The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

I know I am behind and will catch up later..I just wanted to drop a note about the show. (I will post pictures later). One of my birds made Champion row and three others made BB and BV.

Me too Del!!

My goose won chapion heavy goose and Reserve Champion Goose at the APA Canadian Nationals!!! I am so proud


Congrats to you as well!

I got best in breed for the Buckeye rooster, and BV for my partridge silkie, but that doesn't mean much - because they were the only ones there in the breed (except the silkie.. only one in the variety.)

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

My chickens aren't laying yet, so I don't have anything to store the eggs in yet. I was going to get a wire basket to collect eggs in and store on the counter. Is there a reason I should get one like this instead?

To admire the eggs of course! I also can keep track of which eggs are older, older ones in front, used first. I just transfer everything forward and add the newer eggs to the back.

 

[RedRidge]

Hey guys question regarding livestock guardians. What would be the best against fox? Im still debating on what Id like to get. Im planning on getting geese and I already have turkeys(Though their still a bit small yet). Would Alpacas ward off fox? Or would I absolutely have to get livestock guardian dogs?

Hard to go wrong with a decent lgd...

 

[aoxa]

Hard to go wrong with a decent lgd...

I agree, but not sure Camille would want all that training. It's easier to train an LGD if you have an older LGD to help you. Getting a puppy with no older dog's influence was HARD on us. She only killed two birds playing with them, but the running... Camille doesn't have enough of a pasture for one in my opinion. Plus her pasture is kind of close to the road, that is busy enough to worry me with a LGD.

I think a llama would be easier for her lifestyle. Cheaper too.

I think your maremmas thrive with your sheep. If they had just chickens it would be more difficult to train them. Camille does have a few goats and some horses. The goats would be a good tool to train an LGD pup. It may have been easier for me to train Clementine if I had have had the goats when she was 10 weeks rather than 9 months when I got the sheep.

 

[SunnySkies]

I agree, but not sure Camille would want all that training. It's easier to train an LGD if you have an older LGD to help you. Getting a puppy with no older dog's influence was HARD on us. She only killed two birds playing with them, but the running... Camille doesn't have enough of a pasture for one in my opinion. Plus her pasture is kind of close to the road, that is busy enough to worry me with a LGD.

I think a llama would be easier for her lifestyle. Cheaper too. 

I think your maremmas thrive with your sheep. If they had just chickens it would be more difficult to train them. Camille does have a few goats and some horses. The goats would be a good tool to train an LGD pup. It may have been easier for me to train Clementine if I had have had the goats when she was 10 weeks rather than 9 months when I got the sheep.

To consider with a couple of your points:

I have two GP pups now. They are in their teen stage, having just turned 4 months old. It is HARD. Doable, but hard. My girl loves to play with chickens. Last night, she sneaked into the coop behind my back to try to catch and lick a hen. She has killed two chicks, loving them to death, but that was my fault. Chicks are now kept locked up. Constant vigilance is required, or I pen or chain the dogs when I can't be home. She loves to catch and lick them.

We have 7 acres. I do know several people with less land who have success with LGDs.

We have no sheep or goats. I would like goats, but we have no plans to get any any time soon. They are meant to guard the poultry. It's hard to bond dogs to poultry. I don't think it can be forced either, but it just grows. If you want a poultry dog, find one that was born with birds around. And supervise.

We have a radio fence. I know several people who say it won't work. OTOH, I know several people who use it and find it exceptional. But my dogs know they can't cross the fence. Period. They don't even try now. It's an excellent adjunct to a fence or perfect for an area where a traditional fence is problematic. It does require training to, and many people think they can just install the fence, put the collar on the dog and done. Nope. It took me three weeks to train the dogs to the fence, before I was sure they would never cross it. I also started as 12 week old puppies, way younger than the fence people suggest, but it worked and worked well. My dogs won't even try to come to me if I cross the fence. They sit and watch me, 6 feet away from the line, so it won't beep at them.

We got the dogs as we wanted protection on our entire property, not just a pasture, so a llama or donkey was out, and I have not seen a predator since the dogs arrived. Our front pasture was covered in blood, and a pile of guts was out there Friday night, after butchering 30 birds, but no coons or foxes dared to come over. The dogs and chickens have been eating it (yuck).

I would not suggest a female as a first LGD. Everyone I have talked to -- many breeders, many owners -- has said the girls are more high strung, more energentic, more willing to go behind your back to do naughty things, take more attention. My boy has been easier to train, and he is way less likely to do things if bored.

LGDs work best in pairs.

 

[aoxa]

I would not suggest a female as a first LGD. Everyone I have talked to -- many breeders, many owners -- has said the girls are more high strung, more energentic, more willing to go behind your back to do naughty things, take more attention. My boy has been easier to train, and he is way less likely to do things if bored.

LGDs work best in pairs.

I have heard this as well, and I know my Henry is much more laid back than Clementine was - but of course they are different breeds.

Henry is really good with the chickens now. He is a good guard dog, but wouldn't kill a predator. He'd just ward it off. God forbid a dog came on our property, he'd try to play with them. He loves other dogs. :/

His bark is deep and scary. I think that alone helps ward off night predators. Not birds of prey unfortunately.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: For baby layer chicks I feed the RK medicated chick starter for at least the first 6 weeks. Then I gradually change them over to something with at least 18% protein. If the 50 lb white bag with green wording all flock is on sale and if I have a feed container open I get it. I only have 2 feed containers, I need to get a third.
For meat chicks I feed the medicated chick starter for the first 2 weeks them I gradually switch over to a 50/50 hand mixing of chick starter and RK meatbird feed. The meat bird feed has a high protein but no meds. Then at 4 weeks they are only getting the meatbird feed and what they eat off the ground.
For my Heritage birds they got the medicated feed for the first 8-12 weeks, then the either the meatbird or all all flock, which ever was on sale. But if I was feeding them the all flock I made sure they got lots of high protein scraps.
I do my best to make sure that my adult birds are getting 18% -20% protein in their feed and offer calcium on the side.

I don't buy organic due to the cost. I realized that the feed is sold by weight not volume. The layer bags take up less space than my meatbird crumbles. I can easily fit an entire bag of layer food in my bird food can but I still have 1/5-1/4 of a bag of meatbird crumbles left over after I fill the can. It is the heavy calcium. Since I can buy the calcium for the price of layer feed or less, I put it out separately. Then the chickens eat only what they need and my roosters rarely touch it. While I pay a bit more for the higher protein feed I think it lasts longer as in the chickens eat less pounds of it a day. I have also had a rooster that did not do well with the layer feed so I don't like giving it to a mixed flock.

 

[tcmstalcup]

Right there with you!  LOL

Yep I figure lots of us depend on our tshirt in coops and garden!!!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:

Quote:
Exactly. That is my answer.

I love the baskets and they look very pretty. However...I can do the "first in first out" like Sunyside says. I do it that exact same way so we always know which are older and which are newer.

In a basket there is no way to keep track of that unless you want to write with a pencil on every egg and dig through to find the dates as you're taking them out.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Congrats to Delisha and Aoxa!!!