The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Eggcessive]

A few years ago when I got my first chickens, I decided to clip one wing on all of my pullets who kept jumping my 4 foot chainlink fence, my 5 foot barn fence, ad all other fences. It was a waste of time. My hens could fly straight up in the air to the top of my coop run without a problem. Whe they get older and fatter, some will stop jumping on the fence, but not all. I have found the best luck with the electric fence netting---since they can't jump up to perch and then fly over, they usually stay on the inside.

 

[CourtsCacklers]

Red ridge it don't hatch so can't help you.

I am jealous of the pictures and there is NO SNOW ........rain and temps in 40s the last 2 days but I still see more snow than grass

Girls are digging up their walkway scratching for goodies. Nothing of course to eat but at least they are out. Sure wish more snow would of melted so they could scratch thru the garden.

But on a good note it was almost 515 before they roosted tonight so that means the days are getting a little longer.

Oh my goodness--- I was rejoicing when mine were out past 5 pm too!!!!

 

[aoxa]

Question for anyone who has ducks. .. I know nothing about ducks but have a friend who is needing help feeding and/our balancing a ration for her ducks. Can someone tell me what the different nutritional needs are for ducks vs chickens? Or do they pretty well eat the same thing?

Mine eat the very same thing. I of course would suggest not using a medicated feed - but I'm sure you already did that.

They should not have anything incredibly high in protein. They can develop angel wing if they are offered too much.

 

[TeaChick]

Thank you! The avi is from a day that me and my oldest daughter went and raked leaves and bagged them for bedding for the chickens this winter! She had more fun jumping in them, and made me and my mom jump in them as well.... LOL.

Cool!!! Lots of fun!
It doesn't snow here, so I leave the leaves on the ground and just rake them up when I need them and they're dry.
My kids rake them up and jump in the piles too. =)

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

LOL! Oops!!! The 'copy and paste' didn't work. Yep, I am a cyclist. I'm a roadie though. I rode over 6K miles last year. Hi, I am Laurie and I am addicted (make that obsessed) with cycling.

This is what I meant to post.

Guess I earned my blonde for the day.

That makes a lot more sense!

I haven't had as much luck finding useful duck information on the internet as I have for chicken info.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Question for anyone who has ducks. .. I know nothing about ducks but have a friend who is needing help feeding and/our balancing a ration for her ducks. Can someone tell me what the different nutritional needs are for ducks vs chickens? Or do they pretty well eat the same thing?

Ducks need more niacin than chickens, so the ration needs to consider that. It isn't that easy to find the right kind of niacin to add to their water, and with the way they waste water I don't find that reliable anyway.

Here is a blog post from an informed source about medicated feeds and ducks: http://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2011/11/can-medicated-feed-be-used-for.html

 

[SallyinIndiana]

my 2 ducks down the oyster shell but forage a lot more than my chickens.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

my 2 ducks down the oyster shell but forage a lot more than my chickens.

My ducks eat a lot of oyster shell, too. I've been told it might be an attraction to the particle size as much as anything. Duck eggs have a super thick shell, so I can see how they need a lot of calcium to form them.

 

[aoxa]

LOL! Oops!!! The 'copy and paste' didn't work. Yep, I am a cyclist. I'm a roadie though. I rode over 6K miles last year. Hi, I am Laurie and I am addicted (make that obsessed) with cycling.

This is what I meant to post.

Guess I earned my blonde for the day.

At least that all it was! Don't be too embarrassed LOL

 

[TeaChick]

About egg washing, storage, etc. (for eating, not necessarily for hatching), I store my eggs in the fridge, but just b/c they cook the way store bought eggs do (DH likes over easy and it's easier to get the white done and the yolk runny if they're cold rather than room temp). Anyway, I save them on the counter for hatching. But what about selling them? Do you wash them when you sell them? Do you just not sell the ones that happen to get a little poo on them? Do your customers appreciate the natural, unwashed eggs? Is it even legal to sell unwashed eggs for consumption in the US?