The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[OohLaLa]

Very cute. Thanks for sharing

 

[midnightroo]

Thanks Aoxa.

 

[Eggcessive]

Did I read correctly that All-Flock is the same as chick starter? Because that would come in handy for sure.

Yes, I just re-read my labels, and it is almost exactly the same (I use mostly Purina brand which is 20% protein) but there are other brands that may vary slightly on the protein (usually 18-21%.)

 

[Eggcessive]

I have a non-chicken related issue, but I know this is the place to ask this because in pretty much any other place I know what the answer will be...

My dog is off his food, and he's been puking since Friday. He seems mostly fine otherwise, although his energy is low for obvious reasons (not eating much for three days), but he still follows me around the yard, chases anything that moves (other than chickens), and plays with my other dog. He's eaten a little- I've been giving him eggs poached in chicken stock (which he kept down, although he puked up some water several hours later) and plan to give him some ground beef later today. Normally I would take him to the vet today just to be sure, but we are BROKE and the vet requires payment at the time of service. I know having a dog means financial responsibility, blah blah blah, but we're not like permanently broke, we're broke until Friday. Besides (and hate on me for this if you want, but it is what it is) our dogs are not our children. If we were to take him to the vet and he had some obstruction that needed surgery or something, I would either have him put down or I would see if the no kill shelter wanted to do something (see if someone else wants him who is willing to pay for the surgery or whatever). I won't spend hundreds of dollars on a dog. I know, I'm an awful person. But I'm okay with it.

Anyway, like I said, I knew anywhere else I'd ask the answer would be "go to the vet." End of story. But I know there are people here who do things a little different, so I guess I'm asking what would you do in my situation? Should I keep feeding him eggs/stock/meat until he starts to feel better? Could worms be causing this (I did see some funny stuff in his stool, which was a little runny, but I wasn't sure if it was grass or not- he's been eating a lot of grass)? Any other suggestions? My gut is saying keep him home until he starts to actually act more sick, and keep feeding him the good stuff in the mean time.

My golden retriever pup ate some carpet fibers unbeknownst to us (we thought he just pulled them up chewed them.) He vomited up a piece of it a foot long, but wouldn't eat. We took him to the vet who examined him and xrayed, and said nothing else was there. He didn't eat that well for a couple of weeks, then a month later he threw up a big ball of nylon carpet fiber that measured out to 40 inches. It looked like a green skein of yard which I saved to show the vet. He got better after that. My daughter the vet (not my dog's vet) did surgery on her golden that ate baby diapers from the neighbor's trash.

 

[delisha]

I am sending out prayers to anyone in OK and people who have families suffering in this crisis.

 

[Eggcessive]

On water, stock tanks, and gold fish.
Yes... the gold fish eat the algae... not a perfect job, but a definitive improvement... works best when the tanks are in the shade.
There are pros and cons to that however... we prefer to put our tanks for the larger livestock in the sun because they don't "hang out" at the stock tank all day this way.
If the tanks are in the shade they will leave the shade only long enough to graze close to the water source/shade and over graze close to the shade and undergraze further away. By having stock tanks in the sun, the livestock go to the tanks to drink and graze more evenly between shade and stock tank.
Sounds like a similar case for not having water in the hen house, but I have never considered it - food for thought.

Stock tanks that are short... also pros and cons.
The plus is that all the various size animals can drink from one... (pardon the skinny ewe, she is nursing twin lambs who are now 60 lbs each)


The disadvantage is that every once in a while you have an animal who just has to be creative... rather like finger painting with spaghetti, Beth has always thought the short tanks were for cooling off in... This water was clean not 2 minutes this picture was taken.

I had a Tennessee Walker horse that used to put his two front feet in a 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank and splash the water all over himself to cool off. That could be dangerous in the summertime if we were gone and the neighbors were checking the water once a day.

 

[beccasev]

