The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Mumsy]

Ok since we're sharing cute pictures, (Stoney's gonna kill us!) Here's one of my favorite pictures of my girls walking out their pony Fergie. She is 28 years old and has been my best school pony since 1998. She has taught countless little girls how to ride and is now teaching my daughters all the lessons they need to learn. She is a saint!

Oh my! Love love love it! The little one in the pink tu tu reminds me of my third born! Always in the pink and girly clothes no matter what animal she was playing with! (Maybe Stoney will post of pic of himself as a kid playing with a pony too?) Hey! If ya can't beat um, join um...Right?

 

[stonykill]

Yes, it drives him crazy to talk about other things besides chickens. He will live... because he is respected and liked in here reguardless of his .ummm..scolding.

actually it drives me cray because one of the reasons given for closing the old thread was all of the random off topic chit chat. They said it became more like chat than a thread. This worries me....

 

[off-grid hen]

Off Grid. please please do not be offended....your roo issues does not sound like freezing problems..sounds lke moisture problems. Bubbles in the eye, swollen face is a sign of GRD possibly other things. You need to keep an eye on the rest of your flock. If you see any more signs, you need to treat your flock. Did you look at his lungs when you butchered him?

Not offended at all. . I have a woods open front coop, very well-ventilated. He started off with a touch of frostbite on his comb. It looked like the white part was creeping a little bit further in from the bottom edge which had turned black. I assumed it was an infection due to the frostbite. This morning his comb was very swollen and half of it was black. I don't know what GRD is, and I am keeping an eye on the rest of my flock due to paranoia about the cold now. I did not look at his lungs.

 

[jockeyeba]

Yes, it drives him crazy to talk about other things besides chickens. He will live... because he is respected and liked in here reguardless of his .ummm..scolding.

actually it drives me cray because one of the reasons given for closing the old thread was all of the random off topic chit chat. They said it became more like chat than a thread. This worries me....

Doesn't BYC have forums with all other kinds of stuff going on besides chickens? so what difference should it make what we talk about here jmo

 

[delisha]

Of course you may be right, however I believe it was because of the large amount of pages referencing to the color *pink*, and other things implied because of that color. I could be wrong of course.

 

[delisha]

Quote: Could you look at his lungs?

And you are correct, it could have been an infection.

 

[jendodd79]

It says that this thread is OT welcome I like it - it makes me feel more welcome, then some of the other threads where I'm just the dumb hobbiest newbie!

 

[Pullet Surprise]

Question 1:
Hey everyone, I posted a question on another thread but haven't received a response in a couple days, so I thought I would ask all of you. I have a family member who can only house 3-4 chickens where she lives. My daughter incubated and raised the chicks for her but unfortunately she ended up with 2 roos and 2 hens. They are about 6 months old now and we are getting rid of one of the roos as we know 2 roos to 2 hens is just too much. The other roo they have fallen in love with, so we were wondering if 2 hens are fine with 1 rooster or is that not enough girls for him?

Question 2: For myself - can I have 2 roosters with 10 hens or is that pushing it? And lastly, what if I end up with 2 regular roos and 1 banty roo? I have 12 chickens total and one of our Australorp "girls" that we ordered crowed this morning. They are about 14 weeks old. There is another one that we think might be a rooster but can't quite tell yet and we think one of our 3 Silkies might also be a rooster. Just trying to get an idea of how many I can safely keep if we end up with too many wrongly sexed chickens!

Question 3:
Lastly, will the regular roos hurt my Silkie hens?

I don't know about Silkies, but I had 2 roos and 10 hens and it didn't work and I ended up rehomeing one roo....it made all the difference in the flock after Frank was gone. The 2 roos had been the best of friends, hatched together and all....and then they started noticing the girls and the hormones went crazy and Frank would not be happy unless he had all the girls, free ranged and all that space, still didn't work....Frank was bent on killing Morris. Ten was just not enough for these two.

 

[aoxa]

I'm having a terrible chicken night.. My turkeys nearly killed my cochin rooster. They ate up a lot of his comb, and he has lost a whole lot of blood. He's eating like a champ right now and I have him all cleaned up and in the basement in a big dog kennel until he can regain some composure. He is very weak from the blood loss.

Also one of my Ameraucana bantam chicks in the outside brooder was FREEZING. Brought her in as well. I think Carlton will be okay. Once I get my breeding pens built this weekend, he can have one of those to recover in. *sigh*

Oh and one of my broodies chicks died. Not sure what happened there. So she has one lonely chick. What a day...

 

[aoxa]

Could you look at his lungs?

And you are correct, it could have been an infection.

Did you mean CRD and not GRD?