The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[RedRidge]

OK folks... due to a really strange turn of events over the last 2 months, I am considering placing my 6 SFH.
I have 2 trios... I love them dearly, but... employment layoffs are requiring a serious prewinter reduction in livestock.
I've already sold a bull, a steer, a heifer, 8 ewes (bred ugh!), and... placing the SFH just makes sense since they are likely the most valuable... and the easiest to find homes for.
I anyone is interested, PM me... they are just now at POL and are beautiful... you can see some recent pics on the SFH... but I wanted to mention it hear first cuz everyone here feels like family.

 

[ki4got]

K - mine ate WAY MORE the first month on ff. Then they cut back. Making up for lost time I think! What did you use for gape worm?

ivermectin. not 100% effective, but I don't want a massive die-off all at once, because that can cause even more problems with blockages. so treating lower doses with less effective meds, they die off slower, stop reproducing and the bird is able to rid itself of the dead ones more easily over time.

and the 'to worm or not to worm' debate can wage on. as I've said before, since I have no control over prior management practices or exposures to newly acquired birds, they ALL get treated when they come in... at least twice, 7-10 days apart, to break any life cycles that may be going on. with gapeworm it's usually a 2-3 dose treatment. i'd use something more effective like strongid if I wanted them all gone at once, but in this case, with an underweight weak bird (near starvation IMO) that was not going to be an option.

intestinal parasitic load can be controlled via feeding various things, but gapeworm isn't affected by much, so if they're showing obvious signs, they get treated the same. 2 doses, sometimes 3 if the load was heavy and not responding well. that's something I can't control, since the earth worms around here seem to carry it, and more than half my birds love earthworms, and we've got a plentiful supply of them too. LOL

OK folks... due to a really strange turn of events over the last 2 months, I am considering placing my 6 SFH.
I have 2 trios... I love them dearly, but... employment layoffs are requiring a serious prewinter reduction in livestock.
I've already sold a bull, a steer, a heifer, 8 ewes (bred ugh!), and... placing the SFH just makes sense since they are likely the most valuable... and the easiest to find homes for.
I anyone is interested, PM me... they are just now at POL and are beautiful... you can see some recent pics on the SFH... but I wanted to mention it hear first cuz everyone here feels like family.

sorry to hear that... I sent a pm. you know me and my sfh. LOL (and my 'extended family' of sfh that leigh has. LOL)

 

[Pozees]

RR, my sympathies. Have dealt with 2 layoffs in the last 3 years at my house, this time around DH decided he was officially retired.

 

[delisha]

Quote:
X3...very cute coop..

I hear my hawks every morning. I'm only out with the girls I the morning during the week.... So who knows maybe they come back at other hours.
So they must have a schedule.... The girls kept growling and freezing this morning and I looked & looked and nothing. Well a large hawk flew in and perchedon a power line running across the neighbors yard. He/She was very pretty... Red chest, dark bands on wings .... Red Tail hawk!??? I'm going to have to look it up.
I think my local hawks have put eat morning coffee yard playtime on their schedules. Right after the hawk flew away a crow returned.... Still no sign of the squirrels this morning. They're not stupid

Delish, I "soaked" nuggets eye. She is a feisty little one. You'd think I was torturing her! I don't see anything around her eye. No visible cut or scrape. Soaking consisted of wiping the eye & surrounding area and trying to hold the cloth over her eye.... i was not very successful with that part.... Poor thing has NO feathers on her belly and seriously lost a good 50 while I was trying to soak her eye!! She feels like a porcupine! I'll post her pathetic picture from this morning when I get to the office.

I think as you soak it on and off you might see something eventually..the heat will bring it to the surface eventually...I hope..

just a quickie update on the new little girl who wasn't doing so well at first...

I weighed her when I got her, she weighed approximately 7 ounces (hard to stand still on the scale) at between 12 and 16 weeks old... I started feeding FF a week ago, and weighed her this morning. she's up to a whopping 12 ounces now! and they're cleaning the dish out big time. way more than 1/2 cup per bird I saw someone else mention, but I don't care. LOL she's eating and gaining.

