The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[NanaLynn]

I am a thief and I steal photos! Check out the Weekly Country Shoot Out on the thing to see if I stole one (or three) of yours.

Great pics and you helped me with going from sand to deep litter by the way, so thank you! I've been checking out those links at that place or on that thing.

 

[Bulldogma]

Great pics and you helped me with going from sand to deep litter by the way, so thank you! I've been checking out those links at that place or on that thing.

Wonderful! One of the main reasons we set up the thing was to organize all the great information shared here by all the amazing people on this thread. It's too hard to weed through a thread this large to find the info you know was somewhere...

So happy you're finding the links on the index page helpful!!

 

[salt and pepper]

S&P - how will you be using the DE?

To dust the coops to keep critters a bay, and was looking into how to uses it to prevent my dogs from getting worms.

 

[elmtree]

doesn't sound like a weasel to me. They are so small there is no need to dig. I'm guessing raccoon. My stream, the Stonykill is at least 200 yards from my coops. That is a LONG way for a tiny weasel to go to eat. But who knows. I have them, but suspect they don't always live near water. The more I think about it the more I think your friend had coons. Several coons. this is a weasel. note one of them is on a small grden edging shovel. Also note the neck wound on that one. William the cat killed that one.

Ok not chicken related but I was perusing and noticed you have an orange tabby (I think that's what they are called) named William. Me too!! My DH and DS thought that was so cool!!

 

[OohLaLa]

Got some pics of my new pullets when supervised free-ranging this morning...

Still wondering about the cochin... boy or girl??








Edited to add - he/she "Monsoon" is 11 weeks old now

Very pretty

 

[aoxa]

You always want at least an inch of liquid covering the feed (once it settles) for a proper ferment. You can feed it right away (it will be wet feed) but it should have a good ferment going in a couple days. When you're ready to feed, lift the top bucket up a bit to let it drain and then scoop the feed out. If your "holy bucket" doesn't drain fast enough for your liking, you can get a mesh colander and scoop some out. I find stirring the feed with a plastic spoon helps it drain faster. It's all personal preference.

Good for you for taking the plunge!

I've never let sitting water stay on top. Mainly because I hate draining it. I find it ferments just fine. It has maybe a mm of moisture on top, but nothing that will make it not able to serve right away. When you stir, you get liquid coming up from the bottom, but that's how I thought it was supposed to be.

I am only using one bucket right now. I didn't have a drill at the time I bought the buckets and couldn't wait. I will be doing it like that once I have a big amount to feed - because I find it so much better, but it's working for now. Smells good

I think I'm one week in on this one at least. Last one was making me nervous with how much yoghurt I put in it, so I finished it up and started fresh again.

 

[delisha]

Hello everyone, it's been a while! I feel like I'm that really bad friend who just shows up when they need something.

Rewind to february... I was going to order some chicks to raise for meat. I didn't want Jumbo CX, but I didn't really know what I wanted since it is my first time. Someone approached me saying that they wanted to order some chicks for her daughter to show for 4H, and wanted me to help backfill to meet the minimum. She ordered late, so the only meat birds mcmurray had were jumbo Cornish crosses. Ok well, I was helping out a friend. Then she only ordered six for me. Lol. Lotta trouble just for a few birds, but whatever. They sent 10.

I use an ecoglow brooder. I am using Poulin chick starter and just switched to flock raiser. The chicks arrived on the 29th of April, so makes them 3 weeks old this weekend. I lost one at 1.5 weeks, it was half the size of the others. Seemed internal. Chick was lethargic for two days before death. 9 chicks left. Yesterday morning, my husband showed me a dead chick. He said it was in the corner by by the door. 8 chicks left. This morning, one was in the corner by the brooder. 7 chicks left. All birds seem zippy and fine, not like the lethargic chick I lost at 1.5 weeks. No bloody poops, no respiratory symptoms.

Are they piling? Am I feeding the wrong feed with too much or too little protein? The dead are not flat. I've never actually seen piling deaths, so I don't really know what it looks like. I have read that CX just die. This is an unpleasant experience with these Franken-chickens.

ACV in the water?
They are also weather/heat/cold sensitive. Food sensitive. Room sensitive. They get cocci very easy. I would say they have cocci if I had to guess. There are 9 types of cocci. Most do not have blood in the stool. Raising them can be hard if you make it hard. They do well if treated like a regular chicken and made to go find food. They are pretty good foragers if you have a tollerent adult who loves chicks. I breed my own cornish. They range out with my flock. I feed them meat and a bit of grain at night. The chicks I have now you would never know they are the franken chickens. They are graceful till they get about 6 lbs. You might consider treating them for cocci, but the best way is to butcher out the next chick that dies. ...the intestines will be inflamed if they have cocci..also look at the breast..cornish get fibers in the breast tissue and it can go gangreen if they are over fed.

