The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

it is going to be absolutely amazing! how great to be able to plan it exactly the way you want versus making whatever you have work. I know it came out of tragedy, but I am happy for you and Susan that you are having this wonderful barn.

We are happy about the barn as well. We wouldn't have even been bothered if the old one burnt down.. so long as none of the animals were in there.

I've heard of many stories since of barn fires. All had birds escape. How did not even one make it out?

I torture myself about it. Probably too much information.

 

[Pozees]

We are happy about the barn as well. We wouldn't have even been bothered if the old one burnt down.. so long as none of the animals were in there.

I've heard of many stories since of barn fires. All had birds escape. How did not even one make it out?

I torture myself about it. Probably too much information.

I am so sorry for this. It is very common to those who have suffered trauma/shock. As time passes you will learn to utilize the moments the scene comes back to you as intended to teach you something, and one day you will put it to rest. It may take years. It is the guilt that makes such events seem to repeat on an endless loop in your brain. You can use your experience to teach others, as you always have, and ultimately accept that there is no such thing as the perfect human, because humans are imperfect. Every one of us has made, and will make in the future, mistakes that we would give our eyeteeth to have a do-over on. It doesn't make our individual mistakes easier to live with, but does remind us that we do well to accept one another, indeed embrace one another, as the flawed beings we are.

 

[aoxa]

I am so sorry for this. It is very common to those who have suffered trauma/shock. As time passes you will learn to utilize the moments the scene comes back to you as intended to teach you something, and one day you will put it to rest. It may take years. It is the guilt that makes such events seem to repeat on an endless loop in your brain. You can use your experience to teach others, as you always have, and ultimately accept that there is no such thing as the perfect human, because humans are imperfect. Every one of us has made, and will make in the future, mistakes that we would give our eyeteeth to have a do-over on. It doesn't make our individual mistakes easier to live with, but does remind us that we do well to accept one another, indeed embrace one another, as the flawed beings we are.

Thank you

 

[BlueMouse]

so we had a power outtage yesterday. We've had severe thunder storms for the last few days, and finally lost power. Of course I have an incubator full of eggs, and had just brought home six turkey poults..... Thankfully it was ridiculously warm in the house (80). I still spent the last three hours of a 9 hour power outtage with a lap full of turkey poults huddled under a blanket, they got really cold once the temperature started dropping. Thankfully the turkeys seem ok, so do my week old meat chicks (who I wasn't very worried about at 75 degrees.) My biggest concern at this point is the cream legbar eggs in the incubator

I also have a question for a friend who got her first chickens about the same time as I did, but all at once as day olds. They're out free ranging full time now at 12 weeks old. She's spending a half an hour every night de ticking chickens. One had SEVEN of the little buggers on it's face. Her rooster had several on his wattles. We have an equally bad tick problem, but I've never seen a tick on my birds. I'm not sure what's the difference. Is there anything she can do to keep the ticks off the birds? I was thinking maybe a hefty dose of garlic in their food or water? I know that deters ticks/flees/biting horrors in dogs, but I don't know if it would work in chickens.

 

[aoxa]

so we had a power outtage yesterday. We've had severe thunder storms for the last few days, and finally lost power. Of course I have an incubator full of eggs, and had just brought home six turkey poults..... Thankfully it was ridiculously warm in the house (80). I still spent the last three hours of a 9 hour power outtage with a lap full of turkey poults huddled under a blanket, they got really cold once the temperature started dropping. Thankfully the turkeys seem ok, so do my week old meat chicks (who I wasn't very worried about at 75 degrees.) My biggest concern at this point is the cream legbar eggs in the incubator

I also have a question for a friend who got her first chickens about the same time as I did, but all at once as day olds. They're out free ranging full time now at 12 weeks old. She's spending a half an hour every night de ticking chickens. One had SEVEN of the little buggers on it's face. Her rooster had several on his wattles. We have an equally bad tick problem, but I've never seen a tick on my birds. I'm not sure what's the difference. Is there anything she can do to keep the ticks off the birds? I was thinking maybe a hefty dose of garlic in their food or water? I know that deters ticks/flees/biting horrors in dogs, but I don't know if it would work in chickens.

Ticks.. Yuck.. I hate tick season.



