The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

For drying, I raked mine up and put it in rows to dry. Just one afternoon did it. Sometimes I put it on the cement drive and sometimes I just left it in the grass depending on how wet/dry the grass base was.

But.... I have a 2 acre area that I've just been mowing and not using the clippings. I'd like to find out if there is someone in the area that would mow and bale it in small bales. I've never checked on that before so I don't know if 2 acres is too small and if the price to have someone do it too high. I have no idea of what to expect.

Any of you farm-experienced folks know anything about that? I just keep thinking that it's just going to waste and I'd like to use it.

2 acres is a little small, but ask around - a lot will depend on whether anyone has the time, asome of the big rigs are kinda big to manuever in that small of an area very well, believe it or not! Small farmers might be willing to do it. have no idea of what price they might charge.

 

[lalaland]

delisha! more pics needed from you! you have....CHICKS!!!!

have to live vicariously here.
and aoxa, love the barred rocks.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote: I don't know what you are talking about...
what second clutch?

She hatched out 8 eggs..all 4 Orpingtons..she also had two more eggs peeping..I gave them to the other broody..no way can that leghorn raise 8 chicks..she is just not big enough to keep them warm. So for now..the leghorn has 8 chicks and the Orpinging has 2 peeping eggs and two others I did not bother checking. If the Orpington does not kill those 2 peeping egg chicks, I will give her..her own chicks. I did not take pictures..I was so shocked about the quantity of chicks I sort of panicked. Where did she get all of those eggs. I rushed to get every one all warm.

Ok, so you are splitting this clutch of 8 into two smaller clutches? That make sense. Just read the other one and had hard time with broody and new broody, telling which was which, make sense?

Hey all...

This is for those of you interested in seeing the photos of the order from Ideal that I am finding out I have a LOT of roos in, when I expected LOTS of hens! Let me know what you think. Thanks!
Also, I posted some questions about which ones I should cull and how old they should be... appreciate any feedback.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/31227/arizona-chickens/33990

Post #33997

The red and blue silkies are cockerels, so are all three Australorps in the post, all have hackle, saddle and sickle feathers in.

 

[Mumsy]

i have not finished the thread to see if this question has been addressed. Do you think that machine incubation is the cause of silkie "quitters" or does the broody silkie hen have the same number of quitters?

I have quitters in my current batch that are pullet eggs from my layer flock. I've had quitters from bantam RIR shipped eggs. And quitters from Silkie eggs. I didn't do eggtopsies before these three batches but I've always had eggs that didn't hatch from all breeds. Purebred, mutt, LF and bantam combined. I do not think it is just quitters from artificial incubation. I've had eggs not hatch under brood hens too. It comes with the raising of chickens.

I've had eggs under Silkie hens not hatch plenty of times. I didn't used to candle. Just let the chickens do their thing. Some eggs don't make it.

 

[Mumsy]

I have no idea.sorry i can't help...there are toxic plants to chickens..I have no idea what they are..I know burdock is good for chickens..they like marigolds and they are good for them too

Found this for you


http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Poisonous_plants.html

The list of good plants they eat and the toxic ones are both so long, I could fill pages and pages. All plants in the Night shade family are bad. That I can remember off the top of my head. My chickens will taste just about everything at least once it seems. I eradicate poisonous plants on my property for the safety of my small Grand children. Rhododendrons are toxic but I've never seen my chickens taste them. There are different plants called marigolds for the common name. There are Tagetes marigolds and there are Calendula marigolds. My chickens love Calendula. They won't touch Tagetes.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

The list of good plants they eat and the toxic ones are both so long, I could fill pages and pages. All plants in the Night shade family are bad. That I can remember off the top of my head. My chickens will taste just about everything at least once it seems. I eradicate poisonous plants on my property for the safety of my small Grand children. Rhododendrons are toxic but I've never seen my chickens taste them. There are different plants called marigolds for the common name. There are Tagetes marigolds and there are Calendula marigolds. My chickens love Calendula. They won't touch Tagetes.

The nightshade family includes tomatoes and potatoes. The fruit of tomatoes, and the tuber (root portion) of the potato are perfectly fine for both animals and people, it's the green plant part that contains toxins. When trying to identify various plants it is ALWAYS better to use the Latin names, that way there is no confusion as to exactly which plant one is speaking of.

 

[Sally8]

I have a question for all of you that have raised chicks. Have you ever had just 1 and how did you handle it. I had a single one, "Bob" and he only lived 4 days. This morning I went out to check on the one under the hen and there he laid on his side barely peeping and very cold. He's in the bathtub up running around acting like a chick but like before will only eat and drink when encouraged. I just read somewhere to put a mirror in. What else can I do until I can travel to a few towns over tomorrow to purchase a couple chicks?

A Silkie question, I'm not interested in raising them at all, but my little Frizzle, Cecilia, I'll do anything for her because she's so cute. Useless but cute. Anyway, I posted those pic's of the 2 males and someone posted that they were hatchery. How do you come to that conclusion? To "upgrade" to a non hatchery bird, do you take something like this, look for all the qualities you would want, cull for the one's you don't and keep going on and on for poultry generations until you get SOP perfection? If so, isn't that like a whole lot of work and frustration? My hat is off to you, if so. I really love my chickens, but WOW, that's almost mind boggling to me This may seem so obvious to you all but I really never thought about it. The Sikies that I see on here are just puff balls, is that the difference between hatchery and upgrade? To go through the motions to upgrade is it done so that you can show, or sell for more money, why do it?

