The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Question for Aoxa -
Do your birds stay mostly inside the barn during the winter?

 

[Eggcessive]

Delisha, was the white in the silkie heart fat, because that is what it looks like in the pictures.

 

[delisha]

Quote: I would say ..any flock under fifty birds is considered a small flock.
I have 5 roosters and if they are not in breeding pens they free range all together too..The three Orpingtons are together and the 2 Wyandottes hang together. I do not count George..he is a silkie male..to me he is not even a chicken. He does not free range at all. He has to stay in the compound.

Quote: x2

My girls are not impressed with the FF I whipped up....any suggestions to make it more palatable or does it need to sit longer? They peck at it a little bit and then leave. Then it freezes....supposed to warm up this next week....girls are doing fine in the open air coop so far....it's a beautiful, sunny 35dg here today!

easy..
take dry feed place it in a bowl, put a small scoop of FF on top and add a bit of water..stir and serve.

I present to you, the Egg of Victory!

no, not from a hatchery. This woman trades eggs on byc, and hatched supposedly to order - I got very few of what I had ordered, ended up with sulmtalers which Aoxa finally identified for me, and I'm still trying to identify what I have. So far, icelandic, crested cream leg bar, the sulmtalers, ....my main rooster is totally unknown. But he doesn't have 5 toes, and he has a rose comb.

Leghorn..possibly rose partridge leghorn..he is beautiful..I would use him on the slow egg producers and keep a few pullets out of him. Your blue egg layers come to mind.

Delisha, was the white in the silkie heart fat, because that is what it looks like in the pictures.

No..it was not fat..it was firm and felt like cooked meat ..

 

[lalaland]

I have been getting eggs from Red Stars, White Leghorns, and Australorp that were hatched the first of April for several weeks. I know our climates are different but yours should be laying by now.

thats probably it, they were hatched May 26. and I know some of them are late layers - if I remember right sulmtalers start around 26 weeks. any day now!

 

[lalaland]

Leghorn..possibly rose partridge leghorn..he is beautiful..I would use him on the slow egg producers and keep a few pullets out of him. Your blue egg layers come to mind.

now thats a thought - make sense. maybe by next spring I'll have an idea of which pullets are slow egg producers...keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[aoxa]

Gender in humans is entirely dependent on the sperm. It's either XX or XY. XX swim slower and last longer (they don't burn up their energy so quick), XY swim faster and die off quicker. It depends on when the mother ovulates in relation to when intercourse happened.
No amount of vinegar is going to change or dictate gender. This would also apply in chickens.

Except hens decide gender, not the males.

 

[aoxa]

My camera and lens are on sale right now for 40-50% off on Amazon. Wish it was that cheap when I bought it!

My mom just got one.




Not chicken related, but had to share these two pictures I took of my niece Payton while watching her this weekend.

She is a very good baby.

Del, you were talking before about using goat milk instead of formula. Did you do anything with the goats milk to feed it to an infant? Her mother has stopped breast feeding, and I hate seeing her eat formula. Of course I didn't give her any goats milk, but for the future and my own kids - I'd never want to use it. Not even my dogs would clean up the spilled formula off the ground from the bottle! That says something right there right??

 

[armorfirelady]

Finally got a dusting of snow today. Girls were all in the coop staring me down from the door. Someone was out tho since there were tracks in the snow. I finally put the heated dog bowl in for their water in the coop. They will still need to come outside to eat.

I found them all here today huddled together

It's their old run I use for storage. I leave the pop door open so they have a safe spot to run to from the hawk which I can hear outside today but I haven't seen it. Girls do venture out from time to time to munch on the yogurt and fruit I brought out.

I am happy that only a little snow made it in the coop so I moved the hay around so side is blocked where snow got in. Nothing on the north side that's partly open tho

Aoxa your niece is beautiful

 

[lalaland]

My camera and lens are on sale right now for 40-50% off on Amazon. Wish it was that cheap when I bought it!

My mom just got one.

what was it you got again? maybe I can afford it....since it is on sale

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm glad I'm not outside with bare feet! Always makes me wonder how those skinny little chicken feet can stand it.