The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[jockeyeba]

What's the best thing to use to band chicks & how many times do they have to be changed as they grow?

 

[MumsyII]

What's the best thing to use to band chicks & how many times do they have to be changed as they grow?

I use food coloring on chicks until they are out of the small brooder and going into the chick house. I buy a variety of colored zip ties at the dollar store. Using the smallest first. I handle my chicks regularly. Always testing the loosness of the zip each time I do. Some chicks grow faster and I cut them off and replace every week or two. When my chicks are between ten to twelve weeks old they get a size #11 numbered and colored band. The expanding kind not the spiral kind. I hate the spiral kind. I've heard vet wrap works well and I might try that some time. Zip ties on turkeys are risky. They grow very fast and are harder for me to handle when they get big. I gave up on banding them.

 

[RedRidge]

What's the best thing to use to band chicks & how many times do they have to be changed as they grow?

I use small strips of vet wrap. I keep a bunch of different colors... each roll lasts forever... and just cut off a narrow strip as I need it.
There's a lot less chance of it getting too tight if you have a growth spurt... and they are a lot easier to remove than zip ties.
I'd said I change them every two weeks or so while they are growing in the first few months... just a rough estimate - it depends on the breed.

 

[lalaland]

about roosters.....I have about 8 roosters that are around 10 weeks old. They seem to be pretty small, not what I would think would be eating size yet. At what age do you start to butcher?
(and yes, I am crying in advance!)

 

[Leahs Mom]

The colored vet wrap is a great idea. Thanks RR and Mumsy!

AFL - when you cut the stuff around your fluffy butts, did you bathe them first?

Strangely, today I noticed when my broody got out of her box that she had what looks like a discharge and it is whitish. I have NEVER seen any signs of anything similar on any of my birds. When she's done her 'broody poop" it is very loose and appropriately stinky for broody poop. But she didn't have loose stools the last time she was broody. Nor have I EVER seen any discharge from any of my birds.

When I was asking about the maggots, it wasn't because of her. I was just interested for various reasons. Now all that has got me thinking.

I'm not sure what to do. Here are the things I'm thinking:

-She's going to be sitting still for a long time. Seems like "fertile ground" for fly strike.
-I haven't set the eggs yet; was going to tomorrow night. If I take her out and try to bathe her and cut some feathers and NuStock, it may disturb her broodiness. Also, don't want NuStock down there to contaminate/suffocate the eggs.
-I guess I could try to trim her after dark (with help) rather than bathing and not put anything on there.

-Or...I could do nothing.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THIS WERE YOUR BROODY?

 

[Leahs Mom]

I sent the above question to Stony. I'll cc our conversation here for the benefit of everyone:


Quote: Stonykill

Quote: Leahs Mom
I'm thinking I will at least try cutting the feathers back down there if needed. Probably shouldn't put any meds on it though... concerned about that oily stuff not being totally gone and getting on the eggs even a couple days down the road. You think?




Quote: Stoneykill

 

[Sally8]

I don't have a ton of experience, really. But all the hen's that have been broody here always seem to break an egg under her so I would find a gooey mess, sort of. The temps were in the 90's but I never saw maggots. Twice I changed out the bedding carefully so as not to disturb the eggs but then when I took the eggs and gave them to Cecilia they al hatched, even with being in the mess. I thought the same thing but wondered if the chickens would have eaten anything that would have moved around in there. My eggs have never been worth a lot of $ so I just left them. Sorry, I'm no help.

 

[aoxa]

I don't have a ton of experience, really. But all the hen's that have been broody here always seem to break an egg under her so I would find a gooey mess, sort of. The temps were in the 90's but I never saw maggots. Twice I changed out the bedding carefully so as not to disturb the eggs but then when I took the eggs and gave them to Cecilia they al hatched, even with being in the mess. I thought the same thing but wondered if the chickens would have eaten anything that would have moved around in there. My eggs have never been worth a lot of $ so I just left them. Sorry, I'm no help.

Yes I find this as well. 1/2 of my hens get an egg broken. I am not sure if she breaks them to eat them because they are no good, or what. But still, goopy mess.

 

[armorfirelady]

Leah's mom- I didn't bath them just trimmed then wiped them with baby wipes. The first time I did it was winter so no place to bathe them ( I have 2 dogs & 4 cats so bathing inside wasn't an option) a few baby wipes rubbed over their butts cleaned them pretty well. The mess was more on their feathers than their bum. Skin was normal color. I did put Nustock on them the first couple times just because.
Red is still trying out being a broody. She is not very good at it. She gets up to eat, dust bathe & tonight to roam in the veggie garden for a few hours with the others. She did go back in the nesting box. I toss her out when she doesn't growl to much lol and still the 3 other big girls are not laying. One of them laid yesterday but that's it for the week. Only Edie is laying every day and Lucy every other, no one is molting. And they are eating more ff to. No clue what's going on.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Okay...just got her back in her box.

Not gleet. Apparently it was the very watery stool that was looking creamy on there. When I got in there it had pretty much dried up. Looked like light color stool and only smelled of urates/poop.

Instead of putting her into the water and totally freaking her out, I cut some of it out then took a cloth with warm water with epsom salt dissolved in it and tried to "wipe" out most of what was left. Dried her with a cool hair drier then put a very tiny amount of NuStock around the base of the vent. It was little enough that I don't think it would get near the eggs with all the fluff around it.

Last year I never saw a fly near the hen house. This year I have a few hanging around. Not a huge amount but more than the "none" of last year. I usually feed inside the coop but I took the main food source outside this evening. I did have to leave a small dish on the broody side since she can't get outside right now because of the way the coop is set up. Some day I think I'll cut another pop door sized opening on that side so they can go out in their own area. My practice is to move her to an area that she can't get back to the regular nest box and go from box to box.

I guess I'll wait until Saturday night to set eggs.