The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

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.

Depends on her age If she is a normal egg layer in all other aspects and a healthy keeper and all she does is starts and ends her year with soft shells..give her added calcium at those times. Not really a big concern.

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?

Stop worring about worms in one poop. Yes..you see them. But they all have worms. Perhaps what you have been doing is killing them and making them leave..have you thought of that? Good job on adding space for your birds..

Quote: I agree 100% ...shipped eggs are nerve wracking..you will do great!!

Ok kids, I have a 10 week old LF cockerel that is walking with a curled foot. He is in no pain. I squeezed and poked and pulled and twisted his toes and foot. It is not a slipped tendon nor bumblefoot. I have read it may be a vitamin B12 deficiency. I will be getting some liquid B vitamin tomorrow. Is there anything else you all think it could be and/or treat?

It could be anything Trav..Is he eating ok? drinking ok? showing any other signs? anyone else sick? what do you feed? what is the protein level? Do they have access to sun?

Quote: I do not know if Sunny's eggs will get bigger or not. Is she Heritage? I tell everyone not to worry about a pullets laying.Give them till they are a year.

I had a pleasant surprise when I got home last night. I have an incubator with a doz or so eggs that I took from abandoned nests from irresponsible broody hens. I was talking to DH and rolling eggs and the very last egg had pipped. By bed time, nothing new and the egg seemed silent. At 3:20am I have a new chick. I rarely name them unless the grand kids do but this little one will be Valentino or Valentina. Hopefully the later. I don't like eating friends. (No pic's. On vacation this summer, a restaurant had nailed a board over a hole on their boardwalk and clutsy me, tripped over the board and fell, smashing my 1 month old camera on the ground. Embarrassingly enough, people came running from everywhere and all I could say was "Is my camera ok? repeatedly. DH was trying to clean the blood off my knees and I was so mad because no one was checking my camera. Priorities, you know. The restaurant offered to pay for my camera but it appeared to work. UNTIL 3 WEEKS AGO! It's a nice camera so It should be repaired by next week. And back to chicken pictures. Most grandmas carry around photo's of their grandchildren and I always apologize but ask I do have chicken pic's. lol

lol...funny and cute post!! Glad you are OK

Hi,

I've just started hatching my first lot of chicks naturally, and have no idea what/how/if I need to intervene. Could some more knowledgable peeps look at my thread please?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...tched-eggs-newbie-needs-help-natural-hatching

I will scoot over and take a peek

Quote: I do it right over the top of paint.

I have a NN pullet that recently started to lay, first no shell for two days, followed by a very large egg. For the last two weeks she has laid a giant double Yorker every other day.......I'm thinking this is all her system getting going and more regular. This shouldn't be a problem, I think. Anyone get regular double yokes?

Never worry about a pullet..they are just getting going and some take longer than others. If she hits onne year old and she has problems..she is chicken fricasee

Aoxa - love the look of the barn and plans. Looks like you can do so much with it.

I candled some eggs tonight trying to figure out a detached air sac. I found this egg with the dime size cells(s). They look like a cluster of tadpole eggs. Is this normal? The dark spot was just dirt. These are the same egg.
How long have these eggs been incubating?



Is a detached air sac easy to see?

You can see this detached one pretty easy. Not all of them are easy to see.




Checking out lunch.

Cute!!

Pigeonguy or others that have used white wash;
Have you added a pigment to it? If so what have you used for pigment, I've read brick dust for red, I was hoping for a grey green color.
How often do you repaint? Is it really every year?
I'm in the process of collecting pallets to build a new (bigger!) coop and planned on white washing it.

Hello..nice to see a new face posting! My grandma white washed her coop e o y. I have not white washed mine in 5 years. I am doing it this spring.

 

[delisha]

Hey so I am looking barn plans over with Susan, and we both fell in love with this one.

http://www.backroadhome.net/djb-411s-maple-barn-plans.html

It's a good size. I really like it. Ideas? Of course more windows would be needed.

I like that sight too..That barn is large enough for everything..I love the left side..I think that would work great for breeding runs and chick runs.


check this one out for added ideas too..I love the double decker side. It is huge. way to big for my needs, but, it has so many nice features. (free down load)

http://www.homegardendesignplan.com/2012/11/cs100-chicken-coop-plans-garden-shed.html

 

[NickyPick]

I found this link. I glanced through it, but it might be a mated pair looking for food. I am assuming the young are born earlier then here in MD. It said to look for a den, that they return to it year after year. When I mentioned to my dh that they were seen during the day he was surprised, but the Internet says that they do venture out during the day. It is assumed, here, that foxes out during the day are rabid. Learn something new everyday.

