The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Pozees]

DSCF0015_zps6e59f200.jpg.html

There is the little coop from Tractor Supply online. Sitting on the raised "lean to" frame I built against the shed with scrap pieces of 2x4 and old metal shelving corner posts as supports. The wire laying down will be the 10' skirting buried and up to framing as a predator digging guard.

For now I put womanized plywood over the frame and set the coop on that. Filled the covered end with straw and the nesting boxes. I have cedar chips/shavings... should I put that in the fresh air part for now?

Plan will be to keep them (only 3 RIR 3 year olds) in that cramped little thing (toted as 8 chicken coop) until I get a sufficient protected run finished. Then they will know where to go back to. And I will turn the platform into a lean to coop and use the TSC as a quarantine pen or a lockdown unit if I can expand later.

Will take more pictures today but it took this dial up an hour to get that one shot uploaded!!! But there is the beginning efforts of this poor womans housing attempts for quick temp housing for the chickens.

Already have the heated water bottle, and organic laying feed, epsom salts, bag balm, chicken probiotic/electrolites, yogurt..AND My .22 is ready for any attempting possums or raccoons breakin.

Pray for me I do this right. I can not afford vet bills. I must learn the natural methods and do everything myself. Well, too late to turn back now!! Chickens are being brought over on Monday!!! I hope she approves of my set up plans for her 'pets'.

Sorry for long thread..... am excited but very, very nervous in this new endeavor. Questions will be forth coming after I get them to be sure I acess their incoming health correctly and also to keep or make them healthy.

Pine yes, Cedar no, otherwise it looks to me like you did well! The next picture you spend the day uploading should be your hens in their new home! Yay!!!

 

[BlueMouse]

Yeah could just be a sore muscle, could be a dislocated hip (I believe BDM had one like this, as did I).

How can I tell if it's a dislocated hip? I'm assuming that would be something I couldn't fix, and I would have to kill her....

Now I'm really worried. I guess it's chicken Dr. night here... I've got to soak Mr. Bennet's bumblefoot again too.

 

[CoopChick719]

Hey CoopChick According to Boss Brothers Feed they are both supposed to be Ameraucanas (guess we will see what pops out). The Brown one (named from where she was bought) is Bossy, the other Flossie. I am impressed that your helpers helped you dig. I tried that with mine while digging the trench around my coop (coyotes killing goats and flocks around here). They got down there with me nose to snout...dropped their ball in and dug to get it out, that was about all their attention span would allow. I was tempted to drop balls all around the perimeter to enlist them but just dug it myself. A good motivator for me was my big ole 6 10 hubby saying he knew I could not do this by myself....then I did girl power (okay me and my furry helpers did)

Hi OohLaLa, Bossy is adorable! Just love her little face. Don't feel bad, I only got a few holes out of my helpers. I would have dropped the balls--any headstart would have helped!

I had to dig for my coop too...pine tree roots all around.

I hope anything that digs under my pen runs into as many roots as I did. We have coyotes in the area too. We can hear them. Thankfully, we haven't had any problems with them. Ahh the hubby factor...mine tells me stuff like that occasionally too. I love proving him wrong!! I grew up w/mostly boys...anything they could do...well, I could do it too! He didn't want the chickens but after I told him it was happening, he found me a coop that came with everything but the chickens. He has come around, is now buying them treats and talks to them. I wanted to start free ranging them this afternoon since it was a nice day. He built a ramp for them so they could get out over the wire that's 10 inches up by the door--3 ft. up around the rest of the pen. He's a big softie when it comes to animals.

 

[farmerfogg]

What a great day! My oldest daughter helped me get our 10x10x6 dog run in place for the delivery of our new coop next week. The hens were so happy digging and pecking for worms and bugs. When we brought the hay into their run, they were busy hens. They inspected everything more than once. It was so fun to watch them.
The baby chicks are in the house, in their brooder. They are 2 1/2 weeks old. They are growing up so fast. I know it won't be long before the little fuzz butts join the big girl's. I'm getting really excited about out larger flock. They are all so precious to us!

 

[aoxa]

How can I tell if it's a dislocated hip? I'm assuming that would be something I couldn't fix, and I would have to kill her....

Now I'm really worried. I guess it's chicken Dr. night here... I've got to soak Mr. Bennet's bumblefoot again too.

I don't know how you would tell unless you were to do an necropsy.

Right now just try not to worry too much. Soak her, make sure she rests it and re-evaluate in a few days.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: I think you can get it on the amazon cloud. Once there you should be able to read it online without downloading any programs or files even.

