The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[loanwizard]

Y'all crack me up sometimes..... No offense to you pet owners out there. I have some "Carla" at home.....

Can a 2 week old chick eat whole corn? Hmmmm..... I don't know, mine eat 16% hog feed from day 1. My broody chicks? I have no idea what the eat, but I have seen them eat big bugs....

In my way of thinking.... who cracks something too large for them in the wild? Mama? Or do they work it til it is manageable?

Another point that is getting to be a pet peeve of mine.... Wasted feed.... I adore Jules and miss her greatly. In fact, I have a feeder with welded wire over it. That said.... I probably paid more for that welded wire than any feed I wasted.

I have 100 birds.... So they toss some around. Don't they look for those and scratch it out?

I wonder, in dollars and sense, how much in feed I have lost? I fed the hogs on the ground today because I didn't feel like chasing feeders..... Heck, that that seeps in the ground.... They root don't they?

Am I wrong to think this way?

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: I agree! I can't enumerate the grief healthwise that toxicity from many things has brought my family, immediate and extended. In fact I would go so far as to say that the poisoning people encounter causes many murders, violence, mental diseases and people taking negative paths and getting stuck as bad people when that was never their heart's intent, nor their original character. I am speaking from personal experience here; I come from a long line of world-class career welders and 'tuff stuff' people who laughed at taking necessary precautions. Well, I can say with certainty, jails and morgues and hospitals are filled with the results.

'How'd he end up like that?' People say of murderers and violent sorts who started out kind and loving. Long, brain-damaging story... Repeated over and over and over again all over the place. A hidden epidemic. A bloody tragedy. Ignorance is not bliss, it's the root of all suffering, or darn close to it.

Quote:
I've often kept an average of 100 chooks of all ages, breeds etc freeranging together; I got deep litter compost going and feed them on their cage floor, only a much as they can eat in a day, usually less like each bird gets one meal/cropful and has to go hunt the rest of their meals in the paddock etc. They started foregoing the day's meal to bury it and leave it to ferment more, and they would go forage until the next day, then bury any fresh feed I tried to give them and dig up the more fermented stuff. Some chooks would bury it in special places (yes they got very, very clever at deliberately burying food deep and waiting for it to ripen) and dig it up weeks or months later. Worried me but those birds were vibrantly healthy.

Regarding your pigs, I'd think as long as they're adequately wormed often enough, you wouldn't have any problems feeding them in the dirt, in fact it is most likely healthier for them, getting natural 'additives' from it. My chooks do better fed off dirt, and the orphan lamb I'm raising needed dirt to fix her gut to start with as do many kids and lambs; just like the doctors now saying children should play in the dirt to strengthen their immune systems. It's the ingestion that's the useful part.

 

[cool chick 1984]

Thanks chooks4life. I've read alot of your posts when searching the forum and find them very helpful. I heard garlic powder keeps fleas off pets so I don't doubt the garlic would have to help with that too. I always have fresh garlic around. People are putting it in the water or in treats? We recently moved to a fodder feed. They have eaten onions before but it's not their first pick. They have had lots of wild garlic when I was harvesting that. This garlic from the store that I eat turns green, though. I would have to change the water daily if it had garlic in it to make sure it doesn't go bad? Maybe I will make a mash with kefir wheatbran and crushed garlic since they love the kefir so much. Our deep litter was going great for awhile with no smell but when we emptied it into garden beds it's been hard to get the sticks back under and the run leaks so it's a mess now. That's why I want to move to sand. Without the leaves it's hard to get it going. I'm all paranoid with dealing with the mites. I figured the sand would be easier to scoop rather than the turning that the DL required.
I'm def wishing the rain would stop because I really wish to white wash the coop.
I heard alot of people sealing their wood with used motor oil but it seems any oil would work. I was considering that neem oil to seal the wood up. I've been scrubing everything wood for days and dusting like crazy with DE and wood ash. This is the itchiest they've been so I know it's uncomfortable. I've seen the mites and I hope the DE is working.
I also sprayed some spots with the spinosad organic bug killer. One girl was running around with a dead bird when I was cleaning outside. There are birds nesting everywhere and I suspect this is part of the problem.
I've bagged up tons of stuff and I hope my efforts are going to start paying off.
This weekend I'd like to hand wash them.
However, even some that i seperated in a different coop seem just as itchy.
I have babies inside that I want to move outside within a month or so but I don't want to think my yard is infested.
I'm considering some garden dust but the rain is around every corner.
Now when the birds are in the yard I feel like an overprotective mother but there is nowhere safe to put them it seems.
I know a few mites are normal but this def is not normal.
That sevin stuff is everywhere and easy to come by but i live next to a creek and I don't like poison.
I think they've had the problem for a minute and now I'm so hyper aware that it's killing me.
It's hard to handle being that I've never battled mites before and thought they were all ok and that they feather loss was from the roo. Now I feel like I had been perhaps missing something. However, this is the most itchy they've been.

 

[cool chick 1984]

Cute babies stonykill and adorable turkey too!

