The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Kassaundra]

I bet she could since she has a sewing machine as well. Plus she just loves her grandchickens esp Stella

But I need the sewing machine tutorial so I can do a few other things. I can never get the thread to fill the darn bobbin lol

I waited a few extra days to get more sprouting as well. I think tomorrow when I start the bird seed I will bring up a few extra jars & stagger them as well.
(I knew there was a reason I didn't toss those plastic dividers in the recycle bin

) I try not keep extra stuff around but I am so glad I kept these
Makes no sense to me. And how the heck does that chicken stay fresh? Or not spoil...........and all those hands, trucks, etc it touches on its journey. YUCK

Ok first....there you go again bragging about your nice weather.....gardening in January??? Heck I cant even see my garden soil.

You might just end up with some unexpected guests if you keep saying how nice the weather is there.................& I will bring my extra snow for you

I am guessing that its like humans. Chickens will have some of their parents genetics/behaviors.

If it makes you feel any better it is cold now and going to get really cold in the next few days before our next warm front. (that is the only way I survive winter counting down til the next warm front)

 

[aaggjg]

OMG I caught up ... NEVER THOUGHT THAT WOULD HAPPEN....

I didnt want to post as you lose your place in the thread....

I feed my girls tons of sprouts I soak them for a day and then dump them into a colander in my sink .... I have a bunch of colanders. My barley always goes moldy so I gave up on that but wheat, BOSS, lentils, mung beans, oats etc etc all sprout well.... I rinse them once a day. The wheat & BOSS sprout really fast but then again winter has not come here this year

For those of you using mason jars to sprout, I had some left over window screen so I used that as a filter when I sprouted clover & alfalfa ... worked great just screw the ring around the screen ...

 

[aaggjg]

it took a little while to get my homemade incubator straightened out.
I have a good thermometer in there.
No hydrometer. Small cup of water in the past away from the eggs.
I can't throw them out, they're my son's.
I candle them tonight. One of them is completely dark, except the air sac. Another looked almost completely dark. A third looked pretty close to the second one. The rest I think are quitters.
I'm giving them a few more days, but if there's nothing by Wed, I'm going to stay opening them up to see what's going on.

If your eggs don't hatch, you can take what you think are the viable ones and float them in warm water. If the chick is alive the egg will move.... If it is dead it will just float. Be careful to slowly lower the egg in as you want the water still ... and make sure the water is pretty hot!

Since this is your first attempt in the homemade incubator the eggs could be running behind schedule if it took a little while to get the temperature regulated.... Heres hoping something hatches for your son

 

[aaggjg]

Are my chickens out of their minds? Bought two things of dried mealworms and they were not impressed. I even tried to hydrate them to make them a little more appetizing (it said so on the container). Won't be buying those again...

Wow mine come charging down my hill if the hear me shake the mealworm container!!! They gobble as fast as possible when I throw out some dried worms .... I figure they are the rice cake version of real worms. I thought buying american ones meant grown in USA I should have known and will now have to look closer!! Thanks LM ....

I will just give them live worms which they like the better. I had a silkie dive bomb the burlap bag I was carrying the live ones in!!! She was not the first chicken to attack the bag while I was holding it but certainly the smallest and jumped the highest!!!!

Since it has been so warm here maybe I will try to get the BSF going hmmmmm....

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

They trick you.. My deer skin gloves were made in China too.. Didn't even think to look until you said something. I'm an ethical omnivore, so I hate that it came from China.. My parents are actually going to China in the fall and I keep telling them to watch the meat they eat....

Are there still tanneries in the USA? They don't smell very good and people get all bent about the animal ethics and get all NIMBY about it (yet still covet the $50,000 Birken bag they saw in Vogue ...) Haven't we pretty much exported all that "unpleasantness?"

There used to be a tannery in my home town.

 

[delisha]

Quote: I have them in the fridge..in baggies. Two have apple juice and salt, and two have milk and salt and one has salt, sugar and water. I will be frying the two in milk in a few days. The apple juice and water ones will be drained and frozen Thursday...

