The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Ms Jellybean]

yes, it promotes open air. One comment that was really helpful to me was to think about how far the sun can reach into your coop - so don't make it "deeper" so there are areas less likely to get sun inside. I would not have thought about that.

Also was interested in the idea of keeping your windows no more than 12-18 inches off the ground, and to use those instead of chicken doors. Also related to getting sun inside the coop.

And the very beginning had a really good summary of how to decide where to put your coop - much emphasis on not placing it where water gathers - and we keep reading about people who ended up accidentally having their coop where the water collects.

Also like the idea of the burlap or muslin curtain to hang in front of the roosts to keep it a bit warmer in the really cold nights and to keep the drafts off the chickens. used in conjunction with open air or very well ventilated coops. Probably only works when you have a roosting shelf, or a poop board, so you kind of close out the drafts. Can't imagine how dusty that curtain would be though!

its a quick easy read.

We don't want the sun in our coops here in Texas. I can see up there in the frigid North Land you would want that (I'm from MN too

). Lots of ventilation and under the cover of deep shade.

Thanks for the link for the book. I am getting ready to build my coop and it will be an interesting read to see if the coop I plan to build is a good plan.

 

[Scott H]

After dumping over a foot of snow on us over the weekend the "Pineapple Express" started swooping thru yesterday. Snow was shedding off all the neighbors roofs and our poodle was going nuts trying to catch it when it came off. It was pouring rain and blowing but he didn't care...it's his very most favorite thing to do. Someday he's going to get buried alive....
He was soaking wet so I fired up the stove for him....here's what a very tired dog looks like.....





We had almost no snow and they were worried we wouldn't have enough snow pack in the mountains and in 2 weeks we were above normal. Crazy weather...

 

[yawningreyhound]

Hi everyone! New to this thread and new to chickens since 9/13. I was just reading over on the Colorado thread that a local DVM from Longmont was speaking at a Colorado Poultry Meeting and opined that organic layer feed is inadequate in calcium.

I'm a raw feeder to my 4 greyhounds since 1997 so I'm especially interested in the Cah ration which is so important in raw fed dogs.

Do you guys have any opinion on Nature Smart? According to the label, it contains a min. of 3.7% Ca, max of 4.0%.

The Layena label that I located on here said their Ca content is 3.25% to 4.25%.

Does that sound like a significant enough difference?

I've emailed the Nature Smart people and asked their opinion, too.

I've got 5 young hens and get laying numbers all over the map. Today I actually had an end-cracked egg (like a faint spider web); and day before yesterday I had one of those egg-shaped but now flat soft things that I've seen a few times over the past 6 months. I researched it and found "low calcium" can cause those. These hens were in a 27-bird coop but i always suspected it was one of these 5 as the owner of the 27 bird coop said she'd never seen one before. And here we got one this week; they've been here about a month.

So that's why I was wondering about Calcium content.

 

[Kassaundra]

Hi everyone! New to this thread and new to chickens since 9/13. I was just reading over on the Colorado thread that a local DVM from Longmont was speaking at a Colorado Poultry Meeting and opined that organic layer feed is inadequate in calcium.

I'm a raw feeder to my 4 greyhounds since 1997 so I'm especially interested in the Cah ration which is so important in raw fed dogs.

Do you guys have any opinion on Nature Smart? According to the label, it contains a min. of 3.7% Ca, max of 4.0%.

The Layena label that I located on here said their Ca content is 3.25% to 4.25%.

Does that sound like a significant enough difference?

I've emailed the Nature Smart people and asked their opinion, too.

I've got 5 young hens and get laying numbers all over the map. Today I actually had an end-cracked egg (like a faint spider web); and day before yesterday I had one of those egg-shaped but now flat soft things that I've seen a few times over the past 6 months. I researched it and found "low calcium" can cause those. These hens were in a 27-bird coop but i always suspected it was one of these 5 as the owner of the 27 bird coop said she'd never seen one before. And here we got one this week; they've been here about a month.

So that's why I was wondering about Calcium content.

I don't understand the last part of the post, but as far as Ca++ if you are worried there isn't enough just offer oyster shell free choice. If they need it they will eat it.

 

[yawningreyhound]

yes, it promotes open air. One comment that was really helpful to me was to think about how far the sun can reach into your coop - so don't make it "deeper" so there are areas less likely to get sun inside. I would not have thought about that.

Also was interested in the idea of keeping your windows no more than 12-18 inches off the ground, and to use those instead of chicken doors. Also related to getting sun inside the coop.

And the very beginning had a really good summary of how to decide where to put your coop - much emphasis on not placing it where water gathers - and we keep reading about people who ended up accidentally having their coop where the water collects.

