The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

I think my BIG CHICKEN-RELATED NEWS got lost and I want everyone to know that the last of my 3 SFH is now laying - she was the one with the injured foot and I think the injury put her behind a little in the laying department. I believe sometimes the body can redirect resources to heal which can put a hen behind when it comes to laying. She is about 2-3 weeks behind her sisters in laying... and that's about how long it took her to recover. Interesting, huh??

But anyway...
Quote: OMG..I am so sorry I neglected to notice..I was busy typing and being selfish..CONGRATULATIONS.

yes, things like injury, stress, fear, shock, and moving will put a chicken off her lay. Many things influence a chicken. They like repetition. Take something away or change something, or even move something and some simply do not like it. I moved my feed barrrel and a few were not happy. They used to love me comming in the coop and geting feed ready..there favorite time of day. They could be in the back 40 and hear that lid being removed and high tail it to the coop. After I started FF, no feed barrel in the coop. Took a while for some of them.
You can have a hen laying like clock work and sell her. The new owners call you up and start complaining because she is not laying..well they usually wont lay for a month after. Chickens are sensitive.

 

[Mumsy]

I think this thread is good because we have some where to ask our questions, when we want a natural approach. I don't think there is any way every post can be an information packet, thats a blog not a thread.
I hope this thread continues as is.
I've also been wondering what do do with all the litter. Once you've filled flower beds and all the other things, the poo never stops. I've got a compost tumbler, a compost pile and the litter under the coop. Eventually I need to find something to do with it all. I guess it's good we have just one tree, I've got plenty of compost for all the trees I want to plant.

I was curious Ashdoes. How often are you cleaning out your DL? I only clean my barn completely out every four or five months. But then I only have a small flock of chickens and chicks.

I did think about another use for it. Take a good hard look at your property. Is there an area that could use a berm? You could use a long hose and lay it out in the area you want to build it and drive small sticks to mark it then slowly start dumping and building your berm. Eventually it will grow grass and weeds the chickens would forage on or you could seed it with a winter rye or something like that. Berms are popular for cutting down noise from busy streets.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote: Interesting. Can't wait to hear about the results.

X2. Well said! There are no silly questions. Speaking of questions, can someone tell me if acv in the water can treat cocci? I picked up Corid just in case.I've read Cocci is a quick killer and I didn't want to go.into the weekend with nothing on hand. The chicks came from a farm that fed medicated feed, so I was surprised to find bloody poo. I did check out the poo chart and it was not shed intestinal wall. I waited a couple days to treat because the chicks acted normal. However I did notice 2 fluffed up like they were not feeling well. I went ahead and started treating with Corid yesterday. Poo looks more normal today and chicks are acting more normal now. I do put acv in the water. I do not feed medicated feed. I use ff. I did give them a few treats the first couple of days they were here, but now they get strictly feed till this is past. I'd just like to know what to do to treat naturaly if there is a next time.

NO, unACV does not treat. It helps create a hostile environment in the gut so the cocci does not flurish. You need to treat with Corrid.

 

[delisha]

cocci....

This is just my opinion and is not intended for anything other than education.

People get cocci in there poultry..it happens

Have the correct environment and food and you will have little to no cocci.
prevention is better than giving drugs. Since you have already started the drugs..finish what you are doing..than you need to find out why you have cocci and read about why cocci starts and what it is.

When you get new chick..it is very important to start building antibodies. Mother chickens take care of that, but, if you are raising them you have to act like the mother chicken. You need to get them on the ground by day three. If you can't..bring the ground to them.


This is a plug or a patch of grass that has been used by the chickens, now used by the chicks.

These are leaves too.

Food..if you Ferment your chick feed you will add to the health of the chicks. it makes the intestines an environment inhospitable to the cooci and other illnesses.

ACV is not a cure for cocci..or anything else..it is a natural used tool to promote the heath of your poultry.
We encourage natural raising..and prevention

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I try and only post/comment about things on topic. But sometimes it is needed to have a comment on off topic. I prefer to have this thread be mostly on topic with the occasional off topic subject, but kept in the "natural" relm. I have gotten SO MUCH good info from this thread and would hate to see it shut down.

I have a broody and going to be giving her eggs in a couple of days. Bad thing is she is going to have to set in the coop boxes as there are still chicks in the tractor. I may put the dog crate in the coop for her so she doesn't move to the wrong nest. I hope to get the pallet coop for them finished in the next week, it will have a small broody box in it so I don't have to take a broody out of the coop as I want the chicks raised among the chickens. I think it helps them be stronger growing up in the natural way chickens are supposed to.

I have switched my FF to a 2 single bucket system. The bucket in a bucket just was not working, even with larger holes in it. But I love how it is helping feathers grow back much faster. Peep, the hawk attack survivor has no evidence of the attack. All feathers have grown back in in 3 weeks time.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

cocci....

