The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[bluebirdnanny]

Materials for my 10 x 16 Woods Open Air Style Hen/Coop house will be delivered Monday afternoon!!!! I will be recycling windows and doors from the house that were replaced.

So they will be more secure, with more room. And the current coop will fit inside as a 'breeder or chick' spot or as an isolation if needed.

Now just to get it built before it gets cold again. Wish me luck and no accidents! No money left to pay someone to do it for me. So we will see how I do by myself.

Then a more secure run for when I have to leave. At least in the new coop they will have fresh air and sunlight even if I have to secure them while I am gone from home.

Oh and my son and wife are planning on adopting the JUST BORN sister of the little one they have guardianship/custody of now..... That will be five children in the household. The newborn is premie and still in the hospital until the drugs she was born with are detoxed from her system! Kudos to my DIL for wanting to take this on. They will be adopting both the girls ASAP to keep them out of the system. She came from that kind of life and doesn't want to see them (relatives) go through the pain of that kind of raising.

I will get the oldest girl (second child and my sons first-blood) for the summer after the 20th of July. She is really looking forward to helping me "on the farm" with the chickens. Will be a good summer! And I will have room then for expanding my flock!!!!!

 

[lalaland]

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.

I'll do a wood ash rub on the chicks first, and then see how far the wood ash left goes on the hens. Will use sulphur on Wed when it comes.

WIll one good wood ash bath do it? I've no experience with feather mites except for having a jar of feathers collected on walks and hikes reduced to nothing from mites....(um, and yes, it is illegal to possess feathers from wild birds, and yes that was years ago)

Materials for my 10 x 16 Woods Open Air Style Hen/Coop house will be delivered Monday afternoon!!!! I

Now just to get it built before it gets cold again. Wish me luck and no accidents! No money left to pay someone to do it for me. So we will see how I do by myself.

I will get the oldest girl (second child and my sons first-blood) for the summer after the 20th of July. She is really looking forward to helping me "on the farm" with the chickens. Will be a good summer! And I will have room then for expanding my flock!!!!!

wishing you luck! and what fun to have your granddaughter with you for the summer>

 

[mikkles]

why would it be illegal to have wild bird feathers?

 

[Bulldogma]

OK - so my Silkie (Darth 'Bator) got the very last of the Gunnar eggs - most laid a week or more after he died (the rest were sold to help cover the vet bill) and only one started to develop. Well - 'Bator's last brood kept trying to help their mamma brood the egg, and it was getting knocked all over the place and pooped on by mamma's little helpers. Finally I put 'Bator in one of the isolation areas in my trailer coop (thank goodness for those!).

Anyhooo, I figured there was a good chance the egg wasn't going to hatch after all it had been through. I hadn't seen any movement when I candled it... but I left it under her and now I have located some BCM locally that I can slip under Mamma so she has some babies to raise (and I'll get eggs for my 3 other broodies - yeah - you read that right).

So on a whim I went out in the dark tonight and candled that poor, pooped-on, beaten up, rolled around, well loved egg... and saw an internal pip and the chick breathing!!!

I am REALLY hoping that Gunnar's last chick will be the Mille Fleur-colored SFH pullet I've been wanting so badly. (The last one turned into a cockerel - LOL!) Like a dummy I sold his other MF babies. So everybody keep your fingers crossed for a healthy Mille Fleur Gunnar daughter! She'll be cherished!

Here is a pic of my SFH pullet at 3mo.

Yeah - like that one. The ONE color I don't have. (At this point I seem to have pretty much everything else - LOL!)

*steals pretty pullet*

(She's lovely, Trav!!)

Materials for my 10 x 16 Woods Open Air Style Hen/Coop house will be delivered Monday afternoon!!!! I will be recycling windows and doors from the house that were replaced.

Hooray! and what neat news about the upcoming adoption!

 

[delisha]

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.

Wood ash bath and NuStock. Yes it can and does happen. You need to do the whole flock.

I need your opinions on a chick I have:
A while back my vitamin supplement for the chicks oxidized from improper storage and with the weeks of nearly nonstop rain we had, they didn't get to go outside so they developed a vitamin D deficiency.
The older chicks pulled through once I figured it out and some of the younger ones died but overall, I fixed it in time.
However, one chick (a speckled Sussex) had spent too much of it's vitamin deficiency time laying down and when the deficiency was fixed, her bones strengthened in a bent form that renders her possibly permanent unable to walk.
She does get around with her wings and beak and eats and drinks like a normal chick. She does have stunted growth but several of the deficiency chicks do. She is the worst though and the only survivor to not make a full recovery.

My dilemma is, should I continue to allow her to exist in my brooder because she does not seem to be in any obvious discomfort, nor is she lacking in anything other than the use of her legs.
Or is it more humane to euthanize?

I need opinions because I keep questioning my motives either way as selfish (selfish to force her to live in less than ideal conditions or selfish by ending her life when she could continue on just fine)

It saddens me everytime I see her. I made a sling recently to see if a gradual standing practice would help, but her bones are bent to the point her legs cross when relaxed, preventing normal standing or walking.

