The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Sally8]

Leah's Mom - That is a truly amazing video. That SSH was a great patient. I hope it doesn't come to that either. I have a shaky hand. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sally8]

MB..I hope you recover soon.. Crocks and water do not mix.. I use mine for coop running. They sure wash nice the the dishwasher. LM..I hope your bandage works and surgery is not needed. I have been fortunate and have no experience in that surgery. Epsom salts have done the trick. One tiny Silkie..it is soooo small. Half the size of a regular chick

How very cute!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Chickens do not typically eat eggs. They do on occasion *test* eggs by pecking on eggs, and if they are not *quality* they do break. The chickens will eat the eggs obviously. You will see staining like yolk in the nest or on the ground. Shells would be littered here and there. Just assume your hens are going to start to lay soon. Once rooster start to breed POL pullets it is usually a good two weeks before they start to lay.

thanks, I will keep waiting and watching. Lately I find myself going to check for eggs more and more frequently. I just have to find that first egg.

 

[jockeyeba]

Question: A friend got rid of all his chickens(with the help of racoons) & he's been bringing all his leftovers to us. I guess he fed them any & everything. I know there's some stuff chickens aren't supposed to eat. Is pasta OK? & chili-I know onions aren't good for chickens & there's some in the chili but its not that much

 

[lalaland]

jockeyba, I feed them anything I eat, except breads, sweets. or salty chips. chili leftovers haven't hurt mine, nor have onions. I've never had chickens eat citrus, bur some folks say theirs will.

 

[jockeyeba]

jockeyba, I feed them anything I eat, except breads, sweets. or salty chips.   chili leftovers haven't hurt mine, nor have onions. I've never had chickens eat citrus, bur some folks say theirs will. 

Thanks for responding

 

[lalaland]

about bumblefoot: Funny thing I ordered some icthammol salve this morning for a hen who had two large boil/bumps on the top of her foot - what I usually associate with bumblefoot, thinking it woud be worth a try to see if it would draw out the hardened infection part - the kernal. But when I went out to the coop just now, I saw that the kernals ( a hard white/yellow solid piece of gunk) were protruding just slightly on each bump. Picked her up and was able to take the kernal out from each bump, leaving a big hole behind. no bleeding. Took her in the house and did the epsom soak, nustock, and then vet wrap.

I've never understood what the "glands" were that I've heard people refer to on the bottom of a hen's foot, but I did see for the first time a sort of pocket that was formed by the footpad kind of covering the crease where the toes are. There was guck in there, but nothing else. I didn't find that tell-tale black circle that I usually see with bumblefoot, so i am at a loss as to what happened with this hen.

found a nest behind a door in the coop, with 13 eggs. No telling how long they have been there! I chucked them all in the woods.

And it is snowing to be the band. Supposed to get another 8 inches or so. grateful not to be in the east coast!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Just got done with chicken feet day 2. My intention was to bring her in, remove bandages, put on more NuStock then re-bandage. Her feet were dirtier than I wanted to leave them so re-soaked with epsom salt again.



Today: On the left foot that had the more pronounced black center cap, the cap had loosened up enough that I could just pull it off. This is what it looked like after the cap was off.


This photo same foot yesterday after soaking and before bandaging.




I think if I had been ready I may have just gone ahead and tried to remove whatever I could but I didn't have some of the items I needed to finish. I reapplied the NuStock and re-bandaged.

We'll see what it looks like tomorrow.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Picked her up and was able to take the kernal out from each bump, leaving a big hole behind. no bleeding. Took her in the house and did the epsom soak, nustock, and then vet wrap.

That's very encouraging to hear it can come without surgery! Hoping for this one!

 

[countrygirl74]

Congratulations! You're going to do just fine!

Well, we did it! I have to admit, my husband did the actual slicing of the jugular but I did hold the neck and was up close and personal. HOWEVER, if anyone is planning to do it by themselves for the very first time, I highly suggest having an experienced person show you how. We watched video after video and thought we had it and we had a very difficult time with the first one. We did not put enough pressure and didn't quite get the jugular on the first one and that was a little tramautic. So, we were working very hard to find the jugular on the other side as fast as we could and get it right on the second cut and that was hard to experience. We felt bad that we cut it and didn't get it right and that it was suffering. Once we got it, he bled out fast and it was better but doing it wrong the first time was difficult. I cried. I had raised this little guy since he was a little yellow chick. The next 4 went smoother as we had someone show us how to do it better and so the last ones went quicker. It was still hard and my husband even had to walk away a couple times before the kill as it was tough on him too. The first slice was the hardest. Once they were done bleeding out and head was cut off, I was fine. I don't mind the plucking, gutting, etc., just the inital kill. At least we know how to do it now if we need to. However, I don't think I could ever do any of my girls. It was hard enough doing the roosters. I think if we want to raise our own meat in the future, I would make a separate pen of all meat birds that had no names. I think I can do it again if needed, but after just finishing right now, I don't feel like doing it anytime soon. Thanks so much for all you that gave me such good advice and encouragement. In spite of how difficult it was, I do feel a sense of accomplishment and I have 5 packages of meat in my fridge. It makes me very thankful for my food, and like many of you said, they lived a very happy, spoiled life instead of in the horrible commercial conditions. I just try to keep thinking of all the positives every time I start to get teary again. I'll try to post a photo later...