The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Ok so I am trying to figure out what Lucy may be crossed with. She is about 17 weeks old and except for the copper necklace and comb looks like Sophie my BCM. The comb is a rosé comb?

x

Now if I remember right her father is a BCM but I forgot what her mother is. Ideas?
Sorry about the poor pics. She won't get that close during the day so I took it tonight when she was roosted

Some kind of wyandotte

So just buying some Oregano oil would basically be the same as the BY-O-REG product?

I doubt it. I have not read that much about the product you are speaking of. It is oregano based. Buy some fresh oregano, chop it up, or better yet grow it fresh and let your birds eat it fresh if they need it.

OK, how stressed should I be that one of these supposed OE pullets will start crowing next week while I'm on vacation? (I swear, I'm only buying hens or auto-sexing birds if I ever do this again!)

Gwen (or Gavin) is a little snot and keeps getting pecked on the head for impertinence. (S)he'll steal a tomato from anyone and run away in a flash. Screams like a maniac when I pick her up.

all pullets.

 

[FridayYet]

Don't worry at all, because they are both girls! Girly pattern. Yep. Love telling people they have girls!

Black and whites if they are boys (which they usually are) almost always have red in their wings. Black and white girls are very often black and white, sometimes with a salmon breast. If there is other colour in with the black and white, it is spread out throughout the feathering and not in just one area.

all pullets.

Thanks - I'll stress a little less now, but still won't be 100% convinced until they crow or lay an egg.

Someday I'll live where I can have a bigger flock and a rooster or two, but until then I need to keep the neighbors and the city happy.

 

[MumsyII]

I think this is the first time a four hour lapse between posts.

After reading all the good things folks have posted here about Oxine, I just ordered a gallon off Amazon. This is pricey stuff but it seems like a wonder disinfectant. Can't tolerate the smell of bleach without gagging. Tek trol is good, and I've used it in the aerosol can for years. It would be nice to have the convenience of mixing what I need in a sprayer and having it ready for all needs.

 

[armorfirelady]

What about plain vinegar? I use it to clean in my house and the hens waterer's I don't know if it disinfects but it certainly cleans the green out of the waterer's and keeps the house clean.

Fed the hens raw & cooked ground beef tonight. They ate like they were starving. I have to say Edie is worming her way into my heart. She follows me around in their area. I have to watch my step she gets so close talking away to me. She even lets me pet her and gives a good shake when I am done. I never had such a friendly hen. I rarely hold mine unless its to look at them. The big girls will come up to me if I have food but otherwise go on their way. The tots are the same way. Not Edie she needs a close up visit. And she has laid 9 days in a row since starting. She is putting those big girls to shame

They are all a small pullet size that are a pretty light blue. Tomorrow I think I will cook them up for the hens but she will get first dibs since she did all the work.

Seems Lucy's father is BCM and the choices for mom are leghorn, RIR, or EE. I'm guessing EE with her comb. She is getting red in her combs and wattles. I am curious to see if she lays early like Edie or lays later like a BCM. and her egg color will be a mystery to. Maybe I will get olive to add to my egg colors

 

[MumsyII]

What about plain vinegar? I use it to clean in my house and the hens waterer's I don't know if it disinfects but it certainly cleans the green out of the waterer's and keeps the house clean.


o. Maybe I will get olive to add to my egg colors

Oxine can be sprayed all over a person's body. From head to toe. I've read it may lighten leather but I don't wear leather shoes to the barn. It can be sprayed right on the body and face of birds too. It can be sprayed on cages, pens, walls, the bedding. Bio-degrades into a salt of some sort. I need to read more. I can't take breathing vinegar fumes on my hair, face, and clothing and my entire barn and flock. Chronic Bronchitis is serious for me. Oxine will disinfect everything it touches. What I've read so far is very impressive. I'm hoping it is odorless.

Your egg colors are beautiful. Go Edie!

 

[BlueMouse]

thinking about adding LF cochin to my assorted chickens, trying to replace the depredations of the fox... anyone have first hand experience with them? I love my bantam, but she hasn't reached POL yet, so I don't know how she'll lay. Just love those floofy feet!

another good news today, I saw Mary the BCM squat for the rooster, maybe we'll have eggs soon!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I think this is the first time a four hour lapse between posts.

After reading all the good things folks have posted here about Oxine, I just ordered a gallon off Amazon. This is pricey stuff but it seems like a wonder disinfectant. Can't tolerate the smell of bleach without gagging. Tek trol is good, and I've used it in the aerosol can for years. It would be nice to have the convenience of mixing what I need in a sprayer and having it ready for all needs.

I ordered some too and it came today! Haven't opened the box yet. Even though it's pricy, I think you dilute it so much that it should last a decade.

Yah...that's a long time without a post!!! I was pretty much away from the computer all day and I have a lot of catching up to do in a lot of areas. I haven't even opened the box on my oxine yet.

