The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Sally8]

Aoxa - my uncle just tested positive for lyme disease after being bitten by a tick. He has to have antibiotics, no tetnas. But you are right about needing one with living on a farm. Something is bound to happen sooner or later with something rusty. lol

I worried about the turkeys falling into the pool all summer because they walked along the edge.

Yes I have open waterers but never noticed anyone stepping in it but I'll be sure to take precautions this years because it could happen so easily.

 

[armorfirelady]

nope, she's twice as big as the bantam. The pic on the roost is at about 9 weeks, she is 11 weeks in the pics with the bo in them. None of the other chicks look like her, so she is an only. Not sure if she is a leghorn x araucana cross= superbluelayer, which would mean I fell for the hype on that and ordered them AND actually got one, or something else!

My super blue layer I got from Sally is white with slate gray legs. Your girl reminds me some of her

I worried about the turkeys falling into the pool all summer because they walked along the edge.

I think I would of laughed so hard if they would of fell in. Maybe they thought it was a giant water dish?

 

[lalaland]

Quote:
I've never seen her tail upright! always straight out behind her, she looks seagull like to me. very yellow legs. I think, yes. either purebred or leghorn/araucana cross.

 

[TipihlowLadies]

My super blue layer I got from Sally is white with slate gray legs. Your girl reminds me some of her


I think I would of laughed so hard if they would of fell in. Maybe they thought it was a giant water dish?

I have two just like this that lay blue came with my americaunas def.x

 

[nicole63021]

Hi! Been lurking a little on this thread, thought I'd finally introduce myself! My DH and I are pretty much organic vegetarians at this point (not for any ethical qualm of eating another living thing, plants are living too, but it keeps me from needing cortisone shots in my knees every year or twice a year) and are raising our chickens on organic non-GMO food. They do scrounge in our yard for bugs and get bugs and scraps from the garden. Hoping for lots of perky, deeply colored yolks in our homegrown eggs! Most of our friends and his family think we are nuts! It's peaceful and empowering though to know you don't have to have a grocery store to feed yourself! Our birds will be slaughtered however when they stop laying or if there is a mean roo, as my Mom and brother both suffer from Celiac disease, and love eggs and chicken! It's great to see so many others that want to raise their birds in a simpler and very natural way. I do feel bad that ours will be in a run most of the time, but with so many predators in the area it seems the best way while we are gone during the day. How do all of you deal with these sorts of self conflict?

 

[lalaland]

My super blue layer I got from Sally is white with slate gray legs. Your girl reminds me some of her

I have two just like this that lay blue came with my americaunas def.x

I see the resemblence in the head/beak. I thought araucana crosses would always have slate legs? not sure.....

 

[lalaland]

welcome Nicole!

its hard to have to keep them in a run but many of us do. My run is bigger than my house, but there was a time years ago when I had chickens in the proverbial backyard with a much smaller run. I tried to keep them occupied, it takes time to add stuff to the run - leaves, hay, bugs- greens if they've gotten the run down to bare dirt - but worth it.

 

[nicole63021]

Yeah, really wanted to be able to let them in my yard, but with a breeding pair of hawks in a neighbors yard, a fox den with adolescent kits about a block away and 2 different types of owls that have landed in our yard, not to mention the neighborhood cats, there is just so much that can eat them! But we are almost done with the 30'x12' run with 8'x12' coop, so they will have some room. They also love the kale and tops from the carrots we grow, sure they would like some brussels sprout greens and tomato scraps as well. Just wish they could roam a bit more, but safety first, at least they will get 3 days and most evenings to free range, while supervised. Thank you for the welcome!!!

 

[Shan30]

Its time for guess the breed again! want to play? what do you think?

This one is sooooo easy!!! Pigeon. Definitely.

 

[Kassaundra]

Those bantams are CRAZY good at flying to the highest of high places. Just ask Stony with his Sumatra (who would be teetering between standard and bantam I think). Really any light weight chicken can fly very well. Randy would fly and land on our 8 foot run attached to the baby barn, no problem at all. My heavy chickens can not do that.


See this overturned root tree? One night I bawled my eyes out as my favourite Houdan hen was missing at lockup. I thought she was dead.. I was PMSing already, so her missing set me off - don't judge

Anyway, she was at the very top of this.. Dylan found her. I was SO relieved.

I don't usually get emotional during that time, but years ago my husband and I were electric meter reading in the country (we were VERY poor no extra money at all) anyway we were on this one road stopping at every house reading the electric meter, and this black female lab dog apperared and started following us. When we would drive to the next house she would run down the road as fast as she could to catch up. I knew she was a dumped dog needing a home, but we could not afford to feed her, several miles of this and by that time I am crying my eyeballs out over this stray dog needing a home. We came up to this one house that had a man in the yard, so through my tears and that "catching type breathing" from crying I was begging the man to give this poor dog a home. She had not made it yet to this house b/c it was a longer drive between the houses, so I stayed and talked w/ the man waiting for this dog to show up so he could see what a great dog she was. As soon as he saw her he started laughing and said "oh that's Lady, old man Butler's dog she runs up and down the road all the time". So for the rest of the day I continued to cry just b/c I was so relieved she had a home!!!!!!!! lol lol lol (lol now)