The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Jewelwing]

The roof is pretty well insulated, since it has about 5" of dirt on top, plus snow on top of that!
I feel like an idiot for asking, but why the dirt???
If I'm ever a chicken, can I come live at your house? And if I were your chicken, I'd lay you an egg every single day too!!!

Also, I need a saw. I have to use what I have the way I have it.

and

Hahaha! Sure, you'd be welcome if you lay an egg a day and are friendly!

Yeah, I should have probably said more about the dirt. I built a chicken house that will have a "living roof." I saw it in a shed book I was looking at while designing my coop and loved the idea. The coop sits a little below our house, so I thought it would be fun to look down on it and see flowers and grasses growing on the roof. We just built it this summer, though, so nothing is planted on it yet. We just have a tarp over the dirt, held down by pieces of wood to keep the dirt from washing away in the spring rains. Next summer, though, we'll have stuff planted in it! I thought it would be crazy fun if the chickens flew up to the roof and grazed up there! I don't think they can fly that well, though, and anyway, there's plenty of easier greenery to eat.

And what are you doing without a saw?!? IJK - I didn't have one until we decided to build our house (wanted to live in the country, but couldn't find any place that hadn't been logged horribly until we found the piece we ended up buying. The access is awful, which saved the trees, mostly. No house on it, though, so we had to build our own. My mom's first present to me after we decided to build was a compound miter saw. Yay for moms! I love my saw!!

AFL - when you give them a turkey carcass, do you have any concerns that they might get a small piece of bone or something that would get stuck in the crop or hurt them in any way? I still haven't been so bold to give them a cooked carcass for fear of bone splintering or some such thing.

My chickens don't seem to like to eat the turkey and chicken pieces I put in their run. But my dog sure does! The hardest part is keeping her out of the run - she wishes she were a chicken because they get all the best treats (in her mind, at least). The turkey does disappear, but I'm never sure if the dog snuck in when I wasn't looking, or if the chickens ate it while I wasn't looking.

LOL, I was just thinking the same thing! I am on page ten, and plan to read the entire thread, might not hear from me for awhile!

Oh, goodness! Just start here and do your best to keep up from now on! That's hard enough. You can go back and read through it as you have time, but we don't want to have to wait until you read it all before you join the conversation! If you say or ask something that's been said or asked before, no big deal. My memory is so bad I probably wouldn't remember anyway, and it doesn't seem like anyone here would get their panties in a bunch over that...

I don't think she will be. I plan to cull tomorrow night. She was really bad this evening, but I did get some food into her. Also culling that blind rooster. He's not gaining weight like he should. Sigh... Sometimes having a farm sucks... I get attached to the ones I try to get better, but I will be strong and end their suffering.

Oh, I'm so sorry. It's the worst part of having animals, and never seems to get easier.

I take the bones, and sometimes I re-roast them, then I put them in a big pot of cold water (if you have bleach in the water it is probably best to filter it, but we have well water here), with the peeled feet (and I've been told the head is good to toss in there, too, but I haven't braved that yet), and I simmer it for a day. I add some carrot and celery and garlic and onion and spices, but that isn't necessary. Then I strain it. Then I have super nutritious bone broth.

If I use the crock pot or stainless steel, I also add in some vinegar to help draw the nutrients out of the bone. But I don't do that in an aluminum pot. I need a bigger stainless-steel pot.

I just read this to my husband, and he heard the peeled feet and said he thinks he can live without "super nutritious bone broth."

 

[delisha]

Quote: if you did not get attached..the care would not be the same..the feeling would not be the same..the pain and emotional process makes us better animal stewards.

I have made the broth, how long and how hot should I bake the bones. Is a standard food processor good enough to grind?

I do not know..sorry. I have an old antique blender with steel blades and a thick glass container. It powders them well. The pieces that are not dry enough do not powder so I dump them back in the pan and stick them back in the oven...

we have this to look forward to this weekend

 

[Pozees]

I have a silkie with wry neck

I'm not sure if I should cull or treat with something. Advice anyone? When she gets worked up she has her head tucked way under her belly. She can eat and focus enough to keep her head the right way during that time.

