The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Kassaundra]

Cigarette tea? Is this what it sounds like? Please elaborate!

I imagine it is a form of tobacco tea. My Gma used to make it all the time w/ chewing tobacco leaves, she would use sun warmed water and steep the leaves for a few days, strain it, add a little dish soap and spray on plants to kill bugs. The nicotine is a potent killer of insect, man, and beast.

 

[brandislee]

Thanks for all the input on culling, fermented feed, etc! I have started fermenting feed (inside) for the batch of cornish cross I got yesterday, it should be sour enough tomorrow. I don't think I used ACV to start it last year, but I honestly can't remember... doesn't seem like something I would do, though, because I know the action of the bacteria in ACV is different than lactic acid. I do a lot of fermented foods myself, so I either started it just by wetting the grain and letting it sit, or I used brine from one of my vegetable ferments or buttermilk or something. I was thinking about using some sourdough this time, but my sourdough starter is pretty scant right now- we're not eating wheat at the moment (it's a temporary thing) so I haven't doubled it in the while. I happened to have some Bubbies sauerkraut in the fridge so I used some brine from that to start this last batch.

I'm going to feed it to the turkeys, too... anyone have any experience with that? I know turkeys are more sensitive to illness, so I figure that's an even bigger reason to get their guts populated with good bacteria ASAP!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

so, here's a couple pictures of my possibly underweight Buff Orpington rooster.





With his lady friend. I think he's such a pretty bird, although I don't know a whole lot about the SOP. As far as weighing him, that's going to be a bit of an issue. I, hem, don't seem to currently own a scale that goes over 10lbs, and I know he's more than that. By heft I would say he's over ten pounds, but not more than fifteen.... I can try to borrow my Mom's scale over the weekend and actually get a weight. If you shouldn't be able to "easily feel" his keel, then he's definitely at least a little underweight. I'll up their night time ration. I keep having people tell me how Orpingtons are such piggies and will get obese and not even look for their own food if you let them.... I may have erred more on the side of not wanting to over feed.

I was cutting up stew beef today, so everyone got raw meat, I got fifteen minutes of laughs out of watching the chicks chase each other all over the brooder with meat hanging out of their beaks. Because the piece your neighbor has is evidently ALWAYS tastier than the one you could get out of the dish yourself.

I hope you are not comparing him to English Orp pictures. They are much more fluffy and wider bodied. I have one and he is about 16 wide. Yours does not look under fed. Some genetics just keep them thin bodied.

 

[Sally8]

Me? Still sleep deprived, but totally looking forward to having some chicken sanity time tomorrow! Chickens always take the edge off stressful times!

I'm sorry your daughter is in the hospital. It's so hard to stay and harder to leave. We'll be praying for her speedy recovery.

Delisha - My parents smoked and I remember Dad breaking off the filter and giving our horses the tobacco part once in a while and Grand dad giving the donkey chewing tobacco. But you said you use the butt to make tea, meaning the tobacco left from smoking it? We have gotten mites from storing straw under the lean to next to the garage. Birds had built nests over head. I Still have a bale that I won't use for that reason.

 

[OohLaLa]

Wait - Is this fowl or 'possum?

Nature...who needs tv reality shows lol

 

[Pozees]

Mumsy, not sure whether you know the answer to this, but your pegboard breeding pens led me to build the pens inside my new coop out of pegboard, and now I'm wondering the best way to attach roosts. Did you attach roosts to your pegboard? If so, what did you use?

Thanks

Judi

 

[rowerjen]

And lastly, does anyone else do the thing with the pumpkins? Yeah, it was really early in the other thread, so I'll explain- Beekissed said she kept pumpkins in her barn to freeze/thaw over the winter and then fed them in February/March.

Hi BBN - Just got an inch of snow and ice here last night. I left my pumpkins out on the deck all winter. The must have reached the right consistency in early March - after ignoring them all winter, by birds tore into them and within a couple of weeks there wasn't a single shred left. One of my dogs helped out from time to time as well.

 

[BlueMouse]

Want!

And that's all I have for now - LOL! DH came to the hospital and took over night duty so I could come home and get some sleep. Poor little one must have contracted a stomach virus when she was admitted (through the ER) and now has that on top of her double pneumonia. We were hoping she would come home (on oxygen) tomorrow, but they probably won't release her now until she is totally better from the virus. Poor kid!

Me? Still sleep deprived, but totally looking forward to having some chicken sanity time tomorrow! Chickens always take the edge off stressful times!

so sorry to hear about your little one in hospital. We will be praying for speedy recovery. So hard when you take them in for treatment and they end up catching something else in additon. Enjoy your chicken time!

I hope you are not comparing him to English Orp pictures. They are much more fluffy and wider bodied. I have one and he is about 16 wide. Yours does not look under fed. Some genetics just keep them thin bodied.

No, my concern was soley with how much of his keel bone I am feeling.... I figure he is what he is, I bought him as a semi educataed unexperienced first time chicken owner, lol. I figured I was pretty safe not getting something really poor quality/nasty snarl of genetic badness, since he was the winner at our local show, but other than that, I was just going for gentle.

Nature...who needs tv reality shows lol

and aint that the truth. Got the laugh of the week this week watching my rooster chase squirells off the feeder!! And if he could run and peck at the same time those squirells would be in some trouble, let me tell you.

 

[aoxa]

I don't have much time to catch up right now - the contractor is coming out to discuss putting a gravel road down to the barn. I just wanted to check in and show you guys this picture of one of the HRIR chicks that hatched last night. So cute!



They are hatching a day late. I have more than 60% pipped, but they should have started yesterday. Oh well. I find my genesis runs low on temperature in the winter because of the up and down of our house temperature... must be because of the wood fire. I have it up to 102 and it's only 98.8 in the incubator. Who cares.. The chicks still hatch and are doing very well. I opened the incubator very quickly to snatch this one out for a picture (with clean hands of course!) I watched the humidity and it didn't change any lower than 62%.

Chickie back in with the others.. because I don't have a brooder set up yet.

 

[loanwizard]

SOmeone posted a video about Organic methods "abused" by industry, Possibly MB?

Anyhow it got my BP up so fast, I had to blog on it.... It's short, I promise

http://www.ohioporkandpoultry.com/1...rupt-your-regularly-scheduled-programing.html