The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Quote: No..it starts next week..I believe.

 

[delisha]

Quote: I want pictures of your catdance chicks...

Loving that!

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[ChickChickChicky]

I have calf manna..I have added it to the Orpingtons feeds. I used to do it all the time but holly cow that stuff is expensive. It is 55.00 for 50 lbs here. I was told to give them a cup per bird a day. I gave them a cup for all of them per day. It lasted 4 months. I will buy another bag just before the show season starts here and give it to all of my show stock. I was reserving a gallon of it to feed to the catdance chicks..however..I do not have any to feed. (well just one). I will get more eggs and feed it to them when I do.

Wow that is high-priced for the calf manna, I think I paid about $30 for 50 lbs about 6 months ago. I don't know where you got the info to feed a cup per bird per day, that is WAY too much. The label says to feed (per bird) 1 TABLESPOON per day, no more than 5-10% of their total ration. I don't even give mine that much.

 

[Mumsy]

Same here for Fogle eggs next week Can't wait! My 5 Catdance chicks still look great, three weeks old tomorrow and the few days after, feathering in and doing the "if I run fast enough I can fly!" game One thing I really like about them is when I'm checking on them they look right back at me with simple curiosity, rather than the "OMG OMG OMG there's a giant up there!" that some of my LF pullets do. Breeding for temperament is so important!

I'm thrilled over the moon to get the opportunity to raise Ron Fogle's line and Catdance too in the same month. I'm trying to start these flocks on my own property so I don't have to out cross with any other line for many many years to come. In other words...The rest of my life.

The three Catdance birds I brought home last weekend are the sweetest, gentlest birds in my barn. They come to the front of the pen and don't budge when I pet them. Curious and interested in attention. Usually I need to gently push them out of the way to fill the feed dish or waterer. The other silkies I hatched are like little wild things from the day they hatched. Even though I handle them all the time. Running away from me and hiding in the corners. I will not be breeding them into my Catdance birds. I probably won't breed them at all.

I can hardly wait for my eggs to hatch and watch all of these excellent bloodlines develop.

@ del: Oooops...I got that date wrong. If my eggs arrive in the post at the right time, I'll see about joining the hatch along.

All the pictures posted of babies today was the best! Beautiful! Truly.

 

[countrygirl74]

Busy day today! Just caught up with all the cute pics!

Went to Olsen's today and got 4 chicks - had planned on only getting 3 from today's breeds offered but chicken math hit, though not as bad as it could be right??

Got 1 Buff O, 1 RIR (or production red), 1 SL Wyandotte (my daughter's chick), and couldn't pass up a Blue Cochin. I plan on getting some pics tomorrow! Had to work out of town today so no time with the chicks...

Next week I have the dates set for several other new ones I will be picking up. Can't wait!!

 

[aaggjg]

Okay so after weeks of trying to catchup and failing miserably, I accidentally clicked the last post a few days ago while reading on my phone .... Well it happened to be right on mumsy's return from catdance's farm!! I have 4 pullets I hatched from her last spring. So As I am not hatching this year I thought I'd post a few chick pixs from last April and pretend I also wanted to show off my hen Spook. She is the youngest and was hatched by my neurotic broody popcorn. During the hatch popcorn accidentally switched nests after not budging for 13 days... Well I of course put my 1 lavender egg under her.... I figured it was a lost caused as it had been old a good 16 hours & let her sit on it. I was going to put incubator hatched chicks under her. When I did I saw that egg just off to her side.. She wasn't even sitting on it. I picked up and thought oh well time to trash this.... Well popcorn cocked her head at me with a curious look. I know she was saying what the F are you doing? So I put the egg down and she immediately nuzzled it under her.... A few how's later I came to check on the placed chicks and saw 1/2 a shell in the coop.... I couldn't believe my eyes so I pushed popcorn over to reveal newly hatched Spook ! Spook is always standing fluffed and posing.... She is a stunning bird and I can not believe she turned out to be a she!! I think she might have laid her 1st egg yesterday but she's I with 2 bantam Cochins.... One just resumed laying today.... And the other one has been laying... Until I see it I won't believe it so here we go!! Chick cuteness pictures Baby Spook: Spook all grown up! Ok you get the point she's my miracle chicken!! And here is a shot of my black, Ninja, & splash, Pia.... Ok I'll stop filling up your timeline with my silkie girls now... I promise.....