(munch munch munch)

still gaping occasionally but much improved since i got her... I'll dose her again for the gape worm tonight (2nd dose of ivermectin tonight should hopefully get the rest).

I said 1/2 cup per bird and that was for adult birds on FF who free range on good grasses.

I do not want people to think 1/2 cup per bird covers all birds in all situations and I apologize if you think that is what I was doing. Adult laying chickens consume vastly different amounts of feed. Factors influencing feed consumption include, but are not limited to, breed type, how much they exercise, climate (including variations in temperature, wind, humidity and precipitation), the caloric and nutritional density of the feed, and how much natural feed supplementation they obtain.
Also, rodents and wild birds can greatly reduce the feed supply. This can be reduced by removing or sealing off the feed at night and fermenting the feed.

It is important, and enjoyable, to determine how much feed your flock is consuming. Begin keeping records of amount, type and price of all feed you purchase. Be sure to record both the measured amount of feed as well as its weight. Include the number and ages of chickens you have, right in the same page as the feed records.
This way you simply know. Good records makes good chickens.

I hate to have to clarify everything..but..

Ill birds and chicks are fed different than adults. If you are trying to put weight weight on a skinny or emaciated chicken you would not consider a normal feeding schedule or amount.
bantams and Large fowl are also fed different more for LF and less for BF.



above all else my measurements are suggestions and nutritionally based on free range birds and NOT caged birds. I do not have caged birds. All of my birds have grass between there toes even in breeding pens. Chicks are on grass after three or four days no matter the weather.
Nothing I say is concrete and what i say works for my birds and might not work for your birds. I have planted my yards full of nutritional greens like collards, clovers, wheat, herbs. I do not remove weeds because most are good for chickens..like dandelions, thistles and chickweed.

 

[Jewelwing]

The fence posts they used were a composites PIPE which I believe is normally used for underground piping of water. They had used it several times and got it approved for the organic farm.

I'll try to remember to take a photo of what it looks like when I get home.

And it wasn't PVC? I thought they normally used PVC for underground piping of water.

I wonder, though. Would PVC be OK to use as posts, or would it leach icky plastic chemicals into the soil? I'm thinking it would leach, but maybe not as much as treated lumber.

 

[aaggjg]

Oh poor little Nugget .... I swear 5 days ago I was admiring how shiny and lovely she looked as I compared her to my Ameraucanas who is molting. Now THIS!!! She kept trying to run away from me as I took her pictures... This is after I soaked her eye...

 

[Jewelwing]

oh, I am seriously in love with your coop. The porch overhang! and it looks rodent tight! I like how you have the chicken ramp coming up through the porch deck. And the color! I don't think I've seen metal siding in that color, did you paint it?

x2! Such the cute coop! Love the little chairs!

that is one of the cutest coops I've seen in a while. LOL

X3...very cute coop..

Thank you so much, guys!!! I had no idea I would get so many compliments, and it feels GREAT!

I put a lot of work into that coop!

Lala, the blue is not metal siding - it's an OSB siding that is shaped to look like strips (although each sheet is 4'x8') and comes primed, so yes, it is painted blue. Actually, I used it because it was the cheapest thing I could find to use as siding at Home Depot! I thought about metal and vinyl and just regular sheets of OSB, and this was cheaper than all of those.

I imagine it is rodent-tight, unless they burrow far. I buried the hardware cloth about 1-1/2' out from the coop and run. I was mostly trying to make it predator-proof!

Thanks, Aoxa, I love the little chairs too! I saw them at Walmart in the spring and thought they would be cute. I waited for them to go on sale at the end of the summer, and voila! I screwed them into the porch, because they were falling over when someone would try to perch on the arm.

Here's a picture of the coop from another angle. As you can tell, I'm still working on the roof! It's going to get covered with a pond liner and then dirt and then we'll plant a groundcover on it. I'm also still in the middle of making the little attached tool shed on one side. It's for garden tools, since our vegetable garden will be next to the coop on that side - hopefully next year!



