The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Hi all I'm in. I know culling is something I'll have to get comfortable with, I'm willing so please be understanding too.

You never have to get comfortable with killing chickens..I have been doing it for 35 years..I am never comfortable. It is a necessity and I do not take it lightly. It is a small part of good animal husbandry practice. A suffering, sick, old, or ill chicken needs to be killed. Food needs to be killed. It is part of life.I

well, had a 'broody malfunction'... thought the silver laced girl was keeping her babies warm, but she was really standing over the top of them and not letting them touch her, so they were all a bit cool...

in a pinch, my mottled girlie took 14 wyandottes on top of her 10 or 12 cochins and 3 turkeys... if it weren't for the turkeys they might have fit, for a day or 2. LOL.

instead, I tromped miz b!+@# back out to her coop and plopped her back on her nest, scooped up my superbroody from last year, who's been broody all of 2 days this time, and brought her in. let her get some food and water, put her in a tote with 2 eggs and she settled right in. 20 minutes later she was the proud talkative momma to all the cochins and turkeys. LOL the 'dottes need a bit more tlc I think, so they got the momma with a whole brooder. superbroody will be moved to her brooder in the morning, after she gets to know all her babies for the night.

got a couple pics in the interim tho. LOL of my overloaded blue mottled girl...

the turkeys kept trying to pile up under her butt, looked like they were trying to flip her onto her head.


and finally the turkeys got settled, and the 'dottes were fighting for snuggle space.
x
but now both broodies have their babies, fairly evenly distributed (if you count a cochin with 3 turkeys 'fair')...

here's a pic of superbroody last spring, with her 42 chicks of varying ages. she stinks as an 'on the ground' momma, but is great for keeping babies happy.

and yes, she's a larger girl than the mottled is... that mottled happens to be the cute black and white face at center breast. she had a good teacher.

They sure are earning their keep.

 

[misbhaven]

Great pictures ki4got !!! I need to take pictures of my silly turkey it sleeps on it back shoves it head in the shavings...cute but scares me everytime looks dead..it is little a beltville \ rio mix same size as a dorking chick but will be only 10 to 20 grown.
And on culling it is hard like right now I have a chick. In my hatcher born mushy hasn't stood yet. After 2 days looks. Like. One leg may have issues I am giving it 2 more days but it doesn't look good..we also raise meat birds so that helps with the kids they get it the chickens are meat. They are never named them just called them meaties. Or the other word for poopies to my husband I hate when those stinky things get brooded..I am trading 10 cleaned ones for drywall finishing or I wouldn't be doing them again..I can't kill anything ( I have weird numbness, stregth loss sometimes wouldn't want to not do it the first try )but came real close when one of those chowhounds bite when you go to feed them..I have some slw that I know are going to get culled from my flock but they are young not even laying I just don't like the feather patterns so I probably will try to sell 2 trio's of 2 hens 1 cockrel first before I do anything drastic.. I would rather sell the extra's than feed them long enough to get big enough for my big faimly....

 

[ki4got]

Great pictures ki4got !!! I need to take pictures of my silly turkey it sleeps on it back shoves it head in the shavings...cute but scares me everytime looks dead..it is little a beltville \ rio mix same size as a dorking chick but will be only 10 to 20 grown.
And on culling it is hard like right now I have a chick. In my hatcher born mushy hasn't stood yet. After 2 days looks. Like. One leg may have issues I am giving it 2 more days but it doesn't look good..we also raise meat birds so that helps with the kids they get it the chickens are meat. They are never named them just called them meaties. Or the other word for poopies to my husband I hate when those stinky things get brooded..I am trading 10 cleaned ones for drywall finishing or I wouldn't be doing them again..I can't kill anything ( I have weird numbness, stregth loss sometimes wouldn't want to not do it the first try )but came real close when one of those chowhounds bite when you go to feed them..I have some slw that I know are going to get culled from my flock but they are young not even laying I just don't like the feather patterns so I probably will try to sell 2 trio's of 2 hens 1 cockrel first before I do anything drastic.. I would rather sell the extra's than feed them long enough to get big enough for my big faimly....

that's what I've done a lot in the past, but learned the hard way to keep extra roosters around, so i'll be growing and culling the dorkings for me.

 

[armorfirelady]

KI4GOT the pictures are adorable. Your broodies are def earning their keep.

Tho I think if I was a tourkey poult I would prefer somewhere else then the rear end of a hen to keep warm

 

[armorfirelady]

So I am curious does anyone keep track off the eggs laid daily & by who?

I keep a basic record on a calendar & was just adding up totals for the months and it opened my eyes as to who is the more proficient layer. I only have a small flock so obviously it does not matter but it gives me an idea of who lays the best. If I was able to have a rooster I obviously would know who to breed from for laying proficiency.

The tots are easy to tell who's egg is who's. I can't tell from the big girls unless I catch them on the nest. But I can see if the breed of the tot's is keeping up with others who has the same breed. I have to say I never knew BR laid so well. I knew EE did tho. I have to say that even tho I love the color of the BCM's eggs they are not good at proficient egg laying. But maybe that will change since she will just be a year old this month.

My egg customers do love the variety of egg colors tho.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

So I am curious does anyone keep track off the eggs laid daily & by who?   

I keep a basic record on a calendar & was just adding up totals for the months and it opened my eyes as to who is the more proficient layer. I only have a small flock so obviously it does not matter but it gives me an idea of who lays the best.  If I was able to have a rooster I obviously would know who to breed from for laying proficiency. 

The tots are easy to tell who's egg is who's.  I can't tell from the big girls unless I catch them on the nest. But I can see if the breed of the tot's is keeping up with others who has the same breed. I have to say I never knew BR laid so well. I knew EE did tho.  I have to say that even tho I love the color of the BCM's eggs they are not good at proficient egg laying. But maybe that will change since she will just be a year old this month. 

My egg customers do love the variety of egg colors tho. 

I bought six pullets last fall and when they started to lay I noticed each one had a different kind of egg. Smooth brown, speckled brown, smooth green, speckled olive, fat blue, skinny blue. I started a chart but I am ashamed to say it took me till this spring to figure out which lays what!

I should check quantities too, but I just notice that one week there's more olives, next more blues, as they clutch in turns I guess.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I put mine on a little calendar too. But I have never done a chart from the results to see an overall pattern.

I, too, only have 10 laying birds so it's not hard to do. There is one bird who's egg I'm not sure of as it is close to one of the others so I'm not sure on that girl.

 

[misbhaven]

real easy for me right now just my Dorkings are laying ...

and some Columbian Wyandotte bantam's that should be any day combs etc have turned really red but they are in my bantam coop so for now I know who lays and my Dorkings are hit and miss when it was -20 they laid every day and i was giving away eggs ,now that I want to sell hatching eggs it is hit or miss the last week I think they laid 15 eggs for 5 hens , they have been pouting it has been raining for 5 days they just roost in the rafters all day..run out to eat then right back to sleep..

 

[Leahs Mom]

9 eggs today out of 10 old enough to lay.

I have one girl that I'm not sure if she is laying...she's the one that's hard to identify. But I think I can ID all the eggs from today and I don't think any were hers.

And she is the ONE girl I want to breed.


Edited to add that I've never had 9 in a day before.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

9 eggs today out of 10 old enough to lay.

I have one girl that I'm not sure if she is laying...she's the one that's hard to identify.  But I think I can ID all the eggs from today and I don't think any were hers.

And she is the ONE girl I want to breed.


Edited to add that I've never had 9 in a day before.

Of course she's the one you want to breed! That's just typical eh?