The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

I came to backyard chickens before getting my chicks, but as far as what changes I've made since coming to this thread:

I started the deep litter method, have started conditioning my run, created fermented feed, and have filed away a ton of knowledge about chicken pathology.


Concerning the OTness of the thread, there seems to be as many posts made about how off topic things are, as there are things that are OT, (which also clutters up the important posts).. People can't form relationships off of pure business, and I think this thread has thrived because of the relationships people have formed. When I joined this thread, I found it to be the perfect mix and have been enjoying it immensely.

Jendodd79, I agree perfectly about the OTness. Stony, maybe you could do what I do - which is just skim thru and ignore the posts I am not interested in. For example, even though it has to do with chickens, I am not interested in incubation, so I just skip the numerous threads about incubators, etc. I might want to go back to these if I decide at some point to incubate/hatch - but for now, I skip.

Hope you decide to stay Stony, as I appreciate your input, but you have to decide how you want to spend your own time.

Since coming back to BYC , I've started reconditioning the soil under the coop - adding hay, leaves, excess dl. In the spring I will make sure to keep it moist. I did dig up some of it last fall, as it was quite hard packed, and found there was a hard dry crust of about 2 inches in some areas.

DL and vinegar weren't new to me, but fermenting was. I am not FF right now due to the extreme cold, but will start again in warmer weather. Just too hard with stuff freezing too quickly, and with leaving home and coming home in the dark.

One thing I have done differently this year is to use less supplemental heat - I used to try to keep the coop above zero, now I let it go to -10. I have found the hens survive but seem miserable when it is colder than that! Providing a heat lamp brings the temp up maybe 10 degrees, but gives them a place to warm up if they want - some hog the warm area, others seem totally uninterested.

 

[Arkansas81]

Ok, here is my .2. I love this thread, eventho most is a little off topic..BUT WHO CARES. I thoroughly enjoy almost every post. One of the best things about this thread is that it covers all subjects of 'natural' living whether it be about animals or actual living. I learn soo much from u all. I have been wanting to live a natural life - you all have started me off on the right foot.

Now to what ive learned since coming to Byc, EVERYTHING. I knew nothing about chickens or barnyard animals ... I'm so glad that I found Byc. Ive started ff, acv, deep litter. I'm glad ive started deep litter, but plan on revising it some. Ive seen that acv helps with overall health and egg laying. I'm keeping notes on the ff, this will be second day of getting it. I'm planning on adding more to my garden this yr just for my chickies.

So as you see I'm forever grateful to u all (and stony) for your wealth of info. I can only hope and with fingers crossed that you all (stony) are around for a very long time!!! I dnt know what to do with out any of you (stony)

 

[loanwizard]

Stony, you and I are at odds. Yep, I miss Fred, Al, Bee, etc... but... this is the internet. People make friends, and this becomes the chat room so to speak. Life is too short to worry about things like this. Nope, not even close to the last thread, but it is more helpful than some of the foo foo threads I have seen. We all have choices. If I get tired here, I will move on. Thousands of other forums, millions of people. Cherish the ones you want, dump the rest, but enjoy.

Myself, I post what i want when i want, if I get booted... it just wasn't meant to be....

Much love to all!

Shawn

 

[ChickChickChicky]

at least 50% of the posts daily have nothing to do with chickens. There isn't any trying happening. While we have many new names go back to the beginning of the thread and see how many names of seasoned BYC members who used to post on this thread don't anymore.

The title of this thread should be "post anything you want and once in a while include something about natural chicken keeping"

I've got to agree with stoney, this thread has devolved into not much more than a social club. I don't see many old-timers here anymore and precious little in the way of anything much to do with keeping chickens. I'm quite sure the claws will come out at me saying so.

 

[delisha]

I was hoping to see baby's at the same time..no luck..just to cold for them to peek out I guess.

 

[Mumsy]

Myself, I post what i want when i want, if I get booted... it just wasn't meant to be....

Much love to all!

Shawn

Thanks Shawn. I've been stewing all morning. You put it into perfect perspective for me. I'd hate to have to agonize over every thing I want to post. And yes, I'm a chatty person in real life too. Everybody has their pet subjects. Personally, I skim over all the killing and processing ones. Done it too many times my self to want to talk about it or read about it. I like chit chat, jibber jabber, and all the other stuff too. But then again....I like people.
And face it. This thread has been a hoot for the most part! So much information! And so much humor! It's great!

