The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[BlueMouse]

Update on guineas They're just so cute. because even though I change their paper towels 3 times a day, they STILL spend an inordinat amount of time eating poop (with a full feeder RIGHT THERE) I decided to give time something else to peck at that wouldn't be so potentially harmful. SO I gave them a sod chuck that's half the size of their brooder. They love it. they pick around at it, nap on it, chase each other for little things they've found. I can change it once a day if I have to, but I think it should last a couple days before it's completely denuded. I'm keeping a sharp eye on their food intake to make sure they're not just eating dirt instead of food, but they seem to have really figured out this whole "where the food is" racket, and are hoovering up the FF and supplemental raw meat. I've been researching getting my protien numbers up to the 26-28% they need. really rough. I think I'm going to end up buying game bird starter for them for the first 6-8 weeks, still with the supplemental raw meat, then switching them to the 20% mix with everyone else.

Still trying to figure out integrating my 8-10 week olds with my main flock. I'm super worried that the big kids are going to beat them up at night, they're just so much smaller. But I really need to move the 6 week olds out of the big brooder and into the dog crate at night/fenced free range during the day. Partially because they're just getting big, and partially because I'm going to need one of the levels in the big brooder for the guineas in a week or so. Do I just throw them in together and hope for the best??

 

[holderh]

Thanks for sharing - beautiful chicks!!


You can't usually see leg mites, but you can see the results of them - leg scales that stick out and look ragged.
This bird has been treated with NuStock, but you can still see how the scales are sticking out instead of smooth and flat.



Peeps - your pics are wonderful... but this guy takes the prize! LOL!! He looks like a clingon!

Thanks bulldogma! That is a great example. None of my girls legs look like that but I will rub them all down with nustock anyway. How often do you keep there legs rubbed down to prevent leg mites?

Our roosts are pvc pipe...will the neem oil work on that type of a roost?

Also those of you who use the deep litter method does that only work with pine shavings? I use hay and I use it as a deep litter method too (or so I thought I was) Do you really only see the benifits with pine shavings?

 

[NanaLynn]

Just bumping these questions to the end from Post 13049, guess they were missed: Thanks again to everyone for helping us new chicken owners. This thread is so busy!!


Question1:
I have a quick question for you. I remember one of the OT's mentioned on one of the other threads that she would put up some type of string between the trees high up so it would deter flying predators. Does anyone remember who said that and what she used?

Also, I have another question on another chicken subject:
Question 2: When do I start giving my chicks calcium, egg shells and/or oyster shell. I've heard 16 weeks? Is that right. I do not plan to feed layer food since I will be adding new chicks soon and want them to share food eventually once I integrate them. I may switch to layer once the younger chicks are old enough for the extra calcium.

Thank you everyone! -Lynn

 

[Kassaundra]

Thanks bulldogma! That is a great example. None of my girls legs look like that but I will rub them all down with nustock anyway. How often do you keep there legs rubbed down to prevent leg mites?

Our roosts are pvc pipe...will the neem oil work on that type of a roost?

Also those of you who use the deep litter method does that only work with pine shavings? I use hay and I use it as a deep litter method too (or so I thought I was) Do you really only see the benifits with pine shavings?

I use free stuff, garden weeds, runner grass w/ roots I dig for other areas I don't want it, leaves from the fall, mowed grass (but not wet or fresh only after it has dried) etc...

 

[stonykill]

Wow I can't see myself being able to do that either method at this point, I hope I can bring myself to cull if one is sick and suffering but I just don't know..... I just don't think I have the stomach for it. I think it's all the blood. Are there anyways to cull without all the blood? Not for eating after just to end misery for example.

I'm going to be blunt so don't take offense. If you can't handle killing a chicken or blood don't raise chickens. With chickens death is a fact of life. Be it the chickens themselves or predators killing or trying to kill them. If you can't "do the deed" you are doing a disservice to your birds

 

[holderh]

I use free stuff, garden weeds, runner grass w/ roots I dig for other areas I don't want it, leaves from the fall, mowed grass (but not wet or fresh only after it has dried) etc...

thanks! LOL thats why I use hay...my dh makes hay so its free for me! I do believe i will rake up some leaves in the woods and scatter around the pen though...maybe it will encourage bugs?

 

[holderh]

Update on guineas They're just so cute. because even though I change their paper towels 3 times a day, they STILL spend an inordinat amount of time eating poop (with a full feeder RIGHT THERE) I decided to give time something else to peck at that wouldn't be so potentially harmful. SO I gave them a sod chuck that's half the size of their brooder. They love it. they pick around at it, nap on it, chase each other for little things they've found. I can change it once a day if I have to, but I think it should last a couple days before it's completely denuded. I'm keeping a sharp eye on their food intake to make sure they're not just eating dirt instead of food, but they seem to have really figured out this whole "where the food is" racket, and are hoovering up the FF and supplemental raw meat. I've been researching getting my protien numbers up to the 26-28% they need. really rough. I think I'm going to end up buying game bird starter for them for the first 6-8 weeks, still with the supplemental raw meat, then switching them to the 20% mix with everyone else.

