The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Jewelwing]

Most do not keep them separate. I no longer do turkeys because of the chickens. If I did turkeys again it would be away from my birds. (I doubt i will ever do them again). I used to have ducks, geese, turkeys, chickens, sheep, horses, cows, pigs, goats, dogs, cats, kids, hamsters, fish, cockatoos (Sulfur crested), snakes, mice, gerbils, Guinea pigs, and I am sure 10 more. They were all together and I was always crabby from lack of sleep. I also worked a full time job.Turkeys were the first to go after the horses. If I ever considered doing them again I would do midgets.

Wow, that's a lot of care-taking! I love how the kids are in the middle of the list.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Was it AFL that asked about the fish meal? I get mine from the feed mill and they use it in their regular formulas so they have it around. Based on the amount of fish meal added to the mix in their formula, you would use it up way faster than you might think.

This particular fish meal is "okay" for use in organic formulations and used for animal feed so the amount added to the feed is in compliance for amount and type.

I've used fish meal in my feed from day 1 with all my birds with no ill effects. I think it's like Del was pointing out - not all fish meal is created equal. It's good to be sure it's approved for feed.

On the gout, some of the newest research implicates fructose and VEGETABLE BASED PROTEIN rather than animal protein in raising uric acid. Of course, most of the feeds that are given to poultry have a high amount of both.

******************************

Interesting true story along those lines but with a human subject.

When we first began to take care of my dad, he was having a mild kidney failure. His uric acid was sky high upon testing. I had read about the connection between consuming high fructose corn syrup and high uric acid and decided to do an "experiment".

Up to that time, my dad was drinking 1 cherry coke a day and drinking a lot of fruit juice rather than water. (grape juice, apple juice, etc...all 100% juice which contains fructose). I told him that the Doctor wanted him to cut out all juice and pop and drink only water for 2 weeks which he did. At the end of the 2 weeks he was retested for uric acid (among other things) and it was in the NORMAL RANGE. The only change we made was to remove the fructose-containing drinks and replace them with plain water.

The doctor was quite impressed to say the least. He was 90 years old at the time.

 

[Leahs Mom]

PS: My dad continues to drink water, no pop or juice. His uric acid has remained normal for 2 years.

 

[Kassaundra]

As a sufferer from gout I can say that my biggest flares by far have been from chocolate and wine. I eat very few items containing high fructose corn syrup. I have never flared w/meat, dairy, or beans/legumes which are suppose to be big triggers.

 

[Jewelwing]

connection between consuming high fructose corn syrup and high uric acid and decided to do an "experiment".

I try to keep away from high fructose corn syrup when at all possible too. And artificial sweeteners too. Did you know that Sierra Mist Natural is a soda that is just sweetened with sugar?

 

[RedRidge]

RR - could you post photos of the coop/barn too? A picture will help us all.

What we are building isn't a coop, it's breeding pens to house breeding pairs during breeding season.
The entire thing is 12x6 with 4 pens that are 3x6 each.
We designed it so that it is multi functional... the bottom 2' of each partition is removable to make larger pens in different combinations, or just one larger 12x6 pen.
That way I can use it as a grow out pen also.

My chickens free range normally, but for breeding and youngsters who are hatched and not raised naturally this will be handy.
It will also be handy for housing roos when I don't want them breeding.
I am taking pics as we go, but... as you can see... we had a LOT of help yesterday, so we didn't get as much accomplished as we had hoped.
Hopefully we will get everything but the roof and nesting boxes finished today.

I moved some chickens to an area that they don't usually go with my pregnant heifer and young bull and it wasn't an hour before the local fox discovered them.
I snapped a pic of him too.... gutsy little guy... It's an adjoining pasture where my maremma can't get to and I don't normally put chickens there because the dogs can't protect them there. He ran off as soon as my maremma stood up.

 

[armorfirelady]

I love the pic of the puppy chewing on the tape measure. You have to love puppies.

Just a question out of curiosity, with the acreage you have I would think your LSDs could have access to all your land? Do they not have access to where your heifer and bull are because of fencing that keeps them out? And are the cows so big that no predators bother them? Or the bull just keeps them away? (I've heard/read bulls can be moody) I would think when she gives birth the calf would be vulnerable to predators just as much as lambs are?


