The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Wow! What a fighter!

Seems like it would be uncomfortable to be totally without feathers. But I guess I don't have any feathers and I'm doing fine.

I think I'd be afraid to touch him thinking I might hurt his skin. Sounds like the others don't pick on or attack him?

 

[Kassaundra]

Wow! What a fighter!

Seems like it would be uncomfortable to be totally without feathers. But I guess I don't have any feathers and I'm doing fine.

I think I'd be afraid to touch him thinking I might hurt his skin. Sounds like the others don't pick on or attack him?

No none of them have picked on him at all, even when we introduced the young ones to the main flock

 

[onmelissa]

I would add a plug of sod from your chicken yard to the brooder.  Let them pick at it, etc.  They will eat the dirt, don't be alarmed.  It will last maybe a day or two before you need to dig a new one up and replace the old one in the same hole it was dug from.  This is assuming you don't use poisons on your lawn!

every few days or once a week, add yogurt to their feed.  Don't use the sugared fruit kind, go for the plain and make sure it has the live cultures in it.  Start out with a little and you'll get a feel for how much they will want.

Some people give acv continuously with the water.  I don't.  Maybe once a week or so.  I also don't add much, if I can smell the vinegar in the water, in my opinion it is too strong.  I add a glug in a gallon....I know that isn't exact.

In summer, a cut clove of garlic in the water helps keep the algae down.   I don't feed garlic often, I use it more if they are stressed.

good luck.  and where are the pics?

They are all terrified of me! Lol

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Thanks, Sally. I sent you a message too...I had forgotten to respond before. So... the mamma's don't attack the kids or behave mean toward the kids after they're done with them?

so far the mamas only attacked the other chicks that were slightly older than the broody chicks. But the incu chicks had been picking on the broody chicks. Currently though the Sumatras are rulers of the play yard. The play yard has the majority of my adult roosters and teenage roosters, a few laying hens that I CAN'T loose to a hawk, and then the growing out chickens that vary in age but are all at least 10 weeks old. I'm about to toss a few of the roosters out to free range, but choosing them will be hard as it means they won't be in the breeding program anymore.

Quote: Is he featherless all year?

 

[onmelissa]

What is everyone's thoughts on disease?


I had something go through my flock about a week ago that caused gurgled/raspy breath and watery/goopy eyes. Everyone survived and recovered except for the week-olds who just weren't big and strong enough to fight it.

I had posted a thread asking for advice etc, and one person told me to either wipe everyone out and start anew or, at the very least, not sell any birds or even hatching eggs!

Now, it seems to me that having my birds be sick and breeding all the healthy, strong ones is a GOOD thing - after all, we WANT disease-resistant birds, yeah? And the fact that they may now be carriers of something does not necessarily mean they will pass it on. I mean, even people are carriers of all kinds of different things, but you don't see 100% of the human population sick with herpes. And even if my birds had been vaccinated since the very beginning, that doesn't guarantee that they can't still catch and pass on whatever they're vaccinated against; it simply means they won't get full-blown symptoms if they do catch whatever.

So, being that we're here about the natural ways of doing things, what do you all think?

I'm new to natural chicken keeping so take me with a grain of salt.
I read a comment on a thread a while back that said basically, "stop medicating, stop sanitizing, and let nature run it's course." Let chickens get acclimated to their natural environment.
That really resonated with me. Birds get sick just like everything else. The strong will survive and will probably breed birds of a stronger constitution.
I had a respiratory illness in my flock a year ago, and I don't hesitate to bring in new birds if I want them.
But...I don't sell. And having purchased sick birds and chicks before, I personally would feel like a big jerk if I sold a chicken without fully disclosing any illnesses/treatments that had been on my property.
If I were breeding for profit, I would have sick birds tested and I would feel obligated to cull the flock if my birds carried a chronic contagion.
I know that a lot of people don't feel that way because the most common respiratory diseases seem to be ubiquitous in backyard flocks, but we all have to work within our own moral codes on that issue.

 

[lalaland]

What is everyone's thoughts on disease?

I had something go through my flock about a week ago that caused gurgled/raspy breath and watery/goopy eyes. Everyone survived and recovered except for the week-olds who just weren't big and strong enough to fight it.

I had posted a thread asking for advice etc, and one person told me to either wipe everyone out and start anew or, at the very least, not sell any birds or even hatching eggs!

Now, it seems to me that having my birds be sick and breeding all the healthy, strong ones is a GOOD thing - after all, we WANT disease-resistant birds, yeah? And the fact that they may now be carriers of something does not necessarily mean they will pass it on. I mean, even people are carriers of all kinds of different things, but you don't see 100% of the human population sick with herpes. And even if my birds had been vaccinated since the very beginning, that doesn't guarantee that they can't still catch and pass on whatever they're vaccinated against; it simply means they won't get full-blown symptoms if they do catch whatever.

