The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

I missed a lot over the weekend.

Been busy building chicken breeding pens. Didn't get them all completed, but I had two ready for my broody and her single chick, as well as a few chicks until I can get the rest all fixed up and ready to use.

Sally..I have chicks out in the coop too. I have only seen one. I think I hear more. The one peeking out is not the Orpingtons. I gave her 4 Orpington eggs and I see no black. That means more eggs were layed in her nest than I had thought.

How do others keep tract of eggs in nests? Do you mark them? Separate the hens at onset of nesting?

I mark them. If I don't, I end up with a terrible staggered hatch!

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.

Does it freeze on you? I put my broody's waterer in the heated closet at night so it thaws and I can give it back come morning.

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.

I don't get a whole lot of vaulted skulls. Maybe that is why my silkie hatches are so good. I get a good percentage out of one of my hens.. Maybe 1 or 2 out of 5 will have vaulted skulls. Anyway.. I don't usually do eggtopsys. Should I?

 

[delisha]

I always eggtopsy..I want to know why..I really check for things I can see, try to guess when they expired..like these silkies that are quitters. Tomorrow after lock down i will eggtopsy all of them. If they all expired on the same day..I want to know why..if they are from the same pen, same variety..etc..

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: I used the fake eggs just before the original 6 started laying. When we put the chicks in the hen house, I had the nest boxes boarded closed until they were about 16 weeks old. Then we took off the board and I put 2 fake eggs in each nest. After they started laying, I removed the fakes. These kiddos never layed anywhere else and I'm thinking it was the fakes that did the trick in teaching them what to do.

I've only put in fakes one time since - when laying slowed down toward the end of December. My husband went out and brought them in because he thought I missed some when I was gathering! I think I'll put them in again and leave them when I'd like to encourage someone to go broody. I know they'll go broody when they want to, but I'm thinking having a nest look like its gathering eggs may bring on some maternal hormones???? Never know... I'm also going to observe these new kids and see what they do. I'm hoping they follow example of the others.


I got ceramic eggs from a "Do it Best" hardware that had a decoration/arts area. They had wood and ceramic and they look so real that I had to mark them to be able to tell the difference. I think you can get them at Hobby Lobby and such.

 

[aoxa]

You all are not going to believe this! I have live chicks under a broody hen in the hen house. (Not the unbelievable part) The 3 hens play musical nests every day. Tonight when I came home a different hen is on the nest with the live chicks. It's like watching "Sister Wives"! Have you ever heard of such a thing? Usually they are very protective. Should I move the hen down to ground level? Will she stay on the nest? Thanks for showing me your water er. I have something similar but need to figure out how to keep the bedding out of the water.

I've only been getting 2 or 3 eggs daily ever since it got really cold. Today I got 7. Yahoo!

No..many hens will co raise chicks..sometimes they co set a nest.sometimes hens steal chicks from moms..it can be quite entertaining. It is so much nicer when they all get along. .my ducks do it too, they can have a huge community nest sometimes.

Yes! I love my little same sex moms. I love doing it that way. Most of my broodies this year had a sister wife.

 

[aoxa]

I always eggtopsy..I want to know why..I really check for things I can see, try to guess when they expired..like these silkies that are quitters. Tomorrow after lock down i will eggtopsy all of them. If they all expired on the same day..I want to know why..if they are from the same pen, same variety..etc..

I'm afraid I'm going to get something that stinks. I am so very sensitive to smells. lol

I did eggtopsy a few. I had one that had a leg up where it's wing should be. That was my weirdest one I opened.

 

[delisha]

It is always best those quit..I cull new chicks with deformities, but, I rather they never hatch.If I see it twice than that hen does not get used. It i light out..time to check the chicks and move the mom..

 

[aoxa]

I have an aquaintence that is in his 80's. He tells me his mother (talk about "Old Timers") told him NEVER to feed the chickens grass clippings because they'll cause sour crop.

Because of his - and other people's warnings I've read - I am very careful w/grass clippings. If you feed I understand they need to be short. When a chicken grazes grass they break off small pieces. When it's clipped like w/a lawn mower, they go down in longer pieces and some people say that it can cause sour crop, since they're harder to pass out of the crop.

I am planning on saving all grass clippings and drying them next year to use for hay during the winter. I do use my grass clippings in the nests! I put a small amount of wood shavings down, then dried grass on top of that. They love that and it smells nice too.

Well if it can cause impacted crop or sour crop, I've been lucky. Always picked grass for any caged birds if I was too lazy to dig a clump of sod up. Never had an issue. I do provide grit for birds caged. I don't have many caged at all. But my Ameraucana bantams were penned from August - December. I had gotten them as young birds. I didn't want to add them in with my existing flock for biosecurity in the beginning, and also because they are so tiny. I was afraid they'd be easy pickings for predators or be harassed by my standard birds. Also wanted to hatch from them as long as they were providing.. and wanted to keep it pure.

I also provide hay for my birds during winter. It's alfalfa hay and they all eat it. No one has sour crop.

