The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Scott H]

Now our partridge Wyandotte is molting... At least our temps are more moderate now. . She has lost all neck feathers just like our BLRB did. .. She used to be my buddy but she is horrified if I get too close to her.

 

[delisha]

Question:
I understand that fertile rate for Cochins is about 50-60%.
I also understand that trimming the feathers around their vent can increase that rate.
Is this considered a natural practice?

Natural? No, but done with a normal practice with some breeders of heavy feathered birds especially with Cochins and Orpingtons.
Quote: Plucking is preferable imo and some hens will not breed because of associating negativity and pain with breeding practice.

HELP!!! I've been using a chicken tractor all spring, summer, and fall with great success. I decided to make it stationery for the winter so we placed it up on our concrete patio (after first laying down tar paper then weed barrier over that) and added pine flakes and dry leaves. Chickens seemed fine and loved the leaves. Several days ago I was checking the coup area to see if it needed poop scooped out and saw some blood droppings. Scared the life out of me, but everyone seemed to be still eating, drinking and moving about. I checked all 6 chickens and discovered that one was a mess. I immediately got paper towels and warm water to try to clean what I could away from her behind to see. I then discovered that she had lost a lot of feathers underneath and her skin was extremely red and hurt her. I panicked and sent pictures to a friend who said it looked like lice and suggested I dust all the chickens with Sevin. Well, I have been raising them organically and I hated the thought but she was so bad that I had no time for extensive research into what to do. I really felt it was an emergency. I didn't know what to do about the coop. I read that lice stay on the chickens and that you don't have to worry about cleaning or dusting the coop. I also read that if you are deep littering then you definitely don't want to get rid of the deep liter. Well, I couldn't stand it so I decided to let the run alone, but cleaned the nesting boxes and the coop poop boards which are actually the flooring. Today (last night now) I actually had time to check up on how she was doing. She looked o.k. but not great and I decided to check the others again more thoroughly. Now, I am really, really, really upset because the other hens and my roo are infested!!! The question I can't seem to get answered is how in the world did these chickens get lice and in the condition they are in?!! I was fermenting their organic feed from Countryside in 2 bucket method, but something went wrong with the process at one point and I'm now thinking it was because the buckets weren't food grade. I was getting a nasty looking scum on top that everyone agreed I needed to dump and not feed to the chickens. Unfortunately, my husband had fed some already. Did this weaken/poison them? I basically spoil these chickens and love them. I chop fresh veggies up for them everyday and put them in their food tray and I have baked flockblock. I try to let them free range a couple hours a week but every time I let them out (and they want out badly) I get a bunch of vultures showing up and circling. Yes, turkey vultures. Now maybe they won't hurt chickens but they don't seem very intimidated even by me. The chickens were under tree branches but it still scares me. Again, I'm trying to give them every health benefit I can and now they are infested and ruined by Sevin dust because I freaked. So I have just spent 6 hours reading everything I can on what to do and and still wondering about the chicken tractor/coop. I have no place to move the chickens to, so what do I do? Please help!! I have fireplace ash and have read that I should rub down all the chickens with fireplace ash making sure to get it onto the skin and into feathers. So that is my plan for tomorrow. I also went out and bought a plastic tub to put sand into for dust bathing. I had put sand underneath the coop area, but that got covered in leaves and wet and froze so the chickens had no dusting area. The sand I bought was wet in the bag so it is now in my basement laundry room which is the warmest area in the house and is sitting beside a dehumidifier. Hopefully will be dry tomorrow so I can put it in the coop. I am hoping the sides are low enough they can get in, but high enough to keep leaves and flake out. I just cannot believe that I have taken such poor care of these poor birds. I love them and they are miserable, yet still laying 3/4 eggs a day. My poor little girls!!! My friend said she is always fighting bugs. That just doesn't seem right. Healthy birds that are well fed in a clean environment shouldn't have this kind of problem. Please tell me what I am doing wrong. I am now worried about their feet too. Not sure they look exactly healthy. I will follow up with pictures from my phone if I can.
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The mites were probably in the tar paper and weed barrier..I would not use them.

I would take the birds out and put them in the garage for two days..clean out the coop..spray it with Neem Oil use a resparator and fill a sox with wood ash. Powder coat the whole interior of the coop over the top of the Neem Oil, and put it back in the grass. I would treat the birds with NuStock. Coat them with wood ash first, than all open areas of the skin (vent and arms) with NuStock. Get them on raw liver and Oregano with your feed. It happens..it is best to check one bird a day especially this time of year. Northern Fowl mites hit chickens hard because wild birds come in to feed where chickens are and mice activity is more active at night around the birds.

 

[delisha]

Happy New Year everyone!!! May each and everyone of you have the best year filled with laughter, joy, and good health.

 

[Pozees]

Happy New Year everyone!!! May each and everyone of you have the best year filled with laughter, joy, and good health.

Right back atcha', delisha, thanks for all you do to help us all!

 

[delisha]

Now our partridge Wyandotte is molting... At least our temps are more moderate now. . She has lost all neck feathers just like our BLRB did. .. She used to be my buddy but she is horrified if I get too close to her.

awwww.what have to done to the poor girl she will not look at you..are you making fun of her? making her self conscious?

 

[Jewelwing]

This is definitely girl talk now. ....

I don't know about that - it sounds pretty male to me!

no, it's animal reproduction 101... if it can't be accomplished the 'natural' way, then someone has to step in and take over. whether that be due to design (aka too much fluff), location (like with cattle or horses, the animals are located in distant places) or injury (like with my red dorking roo and his crippled foot)...

AI is done on a large number of species, not just chickens, but turkeys (double breasted can't breed naturally), dogs, horses, cattle and more. and yes, people too for that matter, but we won't go there...

if you're bashful about the process, or their various pieces/parts, try owning several stallions at once... you lose that bashfulness the first time one of your studs drops and starts slapping in front of someone who isn't familiar with horses much, who says 'what's he doing?' LOL

Oh, that reminds me of the time we lived in Davis when my first child was about three and we went to the vet school open house. It was an awesome experience for him, because they had milking demonstrations, which were very eye-opening for him. I pointed out the udder as he watched the goat being milked. Then we saw the cow being milked, and talked about the udder again.

Then out came the prancing stallion, hanging low and swinging back and forth. In front of the hushed crowd, my very impressed three-year-old piped up, "Wow! Look at that udder!!"

 

[delisha]

Quote:

 

[mlowen]

This is my second model of "cabbage swing" to occupy penned up chickens. The chain was too short on the first one, but the concept worked very well. I found a length of chain that was long enough, drilled a 3/8" tunnel through the cabbage core, fashioned a "needle" with coat hanger wire, and threaded the chain through the cabbage. I hang it from a rafter in the run.

 

[Pozees]

Quote:

<catching my breath> that is priceless!

Reminds me of trying to explain to my then-4-year-old why we had to wait for my puppy, Didi, to have puppies of her own. I told him first she would go to the dog shows, and that she needed to be more than a year old, and then we would get her bred. With that last, he leapt to his feet, ran to the kitchen, flung open the cabinet, and said, "Mom, look, we have lots of bread! We could get Did puppies right now!!!"

 

[Scott H]

Quote:
They are all pretty much treating me like I'm responsible for getting rid of their unlimited geens supply........and the cold.