The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Well... I know...but it's HUGE!!!!

I love the idea of a nice, compact horse trailer. Maybe I'll have to get both of them and use one as a more stable house and the other that could be moved about

 

[Leahs Mom]

And it looks like they'd even have a picture window to enjoy the sights!

 

[brandislee]

And it looks like they'd even have a picture window to enjoy the sights!

I agree, I love the trailer as well. That would be an awesome mobile coop for a nice pastured egg setup... I wanna do that someday!

 

[lalaland]

NECROPSY PICS _ COVER YOUR EYES!!!!










To start with, this was my first attempt - haven't butchered a chicken before, and haven't even cut one up for cooking.





after I cut away the fat layer:




below is a fat-encased gizzard




Because she was first just passing watery clear liquid with a little white urate, I was worried she had a blocked gizzard. After some oil, she passed small green poops - pencil thickness.

then wouldn't eat but would drink lots of water
then lethargic, then death.

Her gizzard was solid packed with very tough bristly fiber. Does that mean it was blocked? I picked at it before the pic below.






no more pics but nothing obvious to me was wrong with heart, liver, etc. cats found a way to escape and interfered with necropsy plus I was at my limit, ....will do better next time.

yuck.

 

[Leahs Mom]

lala - how old did you say this girl was?

I'm waiting to hear from Delisha and others on what they have to say after seeing the photos.

 

[Kassaundra]

Lala, I am not an expert at chicken insides but that is A LOT of fat, way more then I have ever seen in any of the ones I've butchered, even the older (relatively speaking ) girls. Are you sure it was fat and not geletanized egg yolk? What did the ovary look like?

 

[Kassaundra]

This isn't chicken related but I have to say this ................................. Appearantly it is a good thing I am married since I can not seem to tell boys from girls of the human kind. This week at work I have ran into 3 people that I still have no clue as to thier gender, the only comforting thing is that my partner (work not life) was also at a loss.

 

[Bulldogma]

 

[Bulldogma]

Lala - that is a lot of fat. It is quite possible she had fatty deposits in some bad places and that could have caused her death. Fatty deposits can block the intestines, cause organ failure and have other negative affects on a bird.

Sorry for your loss, and good for you for doing the necropsy!!

 

[BlueMouse]

That trailer is amazing! Think how much room! and with two doors you could totally have it divided into two sections. I think that if you just pick a spot and park it (so long it would be hard to maneuvre I'd think) it'll look fine. Think about how Bulldogma's trailer turned out: Paint it a nice barn red with some white trim, maybe even faux "barn trim" on the doors. Plant some nice hardy bushes around the base, something the girls might enjoy (I'm thinking currant or one of the rosa rugosa family or something.) and maybe some hardy wildflowers that you can just plant and leave, hostas, black eyed susans. Give it two years and that stuff will have totally dulled the "trailor" silouette and it will be a joy to look at! You could put some of those pretty sun awnings on the windows like bulldogma has on hers (they looked lovely) and how wonderful to have running water right out there! I'd keep the sink too. You could have a little "feed closet" FF, running water, everything right there for making food and washing dishes. You could have a small counter for examining a chicken with a cabinet under for storing your first aid supplies. If you had a chicken with an injury, or a dirty bum, or suspected bumblefoot, wash and inspect right there! How nice. I'm excited for you!

thanks everyone for input about the layer. I'm only stressing because a) I don't want poop on the eggs, and b) I'm worried that the eggs are going to get buried when they "re-arrange" their litter, and I'm going to find a nasty surprise while walking some day.... BUT the cardboard box will totally keep the eggs clean, and I can slowly move it over to the appropriate nesting area. And I'll try to get proper nest boxes up this weekend. I just have a milk crate on it's side right now. I'm going to hang a set of exterior nest boxes to clear up more floor space, but it had gone to the bottom of the list with only two hens laying...

Garden season is COMING My fruit trees are going to arrive today or tomorrow!! I'm so excited to have a real garden of my own again. I've been "share cropping" at my mom's and container gardening for the last few years while we've been living in apartments. this year I'm going to have three 4x12 raised beds of my very own! the only down side is I haven't had the chickens long enough to have that nice deep litter to put in them. Oh well. You've got to start somewhere. Someday maybe it will look like Mumsy's garden!!