The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

It is pretty good hay..it has a bunch of clover. The birds love to pick through it. The DH bought it for the ducks.

 

[aoxa]

It is pretty good hay..it has a bunch of clover. The birds love to pick through it. The DH bought it for the ducks.

We bought some for our ducks and geese as well. It's not as nice as yours. There has been a very bad hay shortage here. The feed stores don't even carry it anymore.

I have a friend of a friend that grows his own for his horses. It's organic and he charged me $2 a bale (4'x2')

It's not as green as I'd hoped it would be...

I've been buying up very cheap greens at the grocery store when they pass their expiry date (for the geese mostly). The birds still eat the hay though.

 

[delisha]

Pigeonguy..

Great story..

 

[Ashdoes]

I vote for the little rainbow guys jumping..even though I don't think the iPad will let me use them.

I wanted to talk about my MyPetChicken Golden Buffs, with everyone talking about birds doing well in the cold and laying eggs. I have two, they are the easiest, nicest birds and they're laying BIG eggs everyday. If needed a ton of eggs, I'd get more of these two, but as it is I'm forcing eggs on my MIL and now my sisters in law. And, besides the silkies, all the kids know to pick up the red ones, they're just very laid back about it all.

Aoxa~How awesome is your fiancé that she saved your dog, in her underwear?! Great story

 

[delisha]

We have a bale left to make it through the winter. It is pretty expensive because of the drought. I hated paying so much money, but, they need it in winter.

 

[aoxa]

I vote for the little rainbow guys jumping..even though I don't think the iPad will let me use them.

I wanted to talk about my MyPetChicken Golden Buffs, with everyone talking about birds doing well in the cold and laying eggs. I have two, they are the easiest, nicest birds and they're laying BIG eggs everyday. If needed a ton of eggs, I'd get more of these two, but as it is I'm forcing eggs on my MIL and now my sisters in law. And, besides the silkies, all the kids know to pick up the red ones, they're just very laid back about it all.

Aoxa~How awesome is your fiancé that she saved your dog, in her underwear?! Great story

Their Golden Buffs are red sex links. I agree, such friendly good natured birds. Though they are not long term layers, they are awesome when they do lay. Huge eggs too.

 

[atmaclean]

So, all my January eggs are done hatching. I just got 4 Isbars out of 5 eggs on Tuesday and am so happy with them. They are just adorable. I think I have 2 splash and 2 blue - can't remember how their coloring goes! They immediately went onto the FF They are eating it just fine. Now, I have ALL the indoor babies on FF!! My next endeavor is to switch the outdoor birds. I'm waiting until I get the heated bowls that I ordered for them. It is so cold in the morning that I'm afraid the feed would freeze before they could eat it.....

I was hoping that the FF would help with some of the chick poop smell, but I'm not sure that is happening

. I think I am going to make an area in the garage for them to go as soon as this cold snap passes. I wont' move them out there before they are 4 weeks old and I will definitely have a heat lamp out there for them to use if they want. My boys cannot stand the smell in the room where all the babies are.

I am adding a little garlic and some oregano into their bucket of FF - is that alright for babies???

Thanks so much for all the info and congrats to the list on 5k posts!!

Thank you also for the info on the roosters!! We will be moving some rooster feet this afternoon!!

Angela

 

[Mumsy]

I try and look for 'Hay For Sale' signs in the fields here starting in July. On an island, anything that has to be trucked onto a ferry boat puts the expense out of reach for me. We found some local grass hay for sale down the road from us for $3 a bale and I sent the husband to snag six. I use it to insulate the outside of my root cellar and open one bale a month to fork into the DL in all the pens. The chickens and chicks love it. I have seen the chicks suck it down like long spaghetti noodles even at a few weeks old! In the chick/brooder house they are on DL same as the adult birds. I keep a dish of sandy grit for them in there and they sure do help themselves to it so they can work that hay in their gizzard.
I don't use straw. Never seen any of my chickens eat it when I did years past. They sure do like local grass hay though. When they find a seed head it becomes a keep away game with them. Very amusing.

 

[OffGridMAMA]

These look smaller in picture! Really cute. I like their actual dimensions. Are you keeping them indoors? Wondering how they'd stand up to the rain.

Yes they will be under the roofed part of the run

 

[Melabella]

You must have missed mine....I chose the welcome wagon several pages back...
Angela

Didn't miss you Angela, how could we miss you! ... voting is now closed,, people can feel free to use whatever way they like to welcome anyone here.. Important thing is that all feel welcome!

The finger I smashed in the door two days ago keeps freezing as I go through mucking stalls. It hurts! Also, I know that someone stated this before, I think it was aoxa..

What's the deal with eggs in this weather? They are fine as long as they aren't cracked from freeze?
Forgive my forgetfullness, and my asking again..