The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

Justine, thanks for the pics of your hen's feet. There is a one footed chickadee that has come to the feeders here for a couple of years and seems to do just fine. Hangs from the suet cage with the one good foot, the other foot doesn't seem to have toes and the leg just hangs there. So I'm thinking your hen will do fine!


Today is the big day for kerosene worming. I put a tiny amount on top of the water in the two waterers. Hens would take a sip, and instead of standing there drinking more, they kind of shook their heads and walked away. A bunch of them started eating snow - had a whole line of up them crunching on snow. So they don't like it. I figure if they got any in them, thats good. Will leave the water there for the day, and replace it with regular water at the end of the day.

I thought about locking them in the coop, but the idea of worm laced poops and their own enjoyment of the outdoors made me let them out.

It is muddy here, and the eggs yesterday were muddy too.

My sickly hen is much improved. She came out of the coop on her own, isn't too interested in food but is looking better. I brought her in and put her in a kennel so I could observe what she is doing re: food and poop. She has been eating, and had one good sized poop that was a little loose but the right color. I am going to give her some egg, and bring her back out to be with the others. I'll give them egg too, but she is so docile she probably wouldn't get any - this way I can make sure she gets some.

Will report back on any results from the kerosene.

 

[lalaland]

It is too deep to use the snow blower we have I think. Not sure if it would move it. I got out to the second coop. my back is killing me. Taking a break. I should get out to the third coop. As long as my back holds up. Well I will dig by hand and crawl..I will get to that coop. The mom and chicks are in that coop. It only took me 45 minutes to shovel from the first coop to the second coop so it should be fine. It is heavy..but not slushy. I do have to get rid of it because we are getting more. I will be hauling gallons of water too..just in case.

My back hurts just thinking about you delisha. Keep telling yourself to bend your knees with each shovelful. Are you sure you don't want to try justine's pam trick and give the blower a whirl? I'm grateful the snow missed us this time.

They are 7 weeks old the youngest of them. I wouldn't need any heat at all right? I have had the window open overnight for the past few days and it hovers around 40 downstairs now. Don't want to shock them

Your weather looks just like mine! I'm thinking they would be fine - you'll know if they are too cold. I take it there isn't any electric yet in the new baby barn just in case?

 

[aoxa]

Justine, thanks for the pics of your hen's feet. There is a one footed chickadee that has come to the feeders here for a couple of years and seems to do just fine. Hangs from the suet cage with the one good foot, the other foot doesn't seem to have toes and the leg just hangs there. So I'm thinking your hen will do fine!

Thanks for sharing that! I'm confident she will manage. I don't think she will roost all that well, but time will tell. She can snuggle with the silkies.

My back hurts just thinking about you delisha. Keep telling yourself to bend your knees with each shovelful. Are you sure you don't want to try justine's pam trick and give the blower a whirl? I'm grateful the snow missed us this time.
Your weather looks just like mine! I'm thinking they would be fine - you'll know if they are too cold. I take it there isn't any electric yet in the new baby barn just in case?

No electric. I'm not sure how I would. It would feel unsafe to me.

 

[Sally8]

Aoxa - loved the pic of snow. I haven't seen a snow pile like that since I was a kid. We just don't get it anymore. We've gotten 3 - 4 in of ice and snow = slush. One min it's pouring, the next is snowing so hard. I've never seen so much slush puppy!

delisha - I won't complain again about the snow. I've only ever had to shovel to coop and paths for the chickens twice. Ever. Nothing like what you're saying. We have a neighbor that helps us and we help him. Mostly with 4 wheelers with ploughs. They have to get started before it gets too deep or the 4 wheelers can't do it. Can you post a pic? Love snow pic's.

The tarp over the turkey pen buckled the fence.

OH, NO!! I FOUND LEG MITES ON ONE OF MY OLDER HENS. Does it ever end? I've been battling mites ever since I started with deep litter. I use preventative (wood ash dust bowls and physically dust a few every few days), in the beginning I used DE, Frontline Plus, Sevin. I can't really scrub the coop out until warmer weather but between now and end of week end all the DL is going. Ill try scrubbing the walls, floor, etc with wood ash. The roosts with an oil. I have a broody that has been on her nest for almost 3 weeks. I'm going out to dust her now. Ugh! I'd go back to raising goldfish but my grandson doesn't like the fancy fins and tries to pull them off when I'm not looking. (We're missing a gene in this family!)

Have a great day all! Sue

 

[Leahs Mom]

Justine - it's the "water weight content" of the snow that makes it impossible to blow. Most of the snow we get is the fine, powdery, "dry" kind and a snow blower will work well in that.

But...the heavy, very wet kind of snow ..... well, the snow blowers aren't designed to handle that kind!

