The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: I have an enclosed run but the top is netting. We have a swinging branch though. So far the chickens do not care for it. I was thinking of taking it out. I have thought about the outside roosts though.

For those of you the free range your chickens, any idea on how to keep them off the HVAC unit?

 

[RedRidge]

RR are we talking Black Soldier Fly.. ???
would love to see your housing for them..
if it is.. do you have photo;s
I have some.. i'mtrying to get started.. thx

I have just several buckets... both for raising and for attracting... and one BioPod.
We are currently finalizing the plans for a wooden bin, but having trouble with the drainage part of the design... I do NOT want to have to replace plywood in 2 yrs.

From what I have experienced with this... it's not the housing, but simply getting them attracted to begin with that takes some patience and trial and error.
I finally just used buckets with household food scraps and put them around the farm and left the lid "slightly" cracked.
I laid strips of corrugated cardboard on top for the adults to lay in... then take the cardboard once you have several clutches and put them in the bin where your crawl off is going to be.

It's one of those things you have to kind of "just do"... kind of like fermenting which is my current project.
"Just doing" is hard for me because I'm anal and want it all planned out, so feeding chickens totally organically has me off kilter. LOL

 

[aoxa]

I have an enclosed run but the top is netting. We have a swinging branch though. So far the chickens do not care for it. I was thinking of taking it out. I have thought about the outside roosts though.

For those of you the free range your chickens, any idea on how to keep them off the HVAC unit?

HVAC? Is that a Heat pump? Sorry Can't help you. Mine never bothered.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
It is the outside part of our heating and cooling unit. It runs when the heat is on or when the air is on. When it is running the birds stay off of it. But for the past 2 weeks I have not heard it run. The weather is nice here, just right so that we are not using heat at night or air during the day. For some reason, my 2 roosters have taken a liking to roosting on the unit and not even returning to the coop.

 

[RedRidge]

We free range during the day, but I needed a good brood area for both hatchlings and broodys, so...
we converted an old rabbit hutch that was in our barn when we moved in.
We divided the top half, enclosed the bottom half with wire, then added corrugated plastic to the floor of the upper half (rot prevention).
It's working out quite well and I thought may give some others some ideas...

 

[Bulldogma]

I thought for some reason you shouldn't give chicken meat to chickens. I don't really know why not just thought I'd heard it. Any reason not too? What about giving them store bought meat parts? Maybe that's what I've heard not to do and home raised is ok? We give our birds bites and bits of fish as we clean them and they get any other kind of meat scraps we have and they go crazy over it. Love to quit wasting the chicken scraps if possible but I don't kill and eat my own chickens just by Purdue

Please check out This Link. It should clear up where this misconception came from and answer a few other questions you may not have known you had. LOL!

Try this!

I have always wanted to. Looks awesome!

I love this. Can you give me the source of this photo?

For those of you the free range your chickens, any idea on how to keep them off the HVAC unit?

I can't. LOL! One thing you could do is take a piece of welded wire fencing and cut pieces every few inches and bend the sharp edges upward. Bend the fence section to fit over the top of your unit and bungee it on. It shouldn't take the chooks long to figure out that it is uncomfortable to sit up there with all those wire ends sticking up. Just make sure none end up with cuts on their feet.

We free range during the day, but I needed a good brood area for both hatchlings and broodys, so...
we converted an old rabbit hutch that was in our barn when we moved in.
We divided the top half, enclosed the bottom half with wire, then added corrugated plastic to the floor of the upper half (rot prevention).
It's working out quite well and I thought may give some others some ideas...

Great setup! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[mg15]

I have to respectfully disagree. Historically, chickens don't tend to do well in houses as opposed to outdoors where they can get plenty of sun (very, very necessary for the uptake of vitamin D, without which a chicken's system does not work properly) and fresh air. It is in the nature of chickens to scratch, dig and peck throughout the day - something that is nearly impossible in a house. A house chicken would have to be caged. While there might be larger and cleaner accommodations than the average battery chicken has, a cage is a cage. Because it is recommended that chickens have a minimum of 3 sq ft of coop space and 7.7 sq ft of run space per bantam fowl, that would be one heck of a cage... especially if a person had more than one chicken. As chickens are flock critters, one should have more than one bird... so a minimum of 6 sq ft of coop and 15 sq ft of run for 2 birds. That would be difficult to manage in a house.

Also, anyone who has kept chicks in a brooder in the house can attest to the dust and smell created by chickens. There is a health risk for the humans involved.

I won't stand in judgement of those who choose this rout, but perhaps the suggestion of keeping a chicken in an unnatural (to them) setting is a bit misplaced on a Natural Chicken Keeping thread?

With all respect -

HI, Bulldogma,
I understand what you are saying.
But it was necessary.
I have one Japanese bantam that was sooo tiny she just would not make it with the others tromping on her.
She sleeps in the cage. And that's about all she does in the cage. Her food and water are also in the cage and a roost.
But she wanders round the house (she wears a diaper in the house) and loves to go outdoors. There is a fence between the bigguns and her.
She does not live in the cage by any means. Believe me I know about freedom. For sixteen years I rescued and rehabbed wild bunnies, juveniles, adults and pinkies.( We live in the city and I am a retired wildlife rehabber) Those buns loved their freedom and once they were up and ready to go I would take them out to a release area.
If Dottie was looking for complete freedom she would have it.
When she is done outdoors she comes in by herself because the door is always open.
If she were in the big girl area I would imagine her running out of there, with her pink tutu pulled up over her head and screaming, let me outta here.
I hope I have explained what goes on here with Dottie. She is pampered. One day she may be in the coop, but I would have to work with her alot.
Right now she is brooding on six fertile eggs. Day 16. I am fortunate to be witness to this.
Thanks.
mg

 

[BlueMouse]

We free range during the day, but I needed a good brood area for both hatchlings and broodys, so...
we converted an old rabbit hutch that was in our barn when we moved in.
We divided the top half, enclosed the bottom half with wire, then added corrugated plastic to the floor of the upper half (rot prevention).
It's working out quite well and I thought may give some others some ideas...

love this brooder!

 

[Child of Noah]

It is the outside part of our heating and cooling unit. It runs when the heat is on or when the air is on. When it is running the birds stay off of it. But for the past 2 weeks I have not heard it run. The weather is nice here, just right so that we are not using heat at night or air during the day. For some reason, my 2 roosters have taken a liking to roosting on the unit and not even returning to the coop.

If the problem is them staying the night on the unit, and they do not stay on it if it is running... my first guess would be to go inside and tweak the thermostat for a few seconds right before sundown. That would make it kick on for a cycle and kick the birds off so they go where they are supposed to go.

If you never want them on it? I don't know. My chickens hang out all the time on my husband's lawn tractor. The more he complains about it, the more they sit there.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I got Backyard Foraging in the mail the other day- really awesome book! I wouldn't count on it alone for identifying plants definitively, but there is information on several of the plants that have lookalikes, and most are plants that people are pretty familiar with but that most people don't know are edible. AND it tells when and how to harvest and how to eat them, and has really stellar pictures. It is very user friendly, yet thorough. A lot of the plants I was aware of, but many of those I didn't know how to harvest or cook, like daylily bulbs. Definitely recommend picking it up, and it's going to be a go-to reference here. I was finally able to make my first wild harvest of the season- I picked some really young dandelion greens this morning. I've never actually gathered them to eat, just to dry for tea. Not sure if I'm going to mix them into a salad for lunch or save them to stir into my eggs tomorrow morning... decisions decisions!

Thanks so much for the book review! I have it on my list.