The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Wind chill is -22. The actual temp is only -2. It is going to warm up this week. By Sunday it is going to be a balmy 30. We are in a state of emergency for the last few days. With record drop in temps they are worried about all of our homeless living on the streets and in the woods.

 

[aoxa]

Okay...and may "always" question...

HOW IN THE HECK DO THOSE BIRDS KEEP THOSE SKINNY LITTLE TOES WARM?

They practice the Flamingo of course! One foot at a time!

Wind chill is -22. The acctual temp is only -2. It is going to warm up this week. By Sunday it is going to be a balmy 30. We are in a state of emergency for the last few days. With record drop in temps they are worried about all of our homeless living on the streets and in the woods.

It's -11 with windchill right at this moment. 3F without it. I think our averages are very similar.

It was 45 on Sunday believe it or not. I think these changes in temps should show you it doesn't take long for birds to acclimate.

We're going to rearrange some of the silkies into breeding pens this weekend, and put the chicks in with the remaining silkies. The silkies (even the boys) allow younger birds to crawl under them when they are cold to keep warm. That should put my mind at ease.

 

[Mumsy]

I'm beyond jealous!

We have some BEAUTIFUL whites here. Some of the best you can imagine. I don't get into the whites just because of it. Too much competition!



This is a 5 month old pullet from the best breeder of white silkies in Canada. She was still filling out, and was missing one of her primaries.

My first silkies were white back in 1993. I don't know if I'll live long enough to get the point to show them again.

When I see pictures like that little white girl in pen, my heart and resolve just melt away. I would love to have the experience of hatching and raising some exotic colors but my heart will always belong to the Whites.
In my head and for all practical purposes, I just want to raise and breed fine birds. Whether they are heritage LF or bantam foo foo. Living in rural and isolated areas makes it a real struggle to find excellent breeding stock. And when you do it is often so in bred from people passing the same blood lines back and forth for generations that vitality is seriously compromised.
If your Les Farms was less than four miles distance, I'd be knocking on your front door tomorrow! I'd want to talk to you about those Call ducks! Love those!

 

[aoxa]

My first silkies were white back in 1993. I don't know if I'll live long enough to get the point to show them again.

When I see pictures like that little white girl in pen, my heart and resolve just melt away. I would love to have the experience of hatching and raising some exotic colors but my heart will always belong to the Whites.
In my head and for all practical purposes, I just want to raise and breed fine birds. Whether they are heritage LF or bantam foo foo. Living in rural and isolated areas makes it a real struggle to find excellent breeding stock. And when you do it is often so in bred from people passing the same blood lines back and forth for generations that vitality is seriously compromised.
If your Les Farms was less than four miles distance, I'd be knocking on your front door tomorrow! I'd want to talk to you about those Call ducks! Love those!

Call ducks aren't that popular here, which is why I only have a trio. Hopefully I can sell a few, but I had a tough time selling them last fall. They were the last to go, and I had to let them go at $5 a bird. Will never do that again. I'll be eating them at that price (the ones I had to sell were boys - as we had 2 girls out of 12 hatched. 10 were boys

)

I do like the whites. I have one white girl who I am going to use with my sizzle project. I find her so hard to keep clean. She is always dirty. Never pristine. Which is why I prefer colours that mask that mess

I also let them in the sun, so they tend to yellow. What do you do about that?

 

[delisha]

Since I know nothing about silkies I haave been reading reading reading about them. The only thing I read about whites is that you have a silver base what ever that means.I know absolutly nothing about them. So far what i have read is a bit scarry. They seem so fragil and need so much extra care.

Aoxa, do you have your silkies with heat?

 

[FloppyEaredFarm]

Hi, I am new to BYC and have been reading and trying to catch up on this thread! I've been loving it, and everyone is so knowledgable. I am so happy to be able to read all the great advice from everyone so experienced.
I hope this is not bad manners, (please tell me if it is), but I really wanted some of your advice about one of my chicks. I posted a thread with pictures and explanation here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/738358/five-week-mystery-chick-slow-development#post_10321595. Please if you have a minute, will you go there and read it and tell me what you think of the chick and if there is anything else I can do for it. Thank you so much! I am just worried about my little one!