That's an "egg shelf" under the nest boxes, because I figured it would be nice to have a place to set the basket while I'm collecting eggs! The strip under the nest box doors is because the doors open down, and the strip keeps them from hitting the side of the coop - it's a strip of weatherstripping, so it's cushioned.

You can see that I've covered up the windows on the side wall, since it's been getting cold at night. I left the ones on the end wall open, though. I don't really know how much ventilation is needed! I may cover up one side of the windows on that end wall - the side where their roost is, so they won't have the cold air coming in near them while they're roosting.

I'm just bumbling through, trying to do the right things! The girls seem happy, though.

 

[RedRidge]

I said 1/2 cup per bird and that was for adult birds on FF who free range on good grasses.

I do not want people to think 1/2 cup per bird covers all birds in all situations and I apologize if you think that is what I was doing. Adult laying chickens consume vastly different amounts of feed. Factors influencing feed consumption include, but are not limited to, breed type, how much they exercise, climate (including variations in temperature, wind, humidity and precipitation), the caloric and nutritional density of the feed, and how much natural feed supplementation they obtain.
Also, rodents and wild birds can greatly reduce the feed supply. This can be reduced by removing or sealing off the feed at night and fermenting the feed.

It is important, and enjoyable, to determine how much feed your flock is consuming. Begin keeping records of amount, type and price of all feed you purchase. Be sure to record both the measured amount of feed as well as its weight. Include the number and ages of chickens you have, right in the same page as the feed records.
This way you simply know. Good records makes good chickens.

I hate to have to clarify everything..but..

Ill birds and chicks are fed different than adults. If you are trying to put weight weight on a skinny or emaciated chicken you would not consider a normal feeding schedule or amount.
bantams and Large fowl are also fed different more for LF and less for BF.

above all else my measurements are suggestions and nutritionally based on free range birds and NOT caged birds. I do not have caged birds. All of my birds have grass between there toes even in breeding pens. Chicks are on grass after three or four days no matter the weather.
Nothing I say is concrete and what i say works for my birds and might not work for your birds. I have planted my yards full of nutritional greens like collards, clovers, wheat, herbs. I do not remove weeds because most are good for chickens..like dandelions, thistles and chickweed.

I should clarify too... since my recommendations are for 1/2 lb FF/day... not a half cup... for hatchery layers... and that is for confined birds only.
So... I come at it from a different perspective... I have a max I feed based on time of year, age, and breed.
Because I weigh all my feed, I have converted it to cup measurements for some... 1/2 c is about 1/4 lb of FF...
So 1/2 c is not a lot of FF for an adult bird in confinement if that is all they are getting... as a matter of fact a cup is more realistic.
Mine are confined for 90 days or so each winter... yes they have grass, but if they are not "loose" I consider them confined because there is simply no nutrition in most forage after the first heavy frost.
So... back up from there....
Free ranging birds... when they are rotated and have plenty of quality bugs and forage... need nothing... I feed my birds nothing in the summer.
Even the big kids. But I have a lot of acreage...
However... in the winter my larger birds such as my HRIR eat about 50% more a day than my hatchery layers....
I estimate 1/4 lb of "dry" for the hatchery birds and about 1/3 lb of dry for HRIR.
Double those weights for FF
Now figure your TOTAL intake.
Now take away anything additional you are adding... forage, BSF, liver, worms, etc.

 

[Jewelwing]

Oh poor little Nugget .... I swear 5 days ago I was admiring how shiny and lovely she looked as I compared her to my Ameraucanas who is molting. Now THIS!!! She kept trying to run away from me as I took her pictures... This is after I soaked her eye...

Yes, poor Nugget! Cute name, though. Her eye looks like a target! I hope it gets better soon. She must hate having it soaked. Is she still rubbing her chest on the ground? It looked to me like she was trying to scratch an itch or scrape something off her chest.

 

[delisha]

Oh poor little Nugget .... I swear 5 days ago I was admiring how shiny and lovely she looked as I compared her to my Ameraucanas who is molting. Now THIS!!! She kept trying to run away from me as I took her pictures... This is after I soaked her eye...

I think she has an eye worm