The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Beautiful day here & spent some time with the hens. I took some cute pics I thought I woud share.

I wonder if the Dairy association would use my hens in their commercials for drinking milk? I had yogurt all over me after the girls dipped their beaks up tho their nostrils in yogurt than shook their heads. I was laughing o hard at their antics. Of course the fact Stella & Edie were trying to peck the yogurt off me didn't help

For those who used drawing salve for bumble foot. How long did it take? I am on day 5 or 6 and the small scab is starting to lift but the large one is the same. Does anyone thing removing the big scab then applying the drawing salve might work better? I really want to get this cleared up so green doesn't need her boots anymore.

 

[uglychickens]

...

Beautiful day here & spent some time with the hens. I took some cute pics I thought I woud share.

When I first looked at that pic the bands made them look like they were waring leg warmers!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Quote: LOL I was wondering what the things on her legs were to. LOVE the feathers on her!!! They are SOOOOOO pretty and LOVE that one with the yogurt on it's wattles! That is sooooo cute! LOL

 

[delisha]

I have a big Black Rooster about 12lbs. He came with scabs on his feet pads. I check him weekly and pick off the scabs and apply NuStock. They have not become infected and the scabs are getting smaller. Not sure if that will work for you or not. I also changed his roost to a round tree trunk and think that helps.

 

[aoxa]

I had to share this little blue silkie pullet with you guys. isn't she a doll? 9 weeks old I have high hopes for her.

 

[armorfirelady]

I have a big Black Rooster about 12lbs. He came with scabs on his feet pads. I check him weekly and pick off the scabs and apply NuStock. They have not become infected and the scabs are getting smaller. Not sure if that will work for you or not. I also changed his roost to a round tree trunk and think that helps.

Hmmm that might work as well. I have a round tree roost in there but they really prefer the 2x4s. I believe she got the bumblefoot from a scratch from the wire I have on the ground around the pen. None of them had foot problems before moving the coop and putting that on the ground. And the big girls have on 2x4s even in their old coop. When I move the coop back next week I am tossing all the chicken wire & using something else.

Maybe tomorrow I will have time to pick scabs off and try again. I have been trying to some up with a *boot* or sock I can slip over her feet to keep the dirt out. Even with daily changes she has her socks full of dirt :/

Quote: LOL I was wondering what the things on her legs were to. LOVE the feathers on her!!! They are SOOOOOO pretty and LOVE that one with the yogurt on it's wattles! That is sooooo cute! LOL
Her bumble foot socks. She is starting a chicken fashion statement

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I'm considering trying to hatch my own cornish meet bird. Any ideas on what hen and what rooster I need to produce the cross bred chick that grows really fast and has lots of meat?

 

[Kassaundra]

I think the basic starting point is Cornish and plymoth rock cross. But you would need good genetic stock not the hatchery stock. And from anything I have read in the meat section about it you won't get the results of the hatchery crosses b/c they have been perfecting the bird lines for a loooong time. Also w/ the Cornish they can be testy to breed. There was an Okie that used to post a lot he had real Cornish and awesome ones at that, he was even attempting AI at some point, or talking about it, I think it is the short legs, but just going off memory right now.


What is the reason? More sustainable?, not have the shipping cost?, not dealing w/ hatcheries? Just curious.

 

[MumsyII]

I had to share this little blue silkie pullet with you guys. isn't she a doll? 9 weeks old I have high hopes for her.

She is a cutie. What a sweet looking little girl.

 

[BlueMouse]

I'm considering doing the same thing. just because the per bird costs for me is at least $2 each straight run. and that's for lots of 25. less than that and it's about 50 cents a bird more. Next year we're going to TRY putting some of the meat birds under my buff orpington rooster and see what we get. It may be nothing. For sure it won't mature in 10 weeks. I'll keep records. Maybe the cost of feeding more birds out will negate the savings of not buying birds every year. Our goal is to raise 50-60 meat birds every year. 35 for our freezer, and the rest to sell to family to recoup the cost of feed invested. At least partially. My husband also likes the idea of not relying on the hatcheries for our meat birds, being at least somewhat more sustainable. If we e where had more room I would invest in a flock of high quality dual purpose heritage birds. but we need something faster maturing than that, because we can only raise a maximum of 25 birds at a time, and that's only if we're not raising turkeys. If we're raising turkeys we can only really raise 18 meat birds at a time. and maintain 4sq feet of space per bird, 6 sq feet per turkey in the tractors. That's the minimum I'm comfortable with. I wish we had a place with real pasture where I could raise birds on rotating paddocks and have space to overwinter the core of my "meat bird" flock, but, at the moment, that's just a pipe dream. So. We'll see what next year brings. It will at the least be an interesting experience!