Leah's mom- yes it was me asking about fish meal. Making my own is not an option. I am going to the feed store today and am hopeful they have it. Can you tell me in the list of ingredients for fish meal is fish meal the only ingredient listed? Or are there others? I tend to look at labels to see what's in what. Thanks!

 

[RedRidge]

Just a question out of curiosity, with the acreage you have I would think your LSDs could have access to all your land? Do they not have access to where your heifer and bull are because of fencing that keeps them out? And are the cows so big that no predators bother them? Or the bull just keeps them away? (I've heard/read bulls can be moody) I would think when she gives birth the calf would be vulnerable to predators just as much as lambs are?

We do not keep the dogs with the cattle, the bull handles any predation problems just fine.
He is very protective of the calves and is a great baby sitter... he is also intuitive and knows that a fox is no threat to his children.

The dogs all rotate with the poultry and the sheep... depending on where we need them the most at the time and who is best in what areas and with what livestock.
For instance, Flo, our oldest girl, is our most versatile... she guards anything and will stay in the worst of fencing.
My male till stay in any fencing IF there is no threat... if there is a threat, only hot wire will keep him in.
However, he has not yet been with ewes who are lambing. He is rather rambunctious for his age and my polypay are lambing right now, so he is with last spring's lambs while my older girl is with the ewes who are lambing on the north 7 acre pasture.
My young ***** is the mother of the pups, so she is rather out of commission in the large pastures right now.
She is with the poultry that is closest to the barn and a small group of sheep who are known to be puppy lovers (this encourages bonding with the sheep).
Because we are rearranging for winter and building the new pens, my cockerel chicken tractor was in the way, so we drug it out to where the cattle were... this is what attracted the fox. They were moved back at dusk to spend the night under the protection of my momma dog and pups.

So... short answer is, no, I do not let my dogs wander the entire property. They guard the group they are with and they work best in pairs, especially when out in larger pastures away from the house where we can't see them.... only about 35 acres is fenced, and only about 30 of that is decent fencing. The fencing in the woods is terrible, but with nothing but a few hundred acres of woods beyond it there is no need for the cattle to ever put pressure on the fencing. Once the pups leave (except for the one I am keeping), the momma dog will take over the lambing flock and the pup will be put with my older ***** who is a great teacher. So it's all a matter of who I need where at the time.

 

[lalaland]

What we are building isn't a coop, it's breeding pens to house breeding pairs during breeding season.
The entire thing is 12x6 with 4 pens that are 3x6 each.
We designed it so that it is multi functional... the bottom 2' of each partition is removable to make larger pens in different combinations, or just one larger 12x6 pen.
That way I can use it as a grow out pen also.

thanks for posting the pics, it is so much easier to figure out what people are saying when there is a visual, at least for me. And, nice pic of the young fox!

 

[lalaland]

had one of those moments this morning.

Mrs. Muphy, the little icelandic pullet, has been a little less active than normal for the past few days. Could be the constant rain, but she seems to be moving slowly and somewhat disinterested in life. first thing this morning, she looked like she had a full crop but hadn't eaten yet. I picked her up and she was so light! I couldn't feel anything in her crop -



I was hand feeding her - reaching into a metal trash can with scratch - and I realized my hand was crawling with what looked like lice. I was horrified and dusted her with poultry lice dust - thinking that if she was that infested, and considering my observations the past few days, immediate attention and the dust was warranted (as opposed to ashes, or even sulphur). I then fed her some high protein mash, and let her be.




Wanted to pick up a few of the other pullets to check for lice, and grabbed a handful of the scratch for bait.....and saw lice on the scratch. Tried a couple of handfuls and found the insects everywhere, and now I don't think Mrs Muphy had lice, I think....the scratch had lice? Ok, must not be lice but they look exactly like the strawcolored lice except for being brown, not straw.

totally relieved that I don't have to empty out the coop, treat 9 adults, 8 young roos, and 8 pullets. Especially since I just put in fresh hay for the winter months.