The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Sally8]

I haven't been on since May 8th and I have 764 posts to read. But not right now. Got/getting rid of 2 doz chicks by the end of next week. Chickens popping out my ears and it will be nice to get my house back in order, whatever that is now.
I had 2 Silver Spangled Hamburg hens, loving referred to the Hamburg Sisters. One of them got hit by a car Friday. We can't get cell service, natural gas or cable but everyone thinks it's a raceway. In 9 months we've lost a cat, dog and now a chicken. planning on posting a few pic's later hoping someone can help me sex them. The Barred Rocks actually look different from each other, if I only I could tell.
Going to be a very hot day again but in the 60's by the week end. After rototilling the garden, we have 12 in of dry dust. I think I'll water the dust before planting. Brush fires still on and off here. Very sick, crazy people. Have a great day. sue

 

[AVintageLife]

Thank you, thank you! I'm not for positive, but when I went to the website it says our tack store has Lucerne products, which is only twenty minutes away (same distance to our grocery store so really great!) I know it's more expensive than I was hoping, but the low dust is worth a lot to me. I'll do some research on wood shavings and get it figure out. And I need to make a run to the tack shop anyway so I'll make sure they have what I'm looking for (fingers crossed!)

How big is your coop and how often do you change out bedding? I've heard it can last several months and still smell nice with minimal dust..? Any more information is much appreciated!

My coop is 8' X 8' and I clean out all the bedding 2X year (spring/late fall). On Saturdays, my coop chores include moving the bedding around with my pitchfork, occasionally pull a little out for the compost bin or add a little new bedding when it needs it. When I stir it all up, I can smell that nice hay smell again. I have more bedding in the coop in the winter (a good 6-8") than the summer. Another member of BYC - CoolCanoeChic (she's the one who originally discovered the Lucerne Gold as a less dusty alternative) - uses only the Lucerne Gold and I think she goes at least four months between changing out. If you search the threads for "experiment with bedding", you'll see how she uses it. I've only had my flock for a year but the best advice I learned on BYC was the poop board with sweet pdz and the Lucerne Gold. Easy clean-up and no funky odors. It's worth a try.

 

[Star Flock]

Worth a try, indeed! Thank you! This gives me something great to go on since my coop will be about 8 x 8 as well.

A question about the poop board... If I had a poop board under the roost, what if they tried to roost on the board? That would kinda defeat the cleanliness purpose, and I'm afraid the chickens wouldn't really mind.

Any thoughts?

Thanks so much for all the help, by the way, y'all are awesome here!!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I don't use a poop board, or any additives to the litter. Just deep litter of wood shavings. When I start it, I bring in a wheelbarrow full of dirt from the garden and put down about an inch or so on the floor, then wood chips on top of that. Turn the litter if needed and add a thin layer of wood chips on top every few days as needed.

I usually just build the litter up right under the roost as the rest of the house doesn't get many droppings.

If it gets too deep, I take out a little to the garden/compost pile or put it out the door right into the outdoor run where I'm working on building up a deep liter with the shavings from the coop and wood chips from trees that had been cut down.

Doesn't stink, stays dry (too dry, really).

Have to take some out more in the winter than summer as they spend more time inside pooping in the summer.

I maybe take some out once every 6 weeks in winter; maybe once every 3-4 mos in summer.

 

[loanwizard]

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!

Welcome! As far as free ranging, they range over 2-3 acres it seems... probably right where you don't want them.... at the neighbors, in your flower bed, in the garden.... but, they don't really go far that I know of.

The one thing you mentioned in passing that i want to warn you about is the coop "conveniently tucked" near the trees. I did that. The coon used the branches and nearly cleared me out in 2-3 nights. It is the main reason I free range.... But... in a subdivision, I would have my coop and run at least 15 yards from the nearest wood/weed line, also read predator cover.

 

[loanwizard]

Covered feeder- I don't cover my chicken feeder but I did build one for my hogs once. I look for free stuff.Wood, metal, another mans junk....

I have been collecting pallets recently so this is what I would do, and plan to build this weekend for my weaners then meat chickens.... dual purpose.

A typical skid has 8 pieces of usable wood. 3 thicker undersides (2x4) and 5 wide narrow slats (3/4 x 5) more or less. I use a sawsall and it takes maybe 5 minutes to dismantle one. For this project you need just more than one.... or 2 skids.

I would take two slats, V them up and screw them into a V. I would cut angled corners (make 2 triangles) out of the 2x4 and attach to bottom of V feeder as stabilizers.... Heck, it's your feeder, ad 4 if you like.... maybe paint a tree or two.... (Tribute to Bob Ross)

Screw a 2x4 to each end attach a roof section of 4 slats, connected by a cross section, and you have a cute little primitive feeder that keeps the feed dry.

Now.... why keep feed dry? Apparently, according to folks here, wet feed is good, and fermented, or old wet feed is better..... I guess I am old.... haven't tried that fermented stuff yet.

