The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Mumsy]

Mumsy, and everyone else, here are the MB Silkies that have survived and now thriving. They are 7mo.

General Tso, Dark Blue

Marsala, F1 Porcelain/Buff

They turned out beautiful Trav! That General Tso is still my favorite.

 

[Mumsy]

feather mites in 4 week old chick?

the coopermaran chick has something funky going on with an eye, when I caught it for a closer look I saw that the tail feathers look like lollipops - the feather shaft is bare til the tip, so it looks like a lollipop on a stick. This is not the feather casing covering the feather part. I didn't see this in any of the other chicks.

They have wood ash to dust bathe in, but some prefer to bathe in the shavings. I don't know if this one uses the wood ash or not. I'll give it an ash dust bath tomorrow.

I checked over the hens, who are at the other end of the coop, and found two hens with some missing feathers on the side of the neck - some feathers are just gone, no shaft or anything, and then there are some shafts without the feather part. I've never seen this. The strange thing is that these fwo hens have the feather problem in the very same spot.

Isn't there a feather mite that eats feathers? Skin looks fine on everyone. No sign of lice, vents are fine,....

dang it, I think this is the year I am going to experience every weirdo thing that can go on with chickens.

The feathers on infested birds look raggedy and the chicken will scratch so much, the feathers will fall out. For wood ash to work at killing mites, they need to have it thoroughly worked in under all feathers. I do it manually to all my broody hens. I rub it in from the top to the back and under the wings. If a hen has mites so will the chicks. If a roo has mites so will all the hens in his flock.

Welcome to my world. I've experienced enough weirdo things to last me a while this year.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote:
Of all the Blues we have he is our favorite too. He is a good cockerel. Marsala is sweet as can be, still on the tiny side as she only weighs about 20-22oz. I don't think she will ever make "SOP" size.

 

[armorfirelady]

Hi all. On vacation the last week and no Internet at campsite. Not necessarily a bad thing but I miss catching up on here so while in town to do laundry trying to catch up.

I did get good news from home from my best friend watching my girls & babies. Seems they are all at the fence every day visiting. Looks like it will make combining them Tuesday night when I get home easier. No crowing yet that I have been told but Edie & Greta are still chest bumping lol

 

[camilleathome]

Im so sad right now. I gave the ducks a kiddy pool to swim in and today I found two of my Mottled houdans drowned it it

 

[starlingdaly]

Im so sad right now. I gave the ducks a kiddy pool to swim in and today I found two of my Mottled houdans drowned it it

Oh no, that's so sad. :'(

 

[Bill Matthews]

To brandislee: I am NOT a know it all but haven't figured out why the myth that certain specific color patterns in Easter Eggers ALWAYS typify a certain sex is still believed and spread IN FACE OF MUCH EXPERIENCE THAT NO SUCH THING IS TRUE....Good Wishes....

 

[loveourbirds]

bill Mathews, can I ask where you are from? I know and am related to a bill Mathews that raises chickens, wondering if your the same one.

 

[Bill Matthews]

TO Loveourbirds: This is going to sound VERY POLITICALLY INCORRECT AND CRUEL...Long ago in the country we really needed our chickens to survive, so foxes were the enemy...Every spring a bunch of the men would go out at night with dynamite sticks and blow up the dens...Really cut down on the fox population...Probably illegal now both to own the dynamite and blow the dens......Foxes didn't like it but, BY Gosh, IT WAS FUN TO A TEN YEAR OLD....To balance the ledger, since the foxes didn't like it very much Grandma didn't like the foxes eating her Barred Rock hens...One could say that the foxes were just doing their natural thing and since Grandma was an intelligent animal with a conscience she should have deferred to the foxes...Not always true if my memory of Grandma is correct, at least the conscience part.. The dogs are a great idea..Good Luck with the No Kill ideas, though..

 

[Bill Matthews]

To countrygirl74:......These are good looking Naked Necks..One of the most beautiful and useful breeds around for both eggs and meat...Had a flock of McMurray Turkens in many colors...Great layers year round...To the point, though, I wouldn't count on many eggs from Squeaky...But you won't need an alarm clock in a few weeks.....Still a chance that He is a she because at 16 weeks he/she probably should have crowed by now...This opinion is somewahat ridiculous but too much work to toss...Good Luck..