The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Jewelwing]

He seemed fine 4 days ago, suddenly he couldn't walk steady on his back legs, then he couldn't walk period, wouldn't eat or drink, then he was gone

Wow, that is really fast. So hard to lose a loved family member, especially one who's been part of your family for so long. And for it to be so sudden, you didn't have any time to prepare emotionally. I'm so sorry. What a beautiful picture of him - he was gorgeous!

 

[delisha]

Aleta: you raise a question for me... re: your statement about wanting to include animal protein, and using fish. What will a chicken do with a fish that is thrown into the run? do you cook it first? Debone it? At certain times of the year, there are a lot of "junk fish" that can be caught from the lake where my Dad has a camp. I'm wondering how much fish can be fed without worrying about giving the eggs a fishy flavor, or tainting the chickens with mercury and other toxins from a heavy fish diet. Also, can you please explain your statement on keeping the tuna in the freezer for 20 more days. I wish I was in a more temperate zone to be able to raise BSF. I'm also running the idea around in my head about importing some and trying to winter them over in my green house. It's an unheated hoop coop, and I'm in zone 4 or 5A. If I wasn't so squeamish, I'd consider giving some frogs to the girls, but, honestly, I hate it when they catch a frog, b/c I think frogs process a lot of insects!

Cooking meats and fishes removes many of the good things.
Try an experiment and keep us posted on how much fish is too much.
I used to have pools of fish for the ducks and the chickens ate them too. I never had fishy eggs.

Hay y'all my chickens got into a bag of fish poo I was keeping to put in the garden... Any ideas on why they would have eaten this? And would it hurt them? I've seen no ill effects as of yet but still can't figure out why they would eat fish poo?!?!

Great stuff for a chicken to get into..they love so many different types of poo..lots of wonderful nutrients in it.

Quote:
glass orange juicer with a pint jar on top








Old feed and waterers ...some home made

 

[Gramma Chick]

• delisha Quote:

THIS ONE IS NICE ..oppps caps
Here is what I use for babies a regular waterer in a clay flowerpot with stones in it
baby lookin at ya !
Adults stainless steel bowls inside a larger clay flowerpot
Fermented food
Adults - plastic food bowls from walmart in a wood frame ..Bought them for popcorn bowls after christmas ...sat in my cupboard ..until


Babies - ceramic soup bowls - they are sturdier than glass & heavier .

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote: We store our dry food in container gotten from walmart deli frosting & other stuff comes in it . It is large ..3 of them holds the whole bag of feed (50 lbs)

 

[jockeyeba]

So sorry, we've had many colic's over the years but only 1 founder.

Thanks it has been heart breaking. Are you in TB or QH racing. He is Runaway Colors out of Beduino bred which apparently Is a big name in the QH racing. This horse and I got 74th out of 900 runners at our state finals in June. This is so devastating but his X-rays look like nothing every happened so he might have a future but we are dealing with a string of abcesses now.

TB's but I used to ride QH's many years ago Won 4 races on a Beduino mare 900 entries If X-rays don't show any coffin bone rotation you maybe ok & very lucky. I hope he comes back for you

 

[jockeyeba]

 He seemed fine 4 days ago, suddenly he couldn't walk steady on his back legs, then he couldn't walk period, wouldn't eat or drink, then he was gone

Wow, that is really fast.  So hard to lose a loved family member, especially one who's been part of your family for so long.  And for it to be so sudden, you didn't have any time to prepare emotionally.  I'm so sorry.  What a beautiful picture of him - he was gorgeous!

Thank you, I've had several people tell me it sounds like he had a stroke, makes sense

 

[jockeyeba]

Great ideas! Here's a picture of a wooden trough we had-I put a 2x4 through the middle

That's a great idea! Does the wood soak up liquid from the ff and get all yucky? It looks pretty clean in your picture.

If the ff was too runny & it dried I would have to use a paint scrapper & clean it out every once in a while

 

[4Hgirl]

TB's but I used to ride QH's many years ago Won 4 races on a Beduino mare 900 entries If X-rays don't show any coffin bone rotation you maybe ok & very lucky. I hope he comes back for you

Wow what a small world! I need to do more research but I've heard Beduino was a top notch sire. My boy is very much a Beduino from what I've heard. He's smart, but quirky, and a little pushy.
I always dreamed of being a jockey no real racing in Central FL where is was born raised and still live. I've done dressage for past 7 years and then got my barrel horse last year for something fun. Barrel racing is closest to being a jockey I'll ever get to.

 

[MEMama3]

Wow what a small world! I need to do more research but I've heard Beduino was a top notch sire. My boy is very much a Beduino from what I've heard. He's smart, but quirky, and a little pushy.
I always dreamed of being a jockey no real racing in Central FL where is was born raised and still live. I've done dressage for past 7 years and then got my barrel horse last year for something fun. Barrel racing is closest to being a jockey I'll ever get to.

I miss the horses in central Florida. I worked at the neonatal care facility in Gainesville for four years while I was in college.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:

A lot of the feed and feeder questions were already answered...I was out all afternoon and evening yesterday so I'm a little late to the party.

Yes...the chicks do get shavings in things. I try to put them up on some kind of a little platform to keep them higher than the shaving level. That works pretty well, but it doesn't take care of it entirely. I just have to clean it out more frequently.

In Delisha's post you could see the base of a glass waterer in which she put feed for the chicks. I also use one of those for the chicks. I just try to raise it higher than shaving level.

It won't be long and those chicks won't be making such a mess - and won't be pooping in there either. I just try to be sure that it gets cleaned out on a regular basis and definitely look forward to them growing up.


On the freezing water - I had to set my canning jar chick waterers on a heated base to keep them from freezing when I was using them last winter.