The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[countrygirl74]

Okay, so looked back through my 1st batch of baby pics and definitely can't tell from the stances... take a look at these. I posted what (and where) they are now right under each photo.


Pullet


Cockerel


Pullet - just laid 1st egg


Ornery little cockerel!


Cockerels - now in the freezer

Both are Pullets


Cockerel - in the freezer

Brown colored one in back is pullet, white one in front is our main sweet roo now


Cockerel - eating for dinner tonight

 

[delisha]

Quote: I have porcelain, blue, white, 2 splash, paint, and buff. Nothing else going on in there. I think the other two are goners.I am happy with my 7. I had 9 good fertile eggs and hatched 7. So i am happy with this new incubator. I will wait` till tomorrow to check.

Re: Deep Litter in the winter. I've been adding leaves once a month to the deep litter in my coop and stirring it up, and there was no ammonia smell, but today it got up to 50 degrees so I decided to do a little clean out. Definitely smelled ammonia. I have an enclosed covered run that is also filled with leaves. I moved some of the deep litter from the coop into the run, added peat moss and gave it a good stir, put fresh shavings in the coop and all seems to be well. I thought about the poop boards when I was building my coop but just can't beat DL for convenience.

The snow has finally melted enough to expose some bare ground in the woods around the house. The chickens have been out there all day digging around for goodies. Goodness knows what they find but they are searching energetically.

Y'all are killing me with these baby pictures. Today I found a breeder of Icelandic Chickens who lives about 45 minutes away. I asked to get on her waiting list. Now sketching out pans to expand the coop and contemplating ways that I could use my woodshed as a temporary holding area.

I am melting here too, however i have a river in my yard. i need to work on making some drainage ways tomorrow or my double decker coop is going to be flooded.

It's funny how I'm obsessing about everything. It's like I'm a firs time parent again, I guess in a way, I am. I'm just wanting to do the very best for the babies, but trying to remember they are also chickens. I don't want to do any harm.

Chickens can become an obsession. Wanting to do the very best for your animals is the first step in good animal husbandry practice.

Quote: I like the pine shavings too..i tried the sand..they ate too much and made me nervous.

Busy day today here!!

Welcome to all the newcomers!! I love this thread and think you will too!

Thanks to all who shared their wonderful photos... love seeing pics!

Congrats on your first egg!!! How exciting!! I got my first Blue English Orpington egg today too. It went into the bator.

Wow! I am so glad you started this thread. I want to do chickens. I am also all for doing things as naturally as possible. I will not use chemicals as I have many health problems caused/agitated by them. I am so excited to see this thread to read through and pull what I think will work in my situation.

So grabbing another coffee and off to read the rest (much as I can sit for)!

Welcome to the group..we are so glad you decided to join!

Quote: Fermented Feed=FF
ACV=Apple Cider Vinegar we also prefer it with the mother. It is all natural and has not been cooked or pasturized.

Welcome to all the newbies. Delisha congrats & hoping to see cute chic pics soon

country girl congrats on your 1st egg.
Aoxa beautiful pics as always

I Was gone all weekend and when we got home today spent the rest of the day outside working on taking the old garden fences down so the veggie garden will be triple the size this spring. Hens loved me pulling the fence out as they thought the good stuff was there. I moved the pallet the pumpkins were on all winter and found out a fat mouse was living under it. My mom started laughing and I tried to draw the girls attention to it (they were enjoying Johnny cakes) and finally one saw the mouse and started chasing it. Talk about comedy relief.....that mouse turned around quick and the hen jumped 3 ft in the air. But then she started chasing it again but the mouse buried itself under the dirt in the garden so she lost interest in it

I also repurposed the old weathered wooden fencing to make hawk huts (areas hens can run to when hawk out). While they won't survive if the girls roost on them or with heavy snow on them I couldn't beat the cost FREE



The skeleton of the hut using old fence post and extra wood post


Hut covered in some camo duck blind material I bought last fall on sale. I thought it would work to deter Bear my dog from staring at the chickens all day but it didn't so it was repurposed. But the material survived the snow so maybe I can use other stuff around perimeter of the hoop coop for shade that will let air circulate.

