The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

AFL, you must be all warmed up and ready to come do my garden, right? congrats on getting that done

Almost

I still have flower gardens to clean out to keep me busy till I can plant veggies in the rest of the garden. And thank you. There is something about working in my gardens that I find relaxing & mind clearing

I'm itching to get in my garden. Thankfully, I held off because most of the farm will be a big "pond" after the 6 days of rain that is predicted. Just 2 days into the 6 and there are little "ponds" all over the farm... the ducks are in seventh-heaven, but the chickens complained terribly this morning when they rushed out following the ducks into a downpour. They might learn to check things out before they follow the ducks next time... maybe?

AFL, how do you use milk cartons for greenhouses? And, your garden sounds wonderful! I never thought of planting mint around the coop, great idea!

I am going to cut the bottoms out of them and put them over individual plants. I can not try it out till veggies are out at the nurseries yet

 

[heartsizedfarm]

I'm itching to get in my garden. Thankfully, I held off because most of the farm will be a big "pond" after the 6 days of rain that is predicted. Just 2 days into the 6 and there are little "ponds" all over the farm... the ducks are in seventh-heaven, but the chickens complained terribly this morning when they rushed out following the ducks into a downpour. They might learn to check things out before they follow the ducks next time... maybe?

AFL, how do you use milk cartons for greenhouses? And, your garden sounds wonderful! I never thought of planting mint around the coop, great idea!

I don't really feel like I need to candle the eggs as I have seen good fertility, but I just want to see the magic taking place while it happens since this is my first time hatching eggs. The kids want to look for "science sake" as well. I decided to just candle twice though so the eggs won't be handled too much. Ms. Broody-butt seems to be fine with us "messing" with her eggs.

I haven't fed her anything special, just the normal FF. I think I will maybe give her some greens and scrambled eggs though since she is not out foraging getting her usual bugs and greens from the yard. Are there some other good important things I should feed a broody?

We gave the eggs to the hen on Friday afternoon. Do I count that as day one? I thought I read somewhere that that would be day 0 and Saturday would be day one?

I used to bring my first broody grapes and watermelon cubes because I thought she might not be getting enough water during the day. She loved them and made the neatest little growling noises while eating them!

 

[armorfirelady]

I used to bring my first broody grapes and watermelon cubes because I thought she might not be getting enough water during the day. She loved them and made the neatest little growling noises while eating them!

I have no broodies but frozen grapes & watermelon are what I give the hens when its hot out. Its 2 of their favorite treats & being frozen I figure helps cool them down

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
LOL level? what's that? that downward sloping roost the chicks are sitting on is actually the only level piece in the entire pen setup...

 

[armorfirelady]

LOL level? what's that? that downward sloping roost the chicks are sitting on is actually the only level piece in the entire pen setup...

You are a better person than me. I don't even make sure the roosts are level. I figure since none of them have fallen off yet its good

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
the only reason the roosts are level is because of the wire shelf on the end of each one, that holds the water pan up off the ground. they seem to be staying cleaner longer that way, tho they still get a good layer of mud in them every few days. better than dumping and refilling more than twice a day tho.

if you look closely at the pic you can see the wire shelf. but with the babies most can't jump up to the water there so it's on the ground.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Had an interesting experience over the weekend.

One of my BRs was showing the classic "poop stuck to the fluffy butt feathers" syndrome. I had put off taking care of it - or even looking closely at it. On Saturday she was in close proximity and I grabbed her and noticed that it looked way worse than I thought it was. As I was cutting the poo out of the feathers, I thought I was seeing a prolapsed vent as there was a small "ball" of internal tissue showing.

This girl is very healthy in appearance and behavior other than the poo that got stuck on the bottom, lays an egg almost every day, not acting sick, etc.

After I got it all cut out, the vent became normal and healthy. That's when I figured out that it seems that the weight of the poo ball was so heavy that it was causing vent distress.

After cutting I soaked her in warm epsom salt water then dried and looked again. Looked completely normal except for the missing feathers that I had cut.


So...
THE LESSON OF THE STORY IS - DON'T PUT OFF MAINTENANCE.

I probably could have saved her any stress on the vent if I had taken care of it when I first saw it. Because I didn't, the poo kept building up into a larger and larger ball that was getting heavier as time went on.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Had an interesting experience over the weekend.

One of my BRs was showing the classic "poop stuck to the fluffy butt feathers" syndrome.  I had put off taking care of it - or even looking closely at it.  On Saturday she was in close proximity and I grabbed her and noticed that it looked way worse than I thought it was.  As I was cutting the poo out of the feathers, I thought I was seeing a prolapsed vent as there was a small "ball" of internal tissue showing. 

This girl is very healthy in appearance and behavior other than the poo that got stuck on the bottom, lays an egg almost every day, not acting sick, etc.

After I got it all cut out, the vent became normal and healthy.  That's when I figured out that it seems that the weight of the poo ball was so heavy that it was causing vent distress.

After cutting I soaked her in warm epsom salt water then dried and looked again.  Looked completely normal except for the missing feathers that I had cut. 


So...
[COLOR=FF0000]THE LESSON OF THE STORY IS - DON'T PUT OFF MAINTENANCE. [/COLOR]

I probably could have saved her any stress on the vent if I had taken care of it when I first saw it.  Because I didn't, the poo kept building up into a larger and larger ball that was getting heavier as time went on.

Lesson learned! Thank you for sharing that. I also watch their butts as they scramble out the door in the morning and if I see anything I think, I'll get to that tomorrow. But maybe shouldn't put it off.

 

[4Hgirl]

Yes, one more hatched I think the last two were duds so took them out and put in incubator just in case. The first baby had already been out 24 hours and i was worried it needed food and water. As soon as we did and went back outside momma already had her three out of the nest and in the feed! The daddy is a BT silver laced polish so quite an experiment mix. One has a white dot on the head and two don't. I'm happy to see she is raising them well and now I know I have a broody to hatch and raise some pure breds
Hopefully the one polish hen will ever lay! She is in the same coop and I prayed these eggs were hers but no head bumps so not a chance. So excited with the prospect of not always incubating and box raising chicks I like this natural method so much more!

Yes I am quoting my own comment
One the duds in the incubator just hatched! 4 days after the first egg hatched. Never give up!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Yes I am quoting my own comment

One the duds in the incubator just hatched! 4 days after the first egg hatched. Never give up!

That is a good thing to remember too I haven't used an incubator, but I have had one time when the broody wanted to leave the nest and take 2 that had already hatched away. I "encouraged" her to go back and we had a 3rd baby the next day