 

[chickiemomy]

Quote:
I understand - completely - 'nuf said. Did tax prep in a new-to-me location last year - drove me bonkers. sone folks are unbelievable. Did payroll decades ago - that was the worst by far. I used to disappear into the stacks of a used book store at lunch on paydays for a break. No one ever comes in to say - 'thanks you got my check right this payday" My heart was in gardening & plants, but my father trained me to bookkeeping as a kid - which led me to accounting & finance- not my choice, really. But I made money - enough to support my hobbies, so it's worked out okay I guess. I'm also not inclined to people skills - have to reread my posts to make sure I'm not being too curt.

I very much enjoy your posts & your pics. I have cried with your loss and happy to see you moving ahead. You have a good spirit and a kind heart. You will do fine - your heart is just especially at home right now - not at work. Take care.

 

[chickiemomy]

CM..... I think the floor paint would work well as long as it's cured well before they go back on it. Have you put that down yet?

o yes - did that when building the coop last spring - am very happy with the thick paint. I just globbed it on thick - 3 coats so nothing could get in the edges between the floor & walls, or other seams - just kind of plugged everything up with that thick gloppy mess. Should be good & waterproof to hose out occasionally. I did have to let it cure for EVER - but the chicks were in the house - didn't move them out until it was all cured. so far so good. The other thing that we liked about it was that I could paint up the walls a foot or so it's extended up the side I also painted the entire back wall, behind the roost with the oil-based polyurethane. - used up a whole gallon just on the floor & one wall, o & the lower 'poop shoot' is also covered in the floor paint - it's roughly a 40-ish sq foot coop. The rest of the walls & the inside of the door also were painted - but with high gloss enamel - not the floor paint. Some day I'll figure out how to post pics... my pics are on my other notebook that I don't use for internet generally - need to take some time to organize my computers. another day.

was thinking tho if Justine was to paint floors in the new chicky barn/shed/coop -- that it wouldn't cure during the winter. But if they wanted to - after getting the big barn up & running, it might be an easy, fairly cheap way to seal the floors to mimimize rot possibility.. Just thinking... We worry a lot about wood rot here in the lovely Pacific NW! You all have other things to worry about - we have gray & wet - from the day before labor day to the day after independence day (that would be from sept first-ish to July fifth for the international crowd LOL) - July & August are usually sunny & dry -& in the 80's - not much heat to ripen tomatoes. Mumsy's about an hour & a half west - over on Whidbey which is warmer & a little less total precip than the foothills where we are - but she's more marine - grayer & mistier. Jenndod is similar - likely something between Mumsy & I weatherwise - shes a few hours north of us.

oops - back to coops -

I'd read that the sticky floor tiles start pulling up at the seams, not necessarily at just the wall seam. I can see that if there was a tiny gap between tiles (you never get them all exactly perfect - or at least I don't LOL), there could be stuff that worked its way in -- & if you caught an edge with a scoop, or shovel when cleaning out you could help it along. Reading thru the coop plans, I read someone's comment about their experience. Try to learn from others, you know. I spent hours going over plans, looking up space requirements for everything - drafting & re-drafting. Pretty happy with how it turned out overall - chicken math not withstanding - they could ALWAYS be bigger, right!

o & for now the bottom is screened off - it is tall enough we could let them under - but I'm using the area to stash a few tools close by, & out of the rain. and they have enough room in their converted doggy run.

 

[chickiemomy]

Quote: My Orpingtons are huge, not an average chicken. The weighed over 10lbs at 7 months old. I have no idea what they weigh now. The male is still growing and has not filled out yet. He makes my huge chickens look positively tiny. I sold Black Foot and have the Blue Orpingtons in the regular coop. I still have mom with her chicks in the Orp pen and will be moving her next week into the general population. I will need the Orps pen for silkie pens. I have not decided exactly how i am making the silkie pens. I ordered 50 BLRW and SLW chicks. They should give me some really nice choices for show. Several girls from WI also want some. I figure I will have a good 20 Wyandotties to choose from and sell the rest later this summer.
wow - I think I need to weigh my birds to get a perspective - what do you all use to weigh them??? I have a scale I used to weigh fertilizer - but the top is flat metal - will they stand on it long enough to get a weight???

 

[chickiemomy]

(Annoying like that stupid smiley hand thing....)

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