The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Mumsy & Delisha.....

You both seem to have a lot of knowledge about herbs & their benefits. Do you have a website or list of what we can feed the hens and what the benefits are? I would love to fill my garden this spring with herbs that will benefit my hens.

I know about garlic, cayene pepper and orgeano. I add those to my FF already.

Also one more question for Mumsy..... I bought my hens romaine hearts lettuce as you said yours loved it. Well mine do to. Do you know if this can be grown in my zone? I think its zone 5? western NY. I can get regular lettuce & mixed green lettuce to plant for them but dont think I have seen romaine

Thank you
Jenn

 

[Sally8]

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

Thanks, it's snowing very hard here. Cars are just crawling by. I'll pick up a couple tomorrow. If I have 1, I have 2, 3 ,4, 20....

 

[pigeonguy]

One page ago.

Really need some input. I can't really shoot these little tiny birds. What kind of measures could I take to get rid of them?

Build a wire cage with a trap door. Like they use for pigeons. Here is a pic.


Put a landing board in front of the door. Then in some kind of a clear container put bird seed just inside the door where they can reach it without entering but just by sticking there heads through. then when they get used to eating out of it move the container back to where they have to push the bobs (hanging wires) in just a little to get to the food. Once you have them use to moving the bobs to get food move the container all the way to the back so that they have to enter the trap to eat. This is how we catch feral pigeons when they become a nuisance. Once caught it is up to you on how to dispose of them. Back in the day I cooked them and fed our cats. OH ya hang this up high where the chickens don't bother it. The starlings will like having a spot to eat without the chickens bothering them I would think. The trick is getting them to notice it.

I have a question! Since this is a natural chicken thread, any Natural ideas for curing sour crop? Also does anybody know if too much bread causes sour crop in chickens? Thanks, and hope to get a reply soon!

White bread yes but I have seen many chickens raised on whole grain. Not just wheat but whole grain. I feed it to mine sometimes.

Morning everyone....

So in constantly assessing Duke and trying to learn here, read what qualities a good roo is about, I am always watching. I imagine the most important thing a roo can do for his flock is of course, keeping watch and protection. In this respect, Duke seems to be quite proficient, he is always on the lookout. On another front, I have noticed as Duke climbs aboard his ladies, he is using biting their necks seemingly to help in him getting them to submit, and also for balance. I notice a few times that some feathers come along with it, and a few of the girls have started this bare spot thing to the right of their combs, starting down their necks. One of my BA's Dahlia has really been getting a horrible bares spot, that in this weather, has been very cracked and red, and dry. I have been worried that blood would come, and then we'd have a real problem.
Here is not the greatest picture but it's the best I could do holding her and the camera at the same time.

I was able to get her away from Duke yesterday, and cleaned it up a bit, then covered the entire area with some NuStock.


I really tried to massage it on to the bare, dry cracked skin. I now noticed smaller similar spots starting on two other girls.

Question being, do all roosters do this kind of stuff when mounting hens. I remember discussion on the GB thread about a roo that does damage to his hens being a cullable offense. I have learned a lot since discovering that I had a missexed roo from my hatchery order, and now see a lot of the good points to having a roo, but in trying to figure out if Duke is indeed one I want to have around, if this keeps happening, should it be something I don't want to have around the girls?

Any thoughts are appreciated...off for another cup of joe...
MB

This might sound weird but I would and have used carmex for cold sores for things like this. Carmex will numb the area and soften the skin to relieve the cracks. Honestly nu-stock dries things out because of the sulfur. That is why it works on yeast infection. Nu-stock might heal it though maybe not as fast as carmex.

 

[Mumsy]

Mumsy & Delisha.....

You both seem to have a lot of knowledge about herbs & their benefits. Do you have a website or list of what we can feed the hens and what the benefits are? I would love to fill my garden this spring with herbs that will benefit my hens.

I know about garlic, cayene pepper and orgeano. I add those to my FF already.

Also one more question for Mumsy..... I bought my hens romaine hearts lettuce as you said yours loved it. Well mine do to. Do you know if this can be grown in my zone? I think its zone 5? western NY. I can get regular lettuce & mixed green lettuce to plant for them but dont think I have seen romaine

Thank you
Jenn

Well...It's like this with gardening for me. I know what I can grow. And I can grow just about anything except a banana tree. And that's only because I've never tried. Seriously. I don't have a website or list but I have a life time collection of horticulture books and working knowledge of plants. I never forget a plant once I've grown it.
There is only one rule to gardening. If you don't plant it, it won't grow. Just do it. I don't know what you can grow in your zone. Best thing to do is ask any of your neighbors what they can grow. If they can grow it, so can you. If romaine doesn't work, try spinach. It grows in the Spring just about anywhere. We all know how nutrious Spinach is. Also try growing beets. Any kind. Doesn't matter. Chickens love the green growing tops of beets. My Grandma told me this little rhyhm when planting. I use it to this day. When planting seeds she would say, "One for rabbit, one for the crow, one for the cut worm and one to grow." In other words. Plant enough so everybody gets to eat.

 

[stonykill]

Thanks, it's snowing very hard here. Cars are just crawling by. I'll pick up a couple tomorrow. If I have 1, I have 2, 3 ,4, 20....

if you catch them early enough you may get lucky and only have 2. That was the case for me this past fall. Saw the sign, set the traps. Caught 2. Set the traps for 2 more weeks caught nothing and no more sign

 

[Melabella]

Quote: Thank you for the imput! .. I heard NuStocks praises sung to restart feather growth. Quite frankly, I was hoping the bad taste would deter Duke from grabbing hold so hard!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Great information as always LM!!

Please take care of yourself! What are you selling?

Just the place I work which is paints and coatings.

For Leah's mom

Thanks, OGH. Jack sent me the link to the thread where you were building it. I'm catching up again so I don't know if you posted that link as I'm not to the end...but I'm going to post it here. I think others may want to look at it!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/499098/woods-on-wheels-update-added-more-photos

 

[Sally8]

if you catch them early enough you may get lucky and only have 2. That was the case for me this past fall. Saw the sign, set the traps. Caught 2. Set the traps for 2 more weeks caught nothing and no more sign

will do. I didn't see any chewed places where they forced their way in but the little doorway has a tiny opening. I'm guessing that's where.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: Love the rhyme.....gives me a great reason to enlarge my garden like I wanted to as well. I will see what they have at the auction where I get my plants and just try it and see what I can get to grow. Thank you

 

[stonykill]

will do. I didn't see any chewed places where they forced their way in but the little doorway has a tiny opening. I'm guessing that's where.

fix that hole. If a rat can get in so can a mink or weasel...trust me I know