The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TipihlowLadies]

well with all of the opinions on my dog house hens I figerd out the problem . my girls started laying up on top of my brooders about six feet so I put the laying boxes at that height never crossed my mind until the ideal of what the difference was in the dog house and the laying boxes. the only thing different is the height so I put a box on the floor problem solved thank you all for your oppinions I can usualy figure things out but sometimes you cant see outside the box and just a simple suggestion makes it clear as a bell. I can't think of one problem that has not been resolved by one of you BYCers even by just read the posts even on some non-chicken topics so please keep up the posts I like reading it all I've learned a lot this year plus it's a stress release for me. goodnight to all!

 

[pigeonguy]

Hello all especially leahs mom. I'm fine. I finished my home built incubator It is built from a wine chiller, computer power supply, 12 volt window defroster, oven rack and temp controller. From start up it takes about 25 minutes to maintain a stable 100.5 degrees f. If door is opened after that it takes about 1 minute to get back to temp. That is the best heat up and recovery I've heard of. I put 18 eggs in that were under a broody 2 weeks ago then due to complication (since fixed) I dropped 3 on the floor and jostled the other 15 pretty hard landed on the cushion of the chair. out of the 15 so far 11 have hatched the others have till this Sunday before I give up. I also have been putting eggs in with the date wrote on them since 9/11 So those should start hatching 10/2. I have used no lock down to do this hatching. They are turned 3 to 4 times every day hatch on the shelf and then fall 7 inch's to a padded floor where they dry and then go to the brooder. It is not a problem opening the door to get them out with the quick recovery time. I am sure sooner or later complication will come but for now all I can think is wow is this easy.
I have not built the auto plucker yet and the Bsf did not get enough effort. I will be checking in more often as it gets colder and I will check back to see questions about this.
I will post pics at a later date when I have time..

My biggest concern right now is.

What am I going to do with all these Black Copper Marans!

 

[Sally8]

Hello all especially leahs mom. I'm fine. I finished my home built incubator It is built from a wine chiller, computer power supply, 12 volt window defroster, oven rack and temp controller. From start up it takes about 25 minutes to maintain a stable 100.5 degrees f. If door is opened after that it takes about 1 minute to get back to temp. That is the best heat up and recovery I've heard of. I put 18 eggs in that were under a broody 2 weeks ago then due to complication (since fixed) I dropped 3 on the floor and jostled the other 15 pretty hard landed on the cushion of the chair. out of the 15 so far 11 have hatched the others have till this Sunday before I give up. I also have been putting eggs in with the date wrote on them since 9/11 So those should start hatching 10/2. I have used no lock down to do this hatching. They are turned 3 to 4 times every day hatch on the shelf and then fall 7 inch's to a padded floor where they dry and then go to the brooder. It is not a problem opening the door to get them out with the quick recovery time. I am sure sooner or later complication will come but for now all I can think is wow is this easy.
I have not built the auto plucker yet and the Bsf did not get enough effort. I will be checking in more often as it gets colder and I will check back to see questions about this.
I will post pics at a later date when I have time..

My biggest concern right now is.

[COLOR=00FF00]What am I going to do with all these Black Copper Marans![/COLOR]

hahaha. Very funny. Every time I look in the juvenile coop, I ask myself the same question. When you figure it out, let me know.

 

[lalaland]

Hello all especially leahs mom. I'm fine. I finished my home built incubator It is built from a wine chiller, computer power supply, 12 volt window defroster, oven rack and temp controller. From start up it takes about 25 minutes to maintain a stable 100.5 degrees f. If door is opened after that it takes about 1 minute to get back to temp. That is the best heat up and recovery I've heard of. I put 18 eggs in that were under a broody 2 weeks ago then due to complication (since fixed) I dropped 3 on the floor and jostled the other 15 pretty hard landed on the cushion of the chair. out of the 15 so far 11 have hatched the others have till this Sunday before I give up. I also have been putting eggs in with the date wrote on them since 9/11 So those should start hatching 10/2. I have used no lock down to do this hatching. They are turned 3 to 4 times every day hatch on the shelf and then fall 7 inch's to a padded floor where they dry and then go to the brooder. It is not a problem opening the door to get them out with the quick recovery time. I am sure sooner or later complication will come but for now all I can think is wow is this easy.
I have not built the auto plucker yet and the Bsf did not get enough effort. I will be checking in more often as it gets colder and I will check back to see questions about this.
I will post pics at a later date when I have time..

My biggest concern right now is.

What am I going to do with all these Black Copper Marans!

pigeonguy! nice to see you here after so long.
if you really have too many marans, illinois isn't that far from minnesota - I'ld come get some. I figure, hey, gas, time off, plus chick cost, um......oh well!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Whew. PG, I thought something serious had happened and I'd never hear from you again. So glad you're okay!!!!

PM me about your Marans...maybe I'd take some...

