The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[mlowen]

This was posted on the Fermented Feed for Meat Birds thread. It's a sustainable agriculture site and has TONS of free and/or cheap information on just about everything. (Marketing pigs, Shawn!) It's got info on poultry (coccidia & other diseases,) too. I thought we Natural Chicken Keeping people might find good stuff there.

Mel


https://attra.ncat.org/publication.html?pubsrch=coccidiosis&freeonly=all

 

[wlhtx]

I have to admit, you all are cracking me up a bit with the hot weather talk. Now, remember, I live in East TX where the summers are always crazy hot and humid (100 degrees + is par for the course here). I don't know ANYONE that doesn't have A/C in their house...

I'm thinking you all must be doing something to pull our hot temps your way. The high here yesterday was in the low 80s. That NEVER happens here during the summer and it was heaven. My birds and garden were almost making audible sighs of relief! Pretty nice for the humans too since DH and I spent all day picking peas - 40 gallons of purple hulls to be exact. Today's high only in the upper 80s. This has been a good summer.

 

[armorfirelady]

I know many of you put new birds in with your flock..
please understand the risks you take when doing so.
The risks are not worth it in my opinion unless you have the theory the fit survive and if they die or wipe out my flock it was meant to be.
Nothing wrong with that theory.

I know many of you put new birds in with your flock..
please understand the risks you take when doing so.
The risks are not worth it in my opinion unless you have the theory the fit survive and if they die or wipe out my flock it was meant to be.
Nothing wrong with that theory.

Yes I am aware of the risk. The only reason I put the new hen in last night was because I know sue and had gotten hens from her a month ago with no problem. We both have healthy flocks and haven't added new chickens from others. I know there is still a risk but since I had no problems last time I felt comfortable doing it.

I may regret it but I don't think I will. She looks and acts very healthy. My flock is closed now because I am at the limit I am allowed in my town.

And I definitely wouldn't suggest to someone else it was ok to introduce new hens without quarantine.

 

[fowlmouthgirls]

I have to admit, you all are cracking me up a bit with the hot weather talk. Now, remember, I live in East TX where the summers are always crazy hot and humid (100 degrees + is par for the course here). I don't know ANYONE that doesn't have A/C in their house...

I'm thinking you all must be doing something to pull our hot temps your way. The high here yesterday was in the low 80s. That NEVER happens here during the summer and it was heaven. My birds and garden were almost making audible sighs of relief! Pretty nice for the humans too since DH and I spent all day picking peas - 40 gallons of purple hulls to be exact. Today's high only in the upper 80s. This has been a good summer.

I was thinking the same thing! I'm just east of Dallas, and this rain has been a blessing! I'm from Northern California and we never had AC, nor did anyone we know, here in Texas, people die in this heat with no AC, I'm considering putting an AC unit in the chicken coop!

 

[armorfirelady]

I honestly don't mind the heat but I know enough to stay in the shade and hydrate. My hens also figured that out lol. I can sit on the deck and watch them stay cool in the shade of the trees.
I like the heat better than all the rain we had any day.

 

[Mumsy]

With the 1588, where do you try to keep the humidity levels? I was typically keeping lockdown humidity close to 75% with my still air LG but the 1588 says not to go above 65%.

I noticed the turner increased the temp a touch too. But with 3 little ones, I'm not always home at the right times or I get lost in time and forget to turn the eggs. The Temp control of the 1588 has drastically helped out in simplifying that aspect of incubating.

I would need a turner if I worked days too. I haven't had a job outside my home since 1983.

I don't go by the hygrometer that is built into the lid of the Genesis. I use a dual purpose one I get at the pet store in the reptile department. I do 35% until internal pipping then slowly bump to 60% at first pip. Once eggs start pipping, humidity is going to spike higher anyway.

edited to add: Justine, I agree. If the temp is too high while saving eggs, it can certainly affect them. I also agree that broody hens do the best job of hatching Silkies. I have Judy the Broody sitting on a clutch right now. She and I are in a challenge at who can get the most live chicks. She is great about brooding Silkie eggs. She wasn't that great of a mother to the one she hatched. She abandoned the chick at three weeks and started laying and roosting again. She would peck at the baby each time it came near. Fortunately the chick knew how to free range, dust bathe, and keep close to the flock on it's own. It is a healthy, vibrant chick now. I hope Judy does a better job with a clutch of five or six. She acted like she expected that Silkie chick to keep up with her as the other barnyard chicks could. She would often run ahead with the layers and leave the chick behind because it couldn't keep up.

 

[aoxa]

I have to admit, you all are cracking me up a bit with the hot weather talk. Now, remember, I live in East TX where the summers are always crazy hot and humid (100 degrees + is par for the course here). I don't know ANYONE that doesn't have A/C in their house...

