The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[countrygirl74]

Hi All, I've been trying to make my way through this thread, but after a while only made it to post 25. Please forgive me, but I'd like to ask a few questions, which you probably already touched on. I did enjoy reading about garlic and AVC and plan on using them. I will be getting my first layers ever in April, just 3 of them. Not sure which breed as of yet, but they will be young chickens from an organic farm, not baby chicks. We'd like to stay on the natural / organic route as well. I went down to the feed supply store today just to see what is available. Here is a list of what i found:

Producer's Price - scratch grains
Prunia Layena sunfresh recipe
Dumor Poultry Layers
Manna Pro Oyster Shell
Manna Pro Crushed Granite
Purine Layena Plus - Omega 3

So here are my questions:

Scratch - how does that differ from feed?
Oyster Shell - Am I correct in thinking that it is for calcium to help with the egg shell production? Does this get mixed in with feed, frequency?
Granite - that is to help them grind grain? frequency?
Feed - Pellets vs. Crumbles?
Do most of you have organic feed available locally? I did not see anything that said organic
Is Soy bad?
How does corn fit into all this?

Sorry for all the questions. I have been making my way through the threads, and doing specific searches, but still was unsure about a few things.

Thank you in advance, back to making my way through this thread

Welcome! I am fairly new to all this myself, but this is what I learned and what I do with my chickens...

Scratch - I give more in the winter as it is said to help put on a little more fat and in turn, keep the chickens warmer in cold weather. Not everyone agrees with this, but either way, it's extra feed and a special treat. I just toss scratch out into their run and let them "scratch" for it. It does not take the place of feed. Think of it as a "side dish" or "dessert".
Oyster Shell - my chickens are not quite laying age yet, but I already throw back crushed eggshells from organic eggs that we eat. I will probably be supplementing with some oyster shell if I notice their shells need a little help after they start laying in a couple months.
Granite - I can only offer "supervised" free-ranging, so because they don't get out of their run all the time, I do provide granite in a little dish. They will eat what they need. Sometimes I shovel in some rocky earth that is outside their run so they can pick the type and size of gravel they want right out of the dirt.
Feed - I fed crumbles until I switched to all-organic feed. The organic feed that I have access to for the best price is a "mash" - the only way I can explain it is it seems like a bag of chopped up weeds with little grains and dried peas in it. I ferment the mash and feed it to both my chickens and ducks. It is a "flock raiser" or "grower" feed. I buy it from www.azurestandard.com which is a co-op, and we happen to have a local drop here. I did the math and figured out it was the least expensive organic feed I could get in my area. It is only a couple dollars more than the Purina flock raiser crumbles. Too me, it was worth the couple bucks to go organic - it is also soy free.
I personally like the way this feed ferments much better than the crumbles, but that is just my opinion. Of course, you don't have to ferment it.
I also throw out veggies and leftovers whenever we have them.

 

[jendodd79]

Welcome home jen

How was the skiing for everyone else since you do not ski.

Yes..pullets can be wierd. It takes some birds months to get it together.

Thanks for asking! I ended up skiing on snow blades this morning. It was just so warm and beautiful out, and my daughter was rocking it

Happy to be home though and happy
That my girls are all using the new roosting branch we out up for them. My Easter Eggers crack me up, they are so funny!

 

[Sally8]

agreed. Sharing my way. Killing any critter one must do it how they feel is the most humane. When hunting bleeding out can be a quick humane death. My thought is with a chicken in my hands I can do it faster than I can from 40 yards away and a weapon. So I do it the way I do. I treat a mouse with the same respect. None of these high tech devises that slowly strangle the mouse or none of these sticky pads that catch it but leave it terrified over night.No water buckets for it to drown in. Drowning has to be a horrible death. I choose the old fashioned mousetrap that crushes the skull. More humane in my eyes.
Like you said, more than one correct way to kill a chicken, but the way I see it is, the more ways listed here, the more ways someone who hasn't ever killed one will have to chose from. Same with plucking. That is why I asked. Through trial and error I came to my way. I'm sure others have similar results using different methods. Information is King

Great post! Still no rat or tracks but I think I will keep the traps set indefinitely. It's just a matter of time.

 

[aoxa]

I agree with everything you say.
I'll be getting my first turkey poults soon. My family will be going in on the feed and butchering. We are tentatively thinking about butchering at about 26 weeks. Heritage Bronze. This is the set up but with a much larger pot for the scalding. Do you think this will work?

