The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Allysha1990]

Funny isn't it, I would try squirrel but not rat. Yet what is a rat but a squirrel without the fluffy tail.

I suppose it is the idea of rabies for me. I am sure that the cooking process would kill it, and I know that a deer could just as easily have rabies, yet I find it a hard thing to wrap my head around lol.

 

[Allysha1990]

Ok, so I am going to throw a question out there and I know I could have started a thread but I feel like it won't be a huge topic so I didn't bother. How do you clean out your hen's nesting boxes without getting the hens out of routine or upset? My one hen that likes to lay in a particular box must have gotten quite upset with me yesterday after I cleaned out her poop-filled box because this morning I found her egg on top of the highest rafter in the coop.
Will she get used to the cleaning, or will I just have to go on egg hunts every few weeks?

 

[fosterson]

I'm not saying eating coon is gross... I'm saying a whole coon in a pressure cooker is gross. .. and by whole the guy meant (he spelled it out) head, fur. .. the whole 9 yards.

My first thought is:

That better not be his wife's good pressure cooker.

 

[Scott H]

I can't imagine the smell.

 

[Allysha1990]

My first thought is:

That better not be his wife's good pressure cooker.

Lol! My poor pressure cooker has gone through hell and back and I have only owned it a year! I still haven't mastered the art of pressure canning though.. The last time I tried it by myself the **** thing started shaking so hard and screeching that I just turned off the stove and hid in my room! My thought process was that if it blew up, it had to go through several walls before it got to the bedroom lol!

 

[lazy gardener]

We used our poor beheaded broody to bait the trap and this morning at 4 am caught a mink. Can't believe it set off a raccoon trap with how light it looked.
That thing was evil! Took a video of it screaming at us on my phone but not sure I can figure out how to post it.

Tanning the hides would be an interesting thing to learn, it does feel like a total waste.

So, I guessed right after all!! Still sorry for your loss, but so glad you caught the thing. Hope you killed it instead of re-locating it. On the plus side, I'm GUESSING that mink or weasels are solitary hunters where coons can show up with the whole family tagging along.

I think it would be neat to learn how to tan hides as well. When I butchered my BSL roos, I gave the skins (complete with feathers) to a friend who does fly tying. He preserved them by rubbing borax into the inside of the skins. He said it did a good job. I know there's a market for poultry feathers with the fly tying crowd. It might be worth researching to re-coup some of the expenses associated with poultry keeping.

 

[Allysha1990]

So, I guessed right after all!! Still sorry for your loss, but so glad you caught the thing. Hope you killed it instead of re-locating it. On the plus side, I'm GUESSING that mink or weasels are solitary hunters where coons can show up with the whole family tagging along.

I think it would be neat to learn how to tan hides as well. When I butchered my BSL roos, I gave the skins (complete with feathers) to a friend who does fly tying. He preserved them by rubbing borax into the inside of the skins. He said it did a good job. I know there's a market for poultry feathers with the fly tying crowd. It might be worth researching to re-coup some of the expenses associated with poultry keeping.

I had never thought of using chicken skin as something to tan. I guess I always assumed it was too thin. On that note, I tried to skin on of my roos instead of plucking it... Hardest thing I have ever tried to do! Got it done in the end but it was NOT easy lol

 

[fosterson]

I had never thought of using chicken skin as something to tan. I guess I always assumed it was too thin. On that note, I tried to skin on of my roos instead of plucking it... Hardest thing I have ever tried to do! Got it done in the end but it was NOT easy lol

And see, we tend to skin instead of pluck!

 

[Kassaundra]

And see, we tend to skin instead of pluck!

I started skinning instead of plucking and never had any trouble skinning, but after I started processing NN I tried plucking "just to see how hard it was" and I gotta say I will never skin a NN again!!!! Not only was it amazingly easy and quick, but no hair to singe!!!!

 

[Shan30]

So, I guessed right after all!!  Still sorry for your loss, but so glad you caught the thing.  Hope you killed it instead of re-locating it.  On the plus side, I'm GUESSING that mink or weasels are solitary hunters where coons can show up with the whole family tagging along.

I think it would be neat to learn how to tan hides as well.  When I butchered my BSL roos, I gave the skins (complete with feathers) to a friend who does fly tying.  He preserved them by rubbing borax into the inside of the skins.  He said it did a good job.  I know there's a market for poultry feathers with the fly tying crowd.  It might be worth researching to re-coup some of the expenses associated with poultry keeping.

I too am hoping it was alone, will reset the trap when I get home. I did let the flock out after a stern talk about being alert, flying away and listening to the guineas even if they are annoying. I think they paid attention and understood my point. Will have to floor it home to beat the dusk but they needed to get out.

My husband used to tie his own flies and I was always fascinated by the different bird and animal skins in the sporting goods stores.

Wouldn't want to sell them tho. Maybe some nice slippers