The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Quailsong]

Do you know of Celtic Oaks? She is importing some Buff Toulouse geese for me next spring, and is also going to import some SFH for me here in Canada. I like things no one else has No one has them at all here. Would be so neat! She is a great friend, and is certified to do that importing.

No need to pay import fees, there are SFH's already in Canada. There's even X-breeds going one; one person in the Canadian thread that has a X of SFH & barred rock I think.

I don't know about any SFH farms in NB. But there's at least a couple in Ontario - Skara Brae farms being one of them. You could search the name for their contact info for purchase. (I can't link here due to BYC rules)

Best of luck!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Oh...one thing on the heat blankets.

I tried a heat wrap last winter that is designed to use to warm a car battery or engine block. It was made from silicone and was very inexpensive. When I plugged it in, the FUMES were so bad that they bothered me to be anywhere near it. Headache, etc.

Due to the fumes, I never used it in the hen house as fumes from certain items can kill chickens very quickly. Remember the coated light bulb story when the lady lost all her chickens from the fumes?

Anyhow, if anyone tries one of the heat blankets, my caution is: Test it out away from the chickens first. See if it puts out any strong odor/fumes. Better safe than sorry... the lady w/the coated light bulb lost her entire flock by leaving that bulb on in the hen house.

 

[Alibabe]

Just thought I would share.... I am so excited, I finally bought an incubator and ordered some eggs. I am not sure if I am crazy or not, but really wanted to try the incubating thing. I ordered a Brinsea Octogon eco 20 auto - does anybody use one of these and if so, what do you think of it? Is it a good one to get? It was going for a really good price so jumped at it as I did not recognise any of the other brands being advertised. Hoping I have done the right thing here!

I ordered some eggs 21 in total; 6 production reds (just love those birds and their eggs), 6 RIR which they say are pure but only time will tell if I hatch them successfully and 9 silver laced orpingtons - I really like the male that they showed who is supposed to be show stock but not sure of the hens.

Incubator arriving tomorrow as well as eggs so I won't have long to test the incubator before I set the eggs. I understand from what I have been reading that you should leave the eggs upright in a carton for a minimum of 12 hours before setting them so hopefully I will be able to see if the incubator is going to behave or not during the settling time of the eggs. I do have access to a backup incubator just in case.

Hopefully by the end of the month, I will have some new babies

 

[Ashdoes]

Our Silkie is sitting on her eight eggs like a champ. She's got them all covered and hasn't budged. I got her to eat some FF, which made my husband happy, he's worried she's going to starve to death.
Got an email from GreenFire, the chicks ship tomorrow! Gotta get their FF bubbling again.

 

[Leahs Mom]

All this talk about incubators.... My resolve is breaking down. I have 2 egg sources waiting in the wings and no broody... Eggs s/b ready by 2nd week in June from both... i REALLY WANT A BROODY to do the work. Maybe yet.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I saw 5 hawks in the area today and some of them were HUGE. They seem to be out in-force from about Noon - 3p. Kind-of scary.

 

[aoxa]

No need to pay import fees, there are SFH's already in Canada. There's even X-breeds going one; one person in the Canadian thread that has a X of SFH & barred rock I think.

I don't know about any SFH farms in NB. But there's at least a couple in Ontario - Skara Brae farms being one of them. You could search the name for their contact info for purchase. (I can't link here due to BYC rules)

Best of luck!

Have they been imported are are they a project to look like the SFH? Because there is a project that is similar, but not the true SFH breed.

Also, import fee is set - so it's the same for 1 bird as it is for 100 birds. I am already importing Buff Toulouse from her, so can't go wrong

There is absolutely no quality buff toulouse here in Canada. So sad. I had very good Buff Toulouse.

 

[Quailsong]

Getting format issues w/ quoting.

I'v always been wary of heating pads as a family member was almost electrocuted by one. Granted, that one was made in the 90's so I'm quite sure they've improved.

Though, the thought of having a heat pad w/ a container of water & sharp beaks/claws nearby would have me nervous. For hatching eggs, maybe...although I'd be concerned about cooking them on the pad side.

That is sad to hear about the lady w/ the smelly bulb issue. What type of coloured bulb? I use herp lamps for my crabs and they are very sensitive to smells but these bulbs don't give off any odour. Though of course, they're basically just regular bulbs coloured & marketed as herp lights. -_-'

 

[Quailsong]

Have they been imported are are they a project to look like the SFH? Because there is a project that is similar, but not the true SFH breed.

Also, import fee is set - so it's the same for 1 bird as it is for 100 birds. I am already importing Buff Toulouse from her, so can't go wrong

There is absolutely no quality buff toulouse here in Canada. So sad. I had very good Buff Toulouse.

I wouldn't know by specific farm/breeder. You'd have to double-check via searches online (and again, I can't link here directly due to BYC's policies). Though I'm sure there are some not easily found online. In my case, I managed to find a Canadian quail breeder by word of mouth & another on kijiji.

Here's a quote from the farm I mentioned earlier:

"Swedish Flower Hens were first imported to North America by Greenfire Farms in Florida, in 2010. At the time of their import, they were extremely rare, even within their native Sweden, and unheardof elsewhere.

We imported chicks in the spring of 2012, and at this time I am not aware of others present in Canada."

Didn't know the import fee was the same, although I've yet to bring in live animals across the border.

Best of luck!

 

[brandislee]

I am so behind- I've been super busy for the past two weeks, and you know how fast this thread moves!

Anyway, I have a question. My broody was due to hatch in the next few days. I don't know if I can't count or what because this happened to me last time, but I got a chick today. Anyway, that's not my question- when I found this chick, it looked dead and was too the side, so I thought it had died so she had pushed it out of the nest. But then I noticed it was breathing, and that the side of the head was bloody. So I picked it up and looked at it and it cheeped. When I tried to put it back into the nest she pecked it. I took it and put it in the brooder under heat, but I don't know if it will make it, the head was pretty beat up and I don't know how long it was cold. Should I be worried about her doing that to the rest of the chicks? One of the eggs at least (I only looked for like 1/2 a second) is pipped, but who knows how long it will take the rest to hatch.

So at the moment I'm camped out right outside her nest box watching. It's going to be a long couple days. Needless to say, if she pecks the next chick her leg band is getting changed from "broody" to "cull." But is this something that she did because there was something wrong with the chick, or do hens just do this sometime? I guess a hen attacking her own naturally hatched chicks never occurred to me. Any advice or experience would be appreciated.