This is just my opinion and is not intended for anything other than education.

People get cocci in there poultry..it happens

Have the correct environment and food and you will have little to no cocci.
prevention is better than giving drugs. Since you have already started the drugs..finish what you are doing..than you need to find out why you have cocci and read about why cocci starts and what it is.

When you get new chick..it is very important to start building antibodies. Mother chickens take care of that, but, if you are raising them you have to act like the mother chicken. You need to get them on the ground by day three. If you can't..bring the ground to them.


This is a plug or a patch of grass that has been used by the chickens, now used by the chicks.

These are leaves too.

Food..if you Ferment your chick feed you will add to the health of the chicks. it makes the intestines an environment inhospitable to the cooci and other illnesses.

ACV is not a cure for cocci..or anything else..it is a natural used tool to promote the heath of your poultry.
We encourage natural raising..and prevention

If I have to brood chicks, that is what I do. I use some shavings from the big coop and put some dirt from the yard in too. I do use medicated feed, but only one 5lb bag, when that is gone they are on the same feed as everyone else. So far no Cocci outbreaks here.

 

[Bulldogma]

I try and only post/comment about things on topic. But sometimes it is needed to have a comment on off topic. I prefer to have this thread be mostly on topic with the occasional off topic subject, but kept in the "natural" relm. I have gotten SO MUCH good info from this thread and would hate to see it shut down.

I have a broody and going to be giving her eggs in a couple of days. Bad thing is she is going to have to set in the coop boxes as there are still chicks in the tractor. I may put the dog crate in the coop for her so she doesn't move to the wrong nest. I hope to get the pallet coop for them finished in the next week, it will have a small broody box in it so I don't have to take a broody out of the coop as I want the chicks raised among the chickens. I think it helps them be stronger growing up in the natural way chickens are supposed to.

I have switched my FF to a 2 single bucket system. The bucket in a bucket just was not working, even with larger holes in it. But I love how it is helping feathers grow back much faster. Peep, the hawk attack survivor has no evidence of the attack. All feathers have grown back in in 3 weeks time.

Keep us updated on how your broody does!
Great news about Peep!!

 

[Mumsy]

I incubated several batches of Silkie eggs this past season, many of them Vaulted from a mixed flock of 2 well known SQ lines. As a lot of people have reported with their hatches, quite a few of the eggs I incubated did not make it to lock-down either (I chalked most of it up to being them being shipped eggs and the typical 50% hatch success rate on shipped eggs, plus some ended up having blood rings) so I didn't bother opening up the eggs that didn't hatch from the first couple of hatches.

Then, after a couple more disappointing hatches I started getting curious... and opened the eggs that were late deaths or lock-down deaths. Those that were late deaths or during lock-down deaths were ALL Vaulted chicks or me too. All of the Vaulted chicks that did hatch successfully for me were all on the small size. Seems that if the chicks are normal sized to a little on the large size, then the extra lump on their heads prevents them from having enough room to pip, spin around in the egg and zip... or they just get that big head stuck in a bad spot and then wear themselves out/ expire trying to change position to be able to hatch.

IMO it's also possible that being Vaulted their head takes up too much space in the air cell and doesn't give them enough oxygen in the air cell, which may also play a role in causing them to expire before pipping and/or hatching. Next time I incubate Silkie eggs I plan on allowing extra ventilation that will allow more air into the incubator to see if that might possibly help more Vaulted chicks hatch.

None of this is proven fact, just guessing/assumption on my part based on my own observations compared to all of my success with hatching keets, quail, turkeys etc, all in the same incubators (Hovabator 1588s) and all with similar temp and humidity.

Thank you! I know my humidity was off but I had five Silkie chicks hatch and live. The vaulted skull chicks were smaller than the ones that died. In my gut I feel it was more than just humidity that killed those chicks. Your right. I can't find any written studies yet that prove this theory either. I have increased the ventilation in my bator as well. I poked lots of extra holes over the top of my styrofoam LG.

Thank you again. I always keep detailed notes on every egg in every hatch. And I will be pestering my friends to do Silkie eggtopsies on any unhatched in their sets.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Keep us updated on how your broody does!
Great news about Peep!!

This is my second broody. She is only 9mo old. But she is my #2 hen in the order, so I know she will not have that issue. She was off the nest(I made her to see if she is committed) and the whole time she is softly clucking, puffed up, wouldn't let Pig Pen mate her, found some treats and called for chicks she doesn't yet have(it was cute). I think I am going to give her yesterday and today's eggs after I mark them.

 

[delisha]

I tried to get a picture of a few of the chicks..they are really fast and duck right under..I did catch one..