The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[camilleathome]

aoxa;
How about the corner between door and window wall? This is an interesting idea

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/automatic-chicken-waterer-made-from-5-gallon-bucket

I dont like the idea of the electricity in the bucket... Too much risk for a fire or someone getting zapped

 

[Leahs Mom]

DEFECTIVE - DEFECTIVE - DEFECTIVE - DEFECTIVE - DEFECTIVE - DEFECTIVE - DEFECTIVE - DEFECTIVE - DEFECTIVE

"I am very sorry to hear of the trouble you have been having with the
mini cups. Yes, we are aware of its cons and what it is, if you were
to unscrew the base on the cup, there is a float inside that does not
hold its seal. After some use, which is what you have noticed, they
begin to retain water inside the float and that just causes it to run
all the time. There is no shut off from the float because its
flooded. So, I would be more than happy to refund your money for the
mini cups. We are waiting to get the improved version from our
manufacturer hopefully soon. I am told. I am not sure when but we
will announce on the website when they are here. Please let me know
what you would like to do. Thank you for your detailed report and I
again apologize for the inconvenience."

Premier no longer sells these. Contacted them last week in fact, to see if they ever got the "improved version". They said the manufacturer had not done one yet.

Now these are still being sold by other distributors, but Premier removed them from their inventory after their customers informed them of the problem.

I WAS SORELY DISAPPOINTED. This was the first cup waterer I used and it was the one I really wanted. I hope they really do come out with a new improved one that works.

 

[aoxa]

A ton of reading to get caught up on. My FIL is back in the hospital. I have not spent much time in the computer. I appologize for not answering your important questions.

Internal pip...your picture is a saddle air cell. It looks to be day 17. Not ready for lock down.
Yes, her online nic is thedragonlady
Doubtful a hen will take a chick at that age or a chick will bond with a hen at that age. That chick needs a sibling. Purchase another chick or take a chick away from mom. I would take the single chick and let the other mom raise her brood of two. You might house them close and see if she would adopt them..there crys might encourage her to take them.
It is hard to do but necessary when ever you bring in new birds.
You are being thoughtful..and want to make sure you are doing the right thing. Those are good qualities.
Soil reconditioning is pretty easy. When you clean out the coop dump your DL in the run. It keeps it all nice and filled with good microbes. Encourages worms too. It breaks down. You can add it to your plant and flowers too.
Congrats!!

Yes they will get larger too!! Perhaps not next week , but at least after first molt. All pullets are different and the first year is filled with change.
Me too..good hatch wishes to all..I am trying duck eggs again..my DH is making me..I wanted to close the incubator down..nope..he said I have to try to hatch some. Muscovy Duck eggs are hard to hatch in an incubator.

Justine..water outdoors. I would set up three exterior automatic water stations. with rain barrels set up on the ends of your gutter system. Yes in the winter you will have to haul water from inside once they freeze.

To clarify - we will not have to drag water from the house.

Also, LM you will be proud of me - we bought THREE lead free hoses meant for farms last night! I am so happy I found them, and they are kink free and fire fighters are on the front of the package!

You are dead on about the age of the embryo Del. They were just under 18 days.

That bunny is officially the CUTEST thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Ever. Including my children.

And what happened to the hen, and does she get around okay with only one leg? Pure curiosity...

LOL

Margaret jumped in a water bucket and developed pretty severe frost bite.

Here's her story

Your last question is answered on the video as well.

aoxa;
How about the corner between door and window wall? This is an interesting idea

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/automatic-chicken-waterer-made-from-5-gallon-bucket

I like it, but like Camille said - electricity and water is not a good idea... unless it is manufacturer made.

I will be getting heated buckets for the goats. As long as they are not plugged into an extension cord they should be perfectly safe.

aoxa;
more waterer ideas (been looking for ideas already for my brooder pen I want to build) so these were handy

http://swampyacresfarm.com/ChickenWaterer.html

and of course on the thing this was good info

Are the cup drinkers suitable for ducks and geese though? I don't think it would be.

No more open things of water after what happened to Margaret.

At least nothing that is a main drinking area for the chickens.. I used the rubber buckets for all of the poultry to drink out of last winter.

I dont like the idea of the electricity in the bucket... Too much risk for a fire or someone getting zapped

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: I am proud!

 

[aoxa]

I am proud!

We thought we were going to have to get the white ones meant for RVs. Glad we didn't have to. Home Depot didn't have these particular hoses on their site so I had no idea they had them until we went in.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I haven't seen any but the RV ones either. Did you get them at Home Depot?

Also - I remember someone (was if fowlman?) saying that they used an aquarium aerator in their water buckets during the winter to keep the water moving to help keep them from freezing. (Like they do in ponds to keep the water open for fish.) I think that may be useful for when the temp is SO COLD that a regular heater may have problems keeping up - or when it's just below freezing and you don't have a heater.

Whatever waterer type you choose, I can say from experience that a good fish tank heater keeps it open. On my 2 gal bucket I only used a 50 watt; they go up to 250 I believe.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I wonder if you could get some kind of trough and set it up in a way that they can't step in it (maybe a wire grate over the top that they can fit their face into to drink but prevents walking in?) and lay one of the fish tank heaters inside it.

I think you could experiment with something like that this summer to see if you could make something like that...in the summer so you can work out any bugs with them being able to walk in it.... before they have to use it in the winter so you don't get any surprises!

 

[aoxa]

I haven't seen any but the RV ones either. Did you get them at Home Depot?

Also - I remember someone (was if fowlman?) saying that they used an aquarium aerator in their water buckets during the winter to keep the water moving to help keep them from freezing. (Like they do in ponds to keep the water open for fish.) I think that may be useful for when the temp is SO COLD that a regular heater may have problems keeping up - or when it's just below freezing and you don't have a heater.

Whatever waterer type you choose, I can say from experience that a good fish tank heater keeps it open. On my 2 gal bucket I only used a 50 watt; they go up to 250 I believe.

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/element-contractor-farm-hose/934839
Here it is. Now it's on there It's not cheap.. but we had them covered by insurance up to $50 each, so I got them. We had 100 feet hoses before, but they were not lead free.

I may just do something like this for summer at least. I'm nervous about the cords coming out of the buckets like that :S

 

[aoxa]

I wonder if you could get some kind of trough and set it up in a way that they can't step in it (maybe a wire grate over the top that they can fit their face into to drink but prevents walking in?) and lay one of the fish tank heaters inside it.

I think you could experiment with something like that this summer to see if you could make something like that...in the summer so you can work out any bugs with them being able to walk in it.... before they have to use it in the winter so you don't get any surprises!

I bought two of these to replace some of those cheapish red ones you can get at the feed store.. These ones are 19 inches long by 4" wide and 3" deep. I bought them primarily for the basement babies. I bought buckets so I am going to finally start fermenting again.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I hear you about the cords. The fish tank heaters are designed to be used that way and you'd think that if they were defective/short very often you'd hear about electrocuted fish!

I have had my eye on these things from Premier for quite some time contemplating if I could use them for something.

The think I like about them is that they have a wide base to keep them from tipping over. But that's also the thing I DON'T like about them...they are wide enough to take up more floor space than I've wanted to lose...

This one is 3 ft. long; they have 5 ft. long too.
Specs

• Measures 34" long by 12.25" wide at bottom.
• Measures 32.25" long by 10" wide at top.
• Depth is 5.25"

I was thinking about trying one for ff....just not sure I want to take up that much space.



http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=214&criteria=trough

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http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=98&criteria=trough
Specs

• Base is 60" long x 12.25" wide.
• Top is 58.5" long x 9.25" wide.
• Depth is 5.25".