The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Hi my name is Jenn & I am momma chick failure lol

Tiny tots were piled in a corner when I just checked. I tried for 10 minutes to get them to roost both on the small branch and the lowest 2x4. The BR kept trying to crawl under the BCM knocking them off *sigh*. I gave up and put them in the wicker baskets I left in there for them to play in. After a couple minutes of getting comfortable they all settled down making their cute trilling noise.............well there is always tomorrow night.

I know the BCM can reach the lowest big girl roost. She was on it today. They just need to figure out roosting is for bed time to :/

 

[midnightroo]

Hi, long day out doors today then a bonfire with new neighbors so I am pooped. Just wanted to give an update on my hen. Agree it is sour crop and not impacted. Grabbed her a few times today and twice gave her some good massages. She even closed her eyes several times. It seemed as if the crop would go down and then it would grow again, is that what sour crop does? It seemed to become bloated again. I could hear gruggling, she would also tap her mouth open and close (like another person mentioned as if she were burping) and she did have some funky stuff about her muff. I fear I am not as observant as I had hoped, I could feel her keel and it was very sharp. Sorry, I am putting human feelings to her actions, but she did seem to enjoy the massages. The last time I massaged her I let my grip loosen and she didn't jump away. She is my bird that runs away if you look in her direction.

Keeping my fingers crossed she looks good in the morning and I will give her some yogurt. I wanted to give her some tonight, but didn't. Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions.

 

[midnightroo]

Ugh, can you tell I am tired? First photo is the resin shed not all the way up that is for the chickens. It is up, but my daughter didn't get a completed photo I guess. Middle one is just a pretty iris she took and the last is the littles dust bathing.

Goodnight and thanks again for the help today.

 

[Sally8]

Hi my name is Jenn & I am momma chick failure lol

Tiny tots were piled in a corner when I just checked. I tried for 10 minutes to get them to roost both on the small branch and the lowest 2x4. The BR kept trying to crawl under the BCM knocking them off *sigh*. I gave up and put them in the wicker baskets I left in there for them to play in. After a couple minutes of getting comfortable they all settled down making their cute trilling noise.............well there is always tomorrow night.

I know the BCM can reach the lowest big girl roost. She was on it today. They just need to figure out roosting is for bed time to

Jenn is not a mamma chick failure. 1. The chicks previous momma had not had them out at all. They had never even seen a blade of grass, Bad previous chick momma

2. They had a tiny roost but might not have used it. One of the slightly larger chicks might have pecked her off. (Sounds bad, doesn't it) Sit back and relax. They will roost when they want to. Build it (install the roost) and they will come.

 

[jlynnet]

Not to worry Jenn! They will roost when they want to. I have a coop full of 7 & 9 week olds. Some have been roosting since I put them out there over a month ago. Others still snuggle in a pile. They figure it out.

 

[Child of Noah]

They survived just fine......I knew they woul,d it just made me feel better to put them in the basket

I never had chicks this young. Tonight they will have baby roosts !!

They were up by 6 attacking the feeder & running around like goof balls. They look so happy & healthy & I am enjoying them so much.
My mom just checked on the tinys and Edie is eating beside them without pecking them. Guess she decided little sisters are not so bad

I gave them a hunk of watermelon.....they haven't tried it yet. baby steps.....

So I made sure to thank my DH this morning (he served in Kuwait in 1991 clearing a major road of undetonated ordinance and bombed out vehicles on a major roadway and clearing bunkers). Of course then he corrected me and said that Memorial Day is for remembering those who lost their lives in wars and Veterans Day is for the veterans. So I slapped him upside the head and told him not to be so difficult.

My Beloved Husband and I both had the day off! We had a lovely day, we attended the General Clinton Canoe Regatta - and learned that it is the World's Longest one day flat water canoe race. Which is pretty cool. I have a nice sunburn happening. We went to the cemetery and paid honor to his parents. Both he and his father are veterans.
My Beloved Husband also honked and waved at every vehicle that had a military sticker.
Oh, and he decided that the next time we have a long weekend off we should go to Virginia.

Hope you have some chickies for me.

Good job, LoanWizard! May we see many more articles from you in the near future!

----

Someone was mentioning raising mealworms, costs & whatnot. I just want to put in a friendly reminder to folks that mealworms for some may be the source of their 'mysterious' allergies. If you're allergic to Bloodworms (Midge Fly larvae) you're most likely allergic to MW's.

I am SO glad you mentioned this a few weeks ago! I was very sick for quite a while, I got rid of the mealworms, and I am finally feeling better.

Mealworms, I tried raising them, I gave up after two colony crashes and then very little progress, takes forever to get enough to feed out any at all, and no where near on a daily basis.

Dubias are much more bang for your buck for sure, costs me nearly nothing to feed (food scraps garden veggies especially root veggies and boiled chicken eggs) I modified a non working freezer and have that for housing my husband hooked up a red heat light w/ thermostat control. My chickens get them several times a week.

I am working on starting red wigglers, mostly finished the bed now I'm working on putting substrates in I hope to stock it soon. I have tried bsf larva we have plenty in this area but so far haven't figured out an easy hands off way of doing it. But if I do won't worry about saving them just feeding during natural season here which is about 6 months.

I love your knowledge of creepy crawlies. I happen to have a non-working freezer..... with mealworms out of the question since they were killing me, I might try dubias.

We do too! I have a whole section of our yard that is tore up from me and my hubby digging for worms. They wait right at our feed to see what we turn over for them - lots of yummy earthworms! The girls will come running if they see me with a shovel.

My dog has her "dig" area of the yard, and the chickens love to go after her and find what she has unearthed.

starling -
Now this is just my opinion and not expert by any means. But I think I'd remove everything from the water and just give them fresh, clean water.

