The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

Welcome back Mumsy!!!
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He is Beautiful!!! Wow those HRIR look NOTHING Like hatchery RIRs!!!

Love to see some pictures of your fluffy white butts when you get a minute!
Thank you aaggig. Culling these fourteen HRIR cockerels was no easy task. There was not one DQ in the bunch. It came down to minor details. They were amazing in size at seven months old. The breast meat goes on forever because of that extra long keel. The drumsticks and thighs were huge and very dark. Almost gamy in taste. My boys run free all day and those legs are all muscle. Delicious.

I'm keeping three males. The pullets just started laying. Nice big eggs! Everyone that sees my HRIR are drop jaw speechless. They are so dark red, big, and gorgeous. There is nothing else like them on my island.

The fluffy butts are priceless. Of the two pens growing out now....Twenty from Catdance and fifteen from Sheryl Butler bloodlines. Three hens are on eggs. Very fertile bloodlines. Only two of those chicks have DQ. That's amazing to me. I'll get pictures soon.

It's good to be back.
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Thank you RR for the detailed description! Very helpful and interesting. I'd like to see photos of those various tractors you mentioned.

AFL - looking forward to seeing how that solar box works.

Mumsy :D good to see you!

Worms...so the big question was:

Do birds get an overload because they are in a weakened condition ... OR... Do they get into a weakened condition from having an overload of worms?
 
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I am so glad you cut back feed..those birds are fed well and shinny feathers..you could cut back even more.

Thanks Delisha they are not show quality but I do enjoy them and like the variety of breeds. I did cut back their feed. Before the hawk attack they were out more but there is always food left over. Thursday is the big day......all grains and no more commercial layer. :) Thanks to RR I have figured out how much of the grains to give them. Still 1/2 cup per bird like you suggested. I am going to see how much is left over after they eat. I will cut back till there is only a little bit left. I do like a little left over at night. Still going to keep them to being fed only at night as long as I can. They won't be moved to their winter quarters till the snow arrives and I can't use their electric netting. They spend hours in the compost. I think because they are not seen by the hawk there and they are finding good bugs :) and the veggie garden has a great cover crop growing for them. So until snow covers everything only feeding once a day. I promise to cut back some more :)
 
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I have a question..... What is the difference in Mash vs Crumbles?
it probably varies a bit region to region, but,
here there is a difference.

Mash is a mix of grains ground up, usually with vitamins, calcium, fish meal etc. It is powdery with some visible grains. You can usually see corn, oats, etc in it. Usually made by feed mills versus big food manufacturers. You feed it wet like oatmeal. You lose less feed to the ground/spilling.

crumbles is a manufactured blend of chicken food, put through a machine that extrudes it, and then it is dried. It is one color consistently usually the color of dry pasta. You can't see any particular ingredient. If you wet it down, it turns to paste.
 
Mumsy, what great long tails they have!! Very important :)

Mumsy how old was that boy? I'm asking because my roo is just a little over six months and has almost no tail yet. I just shot some video of Bob and the girls foraging under our apple tree, which has a good view of his tail and wings.
Bob's an Orpington from My Pet Chicken who was supposed to be a pullet.
Is his lack of tail normal for a six month old Orpington roo?
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