The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[mlowen]

Yeah that's right she is hiding & looking guilty!!! Know why?? This scrappy little thing CROWED again. Marched right up the hill to the upper patio, looked down on the other hens and crowed. She's got in trouble!!! She isn't even the Alpha hen

My grandmother said: "Whistling girls and crowing hens are sure to come to some bad end." So I learned to whistle.
Fortunately she was more or less wrong. :/

 

[hellbender]

Just a word of caution... I never used to worry about them either until last summer.

I was trapped in the coop by two black bears who would not leave despite yelling, banging, throwing objects at them and two very upset large dogs loosing their minds. (I had left them in the house) I managed to run to the house when they moved behind the coop and grabbed the 12 gauge. Unfortunately they had already found themselves a chicken breakfast and gone back to the woods.

They spent the entire day (I went to work not thinking they would come back with the dogs now outside going crazy) eating chickens. Unfortunately the dogs cannot get to the chickens as one would probably eat them but it blew my mind that they would come that close to a dog.

One was shot by my husband that evening and the other was shot in a playground nearby. Turns out they had raided two other poultry farms out our way. Being that we raise prey animals and are hunters we spend a great deal of time in the woods and have noticed over the last few years that predators are becoming far bolder.

Lesson learned, gun safe in coop

This is becoming a problem in some of the cities in southern West Virginia. This state is loaded with black bear and I used to hunt them with dogs 'til I got too old and soft hearted and started treeing them and taking pictures.

Back to the cities...so many 'city folk' feed bears because they think it's cute even though it's a serious crime to do so in this state. That is what is causing much of the problems with bears and other dangerous wild animals becoming so brave.

They associate humans with food and lose their fear....this has caused more than one tragic death in this state and in others from what I read.

 

[lalaland]

My grandmother said: "Whistling girls and crowing hens are sure to come to some bad end." So I learned to whistle.

Fortunately she was more or less wrong.

I love this! think I might have to make a sign of it and post it on the fence..

 

[armorfirelady]

Oh and I forgot to mention, my hens think it is Spring... can't say I blame them as we have barely had a winter this year   but most have started laying agin and I even have 2 who have gone broody ..... One little sizzle is sitting at the way back of the coop and every time I go to collect eggs someone is laying ... Well I went to get the eggs on day 2 of her being broody.  I opened the nest box and there were a bunch of eggs in the box next to her.... I looked at her and said silly chicken the eggs are over here.  Then I thought I should feel under her just to make sure she doesnt have 1 .... Well there was 1 barely under her.  I thought oh well you got 1 ... Then I decided to move her and 10 YES 10 eggs were under this tiny little hen... Not so silly after all!  .... She was looking at me saying silly human ....

Def a smart little frizzle


Hellbender we occasionally have sightings of black bears in suburbs near here. People's bird feeders are the temptation. And where we camp they are around and come up to cabins and campers because people think its fun to see them so close & leave food out. It's sad they have become a nuisance because people think their cute. The raccoons are the same way. I don't understand while people can't remember they are wild animals and just help prevent them from coming around by leaving food locked up. These same people are the ones to complain if the bears damage something in their search for food. I've never seen one camping but I take my dogs with me so I know they will stay away because of that. But I have seen pics friends have posted.

 

[RedRidge]

OK...time to be forthright here.  I've been having a bit of fun at RedRidge's expense.

While the Komondorok, Akbash, Caucasian Ovacharka and other Old World guardians are supremely efficient in their tasks, they are generally not reliably safe to keep at large in this letiginous  society.  They are quite liable to land you in court (or jail) because they are rather indiscriminate when it comes to whom or what they consider actual threats.

The Maremmas are very good at their job, will keep home and livestock safe without too much worry of some innocent (or not so innocent) person being killed.  Their formidable presence will ward off all but the most insane human predators ( reason for packin') and few animals will challenge them head on!

RON

Oh no, I got that. Although I know a few folks with Akbash and they are nice dogs. Just more dog than most folks in the eastern half of the country need.

 

[hellbender]

Oh no, I got that. Although I know a few folks with Akbash and they are nice dogs. Just more dog than most folks in the eastern half of the country need.

 

[hellbender]

Def a smart little frizzle

Hellbender we occasionally have sightings of black bears in suburbs near here. People's bird feeders are the temptation. And where we camp they are around and come up to cabins and campers because people think its fun to see them so close & leave food out. It's sad they have become a nuisance because people think their cute. The raccoons are the same way. I don't understand while people can't remember they are wild animals and just help prevent them from coming around by leaving food locked up. These same people are the ones to complain if the bears damage something in their search for food. I've never seen one camping but I take my dogs with me so I know they will stay away because of that. But I have seen pics friends have posted.

Yep...you may have not seen any and they may have not seen you ( they are as blind as me...lol) but I promise, if you are camping in the bear-woods...plenty have 'scented' you..and your dogs. Best thing to have is dogs in a camp...aside from good camping etiquette.

 

[armorfirelady]

Yep...you may have not seen any and they may have not seen you ( they are as blind as me...lol)  but I promise, if you are camping in the bear-woods...plenty have 'scented' you..and your dogs.  Best thing to have is dogs in a camp...aside from good camping etiquette.

That's why I bring the dogs. I use a pop up to camp & don't want any unexpected visitors at night tho my female tends to wake me up growling at night but whatever it is must be small since I rarely hear anything when she wakes me up. I also keep bear bells on both dogs & me when we hike in the woods. I don't know if they work but at least someone hears us coming lol And food is always locked up. My 2 dogs would eat it otherwise.

Oh and having a dog named Bear when your camping in the woods & calling him to you tends to make people a little skittish Is it bad I find it amusing? Lol

 

[misbhaven]

I could picture someone one hearing you a freaking out..."the woman who only says she like the outdoors to snag some guy running screaming because she heard bear" ..we don't really have bears here but a few big cats have been seen and one was hit by a car.. eagles are populas here the could get into my rabbits chickens and not a thing a could do spray it with a hose maybe...

 

[Leahs Mom]

OK...time to be forthright here. I've been having a bit of fun at RedRidge's expense.

Been enjoying all this predator talk. And...just for clarification... when I originally posted about the guys staking out in the barn lofts it was because the yotes were coming right into the barns and taking their sheep and/or goats. So there was a need for them to stake out and do business.

Many people that keep chickens don't have the livestock numbers that RR has so the idea of running multiple LGDs is just impractical. Even so, I love hearing about how y'all handle things because maybe some day I'll (or others of us) will have multiple livestock and will be able to justify having the LGD too.

Now...the property I live on is 12 acres right now and perhaps I'll get to use this knowledge soon!

That being said, ...what do y'all recommend for the "small flock" people who are in an area where the same predators are present, but the lots may only be 2-8 acres with a good amount of population nearby?

I need to catch up on NCK.
But as for your question I use a still air incubator as my hatcher. Here are the ways it helps me.
1. I can use my 1588 fancy digital incubator for multiple settings of small batches of eggs of varying sizes.
2. I can have eggs set every 6 days and not need to change the settings on the 1588.
3. I have found it easier to maintain a higher level of humidity without the use of a fan. There is no way to turn the fan off in my fancy incubator. Thus the still air has an advantage for the last 3 days. Still monitoring the temps in the still air can be annoying.
4. I only need two incubators as long as I'm setting smaller batches. If I was to leave the eggs in the incubator they started in, I would need 4 incubators to set eggs every 6 days.

@SallyinIndiana
Could you elaborate on your specific procedure. Are you saying that at day 6 you move the eggs to the "hatcher" incubator?