The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Quote: X2 great website & I have added you on FB as well. I could sit all day and look at your stunning birds

 

[lalaland]

My thought are with you..I have confidence in you. You have done your homework. You are ready.
Once you get going it will be OK..I promise..your first few birds are important for you to do by yourself..trust me. Your raised them, and cared for them. Send them off with good thanks for the nutrition they will give to your family.

thanks Delisha. Your site is beautiful, loved the pics. I noticed the link for english orpingtons didn't work, but maybe it was a chromebook thing. really fun to see the pics. I don't FB, so couldn't like it.

 

[lalaland]

I'm looking forward to reading your experience. The night and morning before my first cull I was anxious as ever. I had the sweats. I felt like crap and swore I couldn't do it. It really is never as hard as you think it's going to be..

yup, hard time falling asleep last night. It is still dark and I am making the soup, and it is pouring rain. Not sure how this is going to work, I don't have any outbuildings that we can stand even in the doorway to get out of the rain. Yikes!

 

[RedRidge]

I make raw milk kefir every day. I put the grains in a wide mouth quart jar with at least 2 tbs of grains and add 1/2 milk with a hankie over the top and place in my pantry. the next day I add more milk and the next day strain and start over. I use 1 1/2 cup every day in our shake. I use goat and jersey milk. some times the clear liquid rises to the top and when the milk is older, it seems the clear liquid is on the bottom. only timeI ever saw a pink mold on top was when i left it for several days without feeding it. threw it away and started over.

Same here... although I don't use my raw milk for kefir any more, so now I make water kefir.
Everyone likes it better and it seems to have the same gut effects (prevents reflux, has good bacteria, etc)

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: Do you have one of those pop up tents? Even a few tarps put up somehow would help to keep you dry.

I dont envy you culling in the rain. I hope it all goes well & look forward to hearing how it goes.

 

[mlowen]

Did y'all hear...Robert Blosl died, yesterday.

 

[Leahs Mom]

anyone on here make milk keffir? I was given some grains and I haven't been sucessful yet.... it keeps starting to seperate at the top, not the bottom and it has a little discoloration on the top, yellow, trenting to slightly orange. I've fed two batches to the chickens so far (who looooove it) First one I did forget about and let sit way too long. this batch I put in the cabinet next to my tea and checked a few times a day, and it seperated at the top, not the bottom, and the top looked cottage cheesy sort of...... today I was going to try gently rinsing the grains in cool filtered water before I start a new batch....

Pm'd you some info and videos

 

[Leahs Mom]

Did y'all hear...Robert Blosl died, yesterday.

Just getting caught up and hearing for the first time. How did he die?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Since the hawk attack, the kiddos have been confined to jail. Right now I'm thinking that I want to wait maybe a week so that if the hawk comes back it might just move on after awhile where it can't get to the birds. Not sure if that is good reasoning, but going to try it anyway. What do y'all think of that...good reasoning or not?

Also wanted to post some photos and thank all of you for your condolences and tips and thoughts. I wanted to post the photos so that you can see the setup and how many places they had to hide and get away and under things. Even with all the precautions and good hiding spots, it still happens. I'm still looking at other ideas to change things up from time to time and will be reevaluating especially since fall is coming the the leaves will be gone.

So...the photos.


This view shows their wooded area in proximity to the hen house. There is a gate on the back ot the kennel run that they exit to get over to the wooded area.



Here you can see the garden to the left. The girls that were outside were gathered around (and 1 in) the dog house that you can see near the left side (sm. brick radio shack in bg). See the white sliding door on the pole building? That is where the little gray sfh was...right up against it still as a mouse in a little depression.


By her coloring, you can see why that would be a good place for her to "hide".


Back view. The back gate that is usually open for them to go out and "range".



See how close the wooded area is? Miss Gray was laying just to the right of the wooded area - within 2 ft. of scrubby hiding place.







Here's the view from the wood edge. She was just to the left of that gray fire spot. See how close she was to the underbrush? (Leaves are starting to drop so it looks sparse, but those bushes have great little branches and places to get under.)














So...now....

EVERYONE IS IN JAIL!
None of them would even come into the run for a whole day afterwards unless I was outside coaxing them. After a day, they have started to mill around out there like normal.














I put up a treat ball w/kale so they wouldn't be totally bored.

 

[delisha]

Quote: Thisis thee first I heard it..shoot and a shame for the poultry world.