The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[jime]

beccasev:I don't know what kind of roaches are the ones you have but chickens will eat them for sure.I raise dubia roaches and they love them.
If you don't think your chickens are interested enough, do they like meal worms or do you give them treats in some special container that they recognize? if you do you need to catch a few of the roaches and give them to the chickens mix with the other treats just s they know that those thing are tasty as well, next time just trow the treats next to where the roaches (wild ones) are in the floor and then your chickens will have a party trying to get all of them.
The ducks option can be good too, in my opinion muscovy ducks are the best their really like bugs and they are not as messy as the rest of the ducks.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

We get earwigs, they're sort of like roaches aren't they? They live in the wood cracks under the sheep manger. When the chickens come out of the coop they strut right over to the manger and wait for me to flip it. Holy moly the earwigs are swarming away as fast as they can, but the chickens are faster!

 

[AKCharle]

Hello, this is my first post and I've just joined BYC. My goal is to raise my chicks for meat and eggs as naturally as possible. Right now I've started my flock with 60 CornishX and 9 what I believe to be either Dark Brahmas or Black Cochins for layers, I got them from my grandsons school so I'm not really sure. This will be a short post as I need to go finish the coop. I've started 15 of the CornishX 3 weeks ago and was feeding them medicated crumbles till I ran out and couldn't find it again at a reasonable price. So now they are on the same formula non-medicated. The rest of the Cornish I got yesterday and they are 1 week and 2 weeks old. I don't think their feed was medicated but I do know they were purchased from a poultry breeder who recommends medicated feed. Well more on this later, especially what I found concerning composting of medicated chicken manure, I HAVE to get out to the coop.

 

[mlowen]

I was thinking maybe using plastic totes... hm. I wonder how well hot glue would hold the fabric to the plastic... that might be an idea.

I never did catch the bucket thing, but how high off the floor do you keep the ends of the fabric? do you need to adjust the height as chicks grow or will they just worm their way between the pieces until they don't need it anymore?

I just had an idea of using a bucket lid... I could hang it inside my indoor brooders then move it out and just use the dog house and hang it there until they outgrow the doghouse (plastic one).

I was thinking of a rough "a-frame" over whatever you set up to be the wool broody.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@ki4got

Where do you sit the dog house that your little ones use? Is it inside a predator-safe run?

 

[lalaland]

Hello, this is my first post and I've just joined BYC. My goal is to raise my chicks for meat and eggs as naturally as possible. Right now I've started my flock with 60 CornishX and 9 what I believe to be either Dark Brahmas or Black Cochins for layers, I got them from my grandsons school so I'm not really sure. This will be a short post as I need to go finish the coop. I've started 15 of the CornishX 3 weeks ago and was feeding them medicated crumbles till I ran out and couldn't find it again at a reasonable price. So now they are on the same formula non-medicated. The rest of the Cornish I got yesterday and they are 1 week and 2 weeks old. I don't think their feed was medicated but I do know they were purchased from a poultry breeder who recommends medicated feed. Well more on this later, especially what I found concerning composting of medicated chicken manure, I HAVE to get out to the coop.

hey, welcome to byc and congrats on your first post!

 

[ki4got]

@ki4got

Where do you sit the dog house that your little ones use? Is it inside a predator-safe run?

yes. I had it attached to the outside of a pen at one time but something got into it (no losses at that time) so I decided to re-think that part.

 

[beccasev]

Huh!  I've never seen cockroaches outside.  WIll the chickens eat the cockroaches?  What part of the country are you in?    


the only thing I could suggest is trying to keep the amount of excess feed on the ground way way down.  Under feed your girls so they clean it up....but although I'm not familiar with roaches I understand they can subsist on barely no food - but are attracted to food?  Wherever you live, if it is in the U.S., try calling the state university ag dept poultry div if they have one, or the extension office...I'm sure this problem has been addressed.  Just totally unfamiliar with it up here in the north.

I am in Missouri. I feed fermented only and my girls are very good at cleaning up. There is never anything left. Hubby Says i don't feed enough as it is, but that's what ranging is for! They probably would eat them, but I only see them at night and the chickens are in bed.

they're wood roaches most likely, and eat decomposing wood. so you may want to check your coops and other areas where they are for any signs of wood rot.  we knocked a tree over last night (started to cut it but it started leaning the wrong way, got out some rope and a snatch block and used the tractor to pull it over where we wanted it LOL) that thing was FULL of wood roaches. the chickens had a field day once the tree was down.

Ok, this makes sense. We just cut down a bunch of trees. I've never heard of wood roaches before. I'll look into it.
Thanks!

 

[LindaB220]

Hello, this is my first post and I've just joined BYC. My goal is to raise my chicks for meat and eggs as naturally as possible. Right now I've started my flock with 60 CornishX and 9 what I believe to be either Dark Brahmas or Black Cochins for layers, I got them from my grandsons school so I'm not really sure. This will be a short post as I need to go finish the coop. I've started 15 of the CornishX 3 weeks ago and was feeding them medicated crumbles till I ran out and couldn't find it again at a reasonable price. So now they are on the same formula non-medicated. The rest of the Cornish I got yesterday and they are 1 week and 2 weeks old. I don't think their feed was medicated but I do know they were purchased from a poultry breeder who recommends medicated feed. Well more on this later, especially what I found concerning composting of medicated chicken manure, I HAVE to get out to the coop.

Hey AKCharle,

Glad to have you. Medicated is not necessary. Put a shovel of dirt or from the run in the brooder so they can get immunized the natural way. They love to play on it and eat it. The very BEST tip I can give you is to look into fermented feed. My chicks are so healthy and the smell is way less. Saves you money on feed also. I'll put a link to an easy site for all your questions. Also there are several good threads on fermenting feed. check them out.

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

 

[Sally8]

[COLOR=2F4F4F]Hello, this is my first post and I've just joined BYC. My goal is to raise my chicks for meat and eggs as naturally as possible. Right now I've started my flock with 60 CornishX and 9 what I believe to be either Dark Brahmas or Black Cochins for layers, I got them from my grandsons school so I'm not really sure. This will be a short post as I need to go finish the coop. I've started 15 of the CornishX 3 weeks ago and was feeding them medicated crumbles till I ran out and couldn't find it again at a reasonable price. So now they are on the same formula non-medicated. The rest of the Cornish I got yesterday and they are 1 week and 2 weeks old. I don't think their feed was medicated but I do know they were purchased from a poultry breeder who recommends medicated feed. Well more on this later, especially what I found concerning composting of medicated chicken manure, I HAVE to get out to the coop.[/COLOR]

Welcome! So glad you joined us.