The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[flyladyrocks]

Keffir is a kind of yogurt right? But what is Kombucha?

Kefir is like yogurt but has many more probiotics in it than yogurt and even better for you than yogurt (and much easier to make!).

Kombucha is a raw, fermented, probiotic, and naturally carbonated tea. You make it with a scoby that multiplies each time you make it. I have heard people feed the extra scobies to their chickens, not sure about feeding the scobies to my chicks. I also thought it might be good to add some Kombucha to their water. I tend to have and excess of Kombucha in the summer b/c it ferments faster in warm weather.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hello, I am a Newbie here trying to do my chickens (like my life) as natural as possible. I figure this thread should keep me busy with lots of reading material for awhile!

I have a question - I'm wondering do any of you give Kefir or Kombucha to your chicks. My chicks will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, (with one that is 5-7 days older than the rest). I am just thinking there are so many good healthy probiotics in both that they could be good for the chicks. I always have both on hand b/c I make them so it would be easy for me to give to the chicks. I was thinking I would mix it with their water. Right now I put ACV in their water.

So what do you think? Thanks for your help!

I am a fermenter (cheese maker, kefir, yogurt, saurekraut, etc.... including fermented feed for my chickens).

I would NOT feed kombucha to the chickens. It is made from black tea which has caffein and other substances that you wouldn't want to feed.

You can give soured RAW milk, kefir or yogurt in small amounts from time to time. While chickens aren't supposed to handle lactose very well, that isn't an issue with kefir or yogurt as the LABs digest the lactose and produce lactic acid (the tangy/sour taste in yogurt).

 

[Leahs Mom]

OH...and forgot to say that I make kombucha too...

 

[lalaland]

Leahs mom, I bet Miss Gray is going to settle in just fine in her new home. It will definitely make your life easier not to be fretting about her!

 

[flyladyrocks]

I am a fermenter (cheese maker, kefir, yogurt, saurekraut, etc.... including fermented feed for my chickens).

I would NOT feed kombucha to the chickens. It is made from black tea which has caffein and other substances that you wouldn't want to feed.

You can give soured RAW milk, kefir or yogurt in small amounts from time to time. While chickens aren't supposed to handle lactose very well, that isn't an issue with kefir or yogurt as the LABs digest the lactose and produce lactic acid (the tangy/sour taste in yogurt).

Thanks - this is why I ask before I just do! I had not thought about caffeine, didn't know if their would be other dangerous things for chickens - do you feed your chicks or chickens the scoby? I have been reading about fermented feed, I have not done it yet but am leaning that way!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I don't give them the scoby either. I have enough variety of other fermented items available without using a tea-based ferment product.



On the fermented feed, just be sure that you do LACTO-FERMENTED not alcohol ferment. There is a lot of confusion between the two and the kind of fermenting that produces alcohol is not good for the birds. (There really is a lot of misinformation on this subject out there...with good intentions but misinformation none-the-less.)


Here's an article that talks about the difference in those two different kinds of fermenting:

A Tale of 2 Fermentations:
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/03/fermentation-basics-tale-of-two.html



There are 2 other parts to the articles as well that are worth looking at:

Benefits:
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/03/benefits-of-fermenting-feed-for.html

Making:
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/03/making-fermented-feed-part-3-of-3.html

 

[Leahs Mom]

Leahs mom, I bet Miss Gray is going to settle in just fine in her new home. It will definitely make your life easier not to be fretting about her!

It already is easier/more peaceful here.

Sometimes I hate watching all the squabbling that goes on among chickens. I remember @MumsyII saying that when she visited the one silkie farm that she was really impressed that those birds weren't squabbling and that there was peace in the pens. I wonder how/what you can do breeding-wise to make that happen? Do you just not perpetuate the mean birds?

Then I think about how the "mean" ones are the ones that would probably survive better against predators or in a wild situation. But then I wonder if that is true... Ah well.... I guess I'll have to just keep wondering.

 

[Scott H]

Hey Naturals! Tina hatched 5 chicks over the weekend. Two I can tell by the fuzz on their legs are silver penciled Bramahs. I hope they are both hens cause I want one. (We hatched these for a friend of ours and she wants 3 pullets). The other three are Wyandottes and all look like little chipmonks. We had ordered silver laced, partridge and blue laced red.
Tina looks like she's going to be a good Mom. I gave her a Carpenter Ant which she immediatley killed and then called out her brood to eat. One grabbed it and the chase was on!

Pictures to follow!

What's the best way to treat mites on the chicks. Wood ash? Coops been cleaned and treated and the hens have been treated but I'm worried about day old chicks.:/

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Scott H
Do they have mites or are you just concerned that they might get mites?

And...what a wonderful hatch

 

[Scott H]

When she took the chicks out into the coop, we took the three that did not hatch and there were mites on the eggs.