Great idea!!
I will post pictures tomorrow..all the silkies have vaulted skulls..They sure look beautiful. My DH thinks they are the cutest baby's ever. He watched them hatch.

 

[countrygirl74]

I will post pictures tomorrow..all the silkies have vaulted skulls..They sure look beautiful. My DH thinks they are the cutest baby's ever. He watched them hatch.

Yay! Can't wait to see!!

 

[Pozees]

I have porcelain, blue, white, 2 splash, paint, and buff. Nothing else going on in there. I think the other two are goners.I am happy with my 7. I had 9 good fertile eggs and hatched 7. So i am happy with this new incubator. I will wait` till tomorrow to check.

Congratulations!!! What kind of incubator is your new one? I'm sure you said but I missed it somehow.

 

[aoxa]

Welcome everyone new to us! We love having you.

aoxa Every time I see the pic of Susan and the little goat it brings tears and goose bumps. She looks so very happy!

Your pic's are beautiful as usual and I love everyone else's too. I don't mean to exclude anyone. Thanks for sharing.

I just came home to a huge surprise. A baby turkey! When Rosie's pile got what I thought was too large 15+ I would take the unmarked ones and put them in the incubator not really knowing how far along they might be. It's quite light in color but they change. As soon as I can I'll post a pic.

We need to continue to see pic's of all the new babies!

Thank you, and yes that little goat makes us smile just thinking about her

Congratulations!!! What kind of incubator is your new one? I'm sure you said but I missed it somehow.

She has a Genesis 1588

 

[jlynnet]

I'm going down the crazy chicken lady path!! and my DH is leading the way! He wants to hatch in an incubator, so we bought one and now we wait a week until we pick up our eggs. I'm nervous and hope I get a few that survive! I can't believe we are doing this. Guess we'll be putting an addition on to our coop. We are driving an hour from our house for BCM and Birchen Marans. My DH likes the SFH too. I think we're nuts but it makes life exciting.

 

[Pozees]

Thank you, and yes that little goat makes us smile just thinking about her

She has a Genesis 1588

Oh cool! I got that to use as a hatcher, and just bought the turner for it because some eggs I've been waiting for became available right after I set my Fogle eggs, they will go in tomorrow. Any oponion on whether to use the #1 trough for water during incubation? I've seen varying advice, have been test-running it with the turner inside and it seems to hold around 43% with that trough filled as long as I leave the plug in, evaporates pretty quickly if I take it out. It is very dry here - not at all uncommon to have ambient humidity in the teens and low twenties.

 

[Bulldogma]

Welcome to all our newcomers!

Hooray for first eggs, baby turkeys (poults), and hatching Silkies!

Beautiful pictures as always, Aoxa!

Just got caught up but I'll be away all day tomorrow so goodness knows I'll be super-behind once again - LOL!
(And for anyone interested in the Swedish Flower Hens, I do have a dozen eggs with nobody's name on them right now. PM if interested.)

And here I thought things would settle down once I finished my big coop project... and yet I'm still running about like my hair is on fire. (I so need a day off - LOL!)

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Well it is 10:30. I only got to page 24 reading everything. Lots of information, thanks. Can hardly wait now to get house repairs done so I can begin working on chicken preparedness activities. I have always wanted chickens. Now I have a rural setting where it is feasible if I can afford to do this and find a way to deter predators. Trying to research it all so I can do it right to start. I have a shed but nothing for coop so far.... might build on side of shed and do a fenced capped area for when I am not at home during the day.

Will resume reading later........

 

[delisha]

Quote: Geneses..with a turner

I'm going down the crazy chicken lady path!! and my DH is leading the way! He wants to hatch in an incubator, so we bought one and now we wait a week until we pick up our eggs. I'm nervous and hope I get a few that survive! I can't believe we are doing this. Guess we'll be putting an addition on to our coop. We are driving an hour from our house for BCM and Birchen Marans. My DH likes the SFH too. I think we're nuts but it makes life exciting.

What type of incubator did you get?