Oh Before this post is labeled Off T....One of my Americauna/ Orppington pullets laid her first egg and it was green! I gave her some left over scrambled eggs for a reward! First sprinkled a dose of powdered garlic and cayenne on it for good worming measure.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I am sooooooo frustrated!!

I posted this information on my Arizona thread and hope it's okay to post here as well as I would love some feedback on things I can do to increase my ratio of hens because this is ridiculous...

When I ordered my batch of chicks from Ideal Poultry, I specifically asked for all hens - NO MALES, not even any to keep the others warm in transit as suggested. I was willing to take responsibility for any losses. I asked them to not throw in any extras or anything. The only straight run I ordered were 3 silkies and I knew I could get roos in there.

Well, here we are about 4 months later... our FAVORITE hen started crowing this morning. A beautiful Americauna which I was hoping to get pretty eggs from. They also DID send me an EXTRA Australorp which also turned out to be a rooster and is now crowing too. Then, next thing I know, our one and only speckled sussex they sent me is starting to crow. And from what I can tell, 2 of the silkies (the blue and red) are both roos.

That leaves me with 1 white silkie hen, 2 barred plymouth rocks, 1 rhode island red, 1 Americauna, and 2 australorps that are scaring me a bit with looking like roos. Do Australorp hens have bigger combs and wattles then other breeds?

That's like 5 roosters to 7 hens and that's if I'm lucky and the other 2 Australorps are hens. I expected that there may be some error in sexing, like maybe I would end up with 1 roo or something but this is ridiculous. I am going to have to start all over with getting enough hens for the eggs I want to get and butcher some of our favorites. Is there a more accurate place to order chickens from?

One more thing I've noticed... It seems like what Ideal called "Americauna" is actually "EE" based on the photos I have found. So, I guess I have EE's, not Americaunas - do they mislabel them there?

My order from Meyer appears to be all hens, none are crowing but they aren't laying yet either at almost 20 weeks.

 

[Bulldogma]

You can please some of the people all of the time.
You can please all of the people some of the time...
But you can't please all of the people all of the time.

I started this thread in an attempt to continue the sharing of Natural methods of chicken keeping and Old Timer wisdom. We have Delisha who is a wealth of information and who shares it without reserve. We have Mumsy who has showing and breeding experience as well as a lot of information to share on botany and living a more natural lifestyle. We have Leahs Mom who is striving to go organic with her chickens and her family. We have Aoxa who hasn't been keeping chickens as long as some, but who has put a lot of research into what she is doing - - and shares what she learns with the rest of us. We have Stony who has a huge amount of information on everything from broodies to culling to predator prevention... And the list of contributors goes on...

We have a lot of good information that gets shared on this thread. Questions get answered about DL, FF, culling, hatching... you name it. And in between all that great information, we have friendships forming. Lots of them. We have our own inside jokes, and certain code words that most of the readers of this thread know.

Yes - we are an informational and educational thread...
...and yes - - we are social and friendly, too.

We DO need to focus on keeping that good, Natural Chicken Keeping information streaming into the thread so we can all benefit from the learning. It would be a shame to lose that slant to this thread as that is what the thread was designed around.

The NCK thread is like a delicious pot of chili with followers adding their own ingredients to make it ever better. Yet part of the reason it is so good is because the friendships and silly things have added flavor and texture to the dish.

I would hate to lose any one of our wonderful contributors and friends... but we can not please all of the people all of the time. For the thread to continue, it must base itself on what pleases most of the people most of the time. It won't last any other way.

So please - lets keep the wonderful knowledge sharing going, and lets not be afraid to have a laugh along the way.

HUGS to all! You guys are the best!
Leigh (Bulldogma)

 

[delisha]

I hope the picture I posted helped about a waterer in with babychicks. It is a tiny jar and if it would spill it would be easy for me to remove the bedding where it is at and replace dry. I agree that having dry bedding is important and a concern. The bottle in the back of the waterer is for refils and at night time I put most of the water back in it. Most chicks would not come out at night to drink.

 

[delisha]

Thanks about all the words about off topic talking..I am guilty of doing it a bit too often. I feel like I am constanlty being scolded and it is uncomfortable. I do not like feeling like I have to monitor what I say and I constantly need to clarify what is and is not off topic.I am sure many of you feel the same way.

I disagree about *claws coming out*...that has never happened on this thread. Great people are here who share gereriously to everyone. There is respect here and a general feeling of closeness and welcoming to everyone.

I love this thread and the gathering of so many different people. It simply works with the variety of the things going on. People are going to come and go. This is a popular thread and it move very quickly.

Thank you all for the oppertunity to enjoy your company. I feel privlaged and honored.