The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[salt and pepper]

What's LAB??

 

[armorfirelady]

What's LAB??

Here is a great video that explains it & shows you how to make it.

 

[aaggjg]

Would a magic bullet work?! Yes with a tiny little garlic press.. it took way too long and my hands were cramping!

Yes totally!! I never thought to leave skin on but read it on another thread... Best discovery ever!!!

 

[Child of Noah]

I had final exams this week so I wasn't able to do anything other than skim... so of course everyone was super active!

Shan: OMG the bears! I have had them too where they seem like they don't get alarmed at noises "anymore" but I think that is when they first come out of hibernation... they still are a little sleepy-dopey and don't respond rapidly to things.

I had a question about my ducklings.... they are almost six weeks old, and a few of them having been sneezing for about a week. At first I didn't think anything of it, they cram their little nose holes in water all the time and it is a natural reaction to the irritation of the water droplets. But they sneeze often. Should I be concerned?

 

[aoxa]

Some pictures of the progress from the week!



























We are expecting so much rain :/ It's been raining all week, but they've kept at it. Today it was down pouring, so they couldn't work outside. They did the interior stuff today instead.

 

[aoxa]

I had final exams this week so I wasn't able to do anything other than skim... so of course everyone was super active!

Shan: OMG the bears! I have had them too where they seem like they don't get alarmed at noises "anymore" but I think that is when they first come out of hibernation... they still are a little sleepy-dopey and don't respond rapidly to things.

I had a question about my ducklings.... they are almost six weeks old, and a few of them having been sneezing for about a week. At first I didn't think anything of it, they cram their little nose holes in water all the time and it is a natural reaction to the irritation of the water droplets. But they sneeze often. Should I be concerned?

Not with ducks. They sneeze in the water to clear the debris out.

Make sure to provide deep water at this age so they can really clean their nares out!

 

[Child of Noah]

Thank you for responding so quickly! (I love that about this thread) ... I never had ducks before so when I heard their little baby sneezes I had to make sure that was "normal" and I shouldn't worry. Thanks!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I don't see where the base being wood or cement makes any difference in Deep Litter. I just know I am lazy and the more hay, leaves, sawdust I put on at different intervals, the less work I have to do. If it starts to smell, add more brown.

Seems to me cement would just be easy to spray off when you're done.

That said, I am not a DL pro, but if I am seriously in error, someone will happen along and tell me how bad my answer was and give you the technically correct one.

Either way, you WIN!

I agree. I think you can do deep litter anywhere with a little creativity. If I had a cement floor, I'd do the same as I do on my vinyl floor. I go to the garden and dig up a wheelbarrow full of dirt. (The amount, of course, appropriate for the size of your building). I put a layer of that dirt down on the floor so that there is some live material in there. It will also have worms, etc. that they'll scratch around for.

Then I begin to build the litter on top of that. I use wood shavings inside. So I start with a thin layer of wood shavings on top of the dirt. Then keep building from there. I use a little rake to stir things up from time to time and only add when needed.

Some pictures of the progress from the week!



























We are expecting so much rain :/ It's been raining all week, but they've kept at it. Today it was down pouring, so they couldn't work outside. They did the interior stuff today instead.

That is freakin' cool

It's going really fast! When do they think they'll be done?

 

[Quailsong]

I agree. I think you can do deep litter anywhere with a little creativity. If I had a cement floor, I'd do the same as I do on my vinyl floor. I go to the garden and dig up a wheelbarrow full of dirt. (The amount, of course, appropriate for the size of your building). I put a layer of that dirt down on the floor so that there is some live material in there. It will also have worms, etc. that they'll scratch around for.

Then I begin to build the litter on top of that. I use wood shavings inside. So I start with a thin layer of wood shavings on top of the dirt. Then keep building from there. I use a little rake to stir things up from time to time and only add when needed.

Thank you very much, loanwizard and Leahs Mom.

I originally thought cement would be fine as well but read somewhere about how it leaches up moisture & would be terrible for DL method. I was confused then as it seemed like one of the best floors to have under DL (due to it being predator-proof). It even has a few cracks in it already so drainage shouldn't be much an issue.

Thanks for the description Leah's Mom. I'll see about tossing in a bit of dirt to start as well. Although I think I'll add in some dried garlic to ward off mites or whatever. I don't know the soil at all yet - so prevention's better than clean-up!

 

[aoxa]

I agree. I think you can do deep litter anywhere with a little creativity. If I had a cement floor, I'd do the same as I do on my vinyl floor. I go to the garden and dig up a wheelbarrow full of dirt. (The amount, of course, appropriate for the size of your building). I put a layer of that dirt down on the floor so that there is some live material in there. It will also have worms, etc. that they'll scratch around for.

Then I begin to build the litter on top of that. I use wood shavings inside. So I start with a thin layer of wood shavings on top of the dirt. Then keep building from there. I use a little rake to stir things up from time to time and only add when needed.


That is freakin' cool

It's going really fast! When do they think they'll be done?

They estimated at the end of May, but I think maybe an extra week to get the pens in and everything. There is only 3 guys doing it. They are doing it really quickly though. This is their second week from the slab up. Took them 2 days to do the roof, and a day to do the back siding and some trim work. This week was a 4 day week as well.

I am really looking forward to the end product. I am so happy with it thus far. It is not like the original exterior look, but I still love it.