kennel and are not very happy. If you have the space to let them roam, they are wonderful pets. The problem is you can't "unpet" them and have them be turkeys. I was washing my outdoor windows during deer season and Rosie was up on the ladder with me. She eventually lost interest and jumped up on the house roof and disappeared. A short time later my husband came out of the woods carrying Rosie. She had gone up in and found him. I'm really going to miss them. We only have an acre and have fenced in as much as possible.

 

[Doubleyolker]

We have 1 prod red .who has laid first and is laying daily a nice sized egg. 2 black stars 1 red star 1br and the ee. One of the black stars is also laying very well.

 

[jlynnet]

The sunshine is doing wonders for egg production! At noon I already had 16. That's about 4 more than usual. Loving this little warm up.

 

[delisha]

Finally found an egg this morning....right under the roost. Trying to figure out how to post a picture!!!

Wonderful!! congrats