The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Alibabe]

I have smart chickens!

Just sayin'



Love me some Swedish Flower Hens! (Even the ones that are roosters.)

I love this

Clever chicken!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks Midnightroo. For those who dont know me I am the most accepting and loving person usually. I have friends from all walks of life, religions and beliefs because I accept people for who they are and dont judge. I even have friends who support Peta we just choose not to talk about it lol. What I dont like is unnaceptance. If someone wants to pray for me when Im sick. doesent matter what religion their in, Im humbled. If my vegan friends bring me some food Im flattered. Again its when things are shoved down someones throat that I have issues. Ive gotten into trouble before because of it XD. But then again Ive made some of the most amazing friends before of it as well! Faith, belief religious and non can be a beautifull thing.

I just think it comes down to plain, old-fashioned respectful behavior towards people in general.



Quote:Originally Posted by Bulldogma


I have smart chickens!

Just sayin'



Love me some Swedish Flower Hens! (Even the ones that are roosters.)


I am SO GLAD to see someone else has a fan out there! Our hen house has been stifling with no breeze so I've been running a fan at night just to keep the air moving....

And that's natural!!!!! I'm simulating wind

)

 

[wlhtx]

I am in the process of getting goats.  I was all ready to just let them free-range and go natural within my property boundaries (and still am).  I think in terms of how deer have survived for ages without intervention.   Someone pointed something, however, that made a lot of sense to me.  They told me that when the deer need nutrients that they aren't finding in one place, they move to another.  And another.  And another.  Because there is not the confinement of being fenced into one limited property to get all they need...even if the property has many acres, in the wild, they have access to many many miles to find what they need.

I have taken that into consideration as I'm getting ready to add more livestock and raise them "naturally". 

Leah's Mom, I don't know how much acreage you have, but take that advice about the deer with a grain of salt. Living in the piney woods of East TX, our property is crawling with white tail deer and, while they definitely do roam, I can tell you from observation that they tend to stay pretty close to the same place. We've been watching the same buck run around our place for years (he is atypical and very easy to identify). Our goats free range on our pastures and are so fat! If they were hurting for a nutrient of some kind, we would be able to tell by observing them. We do supplement with some goat feed (not every day and generally just in the winter) and garden scraps. As long as the property (i.e. grass) is healthy, there really wouldn't be any concern with them not being able to get all their nutrients without ranging for miles...

And just playing Devil's advocate here, but great-great-great grandma traveled quite a distance with her chickens (east to west). While those chickens came over land in a wagon (or in a boat maybe) rather than USPS, they did travel extensively. (Early frontier settlers did have chickens and those chickens came from somewhere...) So, I would bet there was quite a bit of chicken swapping going on back then too... Makes you wander exactly how, or if, they quarantined.

 

[Mumsy]

Some people do think bio security is unnatural. I wonder why.


Safety is important to me. There is nothing wrong with integrating a flock on a first day if you understand the risks and are willing to take that risk.
There is nothing unnatural about being safe either. IMO A hen will take her new chicks to an area where there is less traffic and less build up of poop the first few days. She lets them peck at her poop to build up immunities first, than will eventually let them be full time around the flock. Even a chicken knows the importance to a *little* at a time.

I am NPIP. Bio Security measures are part of that program.

The question was geared to safety and NPIP in Canada..
would the correct answer to be.*.this is a natural thread and we do not believe in safety and NPIP measures?* Again I am curious

Just a thought and yes, chickens are not infants or human, chickens are animals. I am using this as a visual only. Some will understand a bit more since most have experience.

New infants
You bring them home from the hospital and boil nipples, scrub all surfaces they touch, make sure no one has a cold and washes hands before handling. You don't do that to be unnatural, you do that to give the baby time to build immunities. Eventually you slowly tapper off and add new things and are not so *sanitizer* crazy. Unnatural? Perhaps to some.

So tell me why you think safety measures are not natural? i am curious.

This absolutely is how I raised my four infants in the beginning and I am all about safety in raising my poultry. Letting them all build immunities slowly. I won't vaccinate or use antibiotics.

Back yard flocks are not raised in a sterile laboratory setting. A lot of new comers to raising chickens have only had their birds for a few years. That is fine but that is not a lifetime of experience with raising chickens and when a new comer tells me they've never had serious outbreak of disease in their flock, I always wonder how long they have had their birds. It's only a matter of time before some pathogen comes along. For EVERYONE.

I have quarantined new birds for a month. My flock is closed now. I will hatch out eggs from those like del says. When others have given good reviews and had good success. I won't take eggs from just anyone or anywhere and put them in my incubator. People I don't know or have poultry are not allowed into my barnyard. I wash my hands and change my shoes before going into my own barnyard. So does my husband. It's second nature.

I turn my flock out on grass and into the shrubbery in the orchard every day, all day. I use deep litter in all pens. Ferment my feed. Use Neem oil on perches. Wood ash for lice and mites and the dust bath wallows. I put fresh or powdered garlic, Oregano, Pepper seeds or flakes or Cayenne, and Un-ACV in the ferment everyday. Birds still occasionally get sick. I cull. My birds must make it on my system and thrive or I don't want them. I have a flock of fifty. LF , turkeys, and bantams.


I am breeding for disease immunity, fertility, and vigor. I will do a wait and see and treat injuries if I can. Any bird that gets sick is now disposed of swiftly.

 

[Kassaundra]

I'm about to go out and put a fan on the coop, its not that hot, but humid as heck!