 

[Ashdoes]

I am getting excited...two weeks till 10 little ducklings get delivered. Just like our first set of chicks, we ordered a variety of breeds to see if there were some we preferred. Hubby wanted Muscovy, when I told him they were quack less, but I want a noisy bunch quacking everywhere they go.
I have a question about apple trees, if anyone has some knowledge to share...certain types pollinate each other, but if I plant two of one variety, won't they pollinate each other? I want to get a couple Pixie Crunch from Gurneys, but I don't like the other four that they recommend for pollination.

 

[Eggcessive]

HELP!! My buff orpington hen just started limping yesterday night. I picked her up and checked her, her feet and legs are fine, she doesn't have any cuts on her back or leg, and she doesn't seem upset when I gently massage/move the leg. Today she seems a little worse, she walks around and scratches and eats, but doesn't seem to want to put any weight on the leg, and spent a lot of the day lying in a sunny corner instead of actively foraging. Picked her up and checked her over again, still doesn't seem any more upset over having the leg massaged/moved, the foot/leg is not swolen, no visible cuts, no excessive redness, and that foot is no warmer than the other foot. I have so little expereince, and I have absolutely no idea what to do. My only thought was to keep her in the coop tomorrow, because if she pulled something less walking around might help it. I'm hoping that someone can give me some advice. I'm so worried about my sweet buff girl!

My speckled sussex had that about 2 months ago, without any noticable injury or bumblefoot. She started hopping around on one leg, but she still got to food and water fine, and roosted with the rest of the gang at night. After several weeks I noticed she was back to normal.

Sally8--great looking chicks!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I kept redworms for a time in rubbermade bins for the sake of composting.

I have a redworm worm factory. It was just an experiment thinking I could make some winter eating. The only time I ever gave them one they wouldn't eat it (not sure why) but I never tried to feed them again because I didn't have enough for feeding yet.

Right now I'm thinking I won't continue the worms. It's easier to just get some ground meat and let them eat that!

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Your little coop is really pretty! I know it's small, but very nicely done

When I got my first chicks I was worried about everything too. I think most of us were! You will LOVE having them!

The book that was recommended is The Small Scale Poultry Flock by Harvey Ussery. I definitely agree - read that book! It's the best book on chicken keeping I have in my library and I always recommend t to anyone who wants to learn about natural chicken keeping. Here's a link for the book: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...ltry+flock&sprefix=the+small+scale+po,aps,202

And his website had LOTS of great articles too...most of which are in the book. Here's a link to the website: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Poultry.html

Scroll down to the bottom of that page and there is an index of articles on many topics. If you can't get the book, a lot of it is covered there.

Apparently my cat, Max, thought he would try out *nesting* in the egg carton

I was half tempted to give him some eggs and see if he would go broody

 

[Bulldogma]

DSCF0015_zps6e59f200.jpg.html

There is the little coop from Tractor Supply online. Sitting on the raised "lean to" frame I built against the shed with scrap pieces of 2x4 and old metal shelving corner posts as supports. The wire laying down will be the 10' skirting buried and up to framing as a predator digging guard.

For now I put womanized plywood over the frame and set the coop on that. Filled the covered end with straw and the nesting boxes. I have cedar chips/shavings... should I put that in the fresh air part for now?

Plan will be to keep them (only 3 RIR 3 year olds) in that cramped little thing (toted as 8 chicken coop) until I get a sufficient protected run finished. Then they will know where to go back to. And I will turn the platform into a lean to coop and use the TSC as a quarantine pen or a lockdown unit if I can expand later.

Will take more pictures today but it took this dial up an hour to get that one shot uploaded!!! But there is the beginning efforts of this poor womans housing attempts for quick temp housing for the chickens.

Already have the heated water bottle, and organic laying feed, epsom salts, bag balm, chicken probiotic/electrolites, yogurt..AND My .22 is ready for any attempting possums or raccoons breakin.

Pray for me I do this right. I can not afford vet bills. I must learn the natural methods and do everything myself. Well, too late to turn back now!! Chickens are being brought over on Monday!!! I hope she approves of my set up plans for her 'pets'.

Sorry for long thread..... am excited but very, very nervous in this new endeavor. Questions will be forth coming after I get them to be sure I acess their incoming health correctly and also to keep or make them healthy.

Womanized plywood gave me a giggle!

I haven't finished catching up yet so I don't know if anyone else mentioned this, but Cedar fumes can be toxic to chickens. Where ever you do end up using shavings, use pine.

You're going to be a great chicken owner!