The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

1st adventure outside - it is sunny and warm....they are 4 days old

ooohhhh so adorable!

 

[lalaland]

Does anyone have cabinets or closed shelves in their coop? I'm wondering whether to bother building doors to some shelves in the coops in hopes of keeping the dust out. Not sure it would work...


Also, the woman who was to incubate the 16 icelandics, swedish flower hens, cream legbars, etc for me is not responding to emails so I am guessing that isn't going to happen! and now it is pretty late to be finding chicks if you are not interested in hatchery hens. shoot. am whitewashing the new quarters this weekend.

 

[PatQ]

ooohhhh so adorable!

Aren't those the cutest fluffy butts ever?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Does anyone have cabinets or closed shelves in their coop? I'm wondering whether to bother building doors to some shelves in the coops in hopes of keeping the dust out. Not sure it would work...


Also, the woman who was to incubate the 16 icelandics, swedish flower hens, cream legbars, etc for me is not responding to emails so I am guessing that isn't going to happen! and now it is pretty late to be finding chicks if you are not interested in hatchery hens. shoot. am whitewashing the new quarters this weekend.

I hope you find someone else to incubate the eggs or to buy chicks from.

 

[mikkles]

Does anyone have cabinets or closed shelves in their coop? I'm wondering whether to bother building doors to some shelves in the coops in hopes of keeping the dust out. Not sure it would work...


Also, the woman who was to incubate the 16 icelandics, swedish flower hens, cream legbars, etc for me is not responding to emails so I am guessing that isn't going to happen! and now it is pretty late to be finding chicks if you are not interested in hatchery hens. shoot. am whitewashing the new quarters this weekend.

Where are you in MN? I'm in MN!!

 

[loanwizard]

Would maggots be considered animal protein? If so, there is a thread or post somewhere around here for that. Basically hang some rotten meat out.... downwind of the house.... perfect for Countrygirl if she can situate it so that it blows toward the privacy fence..... til the maggots come and the birds scarf them up.... then dump the remains and the birds eat it too.

 

[Ashdoes]

I'm still working on my dog, too.  He has learned to not bother the adult standards, but I still catch him looking at my Silkie like she's a piece of candy (or maybe he thinks she's a chew toy...) once in a while, and when I have meat birds in tractors he will stalk and pounce at the sides if they come near when the birds are still young.  I'm working on acclimating him to them- they're just starting to free range, and as long as I'm RIGHT THERE he knows that the appropriate reaction when around them is to lay down.  BUT I still don't trust him as far as I can throw him (and he's big...) so he's not allowed outside without me.

Our younger Boston was the same way with the silkies, for a while. We had both dogs around the chickens from day one out of the shipping box, and then leashed outside time. We lucked out that our head hen was good about letting the dogs know to stay away. Both dogs got pecked
pretty hard that first week, and after that if Waffle even followed the silkies too close, I'd pin him on the ground and the chickens would crowd around him and scare him half to death. Our Roos weren't big enough at the time to do anything, so all the training came from the BarredRock. The Boston's are now able to be outside all day if they want, and I completely trust them, which is nice since they're too high energy to be inside too much. Our new (new) Dane puppy tried to grab the silkies once, was reprimanded instantly, and hasn't moved for them since. He wanders through the chickens and doesn't even look at them, at 10 weeks I'm pretty happy with that.
It's nice when all the animals can be in the yard harmoniously.

 

[FarmerJH]

Quote: I don't think shooting someone else's dog is a very good idea, maybe whip out a google translator, keep it simple and they will get at least the point hopefully or find someone who would be willing to be a translator for the occasion, or you could catch the dog/call animal control. If they let the dog run wild, chances are they won't go pick it up and the dog will either find a home where he will be paid attention to and taken care of or be legally euthanized. I'm glad your girl is on the mend, good luck

Word- I'm too far north for BSF... unless I did something fancy and labor intensive, which I'm not willing to do. I don't do anything special other than feeding meat scraps to my chickens in the winter. But that could have been why my one hen died earlier- too much grain, not enough animal protein, resulting in fatty liver. BUT I don't yet see that as a reason to change what I do, but instead as a reason to avoid the breeds of chicken that tend to get fatter, like Orps. I've pretty much decided that I'm going to stick with EE's and get rid of the other breeds I currently have, and that is one of the reasons why- even in the winter they don't glut on feed and get too fat. Although two of the EE hens I currently have are large framed- I need to check them and make sure they're not carrying a lot of excess fat, and then I need to decide if that's something I want to breed for. It would be nice to have a hen with a big enough frame to be good for eating when I cull the flock. My original intent was to go for a dual purpose bird, which is why I decided on Buckeyes, Faverolles, and Speckled Sussex because all are DP and renowned for their flavor, and have decent lay rates. And I might still try the Speckled Sussex next year. But I think that as long as I'm still okay with doing broilers every year I'll worry less about the meat and more about the eggs. The reason for working towards a decent DP bird was for preparedness (you know, for if the s#*% hits the fan...), and I don't think that is the best reason, at least for me. Plus, if something happens I'm sure I'll be just as happy eating a decent sized EE hen as I would an only slightly tastier and slightly larger Buckeye or Fav hen... There are just so many reasons I love the EE's for my property- they blend in fantastically with our woody area (most of mine are black and white, a few have some brown, and I have two hens that are EE/Buff orp crosses who are mostly brown... I would like more brown ones), they know how to hide from hawks and forage really well, a few have gone broody (and I'll be breeding FOR that), they have the best personalities. I figure I should stick with what I love!

That was kind of a tangent, lol!

I noticed that about the blues and brown/partridges, and the mille fleur seems to blend in pretty well too with all the variation. I have a lot of rocks on my property that are almost the same color as the blues so they blend in really well too. I have a little splash roo that I can see from 300' away so I don't think his not being seen chances are very good, unfortunately.

Aren't those the cutest fluffy butts ever?

super cute! Where in MA are you? I'm just southwest of Worcester.

 

[dcba flock]

Hi natural friends i have nine bantams, two barell rock pullets, four brown pullets and tom the white and black dinner turkey which we'll probly never cull. we live in rural nys. have many questions. just saying hi :-D for now...

Hi
Welcome this is an amazing thread with super knowledgable people I have been learning so much from them! I am originally from the Saratoga Springs area! I live in WI now but it's a similar climate.

 

[stonykill]

I don't think shooting someone else's dog is a very good idea, maybe whip out a google translator, keep it simple and they will get at least the point hopefully or find someone who would be willing to be a translator for the occasion, or you could catch the dog/call animal control. If they let the dog run wild, chances are they won't go pick it up and the dog will either find a home where he will be paid attention to and taken care of or be legally euthanized. I'm glad your girl is on the mend, good luck

it is very clear here at my place. Your dog kills my chickens I kill your dog. Period. A dog that kills livestock is a dead dog. End of story.