We have fans in the coop, and it is 3 sided open (well wire) there is always (nearly) a breeze even w/o the fans but the chickens really like it especially on those 90 degree nights.

 

[Shan30]

Leah's Mom, I don't know how much acreage you have, but take that advice about the deer with a grain of salt. Living in the piney woods of East TX, our property is crawling with white tail deer and, while they definitely do roam, I can tell you from observation that they tend to stay pretty close to the same place. We've been watching the same buck run around our place for years (he is atypical and very easy to identify). Our goats free range on our pastures and are so fat! If they were hurting for a nutrient of some kind, we would be able to tell by observing them. We do supplement with some goat feed (not every day and generally just in the winter) and garden scraps. As long as the property (i.e. grass) is healthy, there really wouldn't be any concern with them not being able to get all their nutrients without ranging for miles...

And just playing Devil's advocate here, but great-great-great grandma traveled quite a distance with her chickens (east to west). While those chickens came over land in a wagon (or in a boat maybe) rather than USPS, they did travel extensively. (Early frontier settlers did have chickens and those chickens came from somewhere...) So, I would bet there was quite a bit of chicken swapping going on back then too... Makes you wander exactly how, or if, they quarantined.

Without research it would hard to determine but I can wager a guess...

For one thing many of the diseases floating around today could have either not yet existed in North America, had not yet mutated into the highly contagious forms we have now or, the more likely scenario, there were far fewer chickens that were far more spaced out and/or the owners simply were not aware of what made their birds occasionally sick and simply replaced them.

Just my guess. With so many people owning so many chickens in close proximity there is a far higher risk.

 

[Mumsy]

Without research it would hard to determine but I can wager a guess...

For one thing many of the diseases floating around today could have either not yet existed in North America, had not yet mutated into the highly contagious forms we have now or, the more likely scenario, there were far fewer chickens that were far more spaced out and/or the owners simply were not aware of what made their birds occasionally sick and simply replaced them.

Just my guess. With so many people owning so many chickens in close proximity there is a far higher risk.

I agree. Super bugs and the fast method of transmission from mega hatcheries, at poultry shows and close proximity to neighbors.

Many adults and children on the Oregon Trail died of Cholera, Typhus, Scarlet Fever, and who knows what else. Most of my ancestors ate or traded their chickens long before they got to Cheyenne or La Grande. When they settled in Washington and Oregon, they were on farms of average 150 acres or more. I'd call that bio security.

 

[Alibabe]

What I really love about this thread is the diverse opinions and the priceless knowledge that is shared by all the contributors.

My two cents worth on the discussion of what is natural.

If we talk about ‘natural’ my opinion is that since we are not living in the times when animals were wild, habitats were uninhibited by humans or if they were, humans lived with nature not in concrete jungles, then we would not have to observe things like biosecurity, supplemental feeding of herbs, greens etc that we do today.
But we do live in modern times where lots of the natural countryside has been tamed by humans, all farm and or domesticated animals rely on us to provide them with all or most of the extras that these animals used to get in the wild before humans arrived.

I would like to think that those that choose to give their chickens as natural a surrounding as possible are to be applauded. We choose not to accept the arrogance of science or big corporations/money as to what we should or should not shove down the throats of our animals – GMO.

We choose to try and give our animals the natural ingredients that they need and would have gotten from nature if we had not intervened. We try to let nature and natural instinct dictate what our animals need and if our area does not supply it, we try to give it as a supplement or grow it.

Bio security is common sense. In the wild, animals do not just accept a new animal into their flock / herd etc, they shun the newcomer until they prove that the newcomer would be beneficial to them.

So in my opinion, by observing bio security, we are in fact being as natural as we possibly can. By washing hands and changing shoes, we are doing exactly what nature does. In nature the newcomer would be kept at the peripheral of the flock/herd, would obtain the immunity from the ground and only be allowed to join the group after (in some instances) more than a month. If the animal was sick, they would not be allowed anywhere near the herd/flock.

Just my opinion folks.

 

[Mrs Hutcherson]

Newbie question

What is too hot for a chicken coop?
I'm trying to figure out if I might need to rebuild my coop somewhere else...
Dont have any trees in my yard directly, but surrounded by woods, should it be moved to the tree line? Its getting pretty hot and my poor chickens are just laying around panting...
Any advice or suggestions?
Please and thank you!

 

[cuties]

I just wanted to ad my .02 on quarantine.

I first got chickens last spring. All in 1 batch. Then early this spring we added 1 adult roo. Imagin our luck! That first batch really was all hens lol!
I did not quarantine Rae. It went just fine.
Late spring we decided we want turkeys. Researched blackhead. And decided to risk putting them with the chickies. We found someone who raised them with their chickies, hoping they would have built up immunity. We proudly brought home our seemingly healthy magnificent pair.
It was a long trip. By the time we were home, tom was sneezing goopy snot. No other bird on that property seemed sick. I researched crd. Learned a lot.
I am gratefull to resources here. Ive learned much about biosecurity. We seperated. Sadly culled tom. It was a horrible experience for us. They are our pets, not food. I know this is different than some, but who we are. Ive added birds since. I have quarantined every time, preventing the spread of cocci to my flock.
I have decided to never add a bird again with out quarantine. I have twice saved the entire flock. Myself lots of $ and my children lots of heartache.
Disease is out there when always exchanging. Best for everyone, quarantine. Stop (slow) the spread of disease.

Sorry about the rambling! Just wanted to say how important I think it is!!

(Even tho I am not yet an old timer ;-))