The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lazy gardener]

Do any of you make compost tea? I've read a lot regarding how long to let it "steep", but how soon after making the tea can you use it? How long will it stay good? Do you think it will aid in growing grass where I recently seeded.

Sorry to bombard with questions, but I have a bucket of poop ready to go.

Compost or poop tea? I've used compost tea before, works well. Your last statement re: bucket of poop throws me off guard. You're not soaking fresh chicken poo are you? I think that would be too high in nitrogen even if watered down quite a bit. But, i'm just guessing here. Depending on the application, I'd just rather throw a scoop of compost around the plant and water it in. I can tell you a funny compost tea story... Years ago, I had a bucket of it sitting on my back deck. It was pretty ripe. I looked out the back door just in time to see my toddler son and his friend upending the bucket to either take a swig or a shower with it... not sure which, but I don't think I'd moved that fast in years... or yelled quite as loud. I caught the act in progress quick enough to prevent MOST of the tea from being dumped all down the front of my son's clothes. You can also make a tea by taking your weeds and putting them in a bucket to soak until they start to break down. The liquid turns a nice dark color, and due to the anaerobic activity going on, unfortunately, smells pretty nasty, but the plants benefit from the leached weed nutrients.

 

[lazy gardener]

Kassaundra: you mentioned caponizing in a previous statement. Can you tell me a little bit about the procedure? Did someone train you? Is it difficult to learn? At what age do you do it? And does it completely eliminate the rooster sparring and breeding behavior? Would it be worth while to do with the few males that show up as accidentals from sexed chicks, or on 3 - 6 roos? I've read descriptions of the process, but it sounds a bit difficult for a novice to learn from "book learning"... If I thought that I could have caponized the 6 roos I ended up with this spring, it would have prevented a lot of coop drama, and allowed me to keep them until they achieved a respectable wt before going to freezer camp. If my questions are too much for this forum, feel free to PM me.

 

[delisha]

So I have sad news ... I ended up having to put my hen down... that is why I have been away from the thread this last week..... I was caring for my chicken. She was one of my favorites.

Her panting got worse and worse and she finally started wheezing .... sitting gasping for air with her eyes closed... her crop stopped emptying and I knew she was just waiting to die so I helped her out... Ok to be completely honest, I did not, but got someone who could help me. I know many of you have an aversion to GLW but she was simply the best ... she had a great personality. My yard is a lot less colorful without her.... I took her body to the UC DAVIS Lab for an autopsy. So now I wait for the results ...

dang..sorry to hear that.

.
I love my SLWs!
Please keep us updated..

Quote: I have sensor lights in a rooster decor at the coops door and one at a pole near the coop. They were the garden stake ones but my dogs broke the stakes. I like having a light to see my way to the coop a night.

I was thinking of using one of those battery operated light you push to turn on inside the coop when the days are shorter.

And on a good note by next spring the electric netting should be on solar power and I should be able to use it for the heated dog bowls in the winter also which means no electricity in the coop and off the grid so no extra costs for electricity

Ok I am camping but we found a Mennonite store and made some great finds. I got coconut oil cheap, raw honey & raw milk from the dairy.

Anyone have any good ideas what I can do with the raw milk besides drink it? I have a quart of it but can get more before we head back home. Pm me if you do. Thanks

Who knew I would find such a great area. Sure wish I could move up here so close to the Amish & Mennonites

beautiful area
raw milk is a great score..
take home extra and freeze it..
your chickens and FF bucket will thank you!!

So....the the little Fav pullet didn't make it through the night, DH buried her this morning. Could not get a stool sample, and DH did not want me to cut her open. Sending stools for the rest to a friend in Vet tech work to look at, just to make sure nobody has anything (I couldn't see anything, but a second opinion is always good). The others are all eating like mad and growing like weeds though. This little one was very close to the one killed, since she kept the Fav from getting picked on too much. Thank you again to everyone who offered help.

sorry..

Kassaundra: you mentioned caponizing in a previous statement. Can you tell me a little bit about the procedure? Did someone train you? Is it difficult to learn? At what age do you do it? And does it completely eliminate the rooster sparring and breeding behavior? Would it be worth while to do with the few males that show up as accidentals from sexed chicks, or on 3 - 6 roos? I've read descriptions of the process, but it sounds a bit difficult for a novice to learn from "book learning"... If I thought that I could have caponized the 6 roos I ended up with this spring, it would have prevented a lot of coop drama, and allowed me to keep them until they achieved a respectable wt before going to freezer camp. If my questions are too much for this forum, feel free to PM me.

Kass has her own thread for all your information.it is very good..enjoy!