Ugh. If they do return to a previously used nest, they're definitely coming back. We had a pair raise a group of 4 kits under my barn last spring. Once the kits got mobile, our lab/shepherd mix got one of them before they all left the area. One of the young ones came back in August and got two of my pullets. That's when I got my trap. I've caught several raccoons and the dreaded Scottie-coon multiple times, but I haven't even seen the foxes on the game cam. Now, suddenly, they're back.

 

[NickyPick]

You need a couple of containers of tennis balls and a qt of ammonia. soak the tennis balls in the ammonia for 24 hours and place them around your property. You will need to gather the tennis balls once a week and re soak them. I keep a container always in ammonia for replacements.

I've never heard of this. Might definitely be a good idea to drop some in the hole where the den was located. Worth a shot, anyway. Thanks.

 

[delisha]

Quote: It has been used for a very long time to deter fox, skunk, raccoons, and other varmints. Many natural trappers use it to get them out of attics and barns once they nest there. Some of those guys really put up a stink if you trap them, so it works best to make them leave. They hate the smell.

 

[pigeonguy]

Pigeonguy or others that have used white wash;
Have you added a pigment to it? If so what have you used for pigment, I've read brick dust for red, I was hoping for a grey green color.
How often do you repaint? Is it really every year?
I'm in the process of collecting pallets to build a new (bigger!) coop and planned on white washing it.

I have not used any pigment. You do not have to do it every year unless it looks bad I guess. We do it every year as a prevenitive for mites and lice easier not to get them than get rid of them. My white wash will not last outside it is an indoor recipe. There are outdoor recipes but I don't have one.

Hello..nice to see a new face posting! My grandma white washed her coop e o y. I have not white washed mine in 5 years. I am doing it this spring.

What is your white wash recipe.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote: Yes he is eating and drinking fine, walks ok but the toes/foot (right only) curls under. He is having a hard time making it extend out. Everything I have read it is a B12 deficiency. He is on FF with Flock Raiser as the base with wild bird mix in it as well. I would say 20-22% protein. He is in with the Silkies, but the deaths in there were one caused by me and one today from organ failure. Gonna give him som time on the Vit B treatment before deciding his fate. The do get sun everyday. I lift the side tarps on the tractor every morning then drop them for the night to keep breezes out.

Quote: I think the original post was on the Silkie thread. The one last week was my fault, but today's was fine yesterday in the morning. In afternoon, I noticed her just standing still, then last night she was laying face down in the tractor. I brought her inside and she passed this morning. I did a necropsy on her to see what was the cause. Best I can see is organ failure. With another on the Silkie thread having the same issues with these breeder's birds, I am thinking she has some issues with her light colored line. Buffs, whites and paints seem to have a 30% mortality rate. I did not clue into this at the time, but playing back the conversation I had with her when I got my replacement for one that died after a few days, she said in the brooder with about 30 chicks, she would loose 9 or more to death. So I think she is aware of something. I did email her my findings. Hope this helps

 

[Sally8]

The pic of the candled egg was just laid 2 days ago. I was trying to see the difference between a normal air sac and a detached one. I must be missing something because I can't see either. I bought blue eggs to hatch and they were mailed to me. I ALWAYS pick them up at the PO but yesterday they brought them the whole route. They were early. The candled egg in the photo is one of mine for comparison. I've been researching detached air sac's but am a little confused.

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

PigeonGuy - Thanks for the info! I think I remember reading about using part skim milk in the recipe for outdoor use. But it left a yellow tint as well.

Delisha - 5 Years is pretty good! At this point thats better than the expensive outdoor paint I used on my current coop. I'm usually a creeper on threads, lol.

 

[lalaland]

"Stop worring about worms in one poop. Yes..you see them. But they all have worms. Perhaps what you have been doing is killing them and making them leave..have you thought of that? Good job on adding space for your birds.."



Thanks Delishsa, thats what I was wondering - sin.ce I haven't ever seen worms, whether seeeing one set in poop meant I had an overload. Sounds like you are saying no. I've been really tempted to try the one tsp of kerosene in the water too! but will just leave it with the carrots and garlic. It has been a while since I routinely fed them garlic, so I will start that up again, maybe weekly.