The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Update on Peep, she had a grass blockage in her digestive tract. 2 doses of EVOO+molasses flushed her out and she was back in the flock today. I also move my carport framework with the tarp on it over to the coop so I can have a temporary covered enclosed run for the big kids. Too many hawks around and I don't like leaving them in the coop all day until I get up in the afternoon. Once I get the pallet coop and permenant covered run built in Feb it will be better. Then I can build the silkies coop and covered run. The runs will not be ground predator proof as my dog is great(even in old age) about keeping them away, but the coops will be like Fort Knox. I also started a second bucket of FF with more grains for the big kids. So have FF for the chicks and some for adults. Well I gotta get back to watching this football game.

Super job!

I am trying hard not to scream....being from Wisconsin makes it difficult. Go Pac GO!!! dang it get going already. 10 pts are nothing!!

 

[camilleathome]

I am officially a chicken mom!! I picked up my two little silkies from aoxa today. Their in their baby playpen curled up in a corner cheeping lightly. Henry (My male poodle) Has been a bit of a pest trying to paw at them through the playpen here and there thankfully were home for the next five days between us to supervise untill he gets over that habit hes already improving

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Congrats Camille, you will likely want more very soon. We have 5 6-8 week olds and are already planning on more for breeding.

Delisha, I think my fav team will not be going to the championship game unless the Pack offense seriously kicks some butt

 

[Sally8]

My English is still not getting the job done. Today he got on all good had a good grip, and did a little shuffle and simply stepped off. Not even close contact. I am so used to yard rape I find it a bit unnerving.
He's probably thinking "I'm the man, why would I want competition, I'm soooo good lookin, cuz I'm the man!!!!!"

 

[delisha]

Congrats Camille, you will likely want more very soon. We have 5 6-8 week olds and are already planning on more for breeding.

Delisha, I think my fav team will not be going to the championship game unless the Pack offense seriously kicks some butt

sad sad day...my tummy hurts


congrats on the new additions Camillia !!!

 

[delisha]

Quote:

He is very good looking..
As soon as he starts getting busy and I hatch out a batch...I am selling eggs..
If anyone is interested in Imported English....drop me a line. It looks like it will work with the weather. I will be hatching in February/March

 

[Leahs Mom]

Whew...Finally read through everything I missed. The Russian couple saved 2 Large roosters for us to kill and process yesterday. They had already done five for themselves before we got there. I'll give a little overview shortly. Wanted to comment on a few posts first...

Quote: I have made yogurt several different ways and strangely enough, I like using an old cooler the best. The reason I like making it in there is that I make at least a gallon at a time and it's big enough to handle that. We have one of those large styrofoam coolers but any cooler that's big enough for the container works. I bring the milk to temperature on the stove top in a stainless steel soup pot then put the whole soup pot into the cooler. Before putting it in, I heat water to close to boiling on the stove and fill 2 -- 1/2 gallon mason jars with the hot water and put them into the cooler. Put in the yogurt pot and close the lid. It retains the heat well.

One tip - I use a "digital meat thermometer" to monitor the temperature so that I don't keep opening the lid. It's one similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-1470-D...2582&sr=8-2&keywords=digital+meat+thermometer I sit the base up on top of the cooler and put the probe into the pot of milk. I love that thermometer!

I plan on getting an excalibur dehydrator but I'm waiting for it to come out in full stainless steel inside and out (I was told it s/b this spring). Then I'll probably do it in there since I can set the heat and not have to monitor.



Stony....enjoyed your photos!

 

[SandBsmom]

Congratulations Camilla! New babies, especially silkie babies are the best. For me it's like addictive chicken TV. I can sit there for hours just watching them. I'm such a dork!

 

[pigeonguy]

ok so if i am understanding right...if i want to have a slow but effective breeding business of silkies i should have more than 4? i don't want to be over run with them-we will be swimming in chickens as is already!! ok so they don't really need a ton of space while in the coop. i'm really hoping that our weather will be clearing up some by the time we get our silkies. i plan on letting them forage in the yard while being in the run. so i plan on them only being in the coop very little, but they will have to have some room when the weather is nasty and wet. that's how we lost our others...we had a really wet snap, kinda cool i think they couldn't handle it. so making better plans this time. i also read that they don't do great in heat? how do you combat that? arkansas summers can be brutal

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can someone give me a good starting reciepe of their fermented feed? i just want to be sure that i get started correctly. i want to start up right before we start hatching our babies. thanks! i just love this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! good stuff

I don't live in Arkansas and I don't know what your forage is like. Plus I raise large foul chickens. So After I say this you have to adjust it to fit your needs.
A chicken eats between 4 to 6 ounces of feed a day. So I will go with the 6 ounces.
Put 5 quarts feed (Your choice what kind does not matter as long as the protein is right) In a container (what ever you have handy a 5 gal. 3 gal. or a couple ice cream containers) You can drill holes and use the two bucket system or you can just put it in one single bucket and save yourself the bother of drilling all those holes.(I only use 1 single bucket and it has worked fine for 4 months) put some water in and stir add more water and stir do that till it is mixed well and covered with an inch of water. put in two shot glassed = 4 table spoons of UP/ACV and stir. Let sit for 2 or 3 days stirring twice a day.
All I see that you have are 4 silkies so that will make 3 days worth maybe 4. Take out what you need for that day and replace with dry. (in your case about 3 maybe 4 cups out and 1 1/2 to 2 cups back in.
Like I said this is what I would do and you need to adjust accordingly to fit your needs.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Lots of good posts since I was on! Too many to comment on....

Bulldogma: Left a post on the blog ... those were excellent photos and description of the "flow chart". That's definitely useful even if there hadn't been an illness. It's way better than a drawing of a live chicken and then trying to figure out what it all is when you are processing!

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Since it was warm today I put the electric netting back up and let the kiddos out in their new area that has a little wooded place. Opened up the sides between the general flock and mom again, watched her attack a couple flockmates quite properly, then go about her business. Having the large fenced area open again helped occupy the oldsters while mom showed the kids around inside.

Then I got totally sidetracked and decided to take out some of the litter from the adult side since it was getting almost too deep for the hen house. I think I took about 3-4 wheelbarrows full out! It took me about 3 hours before I was all done with everything.

I did find something interesting. In the back-most corner under the roost, it is a little awkward to access and therefore the litter doesn't get stirred as well or as often as the rest of the hhouse. When I was digging down under in that corner, I could really smell the ammonia there. Not at the surface - I could only smell it when I dug down to floor level and it was the only place I smelled any ammonia.

So I learned something. Even if you can't smell the ammonia at the surface, If an area in the deep litter isn't getting stirred down to the lower level from time to time, the ammonia will still build up under there. So now I'll be more diligent to be sure it's stirred down deep everywhere.

It was time to take care of the litter and it was a good opportunity to be out there to observe and be sure everything was going okay with the door open between the adults and mom and babies. It was 59 degrees! All the big girls laid outside for awhile.

Supposed to have freezing rain mixed w/snow tomorrow