The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Kassandra I'm trying to plant stuff around the coop that will spread but the hens can eat it also. So far they haven't touched the citronella plant or mint. My mom is going to dig more mint up for me when it starts to grow at her house.

At least when I mow it will smell good

 

[Alibabe]

Hi all.

I posted a question on the old fashioned broody thread but nobody is on the thread at present so I wondered if any of you could answer my question. I have copied and pasted my post below.

"Hi all, I have been following this thread since I have a broody. Congrats to all that have babies already, I love all the pictures of mom and babies and have been sitting waiting impatiently for my girl to produce some chicks.

I have a question that I am hoping you more experienced people may be able to help me with.

My broody has been sitting beautifully. She only gets up every 2nd or 3rd day and I have taken off the nest a few times as she appeared weak from lack of water. She only stayed off her nest for a maximum of 20 minutes at a time. She is a new broody having only hatched in July last year. She is an opington.

Yesterday was day 20 or day 19 if you count the day she was given eggs as day 0. When she got off the nest, I peaked in and 1 egg had pipped and 1 had a hole about a cm in circumference and the beak was poking out and both eggs were cheeping. I must admit I was very anxious when I saw the pips and her off the nest but I thought it was best to let her do her thing as she instinctively knows way more than me.

Today about half hour ago, I went to listen next to the nest box and finally heard cheeping -

Sure enough she had (as far as I could see or she let me see) 1 chick but I saw that the egg with the big hole from yesterday had not hatched yet. It is now over 24 hours since I saw the pipped egg and I wondered if there was any hope for the little unhatched one? Could anybody advise me what they think please.

She had 6 eggs; 1 definitely hatched, 1 with the big hole and 3 I saw under her but could not see if they were pipped or not as she only let me peep quickly and another egg which I did not see at all.

I am going to leave her be and rely on nature to sort things out but wondered if the poor little pipped one had any hope at all?"

 

[MargaretYakoda]

I can't find it... What is the recipe for the vinegar orange peel spray?

I've had the orange peels soaking in the vinegar, now what do I do?

Is this for cleaning the house in general? Or for coop insecticide?
For cleaning the house I'd strain the solution (to keep particles from clogging the sprayer) and add a bit of water. That's it. For the insecticide, I'd probably leave out the water, but I'll let others who may know better answer that one.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Hi all.    I posted a question on the old fashioned broody thread but nobody is on the thread at present so I wondered if any of you could answer my question.  I have copied and pasted my post below.


"Hi all, I have been following this thread since I have a broody.  Congrats to all that have babies already, I love all the pictures of mom and babies and have been sitting waiting impatiently for my girl to produce some chicks.

I have a question that I am hoping you more experienced people may be able to help me with.

My broody has been sitting beautifully.  She only gets up every 2nd or 3rd day and I have taken off the nest a few times as she appeared weak from lack of water.  She only stayed off her nest for a maximum of 20 minutes at a time.  She is a new broody having only hatched in July last year.  She is an opington.

Yesterday was day 20 or day 19 if you count the day she was given eggs as day 0.  When she got off the nest, I peaked in and 1 egg had pipped and 1 had a hole about a cm in circumference and the beak was poking out and both eggs were cheeping.  I must admit I was very anxious when I saw the pips and her off the nest but I thought it was best to let her do her thing as she instinctively knows way more than me. 

Today about half hour ago, I went to listen next to the nest box and finally heard cheeping - Sure enough she had (as far as I could see or she let me see) 1 chick but I saw that the egg with the big hole from yesterday had not hatched yet.  It is now over 24 hours since I saw the pipped egg and I wondered if there was any hope for the little unhatched one?  Could anybody advise me what they think please.

She had 6 eggs; 1 definitely hatched, 1 with the big hole and 3 I saw under her but could not see if they were pipped or not as she only let me peep quickly and another egg which I did not see at all.

I am going to leave her be and rely on nature to sort things out but wondered if the poor little pipped one had any hope at all?"

I think your instincts to leave be are probably best. But I know that's tough. There's a video in the Simulated Natural Incubation thread of a person very slowly helping take the shell off a chick that is ready to hatch. Keeping it moist with a damp cloth I think. Sorry for the late response. Lots of people on this forum have had experiences like this. I guess finally getting decent weather means everybody is out gardening! Very pleased to hear you've got some live chicks under that momma.

 

[amenfarm]

I can't find it... What is the recipe for the vinegar orange peel spray?

I've had the orange peels soaking in the vinegar, now what do I do?

strain and mix with 50% water to clean with. If you don't strain well it will clog or kill your sprayer. Oh, it's 3 to 4 weeks from covering the peels to it being ready to use, i did one with lemons and one with oranges. Minds ready, just have not had the time to do a complete coop scrub down.

 

[Alibabe]

I think your instincts to leave be are probably best. But I know that's tough. There's a video in the Simulated Natural Incubation thread of a person very slowly helping take the shell off a chick that is ready to hatch. Keeping it moist with a damp cloth I think. Sorry for the late response. Lots of people on this forum have had experiences like this. I guess finally getting decent weather means everybody is out gardening! Very pleased to hear you've got some live chicks under that momma.

Thank you. I am sitting on my hands and leaving her alone and hoping for the best. I don't want to assist because she may have left it because there was something wrong with it. I guess I am trusting mother nature but it is hard to have heard it cheeping to it possible dying in the shell and not help. Thanks for the reply.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

I know. Spring is the worst time for me because of the baby birds dropping out of nests in the barn. Something about a bird born to fly not even making it out of the nest. Hard to think of something struggling to have a life and not even getting out of the shell. But you've trusted your broody to hatch them so you are right to trust her instincts on this I'm sure.

 

[Kassaundra]

Kassandra I'm trying to plant stuff around the coop that will spread but the hens can eat it also. So far they haven't touched the citronella plant or mint. My mom is going to dig more mint up for me when it starts to grow at her house.

At least when I mow it will smell good

I am planning on planting more comfrey, but this time the seed spreading kind. Maybe it will stand a chance against them.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Kassandra I'm trying to plant stuff around the coop that will spread but the hens can eat it also. So far they haven't touched the citronella plant or mint. My mom is going to dig more mint up for me when it starts to grow at her house.

At least when I mow it will smell good

Dry that citronella and mint! Then you can keep it and put it in the nest boxes throughout the winter. You can also use it that way fresh to. Just snip off some and put right into the next boxes.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Okay - give us a little tutorial. What is the difference between the root kind and the seed kind? Are they both a natural plant? Are they both perennial? To what zone?