The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Does he ever eat yogurt or sauerkraut? Those are fermented foods. If you want links to articles that talk about the health benefits of fermenting foods (for people or for chickens), just say so, and I'm sure you'll get sent many links!

And
Cheese
Real Pickles
Kefir

Want some more examples?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Just a comment on this...
The fat content of the food is not the issue. It is the carbohydrates.

Problem is that what we feed chickens now-a-days is very high carbs...which is really the only thing they could live without unfortunately.

Increase ANIMAL/INSECT protien
Decrease carbohydrates (grains/legumes)

Ok....off my soapbox.

And what Aoxa said about different specific animals is very true. They metabolize their feed quite differently just like humans do.

 

[ki4got]

I need some urgent advice please!
I have a broody who growls a lot - doesn't peck me, but is quite good about keeping other hens away. She has not yet brooded successfully.
I have 2 chicks that just popped in the incubator tonight - yay! I waited til the first one was dry and just brought it out to her and popped it under her.
I waited for about 1/2 hour in the darkness watching and listening. Everytime it pipped under her she growled and a few times tried to peck her wing where the chick was hiding under.
It's very cold out there - just above freezing. I'm worried that she will reject or hurt her. usually my broodies make a lovely clucking noise to reassure their chicks.
Should I go out and rescue her? I have another one I'm leaving in the incubator overnight... because there are hopefully more eggs unzipping...
Any comments will be appreciated cause I'm in knots about this...

i'm a control freak with my eggs... i incubate everything then decide which girls deserve chicks... I ALWAYS relocate a broody (once she's definitely setting) to one of the brooder boxes before deciding to give her any eggs or chicks. if she relocates and stays broody, then she'll get one hatching egg (internally pipped usually) and a few warm dudds to hold the heat if she gets off the nest to eat. once it's hatched and she's accepted it, then i'll give her more of the new chicks straight out of the hatcher. but again, she stays inside for a few days to get to know them, and for me tomake sure she's being a good momma. then they go to a broody pen for a week or so (so the other free rangers can get to see the new guys) before I let her out to range again.

I've had some girls prove to be excellent mothers, I've had others that will brood 100 chicks if you let them, but once they're in the pen for a few days with the babies they're done and don't want anything else to do with them... the ones who prove to be poor mothers don't get chicks again.

with your girl, I would say keep the chicks in the bator/hatcher/brooder a bit longer, and see if you can relocate her once she's gone to bed, (some place a bit more sheltered, warmer, etc) that you can observe her from, and if she's still acting broody in the morning, in her new home, then try giving her a couple chicks at a time. they don't have to hatch under her for her to accept them. I always added chicks after dark tho, so she couldn't see them to peck them. and by listening to them over night by morning she was talking to them...

awesome broody, but sucked as a mother. she's never growled or pecked once at me. if memory serves, there were 42 chicks in this pic ranging from new to 3 weeks old under her, (the 2 white faces are my blue mottled cochin girls) she just kept taking more and more every time I walked by with a new chick she'd raise a stink until it was under her... when she went outside with some babies the first time, she had 6, but lost 4 in the first 3 days out due to indifference. she'd walk away and they didn't follow, she wouldn't call them to her. I took the last 2 back away from her. so now if I need a broody to keep babies warm (going to swaps with them) she's my choice. LOL I can keep rotating chicks in and out, and she's just content to sit there and keep them warm. (indoors where the temp averages about 70 or so... so even if she doesn't cover them all, it's not critical. they get cool they scoot under further)

Quote: my buff orp is the best broody for actually raising chicks...

 

[Jewelwing]

So it's a balmy 32 degrees and my EE Edie decided today was the day to start laying again

That means 3 tots are laying and at least 2 big girls..........I really thought with these artic temps no one would start again till spring. I hope that means spring and warmer temps are close !!

Well, I don't know... All my chickens started laying since Christmas, and have been going gangbusters ever since, even in this cold weather! I'm getting 6 eggs a day from 8 chickens! It might have hit 32 today, but if it did, it's the first time in a while, and we've had several "snow days" where the schools shut down because of the cold, not the snow!

Just a comment on this...
The fat content of the food is not the issue. It is the carbohydrates.

Problem is that what we feed chickens now-a-days is very high carbs...which is really the only thing they could live without unfortunately.

Increase ANIMAL/INSECT protien
Decrease carbohydrates (grains/legumes)

Ok....off my soapbox.

And what Aoxa said about different specific animals is very true. They metabolize their feed quite differently just like humans do.

I give them Countryside Organic grower food, plus kitchen scraps and some Subway scraps (the manager at the Subway close to us saves the veggie trimmings and old bread for me). I can stop giving them the bread - I haven't been giving them a lot, maybe a footlong piece or two a week, to split among all 8 chickens. I can definitely stop that. I thought it would be nice for them to have something to peck at, since I let it get hard before giving it to them.

Right now I can't feed them as much ff as I'd like because it freezes solid too fast. So I mix ff with some dry food to make it crumblier, probably 50/50. That'll change as it warms up.

Our kitchen scraps are mostly meat and fruits and veggies because we're trying to limit the amount of carbohydrates we eat too!

I don't give them BOSS because they don't like it! I was giving them oatmeal on the super cold days, because it seemed nice to give them something warm and we had some packets that were several years old, so no one inside will eat them anyway.

I have noticed that my two Brahmas are chow hounds. But they're so sweet! Well, one of them is anyway. The other one seems to love to peck at us, not being nasty - I think she's trying to peck off any specks of anything on the offchance it's food. She'll come running up to me and peck my shoelaces undone and peck at any loose threads I have.