Quote:

FLEA FREE is an all natural treatment against fleas, ticks, mosquitos, mites, lice and other

blood sucking insects. It is a natural way to protect your pet.
FLEA FREE added to your petʼs food emits an enzyme which blocks the protein the female
insect needs to lay eggs and thus causes her to jump off the pet.
FLEA FREE contains vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes safe and beneficial for
the health of any weaned, young, pregnant, nursing, breeding and senior animal. The
combination of natural ingredients is an excellent way to build up the immune system of
all animals.
FLEA FREE, in addition to a treatment against blood sucking insects and a healthy
supplement for the immune system of your pet, helps to maintain year round a moist
and supple skin and maintain a beautiful thick coat.
FLEA FREE, as a year round natural treatment, prevents dry and itchy skin throughout the
year and needless to say, stops scratching and itching during the months there are
blood sucking insects.
http://www.fleafree.ca/documents/flea_free_information_pages.pdf

It is safe for use on livestock. In their water. Ingredients are listed, so you could make your own:


Quote:

vinegar - is perhaps one of the natural ingredients that many might call an all-

round treatment for many conditions. Vinegar contains vitamins such as beta carotene,
minerals, amino acids and the aforementioned enzymes containing ninety different
components. Vinegarʼs effectiveness includes: treating gas in puppies; preventing
urinary tract in male cats, formation of mineral stones and helps to dissolve hairballs.
Further claims about vinegar include lengthening life, improving hearing and vision, and
calming nausea. Relief of conditions such as arthritis, sore muscles, pain, and
osteoporosis; prevention of cancer, kills infection, conditions the skin, aids digestion,
controls weight, preserves memory, slows aging of the body and mind and breakdown
of joints, bones and cartilage. Small wonder Flea Free uses vinegar as one of the
natural ingredients extremely useful for your petʼs safety and health.

garlic - is sometimes called “natureʼs antibiotic. With its ability to cleanse the liver
and break down toxins in the blood, garlic not only helps repel blood sucking insects but
also helps maintain a healthy heart and healthy skin and fur.

citrus and herbs - provides vitamin C, complex carbohydrates, and anti-oxidants
which help reduce free radical damage to tissue and organ systems. Common kitchen
herbs such as ginger, along with vinegar, help your pet digest Flea Free.
I recommend this stuff all the time. I have found it works SO well. Ticks are not bothering my dogs at all, and last year not even the vet expensive stuff worked!

 

[brandislee]

finally finished the chick cupboard in my demolishing and redoing the storage end of the trailer coop. white washing is soo messy but I like the result. Used stony's recipe on the thing.





this shows one of the windows I uncovered -there is another one on the wall opposite the brooder cupboard.




I ended up using hardware cloth instead of chicken wire because of weasels - the trailer door is a bit cattywampus and doesn't have a solid close.




when they outgrow the cupboard, they will go to the floor. There is a chicken wire wall between this area and the existing coop, so the two groups will be able to see each other to help with integration.

am waiting for the phone call to go pick up the chicks. maybe tomorrow?

Wow that looks great! I didn't realized it dried so white. I would really love to get both my coop and my barn (which is useless at the moment- the brooder is in there, but I have no chicks in it and have only needed to brood my meat chicks and my poults this year... otherwise we just use it to store the mower and the 4 wheeler) cleaned out and white washed, then figure out some actual use for the barn... I'm thinking goats. Or more birds. The thing holding me back on the goats (bc I want milk goats) is their level of care required during the summer with kidding and milking and the like. We always have some event we have to travel "back home" (Kansas/Nebraska) for over the summer. I would not be comfortable asking my friend that cares for my chickens to also milk a goat- she is in school, works as a nurse full time, AND has 4 kids under 7, one of whom is a newborn. And her own chickens. I feel bad enough asking her just to throw some food at my chickens and collect eggs once a day. In fact this next trip I'm thinking about asking someone else. Anyway, anyone with dairy animals have any suggestions? One thought I had was getting in touch with the local ag/FFA teacher and asking if he/she knows of any teens who live on my side of town who want to earn some extra $$$ a few times a year while getting some experience. Is that a bad idea? And I have no idea how much would be appropriate to pay...