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/675898/graphic-pics-of-my-day-learning-to-caponize

 

[Kassaundra]

Kassaundra: you mentioned caponizing in a previous statement. Can you tell me a little bit about the procedure? Did someone train you? Is it difficult to learn? At what age do you do it? And does it completely eliminate the rooster sparring and breeding behavior? Would it be worth while to do with the few males that show up as accidentals from sexed chicks, or on 3 - 6 roos? I've read descriptions of the process, but it sounds a bit difficult for a novice to learn from "book learning"... If I thought that I could have caponized the 6 roos I ended up with this spring, it would have prevented a lot of coop drama, and allowed me to keep them until they achieved a respectable wt before going to freezer camp. If my questions are too much for this forum, feel free to PM me.

Don't want to bring that controversial subject here, I did send a pm w/ a link

 

[camilleathome]

I had a great day today at the exhibition. also came back with what I think are a pair of crested ducks(They were listed as top hat ducks) and three turkey poults. I also have a trio of Sebastopols coming tomorrow. With that my flock is pretty much complete. I wanted a few breeds of chickens(Only need some good quality barred rocks and Ill be happy) A few egg and meat ducks(Id like a few female call ducks and maybe some muscovies but Ill probably be happy with just my pair of cresteds as they are very heavy nice and meaty), turkeys and geese. I love my flock so much. I need to go out and take more photos. My blue australorps are getting so big! I still dont have any eggs from my heritage rhode island reds though. im getting impatient! XD

 

[MEMama3]

Compost or poop tea?  I've used compost tea before, works well.  Your last statement re: bucket of poop throws me off guard.  You're not soaking fresh chicken poo are you?  I think that would be too high in nitrogen even if watered down quite a bit.  But, i'm just guessing here.  Depending on the application, I'd just rather throw a scoop of compost around the plant and water it in.  I can tell you a funny compost tea story... Years ago, I had a bucket of it sitting on my back deck.  It was pretty ripe.  I looked out the back door just in time to see my toddler son and his friend upending the bucket to either take a swig or a shower with it... not sure which, but I don't think I'd moved that fast in years... or yelled quite as loud.  I caught the act in progress quick enough to prevent MOST of the tea from being dumped all down the front of my son's clothes.  You can also make a tea by taking your weeds and putting them in a bucket to soak until they start to break down.  The liquid turns a nice dark color, and due to the anaerobic activity going on, unfortunately, smells pretty nasty, but the plants benefit from the leached weed nutrients.

Aged poop tea: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/make-chicken-manure-tea-fertilizer-40853.html BTW I can totally see one of my boys doing that and sadly, it wouldn't be the grossest thing they would have done. Ah, boys.

 

[RedRidge]

Quote: My production layers eat .25 lb/day when confined, the HRIR will eat closer to .33 lb/day.
However... when not confined they eat almost nothing... so these amounts are dry feed weights in winter months (I feed FF, so it obviously weighs more than double that when wet)

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

On the water kefir - forgot to add that I would LOVE to try it if I knew someone nearby that I could get some already started grains from.  Some day, if I order something else from the culture place, I might add some to my order just to try.  My experience with re-hydrating milk kefir cultures didn't go so well   So I'd like to see if i could get some that are active!

Look for "Dom's Kefir Making" Yahoo Group. I found many resources and local grains there.

 

[RedRidge]

My son came home from work yesterday talking about Kefir Water. Have we talked about it and I missed it? It sounds beneficial and It was very interesting and I'm going to finish researching it today.
Edited to say, for my consumption not necessarily the chickens.

I make water kefir every 48 hrs. My husband has been able totally eliminate reflux drugs now that he drinks water kefir daily.
I make a batch of actual "water kefir" and then that water kefir is made into soda kefir (using a small amount of juice as it's mixed with the water kefir, but without the grains, and put into small bottles).
The bottles need to seal well if you want it to carbonate.
I do this rotation every other day so I always have a quart or half gallon of water kefir processing in the cabinet and I always have 5 bottles of soda kefir on top of frig.
After 2 days what is on top of frig gets moved into frig (and will then be ready to drink)... what it in cabinet has grains drained off, juice added, is bottled, then put on frig.
Then grains are used to make another batch.

Get on the Cultures for Health web site to learn more

 

[RedRidge]

Quote: I tried it once..lol..once was enough. I do not like yogurt either. Its weird because i love buttermilk and cottage cheese.
Note... Milk kefir and water kefir are two totally different things. Water kefir, especially when make into soda kefir tastes like a carbonated fruit drink.
Milk kefir can just be way too strong from some people.

Sorry for any redundancy... Been away for a few days taking daughter to college and WOW, there is a lot to catch up on here... please bear with me.