The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SallyinIndiana]

one of the 7 chicks I hatched. 3 are sumatra chicks and 4 are CL. But this little sumatra is my favorite. Any ideas for names?

 

[Leahs Mom]

All these silkies are so cute!

 

[Leahs Mom]

one of the 7 chicks I hatched. 3 are sumatra chicks and 4 are CL. But this little sumatra is my favorite. Any ideas for names?

Are your sumatras from Stony?

 

[delisha]

Quote: The weights on the chick at 15 weeks are
K : 6.6 lbs-5.11lbs -4.7lbs
P: 3.2 lbs- 4.0lbs - 6.11lbs(24 weeks)

vicki, when I thought I had at least one araucana, you said not likely because they are rare. Here's edie, I guess she does have a tail sort of, so she must be an americauna. Hard to tell, since I have those sulmtaler chicks and lord knows they are rare.

She is an Ameracuana with slow growing tail..I can see it starting to grow.

 

[armorfirelady]

Loving all the pics.
Delisha I sure wish I could raise broilers like you do. Those are great weights for the ages.

So I am trying to remove all unnecessary wood. These mites have me going nuts. So I pulled out the shelves that held the nesting boxes and put them on plastic crates that hold soda. I did have to put a 2x4 under them to hold hen because of the length of the bolts I had on hand. But I sprayed them with neem oil before putting them in the coop.

Once nice thing is they are portable.
TSC and my 2 feed stores didn't have any Nustock and I am out going to have to order online since neither knew when their stock coming in.
But I filled 2 litter boxes full of ashes. Hope those girls use them.

For those that have EE do yours ever take a break from laying? Edie hasn't laid since Saturday. She used to lay every day when she started then once in awhile skip a day. this is the longest period she hasn't laid. Her comb and wattles are red. She's eating, roosting, not moulting & I haven't seen mites on her. She stopped before I sprayed roost with neem oil. (Which was removed from coop) any ideas?

 

[Leahs Mom]

I have 2 ees. The one that was laying the largest egg stopped laying last fall for almost 4 weeks! I kept telling her she better get with it or she'd be soup. Finally started up again then has been very consistent.

Then Charlie stopped for a couple weeks. Molting I presume.

Then they both laid all summer and now, in the last couple of days, they have both quit. Must be that time of year. Charlie's sister is the girl that has the bare back from the roo. She stayed bare all summer long and now is sprouting new feather shafts after all that time. I guess the molt triggers new feather growth everywhere...even though I didn't see much of a drop of feathers elsewhere from her.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

I just have to share my silly white Silkies ... They love to play chicken & have stare downs!

Too funny!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Here is Charlie's sister. Had a bare back that looked sunburned and dry all summer long. I began to wonder if it would ever grow back.


Feathers coming in.











And Here's Charlie!

 

[armorfirelady]

I have 2 ees. The one that was laying the largest egg stopped laying last fall for almost 4 weeks! I kept telling her she better get with it or she'd be soup. Finally started up again then has been very consistent. Then Charlie stopped for a couple weeks. Molting I presume. Then they both laid all summer and now, in the last couple of days, they have both quit. Must be that time of year. Charlie's sister is the girl that has the bare back from the roo. She stayed bare all summer long and now is sprouting new feather shafts after all that time. I guess the molt triggers new feather growth everywhere...even though I didn't see much of a drop of feathers elsewhere from her.

Here is Charlie's sister. Had a bare back that looked sunburned and dry all summer long. I began to wonder if it would ever grow back. Feathers coming in. And Here's Charlie!

Beautiful birds. I don't think she is moulting I haven't seen any white feathers around, huh just weird I figured she would just keep popping eggs out lol. I don't threaten her for soup but my best friend does when he watches them. He always get more eggs when I am gone. Maybe I should start threatening them lol

 

[Kassaundra]

Had one of my 5 week old chicks go weak. Nothing seemed to be wrong, everything worked, eyes bright, absolutely nothing infectious looking or respiratory looking or sounding. I almost never treat a chicken for illness or even injury unless they can be treated and left w/ the other chickens. I don't have the space or patience for isolation and special treatment. Anyway even if I was disposed to treat I just had a feeling it was pointless. I put her down and did a necropsy. Everything internal looked good and normal, except her heart, and it looked good, the right size and right color and right amount of fat (very little) except it didn't feel right, it was mushy, not firm like it should feel. I suspect she had a congenital heart problem.