Make that a MUCH MUCH bigger pot lol.

I have never raised a turkey or killed one either but my oldest daughter and family want to do it together with us raising them. I only know one story about turkeys from my dad. He is 84 years old and he was in charge of his families turkeys when he was a boy during the Great Depression. His story goes something like this. My dad: "I kept that flock of ten turkeys and would send them out to forage all day when they were young. Then I would bring them back to the coop. Every day, this is what I would do. Then one day those stupid turkeys figured they could fly. So up they all fly in one big flapping mess of a flock! Around the property they flew! Over the house! Over the barn! Then they all flew into the trees and broke thier xxxx necks! Every blasted one of them! I hate turkeys. They are the stoopidest of birds."
True story. Still makes me laugh to hear my dear old dad tell it. Umm...My run attached to my turkey hoop coop has bird netting firmly set on.
No xxxx stoopid turkeys will be flying into the trees if I have anything to do with it! Seriously though...I plan on raising four to butcher and two to keep as breeders. All hands on deck on butchering day.

I just can't see that happening. My turkeys are so agile. They can fly really, really well. They flew from the time they were 10 days old. I'm not talking a couple feet either.. At 2 weeks they flew up and kept lifted for a good 100 feet and 8 feet in the air.

If you don't want flying turkeys, I'd consider a meat turkey and not a heritage breed. Or you can clip their wings... though that doesn't stop mine as much as I thought.

 

[aoxa]

I appreciate this culling topic. I was very sensitive to the topic until I myself had done it. It is definitely way worse to talk/hear about it first.

The feeling leading up to the kill is so much worse than the kill and right after the kill. I feel relief after. Especially when they are suffering. I feel it's the right thing to do.

 

[aoxa]

I took very few pictures this weekend...



Easter Egger hen keeping warm


Another EE hen. BEARD POWER


Janet my partridge Cochin. She was Carlton's mate. I had high hopes. I will keep the girls I have though. They make wonderful mothers.


Here's another cochin. Buff x Partridge. She is used with Jagger the barred rock for my meat crosses.


FF crest hehe


Another messy crest. This one is younger than the first.


Harriet. Lol. She is half blind, but despite that, she has a really interesting attitude. Instead of pecking, she scratches. She'll take her feet and scratch her victim. It cracks me up every time. She lays really well.


One of my young Houdan cockerels escorting a layer down the path.


I love this one. The shadows..



My partridge silkie cockerel I kept. The only one I chose to.. His dad is beside him. The silkies aren't as crowded as they look in the pictures. They like to huddle in groups.



Daughter of Harriet the polish above. This is my first generation project Sizzle (she's a smooth breeder).
It shows how dominant the bearded gene is. Her mother is unbearded, her dad is bearded. She has a really good beard.


Look Ma! No eyes!

 

[delisha]

Silkie question:

I want to keep this as natural chicken keeping as possible..Do you trim and sculpt for show? Does the FF change the color of feathers?

 

[aoxa]

Silkie question:

I want to keep this as natural chicken keeping as possible..Do you trim and sculpt for show? Does the FF change the color of feathers?

No you don't trim for show. In fact, I would consider sculpting 'faking'. I only trim to allow them to see better, and won't trim any more than I already have.

Most of these silkies are dirty like this because my FF wasn't always the right consistency. When it is runny, they make more of a mess. As chicks they will get dirtier as they like to scratch in their food. Watch their feet. They can get little FF balls all over their toes.

I would have used that long chick feeder, but I only hatched a few chicks this winter, and it was not being consumed fast enough out of the feeder.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
I'd wash mine out and save them too if they were glass like yours!!!

I was originally talking about the plastic 2 liter bottles.

 

[stonykill]

Personal choice for me, but I figure it to also be a practical one... I sometimes sell my Guinea feathers to fishermen who tie their own fishing flies/make their own lures, or to artists that use them for artwork and jewelry... can't do that with a pile of messy, wet, matted up feathers, so dry plucking a few Guineas each season now pays for a bag of feed or 2. Sometimes I just pith, slice the jugular and then skin the bird if I am not going to roast them in the oven... then I salt/dry and sell those skins (with wings attached), whole. I actually get more money for a skin than I do for a live bird!



Sorry Angela, but X2 for Stormy's reply.

now that is some good information. See by asking a few questions I was hoping to get some information out like this. I may just at least partially dry pluck a few or even all if the market for feathers is good enough.