The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

You did a lot of work in there! They are delivering the baby barn tomorrow at 9am, and I am thrilled. I really do need a bit of an area for people stuff. But I lost ALL of the tools in the fire. I'll have to borrow some.. Maybe my dad will help. Yes.. He should help.

I'm thinking yes...your dad should help!

And you don't have to get all that fancy-pants...you have a big barn coming! But the people area is a nice thing and it's nice to be able to open those doors for light and air.

Can you post a photo of your baby barn...maybe you already did!

 

[aoxa]

I'm thinking yes...your dad should help!

And you don't have to get all that fancy-pants...you have a big barn coming! But the people are is a nice thing and it's nice to be able to open those doors for light and air.

Can you post a photo of your baby barn...maybe you already did!

I don't have it yet, but will be posting a photo tomorrow for sure

I need to get shavings.. and make roosts.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I was just wanting to see where your door was. Brad (with the home made eco glow) did an interior wall on his that has a door on the end. You can see his photo here.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/730582/indiana-bycers-here/620#post_10305359

Same idea, just a different layout on the shed. BUT...

-I wouldn't use chicken wire. I'd use hardware cloth or something more sturdy against predators so the door could stay open.

-I wouldn't leave such large expanses covered with wire - I'd build in cross-bars on those frames about every 18" all down those panels and staple the wire to each one for reinforcement. The smaller the expanse the stronger against predators.

 

[delisha]

I have never used pellets..however I love to give my ducks and chickens straw and hay. They love to play in it. I do not like it for clean up. It takes a long time to break down. Next year if i decide to do deep littler I am going to start with chips and layer with stray and hay in between. I think that will work better. I can tell that deep litter made the barn wet. I have some frost bite and I have never had it before an this is a mild winter.


little cockerel attitude.

Aoxa gave you great suggestions you can also add....pull a feather when he bites. If he still bites, pull another. They don't like feathers pulled. It will stop. He is at a testing age. That other little cockerel who is doing the wing dance..you need to stop that too. That is aggression/alpha attitude and can turn into something not nice.You are alpha, and other little cockerels do not do it to an alpha or they get hurt. You can prevent injury in your flock by showing them they are making a mistake.



Mites..don't they suck? I hate mites and they are a bugger to get rid of. You have to get the baby's or you keep doing it. You are not going to get rid of them if you don't get rid of the nests and breeding ground they have created too. Put out the ash for them and neem oil roosts, and nu stock legs. The rest will have to wait till spring. You might have to white wash the coop. You will have to keep nu stock on legs..probably do it 2x a week. Get some flea bane plants..and toss all of your citrus peels in nests. A pain for sure. I had to do all the birds 10 times before I got rid of them. Then..I bought straw that had them in and had to start all over...

Ivomec..or all off its other names..do not use it..please..if you absolutely have to use something use permethrin.
Ivomec, ivomectricin and all of the others is not worth it. There is way to much bad for the risk and it does not work most of the time.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Del - when I was reading about bumblefoot, one of the articles showed how a piece of regular straw pierced into one of the chicken's feet. I also read about owners who had straw pierce their hands/arms when working with it - sort of like a sliver.

After I read and saw photos of that, I decided to keep straw away from the chicken area. I don't like using it in general, but that kind-of just added to the opinion I already had. I saw photos of kids playing around straw with bare feet where it pierced into the foot like a long sliver of wood and went pretty deep.

Just putting that out for consideration. I don't know how often that happens, but it does happen sometimes.

 

[delisha]

It does happen..I have pull all kinds of odd thing from my birds feet. Even egg shells.

 

[Sally8]

Mites..don't they suck? I hate mites and they are a bugger to get rid of. You have to get the baby's or you keep doing it. You are not going to get rid of them if you don't get rid of the nests and breeding ground they have created too. Put out the ash for them and neem oil roosts, and nu stock legs. The rest will have to wait till spring. You might have to white wash the coop. You will have to keep nu stock on legs..probably do it 2x a week. Get some flea bane plants..and toss all of your citrus peels in nests. A pain for sure. I had to do all the birds 10 times before I got rid of them. Then..I bought straw that had them in and had to start all over...

Ivomec..or all off its other names..do not use it..please..if you absolutely have to use something use permethrin.
Ivomec, ivomectricin and all of the others is not worth it. There is way to much bad for the risk and it does not work most of the time.

