The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Womanized plywood gave me a giggle!

Me too

(see what happens when you forget the "L"?)

 

[Daisy8s]

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!

It's actually spelled "wolmanized" but, yes, it sounds like "woman-ized". Every time my neighbor (a big, gruff, bachelor) mentions it when advising me how to build something I giggle like a 3rd grader and he never, ever gets it!

 

[Pozees]

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.

I have apple trees, in fact it turns out I have twice as many as I thought I did - I planted a Gala and a Golden Delicious from Gurneys 6 years ago, and 7 years ago when we bought our place I transplanted some little "flowering" trees I had gotten from Arbor Day Foundation that weren't marked so I had no idea what they were. Last spring the Gala bloomed for the second year, and the Golden Delicious did not still, and I was about to go buy another apple tree because I was growing impatient, when I saw little apples on the Gala. Turns out two of the Arbor Day trees were apple trees and produced the most delicious apples we've ever had! No clue what kind they are, possibly Honeycrisp but purely a guess. Anyway, yes you do need the second type, but it is mainly dependent on what time of year they bloom in terms of cross-pollinating, so there will be more than the 4 they recommend. Just start looking for apple trees that bloom/fruit at the same time.

 

[delisha]

Sometimes chickens put a few extra pounds on during the winter. The nice weather comes around and they get a bit frisky..well sometimes that does not work and you pull a muscle, or you jump off the roost wrong. Chickens can have injury too. A nice soak might be the trick, or even a few of them. Chickens also have a small gland on the bottom of the foot. Dirt and debris can get lodged in there and cause pain. The soak might remove what ever it might be.

I have one apple tree in the back and two in the front. I also have a pear tree in the back. I do not think you necessarily need two apple together. Try a peach or a pear.


I am looking for maple trees myself. I want to tap it for sap....fresh maple syrup..yum

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

As promised

Black

Blue

Splash(pigment hole on left second toe)

Silkies and the "meat group". The Silkies are a week older than the meaties and half the size.

Buckbeak(Buck), Porcelain "Special needs" cockerel from Catdance(6mo)

Marsala, Porcelain pullet from MB(4.5mo)

General Tso, Blue cockerel from MB(5mo)

 

[Leahs Mom]

Good thoughts on the legs and feet, Del. I guess it's like us when we exercise after not having exercised in a long time!

 

[delisha]

I have a few eggs left. The chicks are aline in the egg, but I think something might be wrong with them. I opened the top off the egg and it looks like the inner membrane collapsed on the chicks and there were not getting enough air. I wrapped them in a wet paper towel and put them and the eggs back in. I set 31 eggs...29 hatched OK. I think it probably happened when I opened the incubator to remove all of those chicks three time.

 

[Leahs Mom]

A HAWK STORY

I had heard how having crows nesting nearby was a good thing as they keep the hawks away. So every time I see crows I'm happy they're around.

Yesterday evening I was out burning some brush in the area that the chickens free-range so they could have a natural ash pit. As I was sitting there around 7p, I hear the crows cawing. No big deal, they always are cawing around there but this time the chickens all made a b-line for the hen house door, then stopped and all looked up.

I looked up and there was a single crow "escorting" a hawk out of the area. The crow chased it across to the next tree-line over, then circled back and went home. The hawk kept going! GOOD CROW!


Last fall I saw a hawk moving across the sky at an extremely fast pace. Then I looked behind it, and there was a murder of crows following behind - about 15 of them chasing it.

GOT TO LOVE THOSE CROWS!

 

[Mumsy]

A Saturday with husband home, sun out, 70 degrees! I am a bit red in the face and bone weary tired but oh so satisfied with this glorious day!

Finished all the pop doors in the chick house and new pen. Husband kept the power tools plugged in and warmed up and then put a new raised bed out in the potager garden. The White Silkie flock is learning to free range a bit better every day. So i picked them each up, one by one, and deposited them out in the raspberry patch. They seemed to really enjoy that freedom away from the LF girls that push them around all the time. I kept them out there for most of the day until I found them munching on the new green tops of my freshly planted garlic! They certainly have got a taste for it since it's in their FF.

Free ranging Silkies amongst the raspberry canes.



First time out in the chick run and sun shine on their backs for my shipped heritage RIR two week old chicks.



I butchered two young Johnny cockerels this morning before I had my morning coffee. Only twelve weeks old but I didn't want to keep feeding them. There was just enough meat on them for a tasty dinner for two. Very tender. Normally I would grow them out but these were just barn yard chicks that ate more than they were worth. My husband was surprised how good they tasted. I thought they were delicous too.
It was a wonderful Saturday!

 

[delisha]

Good thoughts on the legs and feet, Del. I guess it's like us when we exercise after not having exercised in a long time!

I was going to say that too...lol