so we had a power outtage yesterday. We've had severe thunder storms for the last few days, and finally lost power. Of course I have an incubator full of eggs, and had just brought home six turkey poults..... Thankfully it was ridiculously warm in the house (80). I still spent the last three hours of a 9 hour power outtage with a lap full of turkey poults huddled under a blanket, they got really cold once the temperature started dropping. Thankfully the turkeys seem ok, so do my week old meat chicks (who I wasn't very worried about at 75 degrees.) My biggest concern at this point is the cream legbar eggs in the incubator

I also have a question for a friend who got her first chickens about the same time as I did, but all at once as day olds. They're out free ranging full time now at 12 weeks old. She's spending a half an hour every night de ticking chickens. One had SEVEN of the little buggers on it's face. Her rooster had several on his wattles. We have an equally bad tick problem, but I've never seen a tick on my birds. I'm not sure what's the difference. Is there anything she can do to keep the ticks off the birds? I was thinking maybe a hefty dose of garlic in their food or water? I know that deters ticks/flees/biting horrors in dogs, but I don't know if it would work in chickens.

I had no idea chickens got ticks. Yes, that sounds dumb now that I say it out loud because why wouldn't they, but I've just never seen one on my birds and I figured if it was an issue, my birds would get ticks! They aren't as bad as all that here, but they are bad. But I'm wondering if my chickens have put a significant dent in the tick population- last summer I sucked at applying tick preventative to my dogs, but I only picked one off the big dog early in the spring. No more the rest of the summer. Same with my kids- I found one crawling on my son's leg early in the season, then no more. And we live in woods. I think I may up the ACV (actually my main flock hasn't been getting any for a while because their water-er is metal and I haven't gotten around to getting a new one) and add some garlic. That flea and tick stuff, do you put it in the water or administer it directly?

Time to stop procrastinating... I have a bunch of Etsy listings to put up in the next hour before I go to my son's last day of preschool picnic, I'd better get to work!

 

[TipihlowLadies]

*Rant* I had to pick the absolute worst time to get horses. I cant find any hay anywhere. I found one person and they would charge me 600$ to deliver 100 bales of hay due to being too far. Im trying to get my horses over in a week and its being rather dissapointing so far.

That is cheap here in Oklahoma my alfalfa cost is $9.00 a bail in the field.

 

[Mumsy]

Thank you Del for the suggestion to take the the temp's of the poults. I did last night and again this morning. All five were in the normal range of 102 to 105 degrees. All poults are still acting normal. Eating, drinking, and normal poo. I took away the fermented feed last night and replaced it with dry. Put vitamins in the water as a precaution as well.

I thoroughly examined the intestines inside and out during the necropsy and found no lesions, and no hemorrhages. Ingesta in the entire gastrointestinal tract was normal in consistency, color, and there was no off odor. I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Stayed up late last night watching videos of necropsy details and though I am not a lab technician and did not send samples of tissue to a lab...I saw nothing to indicate disease, injury, or blockage.

My gut instinct is this poult died from one or both of these possibilities. It flew up and hit the wall of the pen and died of trauma or it's heart stopped. Or both. There are two heart conditions of turkeys that cause sudden death. Both are genetic. Both can occur under seven weeks of age.

I'm watching the other five poults carefully to the point of obsession now.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Rooster Limping!

How am I supposed to catch a teenage cockerel (20 wk) during the day to check his foot? (Or dare I wait until dark?)

 

[Leahs Mom]

The thing holding me back on the goats (bc I want milk goats) is their level of care required during the summer with kidding and milking and the like. We always have some event we have to travel "back home" (Kansas/Nebraska) for over the summer. I would not be comfortable asking my friend that cares for my chickens to also milk a goat- she is in school, works as a nurse full time, AND has 4 kids under 7, one of whom is a newborn. And her own chickens. I feel bad enough asking her just to throw some food at my chickens and collect eggs once a day. In fact this next trip I'm thinking about asking someone else. Anyway, anyone with dairy animals have any suggestions? One thought I had was getting in touch with the local ag/FFA teacher and asking if he/she knows of any teens who live on my side of town who want to earn some extra $$$ a few times a year while getting some experience. Is that a bad idea? And I have no idea how much would be appropriate to pay...

I have the same questions every time I think of getting a milk animal. Always makes me re-think...