I had a pullet with wry neck last year. I treated with Polyvisol with Selenium and Vitamin E added - 1 of each to a half bottle of the Polyvisol. After a week I was ready to give up, and another breeder PMd me and said, keep going, it takes two weeks, and if she gets better before that treat the whole two weeks anyway. Two days later she was getting better, now she is absolutely fine, not a single issue since then. DH read an article just this week about how it is thought to be genetic, but that a Silkie's vaulted skull is very vulnerable to injury, and it could be a peck on the head placed well that causes it. I have no idea, I only know the treatment I used last year worked.

ETA - 1 cc twice a day, I treated her morning and evening, and for several days, after the vitamins I gave her several ccs of ground up food mixed with water, she did keep working at eating and drinking, and always peeped at me when I went into the room (I had her inside in a crate). Every day I would steel myself to the possibility she had given up or died, and every day I opened the door and she would peep peep at me. Her name is now Peep Peep. She is a Catdance Porcelain, just a lovely little thing, with the sweetest little personality. If I ever thought she was truly suffering and not trying to stay alive I would have culled, but she never got to that point, and I'm glad she's still here.



Terrible picture, but this is Peep Peep. Her crest is more nicely rounded than this now.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I just read this to my husband, and he heard the peeled feet and said he thinks he can live without "super nutritious bone broth." 

I had one of my college girlfriends over when I was peeling turkey feet and invited her to help thinking she'd fall off her chair, but she was a superstar about it! Dad was unsure about eating "foot soup" until I told him he could stop paying for the glucosamine supplement if he did.

I am very envious of the house building ... building my own house is on my list.

 

[lalaland]

if you did not get attached..the care would not be the same..the feeling would not be the same..the pain and emotional process makes us better animal stewards.

I do not know..sorry. I have an old antique blender with steel blades and a thick glass container. It powders them well. The pieces that are not dry enough do not powder so I dump them back in the pan and stick them back in the oven...

we have this to look forward to this weekend

ack, it is so weird. I woke up to 20 ABOVE zero at 6 am, that is warmer than it has been in weeks. temps are falling though, and -50 below windchill and air temps of -28 or worse predicted for daytime. Heated dog bowls don't keep up with it. Delisha, stay warm!

 

[armorfirelady]

ack, it is so weird. I woke up to 20 ABOVE zero at 6 am, that is warmer than it has been in weeks. temps are falling though, and -50 below windchill and air temps of -28 or worse predicted for daytime. Heated dog bowls don't keep up with it. Delisha, stay warm!

My heated bowl couldn't keep up with the temps here either & it was balmy compared to what you guys are having. Hope you guys stay warm.

I broke down and added hay to the coop and run areas. I felt warmer when I did

Glad I did since we are suppose to get a winter storm Monday & Tuesday on top of temps below zero. Maybe I will get stranded at home & not be able to get to work........oh wait they come & get me if its a state of emergency

 

[lalaland]

AFL, you're a firefighter right? I can't imagine fire trucks trying to get through the snow I've been hearing about. Or dealing with the cold and wind. yikes!

 

[RedRidge]

I am just emptying all my poultry waters at dusk and filing them at dawn. With negative temperatures they ate freezing at night anyway. After dumping lots of ice yesterday morning I figured it was a loosing battle so why fight it. They don't drink over night anyway.

 

[armorfirelady]

AFL, you're a firefighter right? I can't imagine fire trucks trying to get through the snow I've been hearing about. Or dealing with the cold and wind. yikes!

Yes. So far we haven't had any more snow than what's *normal* for us. But when the snows just keep coming it does make driving a pain at times. Just takes us a little longer to get there. The cold & wind is only a problem when we use water. Thankfully we dont have many fires

 

[lazy gardener]

JUST REACHED 0 DEGREES F. NOW! HAVEN'T SEEN THAT IN QUITE A WHILE!