The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[RedRidge]

 
Me too.  If I had one like that I'd probably bring her in too.

My goats shiver. I hate it. They seem to do it more when we are looking.. If they don't know we are watching, I don't see them doing it. 

I have never wormed them, so I checked all their eyelids for nice pink colour - a-ok. Poops all hard. Tummies look round (not too round). Any goat or sheep people know what else I could check on? 

They shiver the most when I give them some grain. I think they may be excited, but the manager of the feed store said he's never heard of them shivering out of excitement. 

300 lambs here... No problem.
Lots of high quality hay, very little grain when it's bitter cold. Grain boosts their metabolism and takes energy to digest... Energy being taken away from staying warm. Best advice is do not confine them, make sure they get plenty of exercise. Confinement in severe cold leads to pneumonia very quickly. Give them access to shelter but do not shut them in. Fresh water with free choice hay and deep bedding.

 

[TeaChick]

Uh-oh, looks like I was a day late and a dollar short on the nesting box link and such. =(

@delisha
why no onion?
I mean, my chickens do eat the onion scraps we put out, but I've heard that some ppl's chooks do.

 

[TeaChick]

Today I saw a whole bunch of eggs that were old and rotten. My Faverolles hide eggs all over the place.

And you thought egg production was down....

 

[TeaChick]

She's going to need a name...

Anyone have anything funny and clever?

I need to get a picture of her, but she definitely needs a bath. White Silkie + FF and wry neck = dirty dirty silkie lol

Very happy she has come around.

Congrats!!! Very happy for you that you didn't have to put her down! =)
Neckoletta

 

[TeaChick]

I put out some fermented layer pellets last week, but they turned their noses up at it. They eat the pellets dry well, especially when they come begging at the front door for something to eat.
I added some hot water to the cold FF this morning, they were actually eating it. I got some of it too soupy, so I put it in the Chicken Candy Store, I mean the compost heap. They were eating it pretty well last time I checked.
Going out now to get eggs so they don't freeze. Six so far out of seven hens a-laying. =D
I'll check out all the places I put the warmed FF. Maybe I'll take out some more hot water and warm it up for them some more. I have time to decide it takes a while for me to get ready to go outside.

I don't think we're going to hit our forecast high of 35*F today.
I'm such a wimp!!! =(

 

[aoxa]

300 lambs here... No problem.
Lots of high quality hay, very little grain when it's bitter cold. Grain boosts their metabolism and takes energy to digest... Energy being taken away from staying warm. Best advice is do not confine them, make sure they get plenty of exercise. Confinement in severe cold leads to pneumonia very quickly. Give them access to shelter but do not shut them in. Fresh water with free choice hay and deep bedding.

They can't get outside right now. We have 3.5 feet of snow on the ground. It's terrible, but they have a lot of room in their part of the barn.

I don't know anyone in our parts that let the goats out in these temps. As for grain, we hardly give them any at all, but do give them some. They have been eating a lot of hay since our two pregnant does have returned.

So if their eyelids are nice and pink and their poops are solid, I shouldn't worry about worms?

I love our feed store owner. He hates the idea of worming livestock

 

[RedRidge]

300 lambs here... No problem.

Lots of high quality hay, very little grain when it's bitter cold. Grain boosts their metabolism and takes energy to digest... Energy being taken away from staying warm. Best advice is do not confine them, make sure they get plenty of exercise. Confinement in severe cold leads to pneumonia very quickly. Give them access to shelter but do not shut them in. Fresh water with free choice hay and deep bedding.

They can't get outside right now. We have 3.5 feet of snow on the ground. It's terrible, but they have a lot of room in their part of the barn. 

I don't know anyone in our parts that let the goats out in these temps. As for grain, we hardly give them any at all, but do give them some. They have been eating a lot of hay since our two pregnant does have returned. 

So if their eyelids are nice and pink and their poops are solid, I shouldn't worry about worms? 

I love our feed store owner. He hates the idea of worming livestock  

Pink eye lids is good. .. No worries.
Do you have a door or window you can open for an hour or two? Ventilation is the key.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

We had temps that froze the 4+ inches of water in the dog's dish (out in the weather by a tree) solid, but the 2-ish inches of water inside the hen house just had a thin layer of ice on it. Way colder than I'm used to, but nothing compared to you guys!!! I don't envy you one bit!!!

Warm hugs for all you up north!!!


Quote:
Well it was, and is. But this is not acceptable. *shakes head* Nope. Eggs should go in the nesting box only.

 

[Shan30]

I don't have any snow or ice to build an igloo!
And I miss my flip flops too!!!!
Limbo stinks!!!

Agreed! Freezes at night (sometimes) thaws and turns back into muddy soup during the day. I want SNOW!
Instead I get 30-40 mm of rain on Friday. I'll be digging ditches in the mud instead of shovelling snow.

Anyone have inventive ways to kill rats in the coop? I don't want to use poison. Currently using a 5 gallon bucket with rolling bait above it but they have out witted me and cleaned it off last night. Will be altering it when I get home. So nasty!

 

[TeaChick]

Well it was, and is. But this is not acceptable. *shakes head* Nope. Eggs should go in the nesting box only.

I see. Oh, well.
I agree, but my hens have tried everywhere else (lawn mower, back porch on blankets, middle of the flower bed, inside the azalea bush, etc.)
Have you tried the golf ball trick?
What worked for me was using a crayon (I have a billion, literally, lying around, so I just grabbed a color that was going to show up on dark brown and white eggs)
mark the date, and then I rotated the eggs, today's eggs stay in the nesting box, yesterday's get collected.
If it's going to be below freezing, I collect at bedtime. But leaving them in the nesting boxes all day was how the other hens learned where I wanted the eggs laid. I picked them up from around the yard and put them in the nesting boxes.
One woman taught her hen that's where they go by having her watch her put one in there. It worked!!!