 

[Ashdoes]

Aoxa~how do you like using shavings to cover your barn floor? I'm going to be changing over from a coop to just roosts in the barn, and had thought to cover the floor in just shavings. Then, of course, I'm reading and reading and lots of people are using all kinds of different products. I'll have chickens in one stall and ducks in another, and hopefully next year I get my Pygmy goats in the middle stall. So, shavings should do well right? I'm ok with the cost, as long as I only have to put out that money once, and not figure out later that's it's awful and I need to change to something else.
Thanks for any help. I am so excited about the ducks getting here, the two week delay we had to put on them is killing me! I keep reading about people who really dislike the ducks, and it still hasn't dampened my mood on them.

 

[countrygirl74]

I LOVE my ducks!!!! We have 2 pekins and 2 Rouens. The Pekins definitely have the most personality. You will have soo much fun with your ducks. When one of mine was little, I could pat my leg and call her name and she would jump into my lap. So cute! They don't jump into my lap anymore but they hang around and nibble on my clothes. When your ducks are old enough, you can always win their hearts if you have peas in hand!


Bulldogma - I think I have posted different links to the natural keeping blog about 10 times in the last few days to people who have questions about all kinds of things. I love it and am constantly sharing!!

 

[aoxa]

Justine - it's the "water weight content" of the snow that makes it impossible to blow. Most of the snow we get is the fine, powdery, "dry" kind and a snow blower will work well in that.

But...the heavy, very wet kind of snow ..... well, the snow blowers aren't designed to handle that kind!

I know all kinds of snow, and we typically get the wet heavy - break your back kind of snow. That is what the PAM is for. It won't stick to the blades. Without the PAM it is impossible. Grease also works really well. The stuff for bike chains.

But we have a really really high quality snow blower as well.. so yeah...

 

[aoxa]

Aoxa~how do you like using shavings to cover your barn floor? I'm going to be changing over from a coop to just roosts in the barn, and had thought to cover the floor in just shavings. Then, of course, I'm reading and reading and lots of people are using all kinds of different products. I'll have chickens in one stall and ducks in another, and hopefully next year I get my Pygmy goats in the middle stall. So, shavings should do well right? I'm ok with the cost, as long as I only have to put out that money once, and not figure out later that's it's awful and I need to change to something else.
Thanks for any help. I am so excited about the ducks getting here, the two week delay we had to put on them is killing me! I keep reading about people who really dislike the ducks, and it still hasn't dampened my mood on them.

You will have to put more than just one initial cost out. It shrinks really fast. I was going through a lot of shavings. It was pricey but the alternatives I hated.. I did not like straw or hay - both smelled up really quickly. The shavings are my favourite. Other people use leaves - but I forgot to before they were all in the compost pile and soaking wet.

We use Irving Kiln Dried Pine. It costs 5.99 a bale here and we bought it in bulk (10 bales). We went through at least 10 a month. Never ever cleaning any out. It was crazy how much we were spending on pine shavings. If you can find it how Stony does (free from carpenters) - I would go that route.

I am not willing to risk having cedar in there, so I just pay the money. It took 4 bales to even cover the floor an inch per area I used. We had a lot of square footage. We worked it out to be 800 square feet of used space for all of the animals (sheep, turkeys and chickens) not including the breeding pens and brooders. The dirt pen area always shrunk down much faster. Our new barn will be dirt in the chicken and larger livestock area.

Like Mumsy said, sand is really heavy.. I wouldn't use it for a big area. For brooders - I am still thinking on it. Maybe.. maybe not.. But I will stick to shavings because the bales are manageable to move around, and it smells nice.

 

[aoxa]

I LOVE my ducks!!!! We have 2 pekins and 2 Rouens. The Pekins definitely have the most personality. You will have soo much fun with your ducks. When one of mine was little, I could pat my leg and call her name and she would jump into my lap. So cute! They don't jump into my lap anymore but they hang around and nibble on my clothes. When your ducks are old enough, you can always win their hearts if you have peas in hand!


Bulldogma - I think I have posted different links to the natural keeping blog about 10 times in the last few days to people who have questions about all kinds of things. I love it and am constantly sharing!!

Peas were a bigger hit for my chickens than my ducks believe it or not! They ALL loved peas. It was like crack! They liked it even more than corn.

I will have to buy some for the basement babies to celebrate their coop warming party this Friday. I can't wait

LM - How big is your baby barn? How did you section it off? Should I section mine off? I only have 13 birds right now, but the floor plan is 10 x 12. 120 square feet - allowing for 30 birds if following the 4 square feet rule. All of these chicks are bantams or small standard.

Just while I was writing this they called to tell me the baby barn is ready this afternoon!