In case anyone wants to do a bit more reading on oxine you can look at these links:

http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm
http://www.airduct.info/Files/Mite_E_Ducts_Oxine_MSDS.pdf

Aoxa sent me this link to a BYC thread that has a little:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/514651/oxine-ah-to-sterilize-clean-between-flocks

You need to be sure you don't activate it. If you do, you have to wear safety goggles and a respirator...and no animals can be in the area. But if you use it without activating, it can actually be put into a vaporiser and in the coop and some folks have had luck killing respiratory illnesses that way.

I don't plan on using it in the chicken coop at all...unless I have very sick chickens which I hope I never have to experience. I don't want to upset the bacteria in the litter, etc. That's why I do "natural chicken keeping" because I want a naturally healthy flock. If I ever wipe down a wall I use a natural home-made cleaner made with white vinegar, orange peel and some other items. AFL - I would use vinegar plain if I didn't have my vinegar and orange concoction

But...

I got it to put on the shelf in case I ever need in an emergency, and also to disinfect shoes, etc. when I've gone to other properties, etc. I think I may try it in place of bleach in some household cleaning areas. I'm going to spray it on the rugs and gas pedal in the car as I've been on other properties with animals and don't want to re-contaminate any shoes, etc. that I used in the car.

Aoxa uses it in the dishwasher and other places too... Aoxa - can you tell us how you're using it?


Mumsy - I read somewhere that you have to use the mixture w/in 48 hours for it to keep it's potency. What I don't remember was if that was when it's activated or unactivated. We'll have to look into that and be sure. I was planning on having some in a sprayer too but I want to double check on that little piece of information before I waste it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

What about plain vinegar? I use it to clean in my house and the hens waterer's I don't know if it disinfects but it certainly cleans the green out of the waterer's and keeps the house clean.

Fed the hens raw & cooked ground beef tonight. They ate like they were starving. I have to say Edie is worming her way into my heart. She follows me around in their area. I have to watch my step she gets so close talking away to me. She even lets me pet her and gives a good shake when I am done. I never had such a friendly hen. I rarely hold mine unless its to look at them. The big girls will come up to me if I have food but otherwise go on their way. The tots are the same way. Not Edie she needs a close up visit. And she has laid 9 days in a row since starting. She is putting those big girls to shame

They are all a small pullet size that are a pretty light blue. Tomorrow I think I will cook them up for the hens but she will get first dibs since she did all the work.

Seems Lucy's father is BCM and the choices for mom are leghorn, RIR, or EE. I'm guessing EE with her comb. She is getting red in her combs and wattles. I am curious to see if she lays early like Edie or lays later like a BCM. and her egg color will be a mystery to. Maybe I will get olive to add to my egg colors

Blue eggs

I gave mine some ground this evening too. You'd think they were starving the way they attack it. I think that maybe I've been a little lax on the meat protein lately. I've been thinking they can get bugs but I don't see many bugs around their area!

 

[armorfirelady]

Well it seems I have another first. Last couple days I have noticed yellow & red spending extra time in nesting boxes. Today red was in there after the ground beef. It was after 7pm. Sometimes I get a late egg and had only gotten 3 eggs from the big girls so she could of been in there to lay. Just went out to check on the girls and guess who is still in the nesting box?

She is sitting on a golf ball I put in a few days ago when Edie laid outside the box 2 days in a row.
My mom the comedian she thinks she is says maybe she will hatch out some baby golf balls Poor girl no rooster so no chicks for her. I do find it amusing tho that she is the hen with the defects and worse prolapse last fall is first to go broody. The big girls turned a year old in May. To bad she didn't try this when George was here. Tho as far as I know he wasn't sexually grown yet either.
She can stay put. I'm curious to see if she stays put. I marked it on my egg calendar to see how long she stays in case some day I decide to try fertile eggs.

 

[aoxa]

Oxine can be sprayed all over a person's body. From head to toe. I've read it may lighten leather but I don't wear leather shoes to the barn. It can be sprayed right on the body and face of birds too. It can be sprayed on cages, pens, walls, the bedding. Bio-degrades into a salt of some sort. I need to read more. I can't take breathing vinegar fumes on my hair, face, and clothing and my entire barn and flock. Chronic Bronchitis is serious for me. Oxine will disinfect everything it touches. What I've read so far is very impressive. I'm hoping it is odorless.

Your egg colors are beautiful. Go Edie!

Mumsy, it is a very light smell. Not like bleach AT ALL.

When it is diluted for application it is odourless.

Yes it is an awesome product. I spent double the price of the product in shipping alone and still don't regret it. I originally bought it because one of my birds had a fungal infection in the lungs. Cleared it up in two days. He was the only one who had the infection. He spent an odd amount of time at the neighbour's place, so who knows what he got into. Anyway.. It was great.

I think it's very important to have on hand for people who show.