Even though I like to follow through a natural means of caring for my animals, I feel that at times something more is necessary. I read up on the Ivomec and it would kill my Aussie. So I stayed away. How can it kill one particular breed and not hurt another? That being said, I was truly ready to burn my coop down. Right after joining BYC I asked about white washing and got no response. That is in my plans as soon as it gets warm. I'll continue dusting, maybe add a little Sevin. My DL is at least 6-8 inches deep. Other than dumping a lot of wood ash/Sevin and stirring it up, I think it has to go. I don't have Neem Oil. Yesterday I greased the roosts with the left over NuStock I had with me out when treating her. I buy my straw/hay at a Agway type store and it is all stored in a pole barn. Lots of birds. Then I brought it home and stored it under the lean to next to the garage. Bird nests over head. It's so much work! I'm not a lazy person but good grief!!! OK enough. Heading back out. Finally has quit snowing and raining. Wondering if we are going to get the weather you are having right now in a day or 2.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Leahs Mom Your hen house is lovely! I like the neatness of it.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Ducks can be housed with chickens (try to avoid drakes - male ducks around your chickens). They do not need to swim, but it sure makes them happy. Kiddie pools are what the majority of duck owners use. They cost $10 at Wal-Mart.

You have to have at least 2 ducks I think, or you will have one with an identity crisis.

I have a kiddie pool currently only for indoor uses. The winds around here like to destroy kiddie pools that we put outside. The winds already got 3 kiddie pools in the last 3 summers. They were all full at the time too, we just get strong winds.
I have a feeling I will be getting a pair of ducks in the coming years but not this spring. This spring we are raising roosters for meat as our adventure.

Any one have any suggestions about giving the chickens brewers yeast? Is it just for FF or can I use it in wet feed?

 

[aoxa]

I have never used pellets..however I love to give my ducks and chickens straw and hay. They love to play in it. I do not like it for clean up. It takes a long time to break down. Next year if i decide to do deep littler I am going to start with chips and layer with stray and hay in between. I think that will work better. I can tell that deep litter made the barn wet. I have some frost bite and I have never had it before an this is a mild winter.


little cockerel attitude.

Aoxa gave you great suggestions you can also add....pull a feather when he bites. If he still bites, pull another. They don't like feathers pulled. It will stop. He is at a testing age. That other little cockerel who is doing the wing dance..you need to stop that too. That is aggression/alpha attitude and can turn into something not nice.You are alpha, and other little cockerels do not do it to an alpha or they get hurt. You can prevent injury in your flock by showing them they are making a mistake.



Mites..don't they suck? I hate mites and they are a bugger to get rid of. You have to get the baby's or you keep doing it. You are not going to get rid of them if you don't get rid of the nests and breeding ground they have created too. Put out the ash for them and neem oil roosts, and nu stock legs. The rest will have to wait till spring. You might have to white wash the coop. You will have to keep nu stock on legs..probably do it 2x a week. Get some flea bane plants..and toss all of your citrus peels in nests. A pain for sure. I had to do all the birds 10 times before I got rid of them. Then..I bought straw that had them in and had to start all over...

Ivomec..or all off its other names..do not use it..please..if you absolutely have to use something use permethrin.
Ivomec, ivomectricin and all of the others is not worth it. There is way to much bad for the risk and it does not work most of the time.

The mites are much harder to get rid of than lice.. and the lice don't make nearly as much of a mess of the bird.. Mites are fast and seem to be way more on them than lice. I just checked Margaret again and no lice! This is the third day.

Ooo pull a feather.. Good idea! Especially if you're holding him.

I had a cat that was a biter. No matter what I did she would not be trained. Ping her in the nose when she bit? Uh nope.. She went CRAZY! Like full on attack mode. lol

Del - when I was reading about bumblefoot, one of the articles showed how a piece of regular straw pierced into one of the chicken's feet. I also read about owners who had straw pierce their hands/arms when working with it - sort of like a sliver.

After I read and saw photos of that, I decided to keep straw away from the chicken area. I don't like using it in general, but that kind-of just added to the opinion I already had. I saw photos of kids playing around straw with bare feet where it pierced into the foot like a long sliver of wood and went pretty deep.

Just putting that out for consideration. I don't know how often that happens, but it does happen sometimes.

Wow! Well I just hated straw for the difficulty cleaning it up. I used it all last winter and it drove me crazy. I had hay mixed in with shavings this year. I didn't mind that at all. It was organic Timothy hay. I had it hanging up for them to eat/spread around. they did.