 

[bbsnooks]

Another point that is getting to be a pet peeve of mine.... Wasted feed.... I adore Jules and miss her greatly. In fact, I have a feeder with welded wire over it. That said.... I probably paid more for that welded wire than any feed I wasted.

I wonder, in dollars and sense, how much in feed I have lost? I fed the hogs on the ground today because I didn't feel like chasing feeders..... Heck, that that seeps in the ground.... They root don't they?
Am I wrong to think this way?

LW.. i lean the same way.. no such thing as lost feed.
and after reading more on the natural farming way.. since i ferment - every bit of feed or grain.. is dosed with the good bacteria.. that they say to apply to lawn and garden.. I figure its a win win..
-- and i have taken over a very neglected yard / garden.. and it needs lots of help..
I think.. i'll deliver fermented scratch.. to area's .. that need the most help..
- feed the scratch there for 2-3 weeks.. - or untill the grass has had enough work up by the chickens.. Then move to next spot.
I feed chickens.. apply lactic acid bacteria in the scratch.. they areate the lawn ... apply fertalizer.. mow the lawn..
all i have to do is throw out the FF-scratch.. this could work..
humm.. I have now re-named.. " Work'n Chick Ranch " --

oops there's one of the workers now.. out side the front door.

That's why I want to move to sand. Without the leaves it's hard to get it going. I'm all paranoid with dealing with the mites. I figured the sand would be easier to scoop rather than the turning that the DL required.

I'm def wishing the rain would stop because I really wish to white wash the coop.
. I was considering that neem oil to seal the wood up.

This weekend I'd like to hand wash them.

I think they've had the problem for a minute and now I'm so hyper aware that it's killing me.
It's hard to handle being that I've never battled mites before

Hello CC. 84
I"m going to do the same with sand.. on the floor of coop.
I am going to try some thing.. I"ve not heard of. since sand is not so common bedding.


-- the only drawback of sand - i thought- is getting the "lab's" going on sand
They dont have a ? substrate.?. or food source on the sand.< until the poo get 's there.>
however.. after watching brian who makes the labs video on you tube.. I think he sell's bokashi. bran. that he makes with the lab's as a compost starter.
I think we could make our own.. ( much reduced price)
Using regular feed type bran.. at least that's what i'll use.- and innoculate that with the lab's that we make with the rice wash.
Or use some of my FF water .. to Innoculate the bran ( let sit/ ferment for a bit ) .and then mix this into the sand.

Pests.. and chicken baths.. i can relate.
i did that last week.. with neem spray and bath .. my skin still crawls.. i think the bugs are every where..
good luck.

 

[stonykill]

Here's your laugh for the day: My two week old turkey strutting his stuff...

that is funny! Definately a Tom there

 

[lalaland]

todays posts were so great! learned tons.

chooksforlife, good to hear about rue - I have it everywhere and will start getting it for the chickens. (it grows on the other side of the woods and in my gardens where they aren't allowed).

delisha, thanks for the reminder about liver - i got some for them and with the hullaballoo of life forgot it - its in the freezer, and I'll give them some tonight. The one poorly sfh is separated with a buddy and doing much better in the quieter environment. he/she even attacked ants from the sod plug, ate them with gusto.

 

[Quailsong]

Thank you very much, Delisha! I've added that to my growing list of fermenting ideas.

BlueMouse, I love his strut. I've bookmarked you & will subscribe next time I'm on YT. Looking forward to more of your vids.

Others were mentioning how they press/cut/etc garlic. I use garlic, ginger & onions very often in my cooking. Some days I just gather a bulb of garlic (that is, all the cloves),crush each clove to get rid of the skins, cut the ends then toss them all into a small processor. I tend to think of it as they're all being hard pressed - just into tiny pieces, very quickly.

I then toss some into my cooking & leave the rest in a covered tub in the fridge. Mine seems to get stronger in flavour after a couple days. By a week's time it's usually gone. If not, it'd start to turn green or brownish. That I'd just compost along with the skins earlier in the week.

When I get my quail I'll be doing the same thing, only with their own container in a spare fridge. I'll be tossing a few blended spoonfuls-worth over a week or so so they can get the garlic. It's one of the few foods I'll 'force' on them as it'll be in low amounts - the rest I'd like them to pick out as they need.

 

[Bulldogma]

Sheesh, y'all! I go away for 2 days and come back to 300+ posts! This was one of those times I thought it wise to resist the temptation to hit the "Multi" quote button... can you even imagine the length of my reply? LOL!

Took my son up to D.C. to see his paternal grandparents. Came home with 2 SFH roosters from Greenfire. *happy dance*

Someone over on the SFH thread offered me some of her excess GF roos after Gunnar died. My new boys are in the quarantine coop in the front yard, and probably wondering what kind of crazy water world they have come to (it's been raining like crazy since last night). But I'm in love. When the rain lets up enough to take my camera outside, there will be plenty of pics of the new guys! One is uncrested and dark based with blue and the other is a crested white based with red.





And hey! One of my photos is on the BYC home page for the "What age to let chickens out to forage" topic! Nobody even told me it would be up there - LOL! I kept looking at it like, "Ummm... that looks really familiar!"
One from This Post.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Ugh! I think my chickens have mites!