The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Hello to you, too.

 

[Barbians4]

One of my hens seems to be having a digestive issue and I have no idea why. I don't know which one it is since I can't see them pooping in the coop at night. But, it's very runny and has run down the walls in a couple of spots. Like she was sitting on the roost and pooped and it hit the wall behind her. Gross!

But I haven't changed any of their feed or been giving them anything different in the way of fruits and veggies. Any ideas?

 

[Leahs Mom]

One of my hens seems to be having a digestive issue and I have no idea why. I don't know which one it is since I can't see them pooping in the coop at night. But, it's very runny and has run down the walls in a couple of spots. Like she was sitting on the roost and pooped and it hit the wall behind her. Gross!

But I haven't changed any of their feed or been giving them anything different in the way of fruits and veggies. Any ideas?

I've had that happen before.

The main thing I would ask is: Do you see any of your girls looking/acting sick/different at all?

If I don't observe a problem with them physically, I usually don't worry about that kind of thing. The times I've had it happen, there was no change in them, and they went on with life normally.

Now, if I had observed something different in their well-being I would have investigated further.

Those are my thoughts. Someone else may have much more to add!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:

lol..yup..however I understand your concern. Its hot..her urates will be loose. She is probably eating less and she is straining to get rid of what she think she has so she can go back to her brooding.(She probably does not understand why she is not pooing baseballs)

Could you elaborate a bit more... are you saying that "loose stool" (or urates) is common in hot weather just in general?

If so, do you have an idea of why that would be?

 

[MEMama3]

I know we've heard the pro/con debate of lighting 1000 times, but have a lighting question for those that are pro supplemental lighting. I posted this in the egg laying/behavior forum, but maybe you all can chime in too.

I know supplemental lighting should be added in the morning so no one is caught off the roost, but is it really that bad to add it in the evening? I don't leave food in the coop and the birds never hang out in there. If I add the light in the morning, they'd be stuck in there for an hour or two until we get up (more of an issue in late winter when it would be going on at 4:15). In the evening would allow them to be in or out. It also may bear mentioning that I have solar lights in the run and a porch light nearby, so they wouldn't be plunged into total darkness.

 

[BlueMouse]

Well, all my meat chicks survived their first day. Which is always a good sign. I think if you're going to lose one from the shipping normally you lose it right in those 24 hours. they've slowed down with their drining and are really chowing down on their food. I have them a chunk of sod and they are scratching and packing at it. This morning I finely diced all the hearts livers and gizzards I saved when we butchered

It's a good thing I hadn't had breakfast yet. Nothing is grosser than liver. I packaged it up and froze it in "one day" portions, so I can thaw it the night before and feed it easily. The chicks went crazy for it. I'm hoping for better things from this group of meat birds, better dress out weights. I'm hoping that really superior nutrition, with eggs/organ meats/canned fish for the first two weeks will really give them an excellent foundation for their rapid growth.

 

[lazy gardener]

Bluemouse: Sounds like you're off to a good start with these meat birds. What breed? What a perfect time of year to be raising meat birds. they can brood in the warm weather, and you can butcher them when the weather cools a bit. Enjoy. I'd like to process some meat birds next year, but not sure due to the work involved. We'll see. I have a friend who has a plucker, perhaps I'll start a batch of chickens, and take them over to his house so we can process them together and share the bounty.

 

[Sally8]

Hello.

Hi! Welcome.

 

[BlueMouse]

Bluemouse: Sounds like you're off to a good start with these meat birds. What breed? What a perfect time of year to be raising meat birds. they can brood in the warm weather, and you can butcher them when the weather cools a bit. Enjoy. I'd like to process some meat birds next year, but not sure due to the work involved. We'll see. I have a friend who has a plucker, perhaps I'll start a batch of chickens, and take them over to his house so we can process them together and share the bounty.

These are your basic garden variety hatchery cornish X meat birds. They haven't been a whole lot of work. I raise mine in tractors, so it's a matter of feeding twice a day, and moving the tractors twice a day when they're younger, and then three times a day as they get older. Since I'm a stay at home mom that's easy enough to work into my schedule. With preparing feed and everything they might add 20 minutes of work a day to my schedule. We did find that the most time consuming part of the processing was the plucking, even with proper scalding. My husband has found plans online for a plucker, and wants to try and build one. That will make the processing portion go much faster. This last time we processed 8 birds in about 3 hours. But it was the first time we'd done it. I'm hoping that we can do 4 or 5 birds in an hour this next time. It's not a terribly pleasant process. I'm not a big fan of killing pretty much anything, although I don't mind dealing with it after it's dead. But I'm really happy with both the quality of the meat, both from a taste and a nutritional standpoint.

 

[TipihlowLadies]

So we only ended up processing four. They weren't big enough for our liking.

Also, they still have quite a few pin feathers, and I spent far too much time plucking. The regular feathers are easy, but the pin feathers.. gah!

I'd say they are around 3-4 pounds after processed. 7 weeks. Need to grow out longer. Too much work for a 3 pound chicken.

what breed my CC'S AT 7 WEEKS AVERAGED 7 LBS PROCESSED