The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[off-grid hen]

I have a red sex link that had been laying well all winter, but recently she has been laying thin shelled eggs. Sometimes they get broken in the nest boxes and are eaten.

I know when a hen starts laying after a break the shells can have a few issues Until the plumbing is working well again, but this hen has laid an egg every day since 2 weeks after she came into lay. When she first started laying she also had thin shells for a while. Is it common to have some shell issues? It seems to be more frequent with her than any another hen in my flock.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I have been pondering something for some time now. I live in a small neighborhood, on a small lot, in cold, snowy southern Maine. I will not have a rooster and will not breed, so would it be a bad thing for me to want to buy heritage birds from a breeder, rather than just feed store birds? I'd really rather have a real NH, Barred Rock, BCM, Cream Legbarr (or one of each) but since they are rare, should I not get Heritage birds and let the people able to breed them have them? I would be delighted with NON show quality...as long as they are healthy (no wry tails

) Thoughts/advice?

You can always ask the breeder for HEALTHY, non-SOP culls.

Just marking this thread for further reading. Have a few pages to go through.

A few pages

This is an image taken from the https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/407294/the-heritage-rhode-island-red-site/2890





I've been on a waiting list for a few months for a shot at hatching and raising them. Ever since I started researching Heritage RIR I kept coming back to this line. Next month, chicks and eggs will be on a jet airplane in route to my eager hands. This prospect makes me quite nervous!

I'm kinda at the end of the road as far as distance for shipping. It's a real gamble.

Between hatching those tricks-y Catdance eggs and getting chicks and eggs from Arkansas, I'll be a nervous wreck.

There are no Heritage RIR within 100 miles of where I live. Even if I don't breed them to sell, there will be plenty of folk that will see them for the first time if all goes well for my efforts, time, and $. *Gah!* March can't come fast enough!

Your gonna do great Mumsy, can't wait for the pics to start flowing

 

[armorfirelady]

I was going to mention the baby proof covers for outlets as well. I was just out closing up the coop and checking my plugs when I saw I had used them on the extension cord. I didn't even think to mention them even tho I use me all the time. I use them at Christmas as well for outside lights to prevents water and ice from getting in the outlets I am not using.
I was also thinking that this spring I may run my heavy duty extension cord out to the new coop (about 30-40 ft) in a PVC pip underground so that its not exposed to the elements, animals, etc. Can anyone think of any problems with this idea? I figure run the PVC pipe right up side of coop and into the outlet box cover. I shouldn't get any water in it this way. Similar to how they ran power to my garage. Thoughts? Suggestions?
I can't run a dedicated line to the coop except an extension cord. It would be plugged into a gfi outlet in the garage. And would be for new electric fence & heated dog dishes during the winter.

 

[lalaland]

Update on featherpicking: Adding more floor space to the coop, and a flock block, and meat to their diet, and spritzing the feather picked areas with a vinegar/water solution seems to have done the trick. I don't think I am seeing any more feather eating off the back.

Question about garlic, garlic powder, and worms: that one poop with worms surprised me. I'm adding garlic to the water, and this weekend will do a 3 day push of a grated carrot, garlic, and buttermilk mixture. I grow my own garlic, but don't have enough as I've read I need one clove per hen 3 days running. I can go buy garlic, although it goes against the grain, or garlic powder. Conventional wisdom says the powder works too, but.. my instinct is that it would lack the vitality of fresh garlic. Does anyone have experience using garlic for working? As I've said, I've never had a worming problem before.

Also, I still don't know whether one poop with worms means I have an overload of worms?

sorry, I know this isn't nearly as exciting as new chicks!

and BDM, what about pics of your trailer coop in progress?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

If you're serious, I would keep one for you. Yes, we can get rid of puppies. Carla would have a rescue if I'd let her.... but.... we have 8 dogs.... that's enough.... I don't even know how many cats, just that we go through 36lbs of cat food every 2 weeks.... but.... the chickens like cat food too, as do the dogs.....

I would love a puppy, let me look into the details of how to get it from you to me. I'm a whole state west of you. I love cats but DH does not want any for a while we had some issues with the last pair we owned.

 

[Sally8]

Nasturtium


I just love that eatible flower. It is so beautiful and the chickens used to love it when we had it growing in our last home.

These are so beautiful! I can't wait for summer.

 

[Bulldogma]

and BDM, what about pics of your trailer coop in progress?

LOL - some things look worse before they can look better... my trailer being one of those things! I've spent the last few non-raining days crawling all over the thing, grinding down the rust-through holes, sanding the surface rust, caulking all the leaking seams, sanding down all the past paint jobs that were bubbled up, putting rustoleum primer on all the bare metal and ground-down areas and removing old roof vents that were rusted through.

And I present to you...

The project that looks even worse now than when I brought it home:

Before:


Current:


Before:


Current:

 

[loanwizard]

I would love a puppy, let me look into the details of how to get it from you to me. I'm a whole state west of you. I love cats but DH does not want any for a while we had some issues with the last pair we owned.

Depending upon when, I usually travel to a SeaArk Catfish tournament in the summer in St. Louis going right through Indy. Are you anywhere near I 70?

 

[loanwizard]

LOL - some things look worse before they can look better... my trailer being one of those things! I've spent the last few non-raining days crawling all over the thing, grinding down the rust-through holes, sanding the surface rust, caulking all the leaking seams, sanding down all the past paint jobs that were bubbled up, putting rustoleum primer on all the bare metal and ground-down areas and removing old roof vents that were rusted through.

And I present to you...

The project that looks even worse now than when I brought it home:

Before:


Current:


Before:


Current:

I think it's purty! It looks like a paint pony, or even some of my hybrid birds....

 

[lalaland]

well, ok, it isn't the prettiest thing, but you are making progress! It will be fun to see what you decide to do with all the compartments