The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

AFL - mIne have slowed down laying this week too. I was wondering if the cool weather here was "faking them out" and they were going to do a fall molt or something. No one is molting...just wondered if that might have been the issue.

HERE IS A STRANGE FF QUESTION:
Sometimes I throw the ff on the ground for them in a certain area. Not all of it but some.

I have noticed that where I throw the ff, little toadstools have grown up. Lots of them. That would indicate to me one of 2 things. Either the feed has a lot of fungus spores in it. Or the feed "feeds" spores that are out there already.

I don't like the idea of fungus spores in their feed. I know that is one of the hazards of grains...harboring fungus spores that can be deadly to animals in the feed. So it makes me a little wary of the grains. However, the ff has so much acid that I think it takes care of the spores that might be harmful.

Just wondering about all this. Kind of a "what came first" question... is is spores in the feed or is it spores in the ground being fed by the feed?

 

[delisha]

Quote: INDIANA (North)
http://www.state.in.us/boah/

https://www.addl.purdue.edu/

The fees can be quite high if you request all tests done.

https://www.addl.purdue.edu/TestsFees/BySpecies.aspx

 

[jockeyeba]

What's the best thing to use to band chicks

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.

Mumsy where do you get the "expanding" bands?

 

[jockeyeba]

What's the best thing to use to band chicks

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.

Vet rap is a great idea since we're horse people anyway. I need to get some cool colored wrap though, the only thing we have is black or red ( our racing colors)

 

[chikenscratch]

I don't know about fungus, but this summer I've had to dump put my FF twice. The first was black mold, of some sort. This time, it was a slime that formed on top. I cleared it off, but the hens wouldn't eat it, so I knew it must be bad. Both times that this happened I had mixed the rabbits pellets into the chicken food to make the FF.

 

[countrygirl74]

Judy is a seasoned broody but she stirs up the litter vigorously and sends them flying if they get too close.

My little silkie girl "Cloud" is currently raising her first 3 babies. She wouldn't give up trying to go broody - we'd break her but after a week or so of laying, she'd go broody again. So, I finally gave in and let her sit on 3 silkie eggs. She seems to be a very good mama for just a hatchery girl, but I had to laugh when I read this, because she does the same thing. If the litter is really deep where she is scratching, she practically buries her babies by flinging pine shavings everywhere, or sends them flying as well - lol.

Giving them the "rules" before leaving the run for the first time...


Exploring...



Nap break under mama...



A lesson in dustbathing...

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!)

We did ours at about 4 months - cooked all of them in crock pot - most of the meat was very tender, fell right off. The only thing that was tough and we didn't really eat was the legs. And yes, I cried when we did our first ones. First butchering was difficult, especially because we had raised and named them all because we purchased them as sexed pullets - turned out they were all sexed wrong.Then we did a batch of meaties that all looked the same, we didn't raise (my sister did at her house) - so no names, no attachments, felt like we were putting them out of their miserable existence. Didn't cry that time as they were purchased and raised specifically for food.

 

[aoxa]

A lesson in dustbathing...

Love this picture!

 

[armorfirelady]

AFL - mIne have slowed down laying this week too. I was wondering if the cool weather here was "faking them out" and they were going to do a fall molt or something. No one is molting...just wondered if that might have been the issue. HERE IS A STRANGE FF QUESTION: Sometimes I throw the ff on the ground for them in a certain area. Not all of it but some. I have noticed that where I throw the ff, little toadstools have grown up. Lots of them. That would indicate to me one of 2 things. Either the feed has a lot of fungus spores in it. Or the feed "feeds" spores that are out there already. I don't like the idea of fungus spores in their feed. I know that is one of the hazards of grains...harboring fungus spores that can be deadly to animals in the feed. So it makes me a little wary of the grains. However, the ff has so much acid that I think it takes care of the spores that might be harmful. Just wondering about all this. Kind of a "what came first" question... is is spores in the feed or is it spores in the ground being fed by the feed?

We have had humid somewhat hot weather her the last week or so. Before that it was cool. I think they are just being brats figuring if red doesn't have to lay neither do they !! :/ I've noticed more mushrooms this year also. Some in the hens run but they ignore them. If I put some ff in the grass its usually brown the next day. The vinegar kills off the grass. I washed out waterer's in the run using vinegar and forgot it would kill the grass. Now I have bigger brown patches. Flies have been hit and miss. Some days I have a few some days nothing. I haven't seen them in the nesting box with red tho. The days I see them in the coop I spray my eucalyptus/water mix on the roosts and DL and they seem to leave. Plus I like the smell of the eucalyptus.

 

[aoxa]

We have had humid somewhat hot weather her the last week or so. Before that it was cool. I think they are just being brats figuring if red doesn't have to lay neither do they !!

I've noticed more mushrooms this year also. Some in the hens run but they ignore them. If I put some ff in the grass its usually brown the next day. The vinegar kills off the grass. I washed out waterer's in the run using vinegar and forgot it would kill the grass. Now I have bigger brown patches.

Flies have been hit and miss. Some days I have a few some days nothing. I haven't seen them in the nesting box with red tho. The days I see them in the coop I spray my eucalyptus/water mix on the roosts and DL and they seem to leave. Plus I like the smell of the eucalyptus.

Yes that is my experience as well, the brown grass. This only happens with the ground feed. Not with the whole grains that I ferment.

I only notice toad stools after a lot of rain and cloudy days.

 

[lalaland]

We did ours at about 4 months - cooked all of them in crock pot - most of the meat was very tender, fell right off. The only thing that was tough and we didn't really eat was the legs. And yes, I cried when we did our first ones. First butchering was difficult, especially because we had raised and named them all because we purchased them as sexed pullets - turned out they were all sexed wrong.Then we did a batch of meaties that all looked the same, we didn't raise (my sister did at her house) - so no names, no attachments, felt like we were putting them out of their miserable existence. Didn't cry that time as they were purchased and raised specifically for food.

The pics of your silkie mom are adorable.

I guess I will wait til about 4 months then, and see if these tiny roos get any bigger. I think two are icelandic, it seems a shame to butcher them but I don't know anyone who is raising icelandics and would like a roo. They seem to be a smaller breed.

I think one is an ee/leghorn cross, one is a lav orp and a couple more are unidentified. Still don't know who I will keep, if any.