The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

Wow - I bet that dirt really helps her see better since it smooths down her bouffant some!

I have to open it on my work computer. I don't have spreadsheets on my mac

I'm sure it will make sense to me. Hopefully anyway. I'll let you know tomorrow!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Thank you and HAH! My hubby works very hard all week so when he lends me his time for chicken and garden projects I am very very happy. Happy wife, happy family as the saying goes.

Since this chick house will have just an open floor plan inside like my old original chick house, I wanted to get creative with the exterior. I love folly's in the garden. Something that is used for one thing but looks like something else. I used to be an actress at historical reenactments and have a lot of set props. They will all be used in this chick house.

Here is another one of my models I will borrow ideas from.


I already have a wooden plank door and a pop out dormer. When making models or set props, I use techniques that are faux. Wattle and daub look a likes and painting techniques that fool the eye. The chick house will be surrounded with garden plantings that are already established. Pop doors are a given but I want working shutters on windows and storage areas built in. Faux timbers for roof support would be neat. And lighting with outlets too. Got to get this whipped out in a couple weeks!

It is going to be so cute! How fun!

 

[jlynnet]

My chickens have been locked up since Friday because a hawk sat on the coop. My boys need to fattened up before heading to freezer camp. At $3.00 a bird, I'm taking them to be processed. We don't have the time to learn on about 10 birds.

 

[armorfirelady]

So I am getting everything together to set the coop up for winter. I keep thinking about the FF and having to put it back in the house. Anyone ever think of using those heated buckets they use for livestock to hold their FF all winter so it doesn't freeze? And then can be in the coop all winter?

They tend to go on sale in the fall and I really want to buy one to see if it would work. Does anyone use one now and have good luck with it? Any negatives?


This is what I meant

 

[aaggjg]

Where are you at? Looking up hawk identification images on google may narrow it down based on your area.

I'd guess Cooper Hawk. They are very common, and have stripes on their tails and a light chest.

Think you might be right..... Not that it really matters because a hawks a hawk and they all want to snack on my chickens!!! Here is the photo I took of it on my phone, blown up .... I feel like I'm looking for Waldo.

Clear as day right???

 

[armorfirelady]

Just read an article by Mother Earth News that states blue eggs are that color due to a virus. Huh........what are they trying to do scare people away?

http://www.popsci.com/science/artic...ongrats-your-chicken-has-virus?dom=tw&src=SOC


I know chicken eggs from various chicken breeds emerge in different shades because of pigments which are deposited as the eggs move through the hen's oviduct. The pigment depositions are determined by the chicken's genetics.

Why do I think this is going to start more problems?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Think you might be right..... Not that it really matters because a hawks a hawk and they all want to snack on my chickens!!! Here is the photo I took of it on my phone, blown up .... I feel like I'm looking for Waldo.

Clear as day right???

I see waldo!!! Do I win a prize?

 

[Kassaundra]

Not sure where that info came from, it wasn't well researched in other areas (that the only two chicken breeds that lay blue eggs, when there are several others) that they called araucana the same as "Americana" (their spelling not mine). With the easy well known and documented mistakes in the article it does not inspire confidence in me that they actually know what they are talking about in the more technical areas.

That being said a retrovirus ages ago effecting dna changes that then were passed on the good old fashioned way is plausible at least on the surface. However the article title makes it seem as though the chickens now laying blue eggs have a current ongoing virus, very inflammatory and misleading considering the content of the article. The article also seems to hint at the possibility this is an unhealthy virus, which according to thousands of years of blue egg laying chickens in home flocks and the wild around the world seems a clear indication that if it was started by a retrovirus ages ago that it has not been harmful to these chickens, again not inspiring confidence in the content of the article and seemingly needless inflammatory statements.



Sorry I forgot to quote, this was about the blue egg virus article

 

[delisha]

So I am getting everything together to set the coop up for winter. I keep thinking about the FF and having to put it back in the house. Anyone ever think of using those heated buckets they use for livestock to hold their FF all winter so it doesn't freeze? And then can be in the coop all winter?

They tend to go on sale in the fall and I really want to buy one to see if it would work. Does anyone use one now and have good luck with it? Any negatives?


This is what I meant

This is a great idea..I bring my bucket in the house when it gets really cold. That would work great!

Just read an article by Mother Earth News that states blue eggs are that color due to a virus. Huh........what are they trying to do scare people away?

http://www.popsci.com/science/artic...ongrats-your-chicken-has-virus?dom=tw&src=SOC


I know chicken eggs from various chicken breeds emerge in different shades because of pigments which are deposited as the eggs move through the hen's oviduct. The pigment depositions are determined by the chicken's genetics.

Why do I think this is going to start more problems?

lol.

It was quite interesting and the fact were controversial. The comparison to HIV and the blue egg gene (virus) was laughable. I noticed they addressed some of the questions, but did not answer them.

 

[delisha]

Quote: goshawk possibly..copper or sharpskin probably..a bit fuzzy to tell