The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

But....
In the winter is my SMALL hen shed, I'd like to remove SOME of the poop since that's where they spend a lot of their time pooping.  So I was also interested to see various innovations to make that easier. 

Even though I would remove SOME in the winter, I would still maintain a good, healthy built-up litter and would remove any poop catching devices for the warmer months. 

Well according to that article mine is deep enough. Mine I bet is about 4 feet deep in spots with the hay I added when we had wicked cold temps
My girls tend to stay away from the poop piles under the roost. Even if they are in the coop most of the day.

My poop this winter is ridiculous. I swear it freezes as they expel it. They have it frozen to feathers. I was pulling it out but the poor birds had a few missing spots, so I quit.

I agree. Sophie has poop streaks on her bum. I really think its because of all the fluffy bum feathers they have. They seem fluffier than last year. Maybe they knew how bitter cold it was going to be. I will trim bottoms when it warms up.

 
My poop this winter is ridiculous. I swear it freezes as they expel it. They have it frozen to feathers. I was pulling it out but the poor birds had a few missing spots, so I quit.

I haven't had it on the bottoms, but it sure has been frozen very quickly after dropping.  Then when it gets warm, it's too much in my small shed when it melts all at the same time.  That's why I've been interested in seeing how folks are doing the poop catchers to decide if there is a better way to handle that in winter for me.

I don't do poop catchers. If there is a lot under the roost I use the pitch fork and turn it over. The hay tends to compact down so I find turning it once a week helps stir the poop around, break up the compressed hay areas, help with the minor odor I get from time to time (if there's an odor it means the roof vents are blocked by snow or to much poop under the roost- I have a lot of ventilation in a hoop coop. Snow was blowing in it today in spots even with hay bales on the outside on 3 out of 4 sides of the coop :/ )

I didn't want to use hay this year but with the arctic temps I had to. They needed that added insulation with the cold. No bug problems so it was ok. I do find turning the DL with the hay is helping the hay to break down faster. Putting that nice DL on the bottom on top of the hay seems to encourage the hay to break down. When it starts to warm up I plan on taking some of the DL put and put it in the garden then add some leaves to the DL in the coop to help the hay break down faster (I hope)'

 

[armorfirelady]

Ok question/thoughts on what may be going on with Stella's head. I've checked them thoroughly for bugs but tonight I will check again. I relay don't think its mites/lice because I would see them elsewhere on her but I have not. (Sorry pics not great but it's hard to take a picture of a moving head)

I originally thought it might be the big girls picking feathers off her head. But she is not the lowest on the pecking order so I am doubtful about that.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

@armorfirelady My first thoughts about your chicken's head was that it could be from a rooster mating and pulling out the feathers to often. Do you have roosters?

Sorry that's all I can think of right now.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Wondering what everyone's thoughts are on GMO free vs organic feed.

I'd get the gmo free if I couldn't get organic.

The non-gmo at least can't take the huge amount of glyphosate that the gmo can. That's a huge plus over regular.

Quote: Me too.

 

[armorfirelady]

Nop

@armorfirelady
 My first thoughts about your chicken's head was that it could be from a rooster mating and pulling out the feathers to often. Do you have roosters? 

Sorry that's all I can think of right now. 

e
Nope only hens. I just checked her out and no mites or lice anywhere on her

 

[Leahs Mom]

Agreed, the great poop melt after long periods of freezing weather is nasty! I just explode half a bale of shavings on top and shake out the dust box all over the floor and refill it. The ash seems to really soak up a lot of moisture.

Other than those moments and the times when the humidity here gets out of control, I LOVE deep litter! I haven't cleaned out my coop since the end of summer

Shan -
Is your hen housing on a dirt floor?

AFL's had a dirt floor..

It does make a difference in the way things break down so when we talk about our litter it's good to say up-front if you have a dirt floor or not. Helps me wrap my mind around what's happening in your environment.

My outdoor run is deep litter. On the ground. When I clean out the hen shed it goes right into the run, which is only used when they can't range. Of course, they are using it in the winter now.

My inside hen house is a floor covered w/vinyl flooring. I put in some garden dirt and then the shavings. The garden dirt helps "jump start" that litter when I first began. This winter on the smaller side of the house I put in some peat moss on the smaller side for the younger's to dust in. I was out this afternoon getting some of the stuff out of the other side and noticed how nice the side with the added peat moss was. The dynamics on that side are a little different as the major "under the roost" poop doesn't get mixed in the the regular floor as much as on the other side. But it gets some.

That has me thinking that I'm going to put a larger amount of peat moss on the other side too and see if things break down differently over there too. That side is different in that the bird's have floor space under the roosts so the roost poop is right in there full force.

I know there are things in that peat moss that the girls are trying to eat so I imagine it may still have some good live stuff in there that would help with getting things going in there. I also know that Mumsy used to always tell us that she put the peat moss down in her litter area and really liked it..mixed with her other litter materials.

So...next pack of peat moss I get I'm going to experiment a bit.

 

[Leahs Mom]

AFL
I'm having a hard time figuring out what I'm seeing in the photos. Is that a black spot on the comb?

 

[armorfirelady]

No the bare spots on either side of her comb to above her eyes. The feathers look like someone went after her with the clippers (when I was taking pics I asked her if you stopped by to giver her a trim )

Ps thanks for reminding me about the peat moss. I have some just forget to put it in the coops DL. I bet that will help with it breaking down also

 

[Leahs Mom]

No the bare spots on either side of her comb to above her eyes. The feathers look like someone went after her with the clippers (when I was taking pics I asked her if you stopped by to giver her a trim

)

well...not me this time

I'm really having a hard time seeing it in the photos. I think I'm having trouble getting the perspective and looking at it wrong for some reason.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Nop
Quote: That is very suspicious.