Hi all!
I feel like I know so many of you. I've been reading the Road thread and then this thread. I haven't even started on the OT thread yet.
I don't have too much to add to the knowledge pile. My hubby and I have been talking about getting chickens for a while, and finally took the plunge in March. We brought home 8 chicks. Then a week later, I brought home 3 more, and then got banned from going to the feed store unattended. =) So far, we have lost one buff rock, only shortly after I figured out she was different from the others =(. I picked her out of the buff orp bin, so it must have been a mix up at the hatchery. The feed store didn't even have a buff rock bin, but she definitely had very yellow legs and otherwise looked like a buff orp.
The other ten are doing well. We have 2 BR, 2 RIR, 2 Red sex links, 3 buff orps, and an unknown. They are all hatchery/feed store chicks, but are healthy and strong. (for those interested, I also have two mutt dogs- 120 lbs of german shepherd/rottweiler and 45 pounds of neurotic beagle/german shepherd, an indoor cat and a garage cat, a 4 year old, a 3 year old, an almost one year old, and a hubby.)
I am naturally drawn to natural chicken keeping, because I strive to be more natural in all areas of my life. I prefer homemade soap and lotion to store bought. I try to cook most meals from scratch. I buy very little processed food for my family, so buying processed food for my chickens seemed weird. (I feed my dogs and indoor cat the best I can afford- low grain, high protein, etc.) All I can find here is soy based pellets or crumbles, which I am uncomfortable with. So, after lots of research and long nights, I mix my own whole grains for the chicks and provide protein-based treats daily. I also ferment my mix. I can't find fish meal yet, so we are making do at the moment with cottage cheese or sardines or mackeral, whatever I can get cheaply.
They have a large yard, and I free-range them daily for a while. I am uncomfortable letting them out all day. We have 5 acres, only about 1 acre is cleared, the rest wooded, and no fences (other than a yard for our dogs). We have neighbors on each side who have their own 5 acres, and probably don't want visiting chickens. It's a "country estate" subdivision- large lots, large houses, but no livestock allowed. Chickens only narrowly make the cut. We also get random roaming dogs. The chicken coop and yard butts up to the woods, which is fairly close to the back of our house. Most of the cleared lot is to the front and side. Oh, and it's not my house. It's my in-laws, and we are only temporarily here while they are temporarily elsewhere. So we can't really create any permanent structures or fences. Even our coop is designed to be taken down one wall at a time to move when the day comes.
I guess I have a few questions.
1) how far do they really go if allowed to free-range with no fences? The one chick we lost got out of the tractor in the middle of the afternoon through a small hole when they were about 5 weeks old. She totally disappeared- no feathers, no body, nothing. (And I searched the woods for an hour looking for her.) I'm sure a predator of some sort got her. I know we have coons and possum, have seen them in the garage. I have heard people say we have coyotes, but have never heard or seen any. When free-ranging, they tend to stick to the edges of the woods, and travel sideways, so towards either neighbor. IS there a way I can encourage them to go into the woods more? Or will they naturally do that as they get older and more confident? They do go into the woods a short distance, but never very far from the house.
2) What is this chicken? Any guesses? Breed and gender.

She is the grey one with the white wings.2 weeks old I think.
about 5 weeks old
about 9 weeks old

I had to share this one. This would have been a lovely picture of Silver (chicken in question), but I got photobombed by Queenie while I wasn't looking. Queenie is so named because she has always thought of herself as the queen of the coop. She is older than all the others by a week or so.

again about 9 weeks. Laying down for chickie nap time after a long hard afternoon of free-ranging while Chickee-Mama (me) worked on the coop.

Sorry I don't have a better picture. She moves fast and is skittish around people. I'm actually totally okay if she ends up crowing too. I want a rooster, but haven't bought one. The feed store only sells sexed chicks. Her legs are definitely yellow with a green tinge. Someone suggested EE, but she doesn't have muffs or beard. I got her out of the "assorted rainbow layers" bin at the store.
I think that's it for now. I am loving all the information and learning I've gathered here. It's nice to feel like I belong somewhere with people with more sensible ideas. This ended up being a long post, but thanks for your input!

 

[Kassaundra]

I am sending out prayers to anyone in OK and people who have families suffering in this crisis.

The storms here have been horrible, Moore was badly hit and all over the news, but many other smaller communities have taken direct hits from that and other tornados in the past two days and we still have one more day to go, tomorrow they are forcasting more tornadic storms.

 

[Eggcessive]

On water, stock tanks, and gold fish.
Yes... the gold fish eat the algae... not a perfect job, but a definitive improvement... works best when the tanks are in the shade.
There are pros and cons to that however... we prefer to put our tanks for the larger livestock in the sun because they don't "hang out" at the stock tank all day this way.
If the tanks are in the shade they will leave the shade only long enough to graze close to the water source/shade and over graze close to the shade and undergraze further away. By having stock tanks in the sun, the livestock go to the tanks to drink and graze more evenly between shade and stock tank.
Sounds like a similar case for not having water in the hen house, but I have never considered it - food for thought.

Stock tanks that are short... also pros and cons.
The plus is that all the various size animals can drink from one... (pardon the skinny ewe, she is nursing twin lambs who are now 60 lbs each)


The disadvantage is that every once in a while you have an animal who just has to be creative... rather like finger painting with spaghetti, Beth has always thought the short tanks were for cooling off in... This water was clean not 2 minutes this picture was taken.

Sorry double post.

 

[delisha]

becc..

welcome to the group..your chick looks like an EE. I see tiny wisps of a beard I think..cute chicks.
As they mature, they will venture out farther, find the best places to find food in the wood, they will think of the woods as safety as they mature. Right now the coop is the safest and they will stay pretty close.
I have a worm bed, compost pile, dirt pile, and I plant spinach, kale, oregano, lavender, lemon balm, mint, cilantro, and many more I can't remember at the edge of the woods on the path. It keeps them busy and pretty close. They usually do not go beyond 2 acres. When the neighbor plants her best flowers I can find them over at her house.