The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

Neem oil is not for on skin..I spray roosts and nest boxes etc.
I spray right out of the bottle. I only have to do it when I put in a new roost or spring cleaning. I never spray anything when the chickens are in the coop.
 
Neem oil is not for on skin..I spray roosts and nest boxes etc.
I spray right out of the bottle. I only have to do it when I put in a new roost or spring cleaning. I never spray anything when the chickens are in the coop.

Ok thanks. Maybe the spray I used this morning killed them
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Regardless they will be getting sprayed with neem oil Sunday
 
Thank you, lazy gardener! I didn't think about deep mulch in the un-gardened areas.

So if I can't meet their nutritional needs with just garden and foraging for bugs, how do I know how much more food they need? Just dump FF in there and keep it up til they stop eating it? Is there a guideline (like x cups of veggies and y amount of feed/FF per chicken per day)? I'd really like to keep it as simple and natural as possible, and don't like the idea of buying bags of Chicken Chow if I don't have to.
 
Thank you, lazy gardener! I didn't think about deep mulch in the un-gardened areas.

So if I can't meet their nutritional needs with just garden and foraging for bugs, how do I know how much more food they need? Just dump FF in there and keep it up til they stop eating it? Is there a guideline (like x cups of veggies and y amount of feed/FF per chicken per day)? I'd really like to keep it as simple and natural as possible, and don't like the idea of buying bags of Chicken Chow if I don't have to.
You have to experiment for your flock and your area. We have no idea what type of bugs live on your property. You can start a compost pile before you get your birds and get the ball rolling. Dump all vegetable matter in a pile, grass clippings, leaves..etc. In the mean time you will need to plant a foraging area for them. I plant spinach, kale, cabbage, oregano, dill, rye, rape, mustard and several varieties of greens, red and white clovers, wheat and weeds like chick weed, dandelions and thistles I let grow. Some of it grows all year round and I hand pull in deep snow some of the rye and wheat. I even cut stalks for them. In deep snow I feed about 1/2 cup of FF per bird. I do not feed and water in my coops. They need to get out even in snow and cold to eat. I will toss BOSS in the DL to help with stiring and relieve boredom. I string Brussels sprouts and make them work hard to get them too. They have a tub of dirt for dust bathing in the winter. I use a small pool.

This is a small fenced in area i let the bird graze in. A chicken will go to any area you made a pile of something. They love to dig threw piles.


compost pile.



even chicks are out eating in snow and cold
 
We're in the desert, so no grass and few leaves, but we have lizards and we'll get worms/grubs once the compost is going, crickets and grasshoppers this time of year, lots of ants, roaches in summertime and various types of beetles. Not sure if chickens eat all that or not, but I guess we'll find out! And I'm sure all kinds of new bugs will show up with the compost pile.

Thanks for all the great ideas for planting in their area! I know there is some wheat that will grow here, and varieties of amaranth that are native.

I'm so excited to have found this thread! I read the first couple hundred pages of it, but I have two kids and a house to clean.... So much great info here though!
 

Thanks !!!

My Mom checked when she went over to feed the critters and said she didn't see any. Maybe the eucalyptus worked
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Regardless I need to find a bigger bottle of neem oil. 2oz is not going to go far. Its on my to do list for Sunday
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We're in the desert, so no grass and few leaves, but we have lizards and we'll get worms/grubs once the compost is going, crickets and grasshoppers this time of year, lots of ants, roaches in summertime and various types of beetles. Not sure if chickens eat all that or not, but I guess we'll find out! And I'm sure all kinds of new bugs will show up with the compost pile.

Thanks for all the great ideas for planting in their area! I know there is some wheat that will grow here, and varieties of amaranth that are native.

I'm so excited to have found this thread! I read the first couple hundred pages of it, but I have two kids and a house to clean.... So much great info here though!
They love most of your bugs. You might want to talk to people who live in the desert and see how they do it. You do need a ton of shade and water pools for them to lay and wade in.
 
They love most of your bugs. You might want to talk to people who live in the desert and see how they do it. You do need a ton of shade and water pools for them to lay and wade in.

I'm also trying to read/catch up on the local thread here. Yes, I'm already trying to figure out irrigation so we have automatic watering and then we can also hook up misters in the summer to keep things cooler. And frozen water bottles.... And I'm hoping some native bushes will be safe to put in there and work for shade/shelter for them as well.
 
LMS - another thing you can try is to go to some of the local stores that sell organic produce. Sometimes they'll save the old stuff for you to feed the chickens. I have a situation like that right now and I'm hoping it continues into the winter. I've put some back in the freezer just in case they decide to quit.

Weekly I get whatever they have. Grapes, apples, bananas, spinach, peaches, oranges, etc. Whatever is out of date. Some of it is good, some not. When it's not good we just put it right into the compost. Some of the really good stuff (like apples often) I dehydrate and put back for ourselves.


And...meat protein is very important. In the summer they get lots out foraging if you have a lot of bugs. Some people grow roaches (try Kassaundra for that), black soldier flies, etc. that thrive on compost. Free protein. Some of them freeze the bugs they grow in the summer for the winter time when they can't find them. Some give them some ground raw meat, liver, etc. - especially throughout the winter.
 

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