The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

Haha Check out the T-Shirt my fiance just ordered for me.

 

[jockeyeba]

Mine was runny too,,, I made sure I shook it real well the second time I opened it, and it blended to a more consistent texture.  I also keep it either in the house, or the heated tack room in my barn.  It gets far too cold left out without heat,, it would never come out of that tube.

I have a question for people that sell their eggs for human consumption.  Does one need some sort of license from the local community to sell eggs? I worry if someone purchasing my eggs claimed to become ill from eating them, would you therefore be liable in some way?  Has anyone had someone tell them they believe they got sick from eating their eggs? I have to go to town hall and check if there is any ruling on this.  DH shared some eggs at work the other day,  and I got my mind wandering....

MB

Texas allows the selling of "homegrown" eggs without licensing as long as they are not graded. Check with the Department of Agriculture in your state to see the rules. 

Eggs are sold at all the Farmer's Markets in Texas with no problems

 

[Bulldogma]

If anyone has questions about chicken color / genetics stuff, there's a very descriptive article up on that thing.

 

[jendodd79]

If anyone has questions about chicken color / genetics stuff, there's a very descriptive article up on that thing.

I'd love to read that but I don't see a link

I'm dying to know the parentage of my Easter Eggers - The lady said that they are pure Ameraucana's but that the rooster is a splash. I'm hoping that she sends me a picture! None of my girls fit in the colour descriptions of pure Ameraucanas. I love them though










Still no egg #2! Eloise is holding out on us. She ran in the nesting box again this morning as soon as everyone was out of the coop and hung out there for about 5 minutes, but nothing...

 

[jendodd79]

I'd love to read that but I don't see a link

I'm dying to know the parentage of my Easter Eggers - The lady said that they are pure Ameraucana's but that the rooster is a splash. I'm hoping that she sends me a picture! None of my girls fit in the colour descriptions of pure Ameraucanas. I love them though

Oh wait- sorry, I'm slow, I think I know where to find that

 

[Mumsy]

Your property sounds beautiful! I still recall that picture you posted of your girls running in the flowers. It is gorgeous. Are you at that same location?

I'm placing my seed order for our garden VERY soon. I'm getting antsy. Before chickens, gardening was my forte. I've always loved it, but had very little time for it the past 2 years. Now I am making time. Ordering all organic seeds from a local source.

Thank you. Yes. I ran a back yard nursery out of my garden and green houses from 1988 until 1993. My four children grew up here. The last was born here. My nursery buisness was very small but I specialized in antique and rare hardy plants. It was during that time that I was hatching two hundred chicks and Call ducks a year. I was also into small exotic caged birds and orchids. It all got to be too much for me to handle with four growing children so I let the chickens, ducks, exotic cage birds, and the garden go. After 24 years, most of the garden has filled in and reseeded. I have plants and roses that originated in my wild gardens and grow here still. Starting over with chickens and vegetable gardening has become a joy. No longer a worry and a list of never ending chores.
I just got back from the local nursery with a fistful of packages of heritage veggie seeds. When I got home, Johnny and the girls were in the garden scratching through the litter I dumped out there. I think raising chickens naturally and gardening go hand in hand.

 

[jockeyeba]

I have to share this picture, just cracked me up today My big ol BLW roo wallowing out the nest for my GL girl, she lays in that hole on the floor every day since she started laying

 

[aoxa]

Thank you. Yes. I ran a back yard nursery out of my garden and green houses from 1988 until 1993. My four children grew up here. The last was born here. My nursery buisness was very small but I specialized in antique and rare hardy plants. It was during that time that I was hatching two hundred chicks and Call ducks a year. I was also into small exotic caged birds and orchids. It all got to be too much for me to handle with four growing children so I let the chickens, ducks, exotic cage birds, and the garden go. After 24 years, most of the garden has filled in and reseeded. I have plants and roses that originated in my wild gardens and grow here still. Starting over with chickens and vegetable gardening has become a joy. No longer a worry and a list of never ending chores.
I just got back from the local nursery with a fistful of packages of heritage veggie seeds. When I got home, Johnny and the girls were in the garden scratching through the litter I dumped out there. I think raising chickens naturally and gardening go hand in hand.

I wish it was March already!

I have to share this picture, just cracked me up today

My big ol BLW roo wallowing out the nest for my GL girl, she lays in that hole on the floor every day since she started laying

What an adorable photo!!

 

[Marengoite]

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?

It's hard to get a size perspective, but I think you're on the right track. I'm thinking that for turkeys, you'd need a 25 gal. capacity. You don't need to fill it up but about half full because of displacement, but a 10 gallon setup seems like most of the water would slosh out. I'm not sure what size the scalder is that they use at the processor, but it looks like about the size of a sawed off 50 gallon barrel. And I think they use steam to heat the water, too, powered by a wood burner. If you think this could hold up about 10 gallons of hot water (80#), a big pot, (5#) and a 30# tom, you should be good to go. I would also recommend a counterweighted gambrel system similar to what the guy at Planet Whizbang has. That way it would reduce the risk of splashing scalding water on yourself. Processing turkeys is not for the faint of heart.

 

[Marengoite]

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.

Your dad is absolutely right, Mumsy.

The trick is to baby them like crazy for the first six weeks. Once they get feathered in they can go outside, but until they are starting to lose the down off their heads, you should treat them like the babies they are. However, once they get past the baby stage, all bets are off, and I would put them ahead of chickens for hardiness. Yes, they are stupid, but no more so than chickens. The heritage breeds do have wings and will use them. Had a friend who raised Bourbon reds and had a flock go missing. Thought the coyotes had gotten them. Nope. About three weeks later, he got a call from a neighbor about half a mile away asking if he's missing any turkeys. Sure enough. Every one of them had wandered over to that farm and were doing just fine. He corralled them up and took them back home, tossed some feed, and kept 'em happy after that. His turkeys roost in his garage rafters and have no problem flying. Sounds like a helicopter taking off. If you don't want them to fly off, you can clip one wing which makes them unbalanced, and keep netting over the top as you stated. The other thing you can do is raise the broad-breasted breeds. Once they start putting on weight, they can barely walk, let alone fly.