The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[PeepsCA]

Justine (& Susan), and Stony... my sympathy for your losses.

Aoxa, did you process Carlton, or just bury him? Just curious if you found anything inside of him that wasn't right that the rest of us could glean some knowledge from...

 

[jlynnet]

Bummer on the loss of your Carlton, Aoxa. How has the chick been doing? Time to venture out in the snow and feed the chickens.

 

[PeepsCA]

...

I "forgot" to post pics of the hoop coop, but I guess since I brought it up, I have to post them - consider it today's comic relief. LOL!


The front - fairly straight (I did most of the work on the front except for the crossbar on the door which my DH did).

I let my DH and DS do the back... which now looks like this --> //// (But hey - it's solid, so why am I complaining, right?)

BDM, nice hoop coop... I love the //// that it has to it, gives it character lol. I keep a small flock of Guineas in one very similar to yours, tho I am completely envious of your window! I'm working on building another one this weekend for my extra Silkie Bachelors... they are still young but already terrorizing my poor little Hens, (that they out number by about 3 to 1 ugh)

Most of them are still young and filling out, so I do not know who I'm keeping or selling yet. Definitely time for their own condo and pen tho.

 

[Attila the Hen]

Oregano is one of the herbs I have had most success with and the chickens don't touch it. They eat every other herb or tear it up (I don't plant parsley)

 

[Attila the Hen]

Oops.. a few pages off??

 

[Mumsy]

I think that hoop coop with the window door and back window is great Bulldogma! I'm now looking at my own hoop coop and feel it lacks personality. Good job!

@aoxa: I too was also curious if you processed Carlton or buried him?

@Attjila the hen: My chickens stripped every last green bit from my Thyme, Oregano, Parsley, and every bud they could reach on the blueberry shrubs. The brats! I finally had to cage the newly planted blueberry and gooseberry shrubs to save them. They were jumping up to pull branches down.
Our ground has thawed and they are finally scratching up the mulch and finding buggy/wormy morsels. Slim pickens for foraging this time of year. They are ranging further into the shrubbery and into corners they didn't before. Working for their living is what I'm talking about!

 

[armorfirelady]

I was reading up the info posted here by Mumsy, Aoxa & Delisha about the oregano.....

So today while I was adding more stuff to the FF I added a bunch of oregano & garlic to it. I am all about preventive meds for me & my hens. I figure with the sub zero temps the last week some oregano wouldnt hurt & give a boost to their immune system. You were right Mumsy smells like a pizzeria....I was almost tempted to try some it smelled so good

I have such a long list for plants for my veggie garden in the spring & oregano has been added....I dry out my extra herbs as well for use year round.

Its been so cold here the fresh veggies I give the hens are freezing solid within 5 minutes. So I have been giving smaller portions they can eat within a few minutes or else it becomes an ice block. I wanted to give them some Johnny cakes but they are like hockey pucks in this cold so I nuked them in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes and took them out to the girls. They attacked them !!! Poor girls want to be out in their runs so bad......their door is opened daily but these temps are keeping them in the run. They did venture out the door today a little bit for some corn my friends kids tossed them. They are going stir crazy but are doing a GREAT job of stirring up their DL......I wonder if they have found any more earth worms in there?

Aoxa sorry about your loss of your roo. I was thinking about your starling problem. Do you think if you put more bird feeders out away from the barn they would go there to eat and give up on going to the barn?

BDM- love the hoop coop !!! I will be building one soon......I have the cattle panels & lumber & the door. Just waiting for warmer temps. You are a trooper putting that together in these cold temps !!!

And thank you all for the showing tips......I wont be showing any hens but I love to hear how to do it correctly and the pictures. I hope to go to a show soon to see all the different hens

 

[midnightroo]

Sorry to hear about the losses.

I am learning a lot, like where I think my chickens could be safe this summer aren't so safe really. And that the electric fence dh wants to get wont do a thing for the hawks. Oh, the bread, oops, won't be doing that anymore. The wild birds will get that.

I had heard that chickens love blueberries and would jump to eat them from the branches. My jumped to get to the corn I was growing. Luckily I only grew it so my daughter could see what 14 ft corn looked like or I would have been mad.

Does a roo shake his leg during mating? Mine shakes his leg at times, but no wing dance yet so I not sure if it is still a work in progress or if it is an issue.

 

[Sally8]

I'm sorry for all your losses. There's nothing worse than an attack especially when you try so hard to prevent them. I think I saw rat droppings in the turkey coop this morning. Since it's a balmy 15 F out, I think I'll go investigate. Has anyone dealt with this pest and what did you do? A few summers ago, hubby sat on the back porch and shot them through my screen (grrr) when they would dart out for fallen wild bird seed.

 

[stonykill]

I'm sorry for all your losses. There's nothing worse than an attack especially when you try so hard to prevent them. I think I saw rat droppings in the turkey coop this morning. Since it's a balmy 15 F out, I think I'll go investigate. Has anyone dealt with this pest and what did you do? A few summers ago, hubby sat on the back porch and shot them through my screen (grrr) when they would dart out for fallen wild bird seed.

small hav a hart style traps baited with whatever you are feeding the turkeys. You'll catch the rats and won't risk harming the birds. Unfortunately every fall the last few years this has been my drill