The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[chicalot]

Chickens do not get colds..
I do not see any sign of illness. I see chickens that are too fat..they need to slim down or this summer is going to be really hard on them. Your one Cornish holly cow...that poor girl can't get through the door...lol

I know. So pitiful. I never intended to have a meat chicken. I don't free feed. The 11 hens get 3/4 of a large coffee can of feed a day and a cup of scratch every other day. Treats are minimal really. She's so very lazy.

 

[RedRidge]

Most of us here will quarantine any new birds in a place away from the rest of the flock for the better part of a month before integrating with the flock. This accomplishes several things. The most important of which is that the new birds have immunities to things in the environment from which they CAME. The existing birds have immunities to the current environment. These may not be the same, so each group has the potential to cause illness in the others. The typical looks like this: -2 Weeks totally separate -Then get 1 bird from existing flock and add to new birds. That way if there is an illness you only lose one of your existing flock and you can see how the new birds do. About 2 weeks like this. -Then if all goes well, move them to an area in which they can all see each other but not get at each other. Give that another week or so. -Then remove the division and see how they do together. This is way better done if they have a large area they are running in outside so there's lots of space. That was the "Reader's Digest" version.

Yep, this is true of ALL livestock that come here. I rarely bring in outside animals but when I do there is a serious quarantining period. I just bought a new bull calf and he will be totally isolated for at least another 3 weeks before being able to even see the other animals. However, my existing bull knew the second he arrived and has been grunting since then. They know... And every time a new animal is brought in a whole new set of rules has to be established. It's a pain, but necessary. And when boys are put back together at the end of each breeding season we have 2 rules a) they have one week in very close quarters to decide to get along, and b) they WILL get along or they go in the freezer. This pertains to roosters, rams and bulls - not husbands. ;-)

 

[Leahs Mom]

forgot: DH is against fermenting cause he says "why feed our chickens rotten feed ?" lol so still researching...

@chick rookie There are so many health benefits of fermenting! Take a look at this article which might help give you some things to share w/ DH. It's long because it was originally in 3 parts...

 

[delisha]

Quote: education is the only thing that would work. His mind set is that it is rotten. Until he knows what Fermentation is... that will not change.

I always get a bad feeling when someone tells me they bring new birds in...and just introduce them after a few days or no days at all. Quarantine periods are so important unless you want to risk your whole flock.

Quote:

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: All this time I thought it stood for off topic.

As for being a parent, I find I get much more joy from my children than any animal. Even when the baby had colic, I would not have traded him for a kitten or a puppy.

Well...we DO enjoy some good conversation and it isn't always "on topic"

So...maybe a little double meaning isn't so bad

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I have videos of my chickens this morning. I didn't hear sneezing. The white rock is still wheezing. I put the phone close to her but you probably cannot hear it. As you can see, I have a skinny door fat chicken issue going on also. These white rocks/probably cornish should probably be culled but 2 are laying huge eggs. The fattest most likely will never lay. My DH is slacking on cull duties and just says not to worry so much. I don't feed in the coop unless weather is extreme. The black bowl has the yogurt/egg/spice/feed mix. Sorry for my craptastic video skills. As you can see, they're no worse off and I'm feeling better about the sneezing. I'll keep an eye on the rattling white but my DH says he thinks the coop conditions were dry and she has a harder time because she's fat and sleeps in the floor. He's working on low roosts for them this weekend. Not roosting is a new thing for them and I suspect it's to keep their feet warm and hard on their fat bodies to come off roost.

Here is my roo competing with cat for his feed.

and yesterday crunching in the leaves

Oh my gosh! I thought you meant the first white hen was fat ... then nope, I thought it was the second white hen. But that third white hen ...

My meat birds were half that fat when I put them out of their misery.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Quote:
Maybe you could discuss it with him over a bottle of BudLight?

ETA ... BAD QUOTING! so I've deleted the name ...

 

[mlowen]

Here is a cool video animation of chick embryo development

Thank you! That was really neat. I sent it to my daughter to show my 4 yr old grandson.

 

[mlowen]

This pertains to roosters, rams and bulls - not husbands. ;-)

How many do you have...and do they all get along, just naturally?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
X2! Just looked at it too. Thanks for sharing!