The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

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!!!

thats a good sized run. what kind of chickens do you have?

 

[aoxa]

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.

Hmm.. I am not sure with her. I will still keep my eye out on breed pages, but under rare and endangered breeds, she does not match up so far. Greenfire has nothing like them either..

My first thought was Icelandic for some reason, but she doesn't fit.. after that I thought maybe Cubalaya, but no doesn't fit either..

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)

I get like this every single month. I won't lie. I cry at commercials and at the radio. I blame my mother.

I would totally cry for that dog as well. So glad it was a happy ending!

 

[lalaland]

shan, you made me laugh with pigeon. I'm still halfway convinced its seagull

Kassaundra, I can just see you crying your eyes out!

and Justine, this is mrs murphy, also unidentified but definitely a bantam:

 

[lalaland]

Justine, about the mystery pigeon/seagull/chicken, I forgot to mention that she is very sleek, feathers tight to her body, not fluffy and loose like the araucana's.

 

[aoxa]

shan, you made me laugh with pigeon. I'm still halfway convinced its seagull

Kassaundra, I can just see you crying your eyes out!

and Justine, this is mrs murphy, also unidentified but definitely a bantam:

Maybe Golden Campine?

here is a young one. Their pattern gets much more defined with age.

 

[MumsyII]

Spent the morning at the little local county fair. I went into every barn. Took pictures of sorry looking chickens and a few ducks. Loved the pig barn and goat barn. What a lot of noise! Now I remember why I don't have pea fowl or sheep and goats on my little place. What racket! There was one pea hen that was so loud and distressed, she could be heard around the whole fair! There were some goats that were wailing too. It was hilarious! But I'm glad I'm not on volunteer duty in those barns. I would wear ear plugs and be of no use!

I love going to the fair to get my fill of cuteness and wonderment at the marvelous variety. Then come home. Change clothes, shoes, and wash it all off before going out to my own flock.

The best chicken in the poultry barn in my opinion was a White Plymouth Rock cockerel and he didn't even have a cage tag.


There was only one bird with the tag RIR. And of course it wasn't. The little girl that owned this production bird was so proud of it I took her picture and kept my mouth shut.


These cages for Open poultry are forty years old or more. Fighting goes on between males caged next to each other.


The tag said Silver Dorking. I'm not familiar with this breed. She looked sick. But maybe they are supposed to look like this?


Open egg judging. I want to enter next year with my HRIR eggs.


My favorite duck. I think the tag said Swedish crested? Cute duck.

Over twenty years ago, I used to be superintendent of the poultry barn. It is only a third of what it used to be. It's a hot, stressful enviroment for birds. They are touched, poked at, and jostled for four days. I would not enter a bird I cared for in this show.

 

[lalaland]

Quote:
justine, you rock! Now to go see what golden campines are. maybe mrs murphy isnt a banty? maybe they are a small breed?

 

[nicole63021]

thats a good sized run. what kind of chickens do you have?

A mix as I try to figure out which ones I like best! None are show quality or anything, but I think they're cute! 3 Salmon Favs, 3 GL Brahmas, 2 EEs, 1 BR, 1 Columbian Wyandotte (getting BLR), 1 Cream Legbar (also getting more), and some little bitties that hatched not too long ago, 1 Lav Am, 1 Lav Orp, and 1 mix (possible EE). I also have SFH eggs in the bator, and will be keeping 2-3, the rest are going to another person in MO who lost a lot of his flock to flooding. We are still going to get some Black split Lav Am eggs, FBCM eggs or chicks, and BBS Orps, in addition to the others listed. All total we are aiming for 15-20 birds, roosters are allowed, and we'd like to keep one to help with the hawks, but one neighbor isn't sold on the idea. Hoping the very high hen ratio will keep him too busy to crow excessively. These are all large fowl. The height is 10' on the high side, sloping to 8' on the low side, that way I can give them plenty of roosting areas to keep them a bit more occupied, along with the greens and such.

 

[aoxa]

justine, you rock! Now to go see what golden campines are. maybe mrs murphy isnt a banty? maybe they are a small breed?

Campines are classified as a small standard bird.

Mumsy, No they are not supposed to look like that, and she definitely looks sick. If the judges were responsible, they would disqualify and ask them to leave. If I see any that look under the weather I would say something. That bird is not well.

 

[MumsyII]

Campines are classified as a small standard bird.

Mumsy, No they are not supposed to look like that, and she definitely looks sick. If the judges were responsible, they would disqualify and ask them to leave. If I see any that look under the weather I would say something. That bird is not well.

When I entered the barn all I saw were little girls in attendance. They each were holding a chicken and asked every single person if they wanted to pet it. I declined but most people were petting the chickens. I was appalled. That sick bird was so pale it was very obvious something was wrong in it's face. Judging hadn't started yet. I got out of that barn and washed my hands even though I never touched anything. And everything I had on went into the wash before I went back outside when I got home. I even wore a hat and my hair pulled back in a tight pony tail when I went in that barn. I have no idea how they get away with having no adults on duty. These were very little girls. Around nine or ten. There were maybe thirty chickens total in the cages.

Edited to add: I do remember seeing a group of adults outside the barn setting up a tent for showmanship. Noone was available to speak with. My resolve not to enter my birds in small fairs or shows like this stands.