 

[Mrs.SB]

Love Queenies photobomb! Lol

So I let my 3 girls out yesterday to free range a little and they had a blast!! That was the first time they had been out of their pen since we got them about a year ago! Took them a few mins to come out but when they did boy did they feast! Haha I so wish I could leave them out all day I guess some is better than none though!

 

[Mrs.SB]

We have a wood box in our coop with just the front open and we hung the feeder in there. It seems to work pretty good for now. I just wonder if everyone will be able to eat as they need to once the 10 babies go in with the big girls...

I want to do FF with the babies so maybe I'll continue to do that and just leave the feeder up for "just in case"

 

[brandislee]

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.

Sorry, that is awful! I hadn't been watching the news because I've been busy, then I caught some last night. Really horrible. (btw, I noticed your little sonic screwdriver thing in your name thing... fellow Doctor Who fan I assume?).

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.

That sounds super fun (or not)... but better than the alternatives, I guess.

For those of you with any size flock that free range any size property:

Could you tell us:

-What kind of feed you give. all FF, non GMO layer for the ladies, non medicated chick starter for chicks or mixed age pens, broiler/game bird feed for the meat birds (broilers and turkeys)
1. Number in your flock. Good Question!!! Hmmm... Eight in the summer pen (they aren't free ranging right now because the rooster in that pen will fight with my other rooster, but he's going to the soup pot soon), 19 in the main coop, one lonely rooster in the small pen, 24 broilers in a tractor and 7 turkeys in another tractor (the tractored birds free range as well). So right now I have 59. And it's low for me this time of year- last summer I had closer to 100 (counting broilers), and the fall before when I decided it would be fun to do extra broilers to sell (it wasn't btw) I had more like 130. I decided to scale back a little this year.

2. About how much area do they have to range? technically 3 acres, assuming they stay on my property and use it all. BUT there's a big open area near the highway they don't use... and they regularly get back into my neighbor's trees. But it's a really big and more or less unkept little wooded area. I doubt he minds, so I don't really stop them. So that's probably another acre of woods.

3. How long do they get to range each day? Pretty much all day unless I'm going to be gone for a long time. It I'm just going to and from town I leave them out, but if I'm going to be gone for several hours I shut them in their run.

4. What is your experience with predation? One lost to a hawk early on, another lost to something (no idea, just found pieces of chicken around my yard) earlier this spring. Oh, and last summer two got out of the pen while I was on vacation and disappeared, so I assume something got them. I think we're really lucky because we live really close to a busy highway and there are lots of houses around us even though we're in the country, AND there's plenty of open space and things to eat just beyond this neighborhood, so most of the predators just have no reason to come over here. My biggest concerns are stray dogs and hawks- never lost one that I know of to a stray dog (my dogs chase them away, it is their sole job), and now that the chickens are older (bigger and know to find cover under the tons of trees and bushes we have) the hawks haven't been a problem.

5. Is the property primarily open pasture, wooded, or mix? because they don't use the open area, I'd say more wooded than pasture. Our front lawn is more pasture, I guess, and they do graze there a little, but prefer treed areas. As I type this I looked up and they're out in the open area beyond the garden They venture there sometimes, but never for long.

6. Compare the amount of feed you have to give them during a typical June or July vs. the amount of feed given in a typical January.
It is huge. In the winter they (layers only, I think I had like 34 of them) go through a 50lb bag of feed in 2 days... granted I think I overfeed them and that caused the death of one of my hens. Now a bag lasts more than a week. BUT I wasn't FF in the winter, and I think the simple reduction of waste puts a huge dent in the amount of food I use, not to mention better feed conversion.

Also on the topic of free ranging, if your concern (speaking to anyone whom this concerns, not re: a specific question) is them getting into a neighbor's yard, I find it pretty simple to keep my chickens where I want them. I was having issues last spring and my sole nightmare fear, even higher than predation (that's messed up, I know) is that my chickens will get into and destroy my neighbor's garden. So I just started using what I had on hand and closing off their most common pathways- I used some 2 foot wide chicken wire and saplings for part of the fence, then a few rolls of that short garden fence and some t posts. It's just on one side of my property, from the garden fence (since they almost never go around the garden fence, too open) along the entire south side of our property to the far west edge. They could (and occasionally do) go around the fence, but once they do they stick to the tree line, and I catch them and call them back long before they get anywhere they can do any damage. With a smaller property it would be feasable to fence all/most with garden fence (you know, that 2' stuff? They can jump over it if they need to, but IME they never do.

Oh, and anyone who visits the off limits areas too often gets sentenced to the garden pen (it's a 5 x 20 pen in my garden where I throw most of my weeds and stuff) and they don't get to free range any more! And more often than not this entire pen gets culled in the fall. So maybe I'm selectively breeding for chickens who stay where they're supposed to But I find my wanderers are almost always Gold Stars, and I don't breed them anyway (since they're hybrids).

 

[Kassaundra]

Yes, that is a reference to Doctor Who, a huge fan, from back in the early OETA, black and white, Saturday night days as a child. Love how the new one has kept the corniness.