Life is crazy. Mom made it through surgery, (unexpected) In a week we should know what type of cancer we are dealing with. Makes me want to pass out hugs. Sue

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I have a question for all of you that have raised chicks. Have you ever had just 1 and how did you handle it. I had a single one, "Bob" and he only lived 4 days. This morning I went out to check on the one under the hen and there he laid on his side barely peeping and very cold. He's in the bathtub up running around acting like a chick but like before will only eat and drink when encouraged. I just read somewhere to put a mirror in. What else can I do until I can travel to a few towns over tomorrow to purchase a couple chicks?

A Silkie question, I'm not interested in raising them at all, but my little Frizzle, Cecilia, I'll do anything for her because she's so cute. Useless but cute. Anyway, I posted those pic's of the 2 males and someone posted that they were hatchery. How do you come to that conclusion? To "upgrade" to a non hatchery bird, do you take something like this, look for all the qualities you would want, cull for the one's you don't and keep going on and on for poultry generations until you get SOP perfection? If so, isn't that like a whole lot of work and frustration? My hat is off to you, if so. I really love my chickens, but WOW, that's almost mind boggling to me This may seem so obvious to you all but I really never thought about it. The Sikies that I see on here are just puff balls, is that the difference between hatchery and upgrade? To go through the motions to upgrade is it done so that you can show, or sell for more money, why do it?

Life is crazy. Mom made it through surgery, (unexpected) In a week we should know what type of cancer we are dealing with. Makes me want to pass out hugs. Sue

put a stuffed animal in there too, gives the chick something to snuggle up to

 

[delisha]

Sue,

I am so happy that your mom made it through surgery..

SOP or BQ or HQ does not matter if it is healthy and you love them....

Breeding to the SOP and breeding up in quality only improves your birds. Better health..longer life..easier to sell or place in home. To some it is important, to others it is not.

IMO...worth about .05
If I purchase hatchery quality ..I can save money........really?

this is for bantams..........LF you can eat.

It is hard to cull silkies..they are so tiny and cute, hardly worth it to eat them. So what do you do with all of the unwanted silkies? Perhaps no one wants an older one that is hatchery quality..than you might end up stuck with a bunch of birds you do not want or need or can't get rid of. What if you hatch out 150 males in a year..what are you going to do? If they were quality birds and you posted pictures..someone will want them if they understand quality and the SOP. Hatchery quality will be harder to place.

There is nothing wrong with hatchery birds. Love your birds no matter what they are.

 

[Mumsy]

I have a question for all of you that have raised chicks. Have you ever had just 1 and how did you handle it. I had a single one, "Bob" and he only lived 4 days. This morning I went out to check on the one under the hen and there he laid on his side barely peeping and very cold. He's in the bathtub up running around acting like a chick but like before will only eat and drink when encouraged. I just read somewhere to put a mirror in. What else can I do until I can travel to a few towns over tomorrow to purchase a couple chicks?

A Silkie question, I'm not interested in raising them at all, but my little Frizzle, Cecilia, I'll do anything for her because she's so cute. Useless but cute. Anyway, I posted those pic's of the 2 males and someone posted that they were hatchery. How do you come to that conclusion? To "upgrade" to a non hatchery bird, do you take something like this, look for all the qualities you would want, cull for the one's you don't and keep going on and on for poultry generations until you get SOP perfection? If so, isn't that like a whole lot of work and frustration? My hat is off to you, if so. I really love my chickens, but WOW, that's almost mind boggling to me This may seem so obvious to you all but I really never thought about it. The Sikies that I see on here are just puff balls, is that the difference between hatchery and upgrade? To go through the motions to upgrade is it done so that you can show, or sell for more money, why do it?

Life is crazy. Mom made it through surgery, (unexpected) In a week we should know what type of cancer we are dealing with. Makes me want to pass out hugs. Sue

Do you have a feather duster? Lean it in the corner. I did it for my chicks just for kicks. They played in and around it like it's a big mamma bird.
Some people buy quality grade Silkies full grown adults and already show winners. People do that with any breed or animal. Horses, Dogs, ect.
Some people buy eggs or chicks from well known breeders like Trav, aoxa, delisha, and I have done. With a future prospect of breeding, showing, selling, or trading our own line. Some people want the best quality bird they can afford so they have a lovely pet to keep in the house with them like a kitty kat. Hatchery grade Silkies still have merit. I've had them. They can make wonderful momma hens and great broodies. Nothing wrong with that. To breed animals to the Standard Of Perfection takes knowledge, dedication, years of struggle, culling ruthlessly, and sometimes just plain old good luck. It is mind boggling to me too when I see a drop dead gorgeous Silkie on Champion row that is the result of one person's life time effort of selection and breeding. Not to mention the hours of time it takes to condition and prepare a quality Silkie for a show. Raising Silkies to perfection is a labor of love. I don't think anyone is getting rich doing it.
I'm glad your mom made it through surgery. Hugs back at ya!