Still trying to figure out integrating my 8-10 week olds with my main flock. I'm super worried that the big kids are going to beat them up at night, they're just so much smaller. But I really need to move the 6 week olds out of the big brooder and into the dog crate at night/fenced free range during the day. Partially because they're just getting big, and partially because I'm going to need one of the levels in the big brooder for the guineas in a week or so. Do I just throw them in together and hope for the best??

How old is your main flock? The way I have it set up when I have chicks is I have a pen attached to the main pen but seperated by a cattle pannel...they can see each other but cant get to each other. So by the time they are 8 weeks old when i put them together they do just fine...aside from a little chasing. Having said that I think there are strength in numbers...because one of my 8 week olds at the time flew in with my 2 yr olds and i didnt know it. They killed it. A couple weeks later when i put them together as a group though they did just fine. Another suggestion...could you put the 6 weeks old with the 8 and 10 week olds? Maybe with them being closer in age it wont be as bad...??

 

[Kassaundra]

I think very few "absolute" statements are true, life is full of all kinds of choices some better then others. It is true that caring for chickens and other farm animals brings with it all kinds of different situations then typical pet animals. With chickens especially it is hard to find vetrinary services to "do the dirty work" of caring for an animal, that is why you see so many threads of performing invasive medical treatments and repairs to sick and injured chickens. Chickens do get sick worse and injured more often then a typical, say, cat or dog, requiring interventions some mild like giving meds, others more severe including stitches, and euthanizing. How you choose to euthanize(or provide invasive care) is still a choice YOU must make, whether it is you doing it, or a friend or relative that has agreed to help you with this, or finding a vet willing to take care of the chicken, or putting the chicken in a quite safe place and letting "nature take it's course". All these choices have good and bad consequences, some are better then others, some make us squirm or cringe. Do YOU have to be able to personally physically kill an animal to own one, no, there are choices. Should you have a plan in place for it, yes. B/c it WILL happen it is not a matter of IF but WHEN.

A lot of us thought we couldn't "do it" until we were faced w/ our first mortally wounded chicken that we raised and loved and to know how much pain it was in and know it was the only way to end it's suffering and couldn't bear the thought of it suffering anymore more then our personal discomfort. Have a plan in place before it happens b/c you won't be in a position to rationally make a plan during the crisis.

 

[BlueMouse]

How old is your main flock? The way I have it set up when I have chicks is I have a pen attached to the main pen but seperated by a cattle pannel...they can see each other but cant get to each other. So by the time they are 8 weeks old when i put them together they do just fine...aside from a little chasing. Having said that I think there are strength in numbers...because one of my 8 week olds at the time flew in with my 2 yr olds and i didnt know it. They killed it. A couple weeks later when i put them together as a group though they did just fine. Another suggestion...could you put the 6 weeks old with the 8 and 10 week olds? Maybe with them being closer in age it wont be as bad...??

so, the main flock is one roo and two hens, they're all a year old. There's four in the 8-10 week old group. I tried to put the LF 6 week old in with them, and they beat her up. So I put her in with the bantam that's a little younger, they're now buddies and doing fine. But, since there's two of them maybe I could put them in with the olde kids? safety in numbes? The adult flock will come sun/nap on the other side of the fence from the kids, so they don't seem to mind them. But, my buff orpington hen ruthlessly pecks the 10 week old cuckoo marans any time she sees her pick up anything off the ground... so... that's why she's in with the 8 week olds... SIGH. I feel like this has gotten overly complicated, but I don't want any of them to get severly injured or killed. Really, trying to introduce the two sets of teenagers and get them as one intergrated group may be the best route to go. I have hesitated to do that though because the bantam is so tiny. Maybe if I make the 8-10 week olds a "bolt hole" in the coop where they can get away they'll be ok together?

 

[NanaLynn]

I think very few "absolute" statements are true, life is full of all kinds of choices some better then others. It is true that caring for chickens and other farm animals brings with it all kinds of different situations then typical pet animals. With chickens especially it is hard to find vetrinary services to "do the dirty work" of caring for an animal, that is why you see so many threads of performing invasive medical treatments and repairs to sick and injured chickens. Chickens do get sick worse and injured more often then a typical, say, cat or dog, requiring interventions some mild like giving meds, others more severe including stitches, and euthanizing. How you choose to euthanize(or provide invasive care) is still a choice YOU must make, whether it is you doing it, or a friend or relative that has agreed to help you with this, or finding a vet willing to take care of the chicken, or putting the chicken in a quite safe place and letting "nature take it's course". All these choices have good and bad consequences, some are better then others, some make us squirm or cringe. Do YOU have to be able to personally physically kill an animal to own one, no, there are choices. Should you have a plan in place for it, yes. B/c it WILL happen it is not a matter of IF but WHEN.

A lot of us thought we couldn't "do it" until we were faced w/ our first mortally wounded chicken that we raised and loved and to know how much pain it was in and know it was the only way to end it's suffering and couldn't bear the thought of it suffering anymore more then our personal discomfort. Have a plan in place before it happens b/c you won't be in a position to rationally make a plan during the crisis.

Very well written.