The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

My girls must have read the thread! I just let them out for breakfast and was shocked to see 4 eggs!!! My BlueCM has been acting like she wants to lay chasing other girls out of the box and noisy pacing but she just started molting a couple of weeks ago so I didn't expect to see a lovely dark egg for a long time!!! Not to mention her mites :-0 and 3 broodies started laying again!!! It was getting sad here 1 or 2 eggs a day if I was lucky. Who knew my silkies would be the most reliable?!!!

 

[theadvocate19]

welcome!  I see you have already mastered chicken math.  
one thing this thread likes is pictures!

Oh chicken math will getcha, won't it?! Last I checked we had four, now we're up to 21 chickens and 2 ducks. Gosh where did they all come from? I will take fresh pictures tonight...

 

[lalaland]

Aoxa, I'll try for comb pics this weekend.

Just got in from getting hay into the coop, and making some wind blocks. Booster, my junior rooster, gave hawk warnings 3 x's while I was out there, Buster the sr roo didn't even seem to notice!

I can tell the sulmtalers have no idea what a hawk warning call is - they kept on doing what they were doing. THe older girls vanished under the coop. Keeping my fingers crossed I can get thru til snow without losing anyone.

 

[delisha]

Had a low flying hawk this morning at 10..The birds never dashed inside..they just watched.

Welcome to the new people!!

After a hard moult most birds take 4 to 6 weeks to start to lay again. With my hawk activity, some of the girls are taking a bit longer to lay. I am not going to worry till February or March..than..off with there heads!
I do have two males I need to butcher out in two weeks. I want to butcher them now..they are butt heads.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Guess who is going to start fermenting poultry feed today? That's right! Me!

I've been wanting to do this for ages but have been sidetracked at every point with the standard string of stupidities ...

 

[Scott H]

Make sure to share your recipe!

Girls are happily free ranging the yard today. We had a 50dg day yesterday and almost all the snow has melted off. High of 33dg today and a pretty stiff breeze so I went out and put a candle on their roost to see if there were any drafts in my experimental "open air coop". Soon as I got it in there the breeze died down to gentle....I see no movement of the flame but I'm waiting to see if the winds will pick up again for a better test. The pop door is closed so the girls can't warm themselves by the mini campfire. Any one have an idea on how to make the candle smokier so I can see where it's going?

An eagle was out in front of the house today but i think our yard is too tight with brush and trees to worry about him. Eagles are very risk vs. reward birds and there is too much risk to try for our birds....I hope.
Lows tonight are to be in the mid teens as an Arctic front is settling in which means cold clear spell for the foreseeable future.

Our SLW is doing a soft molt....her head is slowly going bald but I saw on the roost that she tucks her baldness under her wing.
I know this is the "Natural Chicken Keeping Thread" so don't run me for this...

If I was fighting little beasties (mites, lice, etc), that threaten the wellness and lives of my birds, and the natural techniques were not cutting it, I would use any available proven, safe method to get them off my birds. Sevin dusting and Ivermectin come to mind. They use Ivermectin in people and it's extremely safe but that's just me. Don't yell at me.....

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Make sure to share your recipe.

Easy! Poultry feed + water + time.

Logistics are trickier ...

 

[Leahs Mom]

If I was fighting little beasties (mites, lice, etc), that threaten the wellness and lives of my birds, and the natural techniques were not cutting it, I would use any available proven, safe method to get them off my birds. Sevin dusting and Ivermectin come to mind. They use Ivermectin in people and it's extremely safe but that's just me. Don't yell at me.....

Just a quick pop in to say hi!

Scott - this is NOT a yelling thread We're pretty peaceful here!

We do get a random person or so that want to cause trouble from time to time but usually take care of it pretty quickly. (But then there is pms...which passes too

)

 

[aoxa]

Just a quick pop in to say hi!

Scott - this is NOT a yelling thread We're pretty peaceful here!

We do get a random person or so that want to cause trouble from time to time but usually take care of it pretty quickly. (But then there is pms...which passes too

)

Scott, Ivermectin only works for biting insects and worms. Chicken lice do not drink the blood, so you'll still need to dust them

 

[armorfirelady]

Hmmm I know a few of you are on the heritage large fowl thread. Can you get on it to see it?

I get this when I click on it

I was on there this morning with no problem

ETA it shows its in "staff discussion" hmmmmm maybe its locked by the admins