Ah! This has been an interesting week for us! Biggest was my m-i-l being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on Tuesday, then having to have our 15 yr old family dog put down last night (everyone was at peace with the decision) & next, culling our 1st chick (1 month old) from the flock this morning...

This is my ? concerning the chick - everyone looked fine last night. This morn I noticed one of my Doms trying to walk but legs kept giving on her, she finally succumbed and just laid there. Did some quick research & with the fear that it may have been Marek's, we removed her from the flock. It may have been rash for me to have acted so quickly but can not afford to otherwise. We chose not to vaccinate our flock and this has honestly been one of my biggest fears, how to handle, if & when it occurs...

So my question is for those of you who DO NOT vaccinate for Marek's. What should I be doing with the rest of my flock now, other than praying their awesome immune systems will kick-in & build a natural immunity? I feed fermented, ACV & do deep litter (although this is my 1st flock, so not built up yet). I am headed to the big city today, so would like some suggestions in case I need to pick something up that's not so readily available in the country. Oh, and I sprayed their coop down with LAB prior to their arrival. I am wondering about administering some herbs with anti-viral, immune boosting & activating properties - echinacea, peppermint, cayenne? I only have incapsulated or essential oil forms currently available - should a just put so much in their feed right now and sprinkle over their liter? How much in the feed (14 chicks 1 month old eating approximately 9 cups of FF ea day)?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Blessed weekend to you all ~ Kendra

PS ~ Always enjoy the wealth of knowledge represented on this thread and wish I had the time to follower more regularly!

I want to say how deeply sorry I am

For your chickens, you did what you should do. You have a sick bird, you isolate, if it does not improve..you cull. That what you do. thank you from the birds.
I doubt you have marek's, unless you brought in a new bird..did you?

You need to feed one month old chicks what they want to eat They do so much growing at that age. To me it sounds like a lot of food. But i free range so every thing sounds like over feeding to me.
I have over 120 chicks. I feed 4 lbs a day. That is about 16 cups a day. My chicks range in age of 12 weeks to one week.



Quote:

I'm taking the dive, and am going to start fermented feed! The part of it that caught my attention was that they eat less of it,lol. But I have one more question. How long does fermented feed last?? If my birds don't eat it all, will I have to through out the extra??? Thanks!!

last? I have a big 5 gallon tub. I feed out 1 lb of feed in the morning and add 1/2 lb dry grain, and 1/2 lb water. I feed 4 times a day total. I put in dry and water when I take out. I have the same amount of feed in my bucket.

I am sooo far behind. I was yesterday too, was going to post several responses, now I have forgotten....

Delisha, does ammonia soaked balls work for coon and possum? I have a possum I believe but hasn't killed any birds.


Works for me..


Love and kisses and hugs and well wishes.

I wish you enough....

Shawn

Right back at you.

I took the plunge and made my first batch of fermented feed! lol I got the two bucket, drilled the holes, and started the fermentation process. I couldn't get the water level right, first it was too dry, now it's a soupy mess. After it settles I may get some of the water out... or just leave it =) How long does it take to ferment?? I've seen so many answers!!

Soupy is good!! I start with soupy! I use a strainer.

Yes, you have to feed it
.I toss in all my vegetable and fruit matter in that pile and the hot chicken poo, the chickens keep it all stired up. The material is so fine and powdery after they compost for a bit. the top is layers with wood chips to help keep it moist.

I dug(not me, a little cat)about 3 feet down and filled the bottom with a few rocks, the sides with bricks and rocks..inside of that is old pallets slats.

not this elaborate but it gives you an idea of air flow. mine is pretty small. the inside is filled with wood chips, paper, straw, old cardboard, paper, chicken bedding. I started with about 3 dozen worms.(I think they are red tails) I have no idea how many are in there now. I know I have crawl out, but I imagine as long as I keep feeding they will keep happy. I also scoop some of this and put it in the coop for the chickens during the winter. Some use an old tire instead of wood to keep the worms. I did not want to bury rubber.

Are wild birds attracted to this especially at this time of year? Looks like a nice set up and fairly simple to do
I have not noticed any birds other than my own.

Quote: Mine is soup..I like the slop..the ducks love the slop

 

[Toast n Jelly]

here it is.

I've never seen it packaged like that before..... and with anything added to it and still be food grade.
Maybe someone else can chime in who has used it.

 

[RedRidge]

Ugh... No power. Haven't had since the middle of the night. Normally I wouldn't care but I have 15 Rhodebars eggs that have been in a bator for 17 days - lockdown tomorrow. And I have the dozen SFH eggs I just set in the bator at 4pm yesterday.
Bators are in the guest bedroom which happens to have "guests" in it this weekend for my daughters graduation, so I have no idea what bator temps are.
Stressing...

 

[RedRidge]

Oh... And 40 chicks in the brooders... No heat lamp. It's 67. Am guessing the chicks will be fine. Not so sure about all my eggs