I will rinse them and do the egg and flour dredge.

one cut up chicken
fork whip two eggs well
soak the chicken in the eggs making sure all sides are covered

Put in a baggie:
4 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 1/4 teaspoons nonfat dry milk powder
1 teaspoon chicken seasoning
3/4 teaspoon paprika (Spanish or smoked)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup flour

Place chicken in the baggie and shake to cover all surfaces

Bake at 250 for one hour
Increase to 325 and bake for another hour
Increase to 400 and bake for 10 minutes to crisp up



Chicken season: I keep this on hand..I try to use all fresh ingredients and keep it in a zip lock bag in the freezer.

4 teaspoons ground peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground winter savory
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon dark ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground leaf thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla bean
1/4 teaspoon ground star anise
1/8 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1/8 teaspoon ground parsley

OMG I caught up ... NEVER THOUGHT THAT WOULD HAPPEN....

I didnt want to post as you lose your place in the thread....

I feed my girls tons of sprouts I soak them for a day and then dump them into a colander in my sink .... I have a bunch of colanders. My barley always goes moldy so I gave up on that but wheat, BOSS, lentils, mung beans, oats etc etc all sprout well.... I rinse them once a day. The wheat & BOSS sprout really fast but then again winter has not come here this year

For those of you using mason jars to sprout, I had some left over window screen so I used that as a filter when I sprouted clover & alfalfa ... worked great just screw the ring around the screen ...

I have a hard time to keep caught up lately..

 

[Mrs Rebecca]

Are there still tanneries in the USA? They don't smell very good and people get all bent about the animal ethics and get all NIMBY about it (yet still covet the $50,000 Birken bag they saw in Vogue ...) Haven't we pretty much exported all that "unpleasantness?"

There used to be a tannery in my home town.

There is a tannery in St. Joe, MO. You are right, it stinks to high heaven! However, it is located on the river next to a pet food plant and the city's waste water treatment, so you never know what exactly you are smelling.

 

[Shan30]

I have them in the fridge..in baggies. Two have apple juice and salt, and two have milk and salt and one has salt, sugar and water. I will be frying the two in milk in a few days. The apple juice and water ones will be drained and frozen Thursday...

Your recipes sound delish ! When the birds are brining in the fridge are they whole or have you already parted them out?

I will definitely try this with the younger guys but I have 7 that are around the 7-8 month mark and I'm thinking they will be coq au vin, Corfu, stew and broth. Might try one slow roasted just to see.

 

[ki4got]

I have one jar lid screen insert, and want more so I can keep sprouts going in several jars, love the idea of the plastic with the holes in it. You just saved me some $ and a trip or trips to go get more screening. thanks!!

And funny, my sprouts are 5 days today too and I fed them to the chickens and cats this morning.
I went to sprout world online and got a huge bag of samples sizes of maybe a dozen different blends just because I want to eat some myself...

please elaborate on that 'sprout world online' thing? link please?

I have them in the fridge..in baggies. Two have apple juice and salt, and two have milk and salt and one has salt, sugar and water. I will be frying the two in milk in a few days. The apple juice and water ones will be drained and frozen Thursday...

I will rinse them and do the egg and flour dredge.

one cut up chicken
fork whip two eggs well
soak the chicken in the eggs making sure all sides are covered

Put in a baggie:
4 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 1/4 teaspoons nonfat dry milk powder
1 teaspoon chicken seasoning
3/4 teaspoon paprika (Spanish or smoked)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup flour

Place chicken in the baggie and shake to cover all surfaces

Bake at 250 for one hour
Increase to 325 and bake for another hour
Increase to 400 and bake for 10 minutes to crisp up

Chicken season: I keep this on hand..I try to use all fresh ingredients and keep it in a zip lock bag in the freezer.

4 teaspoons ground peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground winter savory
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon dark ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground leaf thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla bean
1/4 teaspoon ground star anise
1/8 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1/8 teaspoon ground parsley

now if I could just get hubby to eat bone-in chicken, I'd be all set, but he prefers boneless... so I ususally end up marinating and baking. got any good marinade suggestions?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Anyway it struck me as interesting how close the boys personality is to their bio moms, not like their bio dads, or broody moms.



So is this a fluke or a thing?

Right now I have 3 18 week olds. 2 different bio-moms; broody raised but broody isn't the bio-mom of either.

I've noticed that the one full SFH girl does exhibit the personality of her bio-mom so far; the 2 others have the same bio-mom and so far seem to be quite like her.

Since these ones are so young, I will observe them over the next few months to see if it continues.

Right now, none of them behave like their broody mom but I think I need to wait a few mos to see for sure.