So, being that we're here about the natural ways of doing things, what do you all think?

I think yes, and I think, no ...on the culling and starting over. If you have a backyard flock, and don't plan on ever selling your chickens, chicks, or hatching eggs, then I wouldn't do a thing and would also agree that your survivors may well have enhanced immunity.

But, and it is a big but, if you would ever sell or give away a chicken, chick or hatching egg, then I would first research out the diseases that can be passed on and see if I could figure out what exactly your chickens had/have. There are some things that carriers can bring into someone else's flock that cold potentially wipe them out, and I think there are some respiratory diseases that are reasons to cull the entire flock. THis is, again, only if your flock might be sold, given away, etc.

 

[Phoenixxx]

I'm new to natural chicken keeping so take me with a grain of salt.
I read a comment on a thread a while back that said basically, "stop medicating, stop sanitizing, and let nature run it's course." Let chickens get acclimated to their natural environment.
That really resonated with me. Birds get sick just like everything else. The strong will survive and will probably breed birds of a stronger constitution.
I had a respiratory illness in my flock a year ago, and I don't hesitate to bring in new birds if I want them.
But...I don't sell. And having purchased sick birds and chicks before, I personally would feel like a big jerk if I sold a chicken without fully disclosing any illnesses/treatments that had been on my property.
If I were breeding for profit, I would have sick birds tested and I would feel obligated to cull the flock if my birds carried a chronic contagion.
I know that a lot of people don't feel that way because the most common respiratory diseases seem to be ubiquitous in backyard flocks, but we all have to work within our own moral codes on that issue.

Agreed on just letting nature run its course. Survival of the fittest, natural selection and all that jazz makes a lot more sense to me than "wipe out the ill, bleach your entire property, then start over again with delicate, immuno-compromised birds and practice strict bio-security!"

As for selling the ones I'm not keeping, I'll advertise them as disease-resistant, cocci-immune and free-range raised. Or something like that. Out here, unless you're buying the vaccinated birds from a breeder, your buying a bird that's got SOMETHING. (Trust me, I know!) I'll just tell people they've already been sick so they should be good to go Of course, for those adding to existing flocks, I'll just let them know that if their birds haven't been sick yet then maybe they might not want mine unless kept separately.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Agreed on just letting nature run its course. Survival of the fittest, natural selection and all that jazz makes a lot more sense to me than "wipe out the ill, bleach your entire property, then start over again with delicate, immuno-compromised birds and practice strict bio-security!"

As for selling the ones I'm not keeping, I'll advertise them as disease-resistant, cocci-immune and free-range raised. Or something like that. Out here, unless you're buying the vaccinated birds from a breeder, your buying a bird that's got SOMETHING. (Trust me, I know!) I'll just tell people they've already been sick so they should be good to go Of course, for those adding to existing flocks, I'll just let them know that if their birds haven't been sick yet then maybe they might not want mine unless kept separately.

+1

 

[Kassaundra]

so far the mamas only attacked the other chicks that were slightly older than the broody chicks. But the incu chicks had been picking on the broody chicks. Currently though the Sumatras are rulers of the play yard. The play yard has the majority of my adult roosters and teenage roosters, a few laying hens that I CAN'T loose to a hawk, and then the growing out chickens that vary in age but are all at least 10 weeks old. I'm about to toss a few of the roosters out to free range, but choosing them will be hard as it means they won't be in the breeding program anymore.

Is he featherless all year?

Yes, he physically cannot grow feathers or scales.

 

[Phoenixxx]

I think yes, and I think, no ...on the culling and starting over.  If you have a backyard flock, and don't plan on ever selling your chickens, chicks, or hatching eggs, then I wouldn't do a thing and would also agree that your survivors may well have enhanced immunity.

But, and it is a big but,  if you would ever sell or give away a chicken, chick or hatching egg, then I would first research out the diseases that can be passed on and see if I could figure out what exactly your chickens had/have.  There are some things that carriers can bring into someone else's flock that cold potentially wipe them out, and I think there are some respiratory diseases that are reasons to cull the entire flock.  THis is, again, only if your flock might be sold, given away, etc.

The guy that's getting all my EE pullets is old-fashioned in his thinking so I'm sure he'll be happy that they've all already been ill as well as gone through coccidiosis. Nothing worse than bringing home a bunch of young chickens and have some randomly drop dead over the next few days (as has happened to me, whereby after inquiring as to what illness they had the seller replies: I just had a breeder over this morning who said my birds are perfectly healthy.).

Wouldn't breeding survivors versus culling an entire flock be the better long-term solution, no matter WHAT the bug is? Disease of all kinds will always be around and always mutating no matter how we try to stop it. Just look at human diseases like smallpox, tb, measles etc that we THOUGHT we'd wiped out but are now coming back with a vengeance... And because our parents were vaccinated and didn't get sick, if we get sick it'll likely affect us worse as a result.