The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TeaChick]

On the light subject:

I live in the Deep South. I got my chicks in March. We kept them in the laundry room until they were flying out of their box. Then we (I) built them a pen/coop and kept them outside at that point; there was about a week of nights that were cool enough that we were worried about them being too cold, so we set up the heating lamp in the coop.
On later cool nights, I found the five white Leghorns and the five gold Comets piled together with the Banty Cochin frizzle in the middle. =)

I haven't used the light this year and don't anticipate needing to, now that my hens are fully grown and feathered out; the only one I would worry about is the banty and the rest of the flock has proven that they take care of her.


On a slightly different topic, does the fact that the other hens crowd around her mean that she's at the top of the pecking order or the bottom? Or what does that mean?

 

[armorfirelady]

We got down in the single digits last night here. My girls all gather at either end of the roost standing as close as they can to each other poof up. They fluff so much you can't see Edie or Lucy.......those girls get between the 3 biggest and stay toasty warm all night, hens are not dumb......

Anyways the point is they have no heat. Just what they generate themselves and their feet are always toasty warm.

 

[TeaChick]

I've never seen single digits here, but I've only lived here for about seven years, so...
I guess I don't have to worry about mine. =)
Thanks.

 

[chicalot]

personally, I give everyone free choice oyster shell and crushed egg shells (when I have them) and feed 'Rockin' Rooster' pellets and fermented pellets/grains. I don't feed a layer formulation since so many birds aren't laying or old enough to lay, or they're roosters who will never lay.  the few eggs I AM getting right now all have great shells, so something's working right.

I'm thinking that's what I should do but can only get a grower in my brand. DH says it'll add weight and my rocks can't afford any weight gain. I don't know if he's right or not. I'll check with a feedmill next week and see what they blend up.

Got a bonus today and one of my White Rocks laid. A couple of them look like broilers so I thought they might not lay and we should eat them. I think I need to make a plus size nest box.

Nice big polkadot egg.lol

 

[Allysha1990]

Slightly OT:

My DS told me that he's into chickens.

He helps me in the evenings.

The next step will be for him to help me take care of my chickens in the mornings (when he learns to be quiet and not talk about everything under the sun just b/c he's excited).

(He's a little like his mother.

)


In a year or two, I plan on giving him some laying hen as a starting flock.

He wants to breed a heritage breed and he wants to raise his chickens naturally.

The only thing is that his flock will be in a pen and he & I will build a coop and all.

I'm so glad that one of my kids is as into raising chickens naturally as I am.

I am attempting to raise my chooks as naturally as possible too. It is a little hard here though because you mention "unmedicated feed" or "heritage breed" and everyone gives you a blank stare. Unfortunately it seems most people can only think of chickens in the factory farm scenario. I have to say though, it does make me feel proud when people stare at my birds and think they look great

 

[TeaChick]

You must live in a " farming community" . Lol
I know what you mean. I feel dd for the chickens that spend their lives in those tiny cages just popping out eggs for a year and then go to the mass grave of the grocery store shelf.
Yeah, it's nice to get compliments when you work hard!

 

[TeaChick]

I'm thinking that's what I should do but can only get a grower in my brand. DH says it'll add weight and my rocks can't afford any weight gain. I don't know if he's right or not. I'll check with a feedmill next week and see what they blend up.

Got a bonus today and one of my White Rocks laid. A couple of them look like broilers so I thought they might not lay and we should eat them. I think I need to make a plus size nest box.

Nice big polkadot egg.lol

Like the polka dotty egg !!!

 

[Allysha1990]

You must live in a " farming community" . Lol
I know what you mean.

I feel dd for the chickens that spend their lives in those tiny cages just popping out eggs for a year and then go to the mass grave of the grocery store shelf.

Yeah, it's nice to get compliments when you work hard!

I most defiantly do! Actually my boyfriends parents make fun of me for canning and storing my food. Ultimately my aim is to hardly buy anything from grocery stores, but apparently that has become a weird concept these days and canning anything besides salsa is seen as eccentric :S

 

[Jewelwing]

LazyGardner, I agree totally with your husband about the showgirls!

And, scratched out feed on the ground - sometimes I notice when I pick up a feed container or bowl that has been on the ground too long, that there is mold growing on the dirt underneath. Totally freaks me out, I have to scrape out the dirt - it goes into a special compost dump where the chickens can't get to it.

I keep feed in metal garbage cans - once in a great while a little rain gets in when I am getting feed (water pours off the lid ) and then later find a clump of moldy feed. This also goes into the special compost dump.

same thing with birdfeeders - you can kill off an amazing number of birds with moldy birdseed.

Oh, that's a little scary. My birds free range a lot, and in the past couple of days they've discovered the area around our house, which has bird feeders around back. I noticed them under the feeders this afternoon and shooed them away, but I don't know how I can keep them away. Any suggestions?

 

[Jewelwing]

This may be a silly question, but how exactly do you crush egg shells to feed back to the chickens? Mine aren't laying yet, but I get eggs from someone else who has chickens (not from the store). I'm hoping they start laying soon! They'll be 20 weeks old on Monday.

I've been taking the shells and trying to scrape off the inside membrane under running water, then letting them dry. Then I just crush them with my hands, and keep crushing them with my fingers until they're somewhere in between the size of watermelon seeds and bell pepper seeds. Then I just pour them in a pile on the dirt.

Is that OK? Or should I be crushing them finer?