 

[Mumsy]

@aoxa and delisha: I never used to eggtopsie until this year after coming on BYC and learning what to look for. I used to worry it would be smelly too. (my gag reflex is no joke). I take the egg outside and open it on a clear plastic dish so I can see the results clearly. Then I take a quick picture and toss the egg in the bucket that goes to the compost pile. It is by looking at the images in zoom mode that I can really see details.

The need to know what is going on inside the egg during incubation is a driving factor for me to better understand how the embryo develops and why it might stop at whatever stage. This knowledge helps me also to make good selection of eggs from desirable hens for progeny testing. Whether I want better, healthier layers that lay longer, better meaties, or from breeders that I want to improve on according to the SOP criteria.

With regard to Silkies, if you KNOW the percentage of your chicks that are dying in the shell and the percentage of those that are dying with vaulted skulls, that could only be good knowledge to have. It will help me decide whether I want to risk breeding a large vaulted hen to a related large vaulted roo. If I did that would I be increasing the odds of a lethal genetic trait? I don't know the answer to this question.

 

[aoxa]

I was out in the garden today and decided to fork over some DL I had filled beds with last month. We have had rain rain rain for weeks on end. My DL out there in the elements was still fluffy. When I turned it over though, it was crawling with huge night crawler worms! It was breaking down further but still looked like litter. Not muck. If you build your DL with the right ratio, it remains bulky and non mucky. Even when it's out in the weather. That is my experience with my mix in the Pacific North West.

Oh that is awesome! My birds would be all over that!

I hate to persist with this but the eggs under the hens weren't there all the same day so they could continue to hatch for the next week. If I move them to the ground do I move the eggs into a nest there too? I'm still somewhat traumatized over such a failed incubation that I'm hesitant to intervene very much. I have zero experience with a broody hen.

Then, a few weeks ago I had 2 Silkie roo's given to me. I have a Frizzle hen and had been looking for "friend". After quarantine I moved them inside the chicken coop in a large wired dog crate. I opened the door today to let them mingle with the rest. (They've been in each other's company for 2 weeks). I'm surprised I'm not in the news for being arrested for cock fighting. What a battle. The solid black Silkie was absolutely beautiful, all puffed out, hackle feathers up and out and very angry. Where's my camera when I need it? How long do you let them fight it out, do I go through this process every now and again for a while to see if they will ever get along? I'm only keeping 1 and to be honest I know nothing about Silkies but I don't think that these are even a pure one. Naturally, I like the feisty one, He is solid black but the fluffy feathers around his butt and legs are more grayish. The other is black with light brown coloring on his neck but he is also more laid back. Doesn't matter if they aren't pure, just looking for a friend in size for Cecilia. (They look somewhat like the Cochin I raised and culled for the very nasty temper he had.) Any experience or ideas?

I like the look of the darker one. It's all up to you though Don't look like cochin mixes to me. More like hatchery non-bearded silkies.

Darn! So many extra Silkie roosters and everyone lives so far away from me! I'd take a Silkie rooster right now if I could get my hands on one from a trusted source. Oh well... LOL!

I have plenty. I'd love to give your girls a real silkie man Too bad we're so far away!!

I have not candled since day 10..I candled a few silkies last night and when I pulled my 2nd quitter I stopped..made me ill..I will wait till tomorrow I am taking Aoxia advise and doing lock down tomorrow..my poor silkie eggs..

I can't wait until they hatch!

 

[loanwizard]

On my agenda for this year-

On incubation- I can't believe the lengths some of you go to incubate your birds! Kudo's to you, please don't take it the wrong way. I just gather up the eggs and put them in there. I candle at 7 days simply because I had a bad experience with a stinky explosion once. At 18 days I add water and lock them down. I just bought a big incubator off Bruce last fall and plan to try that... something like 300 eggs it holds. I have considered raising Buckeye's as I live in Ohio and am a rabid Ohio State fan, but that means changing the entire flock and I am not sure I want to kill all my existing birds on my whim... they do a good job. Maybe someday. Might have to work a deal with a lady from Marengo that lurks here for some eggs or chicks for piglets.... not sure though.

On Intensive rotational grazing- Right now, the "grazing" area on my homestead is a mixture of brambles and scrub trees. I plan to have the hogs clear the rest of it for me then plant a mixture of clover, fescue, Austrian winter peas, ryegrass, etc....

Also would like to plant apple trees. Not sure how many or what age trees. Though about getting some 8-9 footers at about $60.00 each then planting some from seed.

Gardening- Plan to implement some raised beds and really concentrate on raising a crop to can and lay by for next winter. Potatoes, onions, corn, tomatoes, green beans......

Deep Litter- My barn gets quite a bit of moisture and underneath, my litter is packed and wet, but I haven't changed it since last April when I started. I am out of leaves so it will be left over hay for the remainder of winter til I start mowing, then it will be grass clippings. Also plan to hay without a baler, which ought to be interesting. It will either be hay or become compost. As far as the deep litter, it doesn't smell so how bad can it be? I don't have the problem of it getting deep, it just packs harder. Maybe I need to rake more often.... I hate the cold....

Thanks for letting me ramble.

Shawn