Also like the idea of the burlap or muslin curtain to hang in front of the roosts to keep it a bit warmer in the really cold nights and to keep the drafts off the chickens. used in conjunction with open air or very well ventilated coops. Probably only works when you have a roosting shelf, or a poop board, so you kind of close out the drafts. Can't imagine how dusty that curtain would be though!

its a quick easy read.

I just bought the Woods Open Air Poultry Housing Book and it makes a lot of sense in a large coop. It makes a lot of sense in a small coop, too; and yet I see that the main reason for the ventilation is humidity caused by exhalations and poop/urine. Since I was given a coop as a gift and it was as far from an Open Air House as you can possibly get, I've been making do. I keep the thing fastidiously clean, provide what I hope is adequate ventilation along with air tightness otherwise, and hope for the best in these unpredictable roller coaster temperatures we've been seeing in Colorado (-18, then 45). When it comes time to build another coop, I hope to do a small version of a Woods.

 

[TeaChick]

Does anyone know this?

If you have a pullet in a flock of mating hens and rooster(s), does the rooster mating with the pullet lead to her laying eggs or does her laying eggs lead to him mating with her?

 

[Scott H]

You can get around the calcium thing by offering oyster shell free choice at all times....they'll eat it when they need it....and welcome!

Edit to say I was waaaay late with this post...LOL

 

[armorfirelady]

yes, it promotes open air.  One comment that was really helpful to me was to think about how far the sun can reach into your coop - so don't make it "deeper" so there are areas less likely to get sun inside.  I would not have thought about that.

Also was interested in the idea of keeping your windows no more than 12-18 inches off the ground, and to use those instead of chicken doors.  Also related to getting sun inside the coop.

And the very beginning had a really good summary of how to decide where to put your coop - much emphasis on not placing it where water gathers - and we keep reading about people who ended up accidentally having their coop where the water collects.

Also like the idea of the burlap or muslin curtain to hang in front of the roosts to keep it a bit warmer in the really cold nights and to keep the drafts off the chickens.  used in conjunction with open air or very well ventilated coops.  Probably only works when you have a roosting shelf, or a poop board, so you kind of close out the drafts.  Can't imagine how dusty that curtain would be though!

its a quick easy read.  

These are all great ideas. I want to try & make my hoop coop like an open air coop. I need to do some more research before I put the new billboard tarp on it. I did buy some more plexiglass as well so that I can put *windows* on the east side of the coop to let more light in esp during the winter. It's so much brighter in there now since I put a window on the south end.

I wish I could move it since the area is under water where it is but it has helped since I put a lot of dirt under it and then on blocks. It actually sits higher than it did before. I only wish I could pump the water out all year round to keep the area around it dryer. I think once it warms up and the snow melts I am going to have to use a garden hose on my sump pump to remove water until the underground pipes completely defrost.

 

[yawningreyhound]

I don't understand the last part of the post, but as far as Ca++ if you are worried there isn't enough just offer oyster shell free choice. If they need it they will eat it.

You mean about the weird egg I got? I have a photo of it somewhere...let me go find it! And I'm offering oyster shell. I toss it out for them every day as a "scratch" replacer as I didn't want to overload them on corn. They never seem interested in it, but it's always mostly gone the next day, so I spread more out for them. I'll continue to do that! Hopefully the wild birds aren't the ones eating it. Maybe I'll put a container in the coop run instead and monitor their intake. THANKS!

OK, I couldn't find my photo, but I found one on line:
and when I find them, they are completely flat, like the birds eat them or they get stepped on and squish out. And they're always in a weird spot...the 3 or 4 I've found are always just out in the run somewhere or on a roosting shelf. Never in a "nest" or "box".
I hadn't seen one in a long time and was wondering if they WERE from my birds...then the day before yesterday, there it was!

 

[Leahs Mom]

That's what I do too. I have calcarb &/or oyster shell out all the time and let them take what they will.

One thing that is frustrating about any modern feed is that the anti-nutrients in grains and legumes (phytates and others) inhibit the ability to use several nutrients - calcium is one of them. The percent of the TOTAL minerals listed on the bag doesn't mean that it is AVAILABLE minerals (see quote below). Of course that complicates things!

Many of us either sprout, ferment or soak our feeds to help reduce the antinutrient levels among other wonderful benefits.

I actually mix a low calcium feed purposely so that I can feed one feed for all and let them get their calcium on the side. That way the chicks can use the same basic feed as the adults and then I vary the protein level by adding additional items - especially animal/insect protein - to bring it up to the level needed for each group.

I do think it is a pretty broad statement for the presenter to say that organic feed is deficient in any particular nutrient across the board. Makes me wonder if he is on the payroll for one of the non-organic feed producers.







Quote: http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...s_of_poultry.html?qt=chicken nutrition&alt=sh