I'm thinking you all must be doing something to pull our hot temps your way. The high here yesterday was in the low 80s. That NEVER happens here during the summer and it was heaven. My birds and garden were almost making audible sighs of relief! Pretty nice for the humans too since DH and I spent all day picking peas - 40 gallons of purple hulls to be exact. Today's high only in the upper 80s. This has been a good summer.

It is not the norm to have AC here. Crazy isn't it? I've lived in four different houses and not a single one had AC. But every summer we get hotter and hotter. We definitely need one!

100+ is just not right. To have that on a regular basis can not be fun!

I would need a turner if I worked days too. I haven't had a job outside my home since 1983.

I don't go by the hygrometer that is built into the lid of the Genesis. I use a dual purpose one I get at the pet store in the reptile department. I do 35% until internal pipping then slowly bump to 60% at first pip. Once eggs start pipping, humidity is going to spike higher anyway.

edited to add: Justine, I agree. If the temp is too high while saving eggs, it can certainly affect them. I also agree that broody hens do the best job of hatching Silkies. I have Judy the Broody sitting on a clutch right now. She and I are in a challenge at who can get the most live chicks. She is great about brooding Silkie eggs. She wasn't that great of a mother to the one she hatched. She abandoned the chick at three weeks and started laying and roosting again. She would peck at the baby each time it came near. Fortunately the chick knew how to free range, dust bathe, and keep close to the flock on it's own. It is a healthy, vibrant chick now. I hope Judy does a better job with a clutch of five or six. She acted like she expected that Silkie chick to keep up with her as the other barnyard chicks could. She would often run ahead with the layers and leave the chick behind because it couldn't keep up.

Judy the Broody: How many clutches has she had in 2013 so far?

 

[Mumsy]

It is not the norm to have AC here. Crazy isn't it? I've lived in four different houses and not a single one had AC. But every summer we get hotter and hotter. We definitely need one!

100+ is just not right. To have that on a regular basis can not be fun!
Judy the Broody: How many clutches has she had in 2013 so far?

It is uncommon for homes to have AC here as well. New homes get it I hear. Temps above 80 on the Pacific North West coast are not the norm. If the temp reads 80 degrees in Seattle, I can count on it getting to 72 degrees here. My daughter lives in Seattle and 80 is nearly unbearable for her. She doesn't have AC either. I had two 90 degree days here and the chickens were panting but none quit laying.

Judy the Broody is now on her third go around since she started laying. She is amazing like clock work. She lays nearly two dozen eggs within a two to three week period and then sits. She is just a year old now. She just started laying five or six months ago. And she is a ferocious mother hen! Holy Carp! She is a terror to the flock when she has chicks but all other birds respect her and leave her chicks alone. That single Silkie chick may be an orphan now but the flock does not molest it at all. It has it's place in the flock because Judy made that happen.

 

[wlhtx]

80 degrees here is truly a vacation. Almost makes you want to put on long sleeves.

So I have a question about broody girls. I have a 2 yr old Jersey Giant that keeps wanting to go broody, but she is very easy to shoo off the nest. I just wave my hand at her, she squawks and gets up. Because of this, I've never let her sit. In fact, I've never hatched chicks from either a broody or an incubator - just always bought them... I don't want to hatch chicks now - too hot - but I'm thinking about in the future. If you have a "broody" that is easy to shoo off the nest, am I correct that she probably won't be dependable enough to see the clutch all the way through hatch?

 

[chooks4life]

@aoxa:

The websites I listed for the Australian one was the Silkie Club of Australia. The one I listed for America was the American Silkie Bantam Association. Both show sites. Standard on both sites, as well as pictures of the winners.

Yes, I noticed, kinda hard to miss that, unless you're so chronic a 'skimmer' --- (which I'm not)... Doesn't change my opinion on it. What I said still stands.

Observe the difference between standards, etc, all of which I addressed in my post prior to this response of yours. :/

I'd guess quoting your name in bold ought to work as well as re-posting your entire length of post. I'll use that in future probably. It's hard enough with all the requoting, I bet people wouldn't skim so much if they didn't have to go over the same reposts again and again... Sorry, the constant repetition is too time consuming.

When I write 'my long posts' every handful of pages (unlike your multiple medium posts per page) I try to address several points with my experience of the topic, which often leads to a longer post than average... I don't blame people for skimming them. But I can't sit around here all day going through requotes of requotes, etc, it's keeping me busier than I can afford to be.

I know people skim and I don't mind at all. I don't care if they miss my reply to the subject they raised either. It's the topic that's more important than who asked what --- unless they're talking about an emergency and specifically asking for help and I think I might know something that works. Otherwise it's all learning.

Skim away.