Thanks guys, for your thoughts...

Locking chickens in a building with out sunlight and fresh air has done more damage than just what you can see now. If it is bad enough that bones are bent and useless and stunting has occured, you are going to have other internal issues down the road. Perhaps more research is needed before you make your decision, not only about that one bird but your whole flock. The birds thank you for fixing the mistake.

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 look so beautiful Trav!

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....

Why would you say that? I need more information please. I love to learn things I have never heard of before.

Certain breeds are sexable by color alone..certain EE and Americauna's too.
Bars and solids are used to sex birds all the time by color of chicks.
Some EE's are made spacifically to be sexable by color. Please tell me more information. I am very interested in color sexing chicks, the whys and why nots.

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..

I have a cockerel who is 7 months old and just started crowing. Some do not crow at all if there are other roosters around. I find that different breeds have different behaviors. Not all breeds act and do the same as other breeds. I also find it not to be strictly breed spacific. I have had pullets and hens crow and cockerel and roosters make the egg song.

Materials for my 10 x 16 Woods Open Air Style Hen/Coop house will be delivered Monday afternoon!!!! I will be recycling windows and doors from the house that were replaced.

So they will be more secure, with more room. And the current coop will fit inside as a 'breeder or chick' spot or as an isolation if needed.

Now just to get it built before it gets cold again. Wish me luck and no accidents! No money left to pay someone to do it for me. So we will see how I do by myself.

Then a more secure run for when I have to leave. At least in the new coop they will have fresh air and sunlight even if I have to secure them while I am gone from home.

Oh and my son and wife are planning on adopting the JUST BORN sister of the little one they have guardianship/custody of now..... That will be five children in the household. The newborn is premie and still in the hospital until the drugs she was born with are detoxed from her system! Kudos to my DIL for wanting to take this on. They will be adopting both the girls ASAP to keep them out of the system. She came from that kind of life and doesn't want to see them (relatives) go through the pain of that kind of raising.

I will get the oldest girl (second child and my sons first-blood) for the summer after the 20th of July. She is really looking forward to helping me "on the farm" with the chickens. Will be a good summer! And I will have room then for expanding my flock!!!!!

Looking forward to pictures of your progress!!

why would it be illegal to have wild bird feathers?

for the reason of bird disease transfer to name one.

 

[mikkles]

Wood ash bath and NuStock. Yes i
for the reason of bird disease transfer to name one.

oops! I'm a criminal and didn't even know it!

 

[starlingdaly]

oops! I'm a criminal and didn't even know it!

X2 :O

 

[Alibabe]

Materials for my 10 x 16 Woods Open Air Style Hen/Coop house will be delivered Monday afternoon!!!! I will be recycling windows and doors from the house that were replaced.

So they will be more secure, with more room. And the current coop will fit inside as a 'breeder or chick' spot or as an isolation if needed.

Now just to get it built before it gets cold again. Wish me luck and no accidents! No money left to pay someone to do it for me. So we will see how I do by myself.

Then a more secure run for when I have to leave. At least in the new coop they will have fresh air and sunlight even if I have to secure them while I am gone from home.

Oh and my son and wife are planning on adopting the JUST BORN sister of the little one they have guardianship/custody of now..... That will be five children in the household. The newborn is premie and still in the hospital until the drugs she was born with are detoxed from her system! Kudos to my DIL for wanting to take this on. They will be adopting both the girls ASAP to keep them out of the system. She came from that kind of life and doesn't want to see them (relatives) go through the pain of that kind of raising.

I will get the oldest girl (second child and my sons first-blood) for the summer after the 20th of July. She is really looking forward to helping me "on the farm" with the chickens. Will be a good summer! And I will have room then for expanding my flock!!!!!

Congrats on the new addition to the family, how exciting for you all and what a wonder DIL you have who is willing to take on a poor wee mite that has had a hard beginning but whom I am sure will thrive in the care from her new family.

Good luck with the coop building, hard work but what fun.

 

[lalaland]

why would it be illegal to have wild bird feathers?

the federal migratory bird treaty act makes it illegal to possess any part of a bird or egg or nest - there are a few exceptions like house sparrows and pheasants, but for the most part, you can't have a feather or a nest or egg shells from any migratory bird. And of course, you can't have the bird either, which is why there are licensed bird rehabbers who can care for orphaned or injured birds.

I'm sure a zillion people pick up feathers, and sometimes the egg shells, and nests - some kinds of birds reuse the nests the next year, but some don't.

I'm guessing fed and state authorities have more on their plate to worry about than a few old ladies (me) with a few nests on the shelf from fallen trees, or a few bird feathers picked up on walks, but nevertheless, in a public forum it is not a bad idea to be clear about the issue.

 

[lalaland]

it is another stormy morning, lots of lightning, and the chicks are very freaked out. lots of screaming and scattering with the lightning this morning.

Also, I think I heard someone trying to crow - at 4 weeks?