I, personally, have always had a little "twinge" when I hear about folks putting things in their water source on a regular basis. I know lots of folks do that. I just have this thought that they NEED water, but if there is something in it, they HAVE to drink it and can't reject it if it's bothering them. It forces them to have to take something in.

I like giving plain water and figuring out another way to administer other things. Unless there is a demonstrated need for a medication that I need to force.


So...again, just me personally, I would remove the stuff from the water. If you want to give some ACV you can put a tiny bit in their feed. Oregano oil is very strong. I know because I took some when I had a cold and a teeny bit will about gag you. I have mixed some of it into fermented feed on occasion, but usually just mix in fresh or dried oregano rather than the oil. If I do use the oil, it's probably about 1 drop in about 3/4 gallon of feed and that seeed almost too strong.

x2 all living things need fresh water. Plain water.

Gimme, gimme, gimme...........

Oh and tiny tots were on the lowest big girl roost earlier. It was one of the BCM & Edie. I'm hoping the roost at bedtime........last check they were having a bed time snack.

Oh and I figured a way to keep the dogs from staring the babies down all day

Double layer of burlap. Still lets air & light in but dogs can't see them. Hopefully that means they will lose interest in them.

Oh and apparently Lily Likes raw eggs......... I had the dogs in the house and the egg carton was turned over & in the living room one whole egg was sitting there & 2 broken eaten eggs

ugh!!

I like the burlap

and what cute housing!

Hi my name is Jenn & I am momma chick failure lol

Tiny tots were piled in a corner when I just checked. I tried for 10 minutes to get them to roost both on the small branch and the lowest 2x4. The BR kept trying to crawl under the BCM knocking them off *sigh*. I gave up and put them in the wicker baskets I left in there for them to play in. After a couple minutes of getting comfortable they all settled down making their cute trilling noise.............well there is always tomorrow night.

I know the BCM can reach the lowest big girl roost. She was on it today. They just need to figure out roosting is for bed time to

They will get it eventually. You're not a momma chick failure.

My ducklings are 6 weeks old and looking quite tasty ... their "pain the rear" is outweighing their "cute" factor.

 

[OohLaLa]

I don't want to consume this thread with pictures of my rebuild, but it's hard to contain my excitement. Hope you guys don't mind.



Anyway.. today the front siding has started going on. Rod said he estimates next week (Wednesday) he will be done. That is dependant on the subcontractors (Electrician mostly). Under the two front windows to the right and left we will have pop doors. I got to thinking.. I don't want to think about the goats coming in through the sliding door and eating the feed.

For those of you who have goats.. would this just be wishful thinking? Would they still get in through the pop doors? Trying to size them out so they are too small for the dogs (except Chloe) so hoping that will keep the goats out as well.

They are going to share a pasture, but not the same part of the barn. What should I implement to keep goats out of the feed troughs?

Love your barn keep the photos coming

 

[armorfirelady]

Hi my name is Jenn

Jenn is not a mamma chick failure.  1.  The chicks previous momma had not had them out at all.  They had never even seen a blade of grass,  Bad previous chick momma    2.  They had a tiny roost but might not have used it.  One of the slightly larger chicks might have pecked her off.  (Sounds bad, doesn't it)  Sit back and relax.  They will roost when they want to.  Build it (install the roost) and they will come. 

Thanks. I really wasn't to upset. I was just hoping they would roost. Everybody was up this morning in this yucky rain........but Edie is still roosting.......maybe she still thinks its still night time lol. I petted her and told her to keep an eye on the tiny tots. Hopefully she got off the roost to stretch her legs. Kind of dreary in the run with the blue tarp down on one side but it will keep them dry. Hopefully the ain is short lived. I wanted to work on the coops some more today.

I think I will give the babies some wheat hay so they have something to entertain them. I didn't open the pop door yet since I didn't figure they would go out in the rain.

The big girls of course dont mind the rain. There are worms to find!! Tho they did yell at me regardless so I gave them a little FF for a snack. Nothing funnier than 4 big hens out in the rain all poofed up on the prowl for worms

 

[lalaland]

ACK! I wonder if I could figure out a feed formula that doesn't include corn for chickens. Heck, I wonder if I can figure out feed for myself that doesn't include corn or any gmo stuff....

found this on a thread this morning about someones experience with meaties that aren't growing right - at a month they still aren't feathered - and the hatchery basically said it was because the parents of the eggs were fed gmo. I coud only watch a little before becoming so discouraged and depressed.


Jeff Smith interviews Stephanie Steneff - amazing revelations!:

Monsanto's Roundup Herbicide—Featuring the Darth Vader Chemical

http://action.responsibletechnology.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=11129

 

[RedRidge]

ACK! I wonder if I could figure out a feed formula that doesn't include corn for chickens. Heck, I wonder if I can figure out feed for myself that doesn't include corn or any gmo stuff....

Absolutely...
Is your reasoning for wanting to avoid corn because most of it is gmo, or because you just don't want to feed corn?
Will be glad to help with ration... where do you live? do you have access to local grains? is there a feed store or coop that can order grains for you?

My goal was to develop a ration that was non-gmo and had no soy. I do feed corn, but feed non-gmo corn.
To that I add field peas and either wheat or oats.
I ferment that... then add Nutribalancer, Alfalfa, sometimes Kelp, and different amounts of limestone and Fish Meal depending on the management group I'm feeding (what levels of certain things they need like protein).

To get a decent amount of protein for layers without adding too much Fish meal (it's not cheap and too much will give you fishy eggs), using field peas is the best thing I've found. JMO of course.