 

[armorfirelady]

Hello all especially leahs mom. I'm fine. I finished my home built incubator It is built from a wine chiller, computer power supply, 12 volt window defroster, oven rack and temp controller. From start up it takes about 25 minutes to maintain a stable 100.5 degrees f. If door is opened after that it takes about 1 minute to get back to temp. That is the best heat up and recovery I've heard of. I put 18 eggs in that were under a broody 2 weeks ago then due to complication (since fixed) I dropped 3 on the floor and jostled the other 15 pretty hard landed on the cushion of the chair. out of the 15 so far 11 have hatched the others have till this Sunday before I give up. I also have been putting eggs in with the date wrote on them since 9/11 So those should start hatching 10/2. I have used no lock down to do this hatching. They are turned 3 to 4 times every day hatch on the shelf and then fall 7 inch's to a padded floor where they dry and then go to the brooder. It is not a problem opening the door to get them out with the quick recovery time. I am sure sooner or later complication will come but for now all I can think is wow is this easy.
I have not built the auto plucker yet and the Bsf did not get enough effort. I will be checking in more often as it gets colder and I will check back to see questions about this.
I will post pics at a later date when I have time..

My biggest concern right now is.

What am I going to do with all these Black Copper Marans!

Glad to see you are doing ok. Sounds like a great incubator. And it looks like you may have solved the problem of to many BCMs. If I lived closer I might of took a couple...........well maybe not since I am over my limit but if I could get away with it I would

 

[aoxa]

Have you guys seen this map from Mother Earth News? It pinpoints a bunch of places to get organic poultry feed across the country, so you can see what's near you. There's nothing near me, co it wasn't too helpful, but it might help some of the rest of you, if you're interested.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...ers-directory-zl0z1308zmar.aspx#axzz2fmTdEvXY

Also, I have a question. The article says "all adult birds need hen scratch." Is this true? I thought it was just a treat, and I haven't given mine any yet.

I think it is taken in context. What I think they mean is at the very least if they need scratch on top of kitchen scraps. That is what I took it as, not that they need it in addition to their 'layer' feed.

But again, don't take it as fact because it's in an article.

 

[Pozees]

Hello all especially leahs mom. I'm fine. I finished my home built incubator It is built from a wine chiller, computer power supply, 12 volt window defroster, oven rack and temp controller. From start up it takes about 25 minutes to maintain a stable 100.5 degrees f. If door is opened after that it takes about 1 minute to get back to temp. That is the best heat up and recovery I've heard of. I put 18 eggs in that were under a broody 2 weeks ago then due to complication (since fixed) I dropped 3 on the floor and jostled the other 15 pretty hard landed on the cushion of the chair. out of the 15 so far 11 have hatched the others have till this Sunday before I give up. I also have been putting eggs in with the date wrote on them since 9/11 So those should start hatching 10/2. I have used no lock down to do this hatching. They are turned 3 to 4 times every day hatch on the shelf and then fall 7 inch's to a padded floor where they dry and then go to the brooder. It is not a problem opening the door to get them out with the quick recovery time. I am sure sooner or later complication will come but for now all I can think is wow is this easy.
I have not built the auto plucker yet and the Bsf did not get enough effort. I will be checking in more often as it gets colder and I will check back to see questions about this.
I will post pics at a later date when I have time..

My biggest concern right now is.

What am I going to do with all these Black Copper Marans!

Hurray, pigeonguy is back!

As a technically challenged person, when you have time I would really like to know more details about how you built your incubator, it sounds really neat!

 

[delisha]

Have you guys seen this map from Mother Earth News? It pinpoints a bunch of places to get organic poultry feed across the country, so you can see what's near you. There's nothing near me, co it wasn't too helpful, but it might help some of the rest of you, if you're interested.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...ers-directory-zl0z1308zmar.aspx#axzz2fmTdEvXY

Also, I have a question. The article says "all adult birds need hen scratch." Is this true? I thought it was just a treat, and I haven't given mine any yet.

scratch has little value to the birds. If you have planted grazing and solder flies or feed meat proteins for the birds on top of grazing areas, you can get away with feeding scratch. They love scratch and it is like giving a kid candy. Not good for them, but, fun to give for their pleasure.

I think the article is saying you can't feed table scraps exclusively. That the chickens need a balanced diet.

 

[Jewelwing]

I think it is taken in context. What I think they mean is at the very least if they need scratch on top of kitchen scraps. That is what I took it as, not that they need it in addition to their 'layer' feed.

But again, don't take it as fact because it's in an article.

That's why I'm asking you guys!

I trust you all more than an article.

I guess I would have thought they'd just say that they shouldn't be fed kitchen scraps alone, and I thought scratch was an odd thing to say they should be supplemented with if it really is just like candy to them.

scratch has little value to the birds. If you have planted grazing and solder flies or feed meat proteins for the birds on top of grazing areas, you can get away with feeding scratch. They love scratch and it is like giving a kid candy. Not good for them, but, fun to give for their pleasure.

I think the article is saying you can't feed table scraps exclusively. That the chickens need a balanced diet.

So if I'm feeding fermented organic grower feed and some kitchen scraps - not very many - and once the run's finished and I feel safer letting them out of the coop (any day now!), they'll forage some, I don't need to give them scratch? I haven't bought any yet. There's nowhere around me that sells any organic poultry food, so I'd have to order some online.