 

[Ashdoes]

Ok guys...I'm taking the plunge, i need an incubator. We're going to be be getting rid of the Cochins this summer and switching to Cream Legbars, since they do everything we're looking for. So, suggest a good incubator for beginners, with a turner, under two hundred for sure hopefully under one fifty. And from what ive read in the Colorado forum still air is no good here...whatever that means. Thanks!

Okay....I have no experience with incubators - know that up front. 

However...I asked one of the guys that DOES have experience that I believe is a good, trustworthy person to ask because I was considering purchasing one a couple months ago.  I wanted something affordable that was circulating air.  Here is what he recommended.  I'll quote him here:

[COLOR=006400]"The Brinsea eco 20 is a GREAT incubator. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=006400]The Hovabator I'd recommend is the 1588 with the clear top, and I'd add a turner unit.  That'd bring the best price, through big time searching, to around $200. That will handle 48 eggs, which I rarely have.  The 20-24 egg capacity of the Brinsea 20 works well for me.[/COLOR]"

One of these is what I'd likely purchase for myself.  They've both had good recommendations from several guys whose opinions I respect.

Thanks. So, I should research the two and figure out which works best for me.
You know there are some things I can just spend money on without even thinking....shoes...but something like this could take me months to decide. Dang.

 

[Ashdoes]

I was gone for most of the day and got out to the barn to collect the two eggs from Edith (lays first) and Phoebe (soon after). I was surprised to find Phoebe still on the nest at 3 pm! She jumped out and ran off when I stuck my hand under her. Yesterday Edith laid a double yolk-er. Today Phoebe was sitting on one...And possibly one of the weirdest pullet eggs I've ever seen! Now I've seen some doozies in my time. This one is the strangest of them all. It was flat on one side with wrinkles and indentations surrounding the flat spot. The egg sat on the counter flush! I candled both and saw the double yolks clearly. The deformed egg looked yolk-less. I cracked it open and it was almost ALL yolk. Only a thimble full amount of albumen. I don't worry about oddities from pullets but both hens laying a double yolk egg a day apart is weird in a bad way. For long term good laying health this is something to keep track of. Oh! And that weird flat puckered egg was fertile! Now I now for a fact Johnny is covering both hens. I've never seen him mate Edith. This egg is flat on top and sat flush on the counter. Those indentations in a perfect circle is the strangest thing I can remember seeing on an egg. The shell was so dense it took three raps on the granite counter to crack it.

I had one of those weird eggs, from my Wyandotte. It was her first egg, and the rest have been fine. It had that exact weird flat spot with the wrinkling around the edges.

 

[aoxa]

Since I know nothing about silkies I haave been reading reading reading about them. The only thing I read about whites is that you have a silver base what ever that means.I know absolutly nothing about them. So far what i have read is a bit scarry. They seem so fragil and need so much extra care.

Aoxa, do you have your silkies with heat?

Nope. Silkies do not need all this special care everyone says they do. All they need is to be kept dry when it is really cold. They can handle being wet if the temps are above freezing.

When brooded with standard chickens they need room to get out of the way, as they are much smaller than standard birds and can get trampled.

Oh and my silkies have started laying!! I went and tilled up their pen on Sunday and found 3 buried eggs!

None were frozen, so they couldn't have been that old!

 

[chickencowranch]

It's going to be bitter cold this week where I am, highs in the single digits during the day. Wednesday they are calling for high of -5F. I am thinking of going back to free feeding for this week, until the temps climb a bit. I think the chickens will need all the calories they can get to keep warm. Do any of you not free feed when it's that cold?

I ff in the evenings before they go to bed. Since I know the ff will freeze during the night I give mine dry feed in a separate feeder. I don't have electric in the coop so no heated dishes here.