I guess I'll just have to see when warmer weather rolls around and adjust accordingly. Looking forward to those warmer temps!! And green things growing out of the ground!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thought some of you that process birds may be interested in this new product from Cornerstone Ventures for allowing birds to "rest" after processing:

Many customers want to purchase fresh birds that have had some time to sit and rest allowing rigor to release. Our new bags will allow that without the concern of the gas buildup in the bags. In the past if we had birds to take to a farm market we would typically freeze any leftover birds as soon as we got back from the market. That is not necessary with the new bags we can actually keep them chilled (below 40° F) up to 6 days before freezing.



Here's the letter:

As always "Keep Looking Up!"

 

[Leahs Mom]

CR - Once it's spring and your birds are outside and more active I think you won't need to worry about it

 

[chick rookie]

Well....not EVERYONE..... Hope you don't run into that crowd because most of us have and it's not pleasant

O NO I sure don't want to run into them. Had my fill of that type on a few other forums but so far so good...

 

[TeaChick]

The question about the second hen becoming mean after the removal of the mean head hen. There are no garuntees either way. The very mean hurtful hens are the exception rather then the rule, so the odds are on your side that the second hen won't be overly aggressive like your current one is.

Oh, good. That's encouraging!!! I'm hoping that Sandy is on the bottom of the pecking order and is acting like this b/c she feels her position is threatened, and that the other hens to not act like that when she's gone.
Thanks!

Man, you must not be feeling good at all...health is every thing...when I feel bad I think of the people that will never feel good again...like both my parents felt who died of cancer. They hurt and knew it was never going to get better

Losing loved ones is hard!

its crazy making! been home sick for a few days, still a little shaky when I went to the coop to gather eggs...and dropped 8 eggs. Now the cats have knocked the egg basket off the table and cracked open a doz and a half eggs on the floor. Did you know you can scoop/sweep broken eggs, yolk and white, onto a newpaper and then pour them into a bowl? Will feed them to the hens in the morning.

Feel better soon, Hon!

with my flock, i'm breeding for good temperament... so even bad tempered girls go bye bye. I don't need their eggs that badly.

fortunately even the squabbling roos get over it pretty quickly. my sfh and mille fleur cochins are side by side pens. for a while they just wanted to kick each others' butts. so I turned them both loose. 3 days later, I find all the sfh AND the cochins in the same house squashed onto the roosts, all together. including both roos with bloody combs, side by side. LOL that's 9 birds on 4' of roost space btw. LOL by CHOICE! I had to take the sfh girls out to make enough room, left Gunnarsson in with the cochins so they wouldn't forget they were buddies soon... (let the pens free range for a few more days before they got locked up again - I think some of that time was spent fraternizing with 'the enemy' for the girls... my mfc chicks that have hatched out, i'm pretty sure aren't purebred. LOL but with only 1 girl laying, it hasn't been a huge issue. LOL

Yeah, I understand what you mean. I do need their eggs that badly for now, but as I have more hens laying, I'll start culling the ones that are trouble makers. Sandy is #1 on my hit list! As soon as my new pullet or my Cochin starts laying, Sandy is soup!
A friend of mine is hatching some Leghorn eggs for me. I only have three more Comets after Sandy, so their egg production will be easily replaced in a few months.
All the Comet eggs I'm hatching now will be used for meat. I might keep the other three comets if the other girls are civil after Sandy is gone, but Sandy is definitely going!!!
Sorry for the rant.

All my birds free range all day; they sleep in separate coops, b/c that's when the drama seems to be the worst (and to be deadly).

 

[delisha]

Is this ok for brooding my single chic in the house? I can drape a towel over it to block any draft or get a bigger tote if I must. Still hoping it makes it out of the egg

this looks perfect for a singleton..add a stuffed toy for a friend and a mirror..usually baby's will not come out much from under the Brinsea for a week..they dash for food and water all day long, but spend most of it under the Brinsea.
I would not make it bigger and I would not cover it. You will know when you need to make it bigger..your chick will be sitting on the side of the container one day probably screaming for you to get up.

Ok. Yall can tell me to stuff a sock in it if you must but I have to ask... my egg has been pipped for about 8 hours with little progress. The pip is face down. I see the beak come out and go back in but the egg might not roll cause some fluid leaked out and could have stuck it to the paper towel. Its chirping. Would you roll it pip up or at least side?

leave it alone..

Quote: Just a comment on this...
The fat content of the food is not the issue. It is the carbohydrates.

Problem is that what we feed chickens now-a-days is very high carbs...which is really the only thing they could live without unfortunately.

Increase ANIMAL/INSECT protien
Decrease carbohydrates (grains/legumes)

Ok....off my soapbox.

And what Aoxa said about different specific animals is very true. They metabolize their feed quite differently just like humans do.
x2..more meat..less grains

Quote: you are feeding them for you..not for them..
a healthy chicken is hungry..if your FF is freezing...you are over feeding...if you toss grain in your coop ..they should tear the litter apart to find it..using energy to hunt for those important grains. Bread is one of the worst things to feed anyone.

CR - Once it's spring and your birds are outside and more active I think you won't need to worry about it

It is hard not to over treat pets..I am horrible with the dogs

 

[Scott H]

It's just real old, LM, and needs to be lubricated OFTEN to work correctly....

I got some Z- Traps coming next week. Got some cage trap wary coons right now. But I bet I catch that one in the picture tonite......;-)

le me know how the z traps work... I was looking at them a while ago. worried about them tho because the dog may try to take on a coon while it's trapped but not inaccessible.


and on a totally different note... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  just made the BEST pot roast I've ever done. 

They work as advertised ....got the biggest one to date last night. Need to weigh it...it's heavy!