The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

Since we're on the topic of fencing.. Anyone ever see a living willow fence?



This guy here is starting it out with dormant willow cuttings..




What it looks like in season. With every season fence becomes stronger and stronger.

Sure is pretty. I wouldn't do it because of all the work involved, but thought it was interesting and beautiful to boot. Thought I'd share.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Since we're on the topic of fencing.. Anyone ever see a living willow fence?



This guy here is starting it out with dormant willow cuttings..




What it looks like in season. With every season fence becomes stronger and stronger.

Sure is pretty. I wouldn't do it because of all the work involved, but thought it was interesting and beautiful to boot. Thought I'd share.

Wow...I really like that. I want to check that out more. I wonder what climates it works for? Also if the chickens would eat it ...that would be frustrating after all the work!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Since we're on the topic of fencing.. Anyone ever see a living willow fence?



This guy here is starting it out with dormant willow cuttings..




What it looks like in season. With every season fence becomes stronger and stronger.

Sure is pretty. I wouldn't do it because of all the work involved, but thought it was interesting and beautiful to boot. Thought I'd share.

So these are just Willow Branches cut and stuck into the soil, and they grow from that?

 

[ocap]

So these are just Willow Branches cut and stuck into the soil, and they grow from that?

might need a drip irrigation system for a while, willow needs lots of moisture

 

[stonykill]

I agree up to a point about not eating a bird that you find dead. However this particular bird was fine at night and still warm in the morning. Stony has healthy birds and know them well. He does not have disease or health concerns. If you are ever concerned about the heath of your flock, I would never recommend it for human consumption.

had to be a heart attack. Sorry, no pics.

The heart was surrounded by blood and felt...well for the lack of a better term. Limp. If you have ever butchered any living thing and handled the heart you know it is a really firm muscle. This one was not. And I could see blood vessels in it. Which I never remember noticing before. In any case, I saw nothing to be concerned about. Except for how much fat he had on him. He was obviously a little pig. He has been in the fridge resting for a few hours now

 

[PeepsCA]

OK.... We've discussed everything else, how about how you catch chickens? I was praised for being quick..... I thank you, but I don't necessarily think I am fast, just that when I am catching Rangers, I am usually running late to get to the processors farm, although why I worry about that is beyond me as we usually talk for literally hours after we unload.


How do YOU catch your birds?

My Silkies (only chickens I have) of course are no problem to reach down and pick up, and my Turkeys and Peafowl are tame enough to be picked up and tucked under my arm like I'm carrying a HUGE sack of potatoes, facing forward... I have picked them up and carried them around since they were babies, so they are used to this. A couple of them do not like it too much, but they deal with it. They are usually entirely insulted after I put them back down tho, lol.

My Guineas on the other hand, are all psycho spastic nutcases, and netting them usually results in at least 15 minutes of fighting with them to get them untangled without me losing too much skin and blood in the process... so I get them penned up (tossing a little sweet feed down as a bribe/lure), then I drag in one of my rottweiler sized wire dog crates in (they won't go into a solid dog crate) and put it in a corner of the pen with the door open on it, leaving a narrow chute between crate opening and pen wall for the birds to be herded into (sorta like a cattle chute). The only place they can go is into the crate (but some flip out and fly up and over cackling their heads off cuz they know they got away... for now. I get them too the next go 'round tho lol). Then when the crate has plenty of birds in it I shut and latch the crate door, pull it around so I can then reach in and take out who I need. I try to push the bird that I'm after into the corner of the crate and then I can quickly run my hand along their back and sneak it up under their wings and get a good grip on them before they know what's happening, and then I pull them out hanging onto them like that. All they can do is kick and squawk... they can't peck, bite or scratch me and they can't hurt themselves. (I've probably done this 5000 times over the years, lol). Once they calm down I'll transfer them to another cage/crate, or if I need to carry them to my processing area I'll tuck them under my arm like a football facing backwards so they can't peck me, and hold onto both legs so there's no kicking/scratching either.

 

[jlynnet]

I too have 'trained' the girls to my voice. When they've hidden from the hawk, I can call them. They usually come out. My son and I also use chicken crack(mealworms) to get them. I always feed them a little bit if they do come out. Just shake the chicken crack container and they come running!

 

[Leahs Mom]

The heart was surrounded by blood and felt...well for the lack of a better term. Limp. If you have ever butchered any living thing and handled the heart you know it is a really firm muscle. This one was not. And I could see blood vessels in it. Which I never remember noticing before. In any case, I saw nothing to be concerned about. Except for how much fat he had on him. He was obviously a little pig. He has been in the fridge resting for a few hours now

So this raises a question. What do you think causes THAT PARTICULAR BIRD to have heart problems vs any other bird in your flock?

 

[PeepsCA]

had to be a heart attack. Sorry, no pics.

The heart was surrounded by blood and felt...well for the lack of a better term. Limp. If you have ever butchered any living thing and handled the heart you know it is a really firm muscle. This one was not. And I could see blood vessels in it. Which I never remember noticing before. In any case, I saw nothing to be concerned about. Except for how much fat he had on him. He was obviously a little pig. He has been in the fridge resting for a few hours now

Ugh, another loss for you. Sorry again Stony... glad it wasn't wasted meat tho. Fat bird, bad heart = tasty dinner.
Good info about the heart not being firm like a normal heart would be.

 

[off-grid hen]

 

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