The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[loanwizard]

Your turner moves constantly. Interesting I never heard of that.
The eggs would be taken off at day 18 for lock down. Do you still see any problems. I would rather hear them now as apposed to later after a mistake is made.
Please do elaborate on the constant moving turner. Do you take it out for the hatch and such? Do you ever shut it off? Any info you have. I do like thinking outside the box.

And yes, I remove the turner at day 18. If I have time this weekend, I will post pics of my turner. It is not shut off for 18 days.

 

[Pozees]

If you ever decide to cull a roo the Buff/Red needs to go. A birds that refuses to learn needs to be in the stew pot.

I wondered if that was the only alternative to him being kicked again, sure sounded like it to me. I will have roos this year, and DH is really fretting about it - his only experience with them was at his grandmother's farm as a child, and his recollection is that they are noisy and mean. I assured him mean roosters are not allowed to live here. It isn't fair to him if I keep one that is nice to me but mean to him. I guess I would offer the same thinking to countrygirl74 - the entire family shares the flock whether they want to or not. The idea of having a more self-sufficient life doesn't work all that well if self sufficiency comes at the price of being able to walk around without being on guard against a 2 lb rooster all the time. Just one perspective.

 

[mlowen]

So, I've been working on my little red silkie roo who is ornery as can be. I tug the feathers on his back as aoxa suggested and so far, so good. He still likes to get close and pick up and drop little sticks, etc. but doesn't really do the "dance" too much anymore and definitely doesn't try to rip my skin off my hand with his little beak.

However.... he does NOT like my husband. He actually goes right up to my husband and flies up at his leg just to about knee height, which he has NEVER done to me or my 12-year-old daughter who is often out with them alone. I told my husband to do the feather pulling, which he tried, but the silkie kept dodging him. So, today this little guy comes and does it again, attacking my husband's leg out of the blue, surprising my husband, so he just reacted and kicked him. The silkie roo didn't bother him after that but does anyone have ideas for the next time around so he doesn't get kicked? And why does he leave me and my daughter (who is smaller than my husband of course) alone and go after my husband? I can sit right on the ground and he'll walk all around me without attacking. Although, sometimes I wonder what he's plotting...

I just wondered if it would work if your husband made a concerted effort with the "stick training" we have seen posted (I think in this thread somewhere.) I also think it was Delisha's method. Have your DH use the stick instead of kicking (less chance of injuring roo and DH falling over

) Since you said you really want to keep all three, it might be worth a try. The roo just has to figure out that he's lower on the pecking order than even all those danged humans.

 

[stonykill]

A little advice needed. (Del, you may have something to say on this as I think you mentioned getting 6 week olds onto a roost twig)

Here's the deal.

-Four 12 week old chicks.
-Mom abandoned them at night for the first time this week. (And has actually been quite mean to them.)
-Due to the cold, they had still been sleeping on the floor under and as close to her as possible.
-Tonight is the second night they will be without mom.

Tonight the auto door closed too early so they were stuck outside for about 15 min. after it closed. Still a good amount of light (I need to adjust the closing time.)

When they went in, they ate some then were totally at a loss as to what to do w/themselves. They were wandering back and forth between their normal sleeping corner and the regular roost that the big girls are on. They have a little branch roost near their corner that I put in there on Wed. so it is new. They jump around on it during the day but prefer hanging out on the big girl roost (which is a flat 4" wide by about 1" tall board.

One of them tried to roost w/the big girls but got attacked. They all went over like they wanted to get on the roost w/the big girls but none of the others dared go up there.

They were making distress sounds. They had gone back over to their corner still making distress sounds when I left.


-Should I do anything to help them roost or just leave them to figure it out?
-I tried putting a couple of them on the little roost but they were clearly uncomfortable and got off.
-Should I try putting them on the adult roost after it's completely dark or will the big girls give 'em hell in the morning?

Thoughts?

they will figure it out. It is all part of the natural order of things working out the pecking order. The fact that mom kept them 12 weeks is amazing. I had 3 who lost their mom to a fox at 3.5 weeks old. They went in the coop themselves that night and once they did that I knew they would be ok. The rooster from that group is now top rooster. They will be fine

 

[stonykill]

Thank you, Pozees.

I have a secondary roost question.
I'm thinking of raising the main roost up about 2 ft. higher than it is now and then adding a second roost (stair stepped out a bit) below that at the level the original roost is now. Below is a rough drawing.

