The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[brandislee]

I just saw this run-down on grains for chicken feed that someone might find interesting:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/feed_ingredients/grains.html

Very interesting stuff...

 

[Bulldogma]

Can I just say I LOVE MY NEW FARM!!!! XD I DO have to share part of my land but the people Im sharing it with are respectfull about it and are very friendly and helpfull. Hes giving us some grape vines and we are talking about possibly going in on buying some bees together to start a hive for each of us.

So happy it's working out so well! Enjoy every minute!!!!

 

[Pozees]

Delisha, Mumsy, others who study natural healing/health, I have a coworker whose 6 year old son suffers every year from horrible dry skin. She has tried myriad ways of treating it, every lotion and oil she could think of, and so far no luck. She was telling me today the skin on his legs is so dry they look like ash. I promised her I would ask here in case anyone can suggest natural remedies for extremely dry skin. She has even asked his pediatrician about it, who recommended a few of the things she tried to no avail.

Thanks

Judi

 

[dmacaruso]

I'm new to all of this and would like to learn more. I'm all for keeping it natural, I started this year with 3 hens and a Roo, bought 6 chicks supposed to be pullets, and am waiting for 3 chicks from a friend. I'm trying incubation with my class for the first time this year, but would like to go natural and get some silkies or something that will go broody for next year. I need a coach!\

 

[chikenscratch]

Hope everybody is having a great Sunday!

I made some updates to the Index page on the thing. If y'all have a chance, go check it out HERE. Now all the articles are organized and listed by title so (hopefully) folks can find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

Also - if anyone is interested in doing an article on a favorite breed or any other subject, please let me know! Articles can have a certain amount of opinion, but must be able to be backed up by research and facts.

 

[camilleathome]

backtoedenfilm.com. Totally free to watch. IMO it's a little repetitive and it's a lot of "duh" information for those who have been doing raised bed gardening OR who know a tiny bit about permaculture, but a great video for someone who is wanting to get started without any gardening experience... I especially like how they show the struggle of one man who tried just laying down newspaper topped with mulch, and how much better he did when he added compost to another bed that he did. Both Back to Eden and Lasagna gardening result in a lesser harvest/smaller plants just in the first year because the plants will have to work to break through that layer of paper (or whatever you lay down- I save boxes all year for this purpose, and FEED BAGS, cut down one side and opened up, are GREAT for this purpose!), but after the first year this will improve exponentially... and it's worth saving all that back breaking labor!

And vinegar is a good herbicide. Just be careful with it in the garden, you don't want to use too much acid, at least not while you have plants growing- perhaps before you plant it would be fine. I don't use it in the garden, though, only around the front porch where the weeds grow up through the pavers.

Im halfway through it and its very interested but the only thing I have issues with is he is quoting so many scriptures for his exampled that Im not grasping a lot of what he says. So let me get it straight. You mix woodchips and manure and spread it on top and plant directly onto that instead of the ground and keep adding onto it every year?

 

[Eggcessive]

So I had to add a second feeder for the chicks they are growing like weeds . Would anyone have any photos of homemade perches I could make for them? I think its time to offer one or two.

Also For those of you who also garden. What is your take on roundup?

My landlords father in law has a tiller and is a retired farmer/cattleman and said he would till our garden for us. He said if we wanted he could treat the ground with roundup which he prefered to do only for the first year and he didnt have any issues with weeds ever again. Now Im debating doing this because it is a chemical and we would like to try to be as organic as we can(Even though we are not using any organic seeds this year). I was reading that using a mix of mulching, letting the chickens into the garden on short trips and Carefully spraying vinegar on the weeds and just pulling some can be a more natural way of weeding. Suggestions and insight would be most welcome. This is our first fullblown garden .

Roundup shouldn't be used on a vegetable garden in my opinion. You have to be very careful what you put in a garden since you are going to eat what comes out of it. Roundup is usually used to kill all vegetation along fencelines, and I think it would be dangerous in a garden. Weed seeds are in the ground and may last for 50 years, and Roundup basically kills anything on top of the ground. I have used it before along fences, and pretty soon you get new weeds growing there that nothing kills. It has been linked to birth defects in frogs and other animals from runoff contamination.

 

[brandislee]

Delisha, Mumsy, others who study natural healing/health, I have a coworker whose 6 year old son suffers every year from horrible dry skin. She has tried myriad ways of treating it, every lotion and oil she could think of, and so far no luck. She was telling me today the skin on his legs is so dry they look like ash. I promised her I would ask here in case anyone can suggest natural remedies for extremely dry skin. She has even asked his pediatrician about it, who recommended a few of the things she tried to no avail.

Thanks

Judi

Funny, I was just talking to someone on Etsy about this exact problem because they were looking for a product from my shop to help their son.

Chronically dry skin that doesn't respond to lotion is a sign of a systemic problem- no cream is going to help. Lots of time is is a gut imbalance, and something as simple as cutting sugar and refined carbs and/or adding daily probiotics can help. But it can also mean deficiencies in certain micronutrients, specifically the B vitamins, the fat soluble vitamins (A, C, K, and to a lesser extent E, but it's hard to be deficient in E because we don't need much), zinc, iodine, amino acids like glutamine, or a number of others. I would suggest exploring those avenues next. Adding a fish oil might be a good start. Also coconut oil (eating it as well as using it on the skin- my kids eat a spoonful a day in the summer). Nutritional (aka brewer's) yeast is a good source of B vitamins, and kelp is a good source of both iodine and magnesium. Those would be a few things she could start with. Hope she figures it out soon!

 

[countrygirl74]

I agree, roundup is NOT the answer. They claim it turns to water nearly right away, yet it is detected in any nearby plants for a long time afterwards when tested (I can't remember the time frame...). Plus it will completely mess up your soil chemistry. Not worth it. It's kind of "radical," but I wouldn't till at all. Look into lasagna gardening or watch the Back to Eden video- very simple way to get started without any back breaking labor or soil destroying chemicals. The only potential hangup can be the volume of materials needed, and the price of them, but if you're creative you can get it all for free if you know where to look. You have chicken bedding (or you will eventually), if you watch Craigslist you can usually get free horse or cow manure (hold out for the free... lots of people out there try to charge for it, but be patient... and check out ifttt.com, it helps you watch craigslist, best website ever!). And most municipalities have free wood mulch available for the taking from the trees they trim. Of if you have lots of your own trees and limbs, it's not that expensive to rent a chipper. You can also add layers of grass or leaves or whatever organic material you have laying around... Lots less work, MUCH better soil fertility. Just my 2 cents.

Just finished watching the video - thanks for sharing! That was really great! I was just about to rent a rototiller and now I'm going to try this approach - completely makes sense.

 

[countrygirl74]

Delisha, Mumsy, others who study natural healing/health, I have a coworker whose 6 year old son suffers every year from horrible dry skin. She has tried myriad ways of treating it, every lotion and oil she could think of, and so far no luck. She was telling me today the skin on his legs is so dry they look like ash. I promised her I would ask here in case anyone can suggest natural remedies for extremely dry skin. She has even asked his pediatrician about it, who recommended a few of the things she tried to no avail.

Thanks

Judi

I would say it's definitely diet related. They need to find out what food allergies he might have. In my experience with all kinds of ailments with family and friends, every single one of them was "cured" by diet alone - including my son's Crohn's disease. I agree with whoever said no lotion will help - it won't. It is something internal. Also, it might seem trivial, but make sure he is staying hydrated, drinking plenty of water - that will also affect the dryness of skin.