The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Quote: Just a note on ammonia balls in the attic...

If I'm not mistaken, Delisha's hen houses are HUGE FULL SIZED HOUSES. (Am I remembering correctly?) In that case, ammonia in the attic is okay.

But if you have a smallish shed-size hen house like mine, I couldn't put the ammonia balls in the attic part unless I had way better ventilation than I do as it would cause respiratory problems with the chickens.

Am I getting that right, Del?

You sure are. My coops are old houses. I would not call them huge. The small coop is only 900 sq feet, but I guess it is large than a few coops are. I hate that small coop, but it sure comes in handy for raising chicks.
I also wanted to post ideas for people who are purchasing chickens or building coops. The brooders and nest boxes i have posted here are so wonderful. I can lock up a broody with all the other chickens and keep the hens from messing with her eggs. The nest boxes all have doors on them. I have removed most of the doors for use but keep 5-6 always handy closed and clean.





The bottom is the quarantine and the top is the hospital


That A frame is two sheets of plywood covered in roofing material. It is set on basement block. Hard wire in the back and hard wire across the peak. I made a portable run with hard wire that I attach at night. It is not ued in winter, but makes a great bachlor pad all year.


My baby coop

Quote: x2, They think they are welcome to do so.

Stop feeding them on the porch and making them feel welcome. Its cute at first but when you have to clean poop all the time it is not so cute anymore. Use the hose and spritz them down a few times when they do it and guess what will happen...They will know they are not welcome to go there and will go to bed.

I have a question for those of you who have experience with setting eggs under broody hens:

I'm going to be setting some purchased eggs (shipped... ugh) under a broody. I am also going to be setting some of our own eggs.

Any advice on how to know which chicks have hatched from which eggs? I'd like to mark the ones I got from the outside source.

First..what breed are you purchasing?
Usually different breeds look...different at hatch



Top to bottom, starting top right
White rock, GLO, Splash English Orp, BLRW, BLRW, AM, BLRW, BLRW
All breeds have differences at hatch.

TO: Leahs Mom........Remove the eggs from the incubator at the time suggested by the manufacturer and hatch the eggs from either source in the oven observing temperature and moisture standards suggested by a reliable source....You should check to determine the accuracy of the temp gauge on the oven....Good Luck

cute idea, but hard to do with a broody. Why would you choose the oven over the incubator?

Well it is just a cement floor but I just want like ideas I guess, would you do chicken wire from the floor to the ceiling or put like plywood at the bottom.

I would frame out chicken wire in wood in sections. Put the sections together. I would use wood to make nest boxes unless you opt for the recycled plastic buckets, those work out pretty good. I would not put in a wire floor. You have cement so i would DL right on the cement.

Quote: fast way to tell is insert food color in her vent. It will stain the egg.

Thanks for the idea, AFL! I emailed my friend and he's going to bring the camera tomorrow!

camera is good ..I have a friend who has chicken TV. Her camera's are all over her coop and she watches them on TV all day long.

 

[Eggcessive]

not sure where you are here in southern ohio, but i have the best luck from crums just north of peebles on rt 41. i have my feed custom mixed by them, a slight variation off of a local "chicken kings" mixture. i love the bowles range bird pellet they sell there, it makes a wonderful feed on its own for molting birds, and its a great base in mixed feeds.

I'm North of Huntington, WV and Proctorville, OH about 12 miles. I used to go through Waverly all the time until we started taking the backroads to Columbus. Thanks for the info about the feed.

 

[aoxa]

fruit flies are good for chicks. I hang ripe fruit like an old banana in a mesh bag in the brooder so the chicks have to jump to catch them..free protein.

Yeah but I actually inhaled them and was gagging and coughing for quite some time the other night. :|

Yes chicks go crazy for them. It's when they are in the feed that bugs me.

 

[countrygirl74]

Leigh has pictures of the chick that hatched from the broken egg! She named it "Humpty Dumpty!" SO cute!!

Love the name!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Del -
They will all be SFH (rooster is SFH) but one of my pullets is little black which was the mystery chick that I thought was a BA.

I don't want to mix her egg up with the SFH.

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

Leah congrats on the broody & good luck on the hatching!!

Those who have purchased neem oil. Do you find it in large bottles at garden centers?

I went to our local feed supply store & they only had a small 3 oz bottle for $9 (its organic) and one of the workers said she was told it couldn't be sold anymore ? I bought the bottle to make some natural squash bug spray but I was curious if anyone else found larger bottles or heard its not going to be sold anymore ?

PM Chickprincess (from the NY thread), she buys that for her soap and body lotion business.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: Thanks!!

 

[mlowen]

Those who have purchased neem oil. Do you find it in large bottles at garden centers?

I went to our local feed supply store & they only had a small 3 oz bottle for $9 (its organic) and one of the workers said she was told it couldn't be sold anymore ? I bought the bottle to make some natural squash bug spray but I was curious if anyone else found larger bottles or heard its not going to be sold anymore ?

I bought a 16 oz bottle of Garden Safe Neem Oil Extract (concentrate) from Amazon for $13.99.

 

[BlueMouse]

pictures of two of my meat birds. these are obviously girls. the boys were larger. 13 weeks? I'd have to check my notebook to be exact but they're about that.



the first one has been on free range since she was about five weeks and I could start to tell which were boys and which girls. the second has been in a tractor. she's only very very slightly larger. They're about the size of my EE hen, although stockier and much broader through the breast. I don't know if I did something wrong raising them?? I'll be weighing the carcasses today. I have to borrow my mom's scale. mine suffered an accident when a toddler attempted to take it off a counter.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Hey y'all. So I had three Silkie eggs under a broody Silkie. She decided after 13 days she was done sitting. So I of course wanted to see if she would go back into a broody state. She had abandoned the nest for about 6 hrs when I discovered she was done. Sought the advice of a trusted friend and set up a small container tub with my red brooder lamp and put the eggs under it. At the end of the day I candled and discovered two looked like they quit but one was still red in the veining. So I left all three overnight. Went out and adjusted the lamp height the next morning so not so hot, was 105 under the lamp. Left the eggs all day and candles that evening. Two eggs were obvious quiters, all black veins. But one was still alive, and I saw movement. Tossed the quiters and left the live egg in the tub. The next day was real hot and temp got to 112 under the lamp, but the little bugger was still moving inside. At this point I asked the same friend if I could borrow one of her many bators. Picked it up yesterday and she brings out a Genesis 1588 for me to borrow. That one egg is in it and still going strong. Tomorrow evening is lockdown. After this chick hatches, hopefully, I will be setting a bunch of Blue and Buff Silkie eggs I have been collecting this week to hatch some stock and see what I get. Oh and BTW, Marsala laid her first egg yesterday. I know it was hers because the former broody laid the day before and is a consistent every other day layer. And this egg was a little smaller and had some blood streaks. Checked Marsala's vent and it could have an egg pass through it now. Yay, finally at 8.25mo. The only pullet I have yet to start is the light Blue from the Catdance eggs, we named her Smokey, since she looks like smoke. She is only 4.5mo though and still in the juvie pen.