But the question is this...since things are in a bit of havoc in there already, would this be a stupid time to do it? Should I wait until things have calmed down?

And...will the old birds just instinctively move to the higher level or would they likely want to stay at the level they're used to?

my personal opinion is it can't lead to anything good. Everyone is going to want to be on top as chickens roost as high as they can in the coop. The top dog chickens are simply going to beat up the underlings to get to the top roost. Add one on the other side of the coop at the same height. That is what I do when I expand a roost.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote:

Stony, I agree. I had a 3 tier system in my first coop. Change it to a 3 roost, but all the same height. No more pecking to get a "good" spot.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:

Stony, I agree. I had a 3 tier system in my first coop. Change it to a 3 roost, but all the same height. No more pecking to get a "good" spot.
thank you both for the input. That is very helpful. And...it will save me a lot of work for something that wouldn't accomplish what I was wanting to accomplish in the first place.

Thank you!

 

[loanwizard]

With a hundred birds in a horse stall, I put roosts where I can. I have 2 3 tier, plus high roosts all around. Not much rhyme nor reason to their roosting habits, some even roost on the other end of the barn near the hogs. I wonder if the no rhyme nor reason vs the orderly birds take after their owners....

Way I look at it, how would they do in the wild? Get out of my tree. Hmmph! I'll get a higher branch! Hmmmph! We get a little wind tonight and that branch will be on the ground tomorrow... below me!

Pickalittle talkalittle cheep cheep cheep talk a lot pick a little.......

Good night Ladies....

 

[SallyinIndiana]

my personal opinion is it can't lead to anything good. Everyone is going to want to be on top as chickens roost as high as they can in the coop. The top dog chickens are simply going to beat up the underlings to get to the top roost. Add one on the other side of the coop at the same height. That is what I do when I expand a roost.

I have a lower roost in my coop. I also have 4 other roosting bars that are higher. The higher bars are the preferred bars. We had to add the 4th high bar because the birds were fighting over the high bars. However the birds do use the lower bar as a step now. The first birds up or down don't really use it but once there are birds on the roosts, the last ones up will use the low roost as a step. Also the last ones getting down use it as a way to get to the floor without landing on the other birds down there. I'm hoping that during the summer they will use it to spread out a little bit more.

 

[delisha]

A little bit about prolapsed vents and problems in laying.

A prolapsed vent on a laying hen occurs when there is degeneration to the muscular system responsible for laying- it is a form of herniation. This can occur when the shell of eggs is not forming properly due to a lack of calcium. Soft shelled eggs are harder to pass through the oviduct and can cause this strain injury. Hens can also be more prone to this injury if they are being forced to continue laying passed a natural cycle of laying (using lamps to extend their laying in the sorter days of winter).

You can help prevent a prolapsed vent if you 1) provide enough space for the hens to walk and scratch. This retains the muscle health of the hen. 2) Support a natural laying cycle and 3) provide calcium supplement to their diet. 4) I have also read that common weed, Shepherds Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), provides a general boost to chicken health. 5) Provide a good diet. 6) sunshine and fresh air.

However, if your chicken already has a prolapsed vent (signs: swollen red bottom, blood, egg oozing from cloaca, other hens pecking at her vent), you have to treat her. There are common and effective ways to treat your hen. The first step is to remove the hen from the flock to prevent cannibalization. Reduce the hens feed (or even don’t feed her for one day) to interrupt laying. This will give her a much needed break in laying. I never recomend adding lights to induce laying. If your birds are not laying there is a reason.

Effective herbal care:
Wash the protruding organ in lukewarm water and using a natural oil (linseed oil or sweet oil), gently press the vent back into the body. Repeat several times as needed. Then wipe the vent area with a cloth or cotton ball that has been soaked in witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana).

Witchhazel is an astringent and anti-inflammatory that tightens skin, soothes, reduces swelling. It is used, among other things, to relieve the pain of hemorrhoids and bruises.

Effective non-herbal care:
Wash the protruding organ in lukewarm water and using petroleum jelly, gently press the vent back into the body. Repeat several times as needed. Then treat the vent area with a combination of Preparation H and antibiotic ointment. Preparation -H reduces the swelling tissue and allows the tissue to recede.

Continue these steps until the hen is healed. In severe prolapse where a purse suture may be need to the cloaca, contact your local veterinarian to find out if they can provide this procedure, or if you eat your hens, cull the flock of this bird. I personally would cull if it happened the second time.

literature does recommend free feeding calcium supplement in a separate feeder.