The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Shan30]

Are your Americaunas from a breeder?

Yep

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks LM.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: From US or Canada?

 

[Shan30]

From US or Canada?

Right here on the island (Vancouver Island, BC, Canada)

 

[onmelissa]

This is such an interesting discussion. We've had some similar ones recently in my local FB chicken group.
In our area, testing for sick birds costs $50, plus the cost of overnight shipping or travel to the facility (it would be a 3 hour round trip for me)...time/cost prohibitive for most.
Our NIPI program only tests for three diseases (is it the same everywhere?) and they aren't even the common ones like MG, IB, or coryza. Still, so many people feel that they are in the clear with the certification. Their chickens are always getting "colds" when the weather changes so they give antibiotics and keep right on selling. It's frustrating.
I have learned some hard lessons about quarantine and assessing a potential seller. I am now choosy about breeders from whom I will buy birds (and even eggs).

 

[armorfirelady]

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.

When I first started with chickens 2 years ago I always cleaned their water, cleaned their feed dishes & cleaned out the coop weekly.
Now I maybe clean the water dishes once a week or two. Depends if I remember. (They drink out of muddy puddles !!) & apparently green water doesn't hurt them. When the temps are above freezing their FF is dumped on the ground around their yard, rain or shine. (They eat bugs covered in dirt!!) and veggies are dumped in the compost pile so I don't have to walk around and pick up rinds and corn cobs. Their DL is cleaned out once in the spring and in the fall. Otherwise I just add more DL materials and it breaks down naturally. The only thing I serve in a dish is yogurt or raw meat.

Their coop is made from cattle panels with a billboard on top with roof vents. Until the cold winter winds and snow show up the tarp is rolled up 2 feet from the base of the coop. I never put it down till the snow flies. And the window in the door is open about a foot all winter unless the snow is blowing in it and then it's open about 4 inches. I do put hay bales around the perimeter for the cold months of snow. I never lock my girls in no matter the weather.( Ok I locked them in once last year when the blizzard came because I didn't want hem to get stuck in the old run when I was at work) I leave it up to them if they want to go out or not. They love rain storms no matter how hard it rains. That's when the worms come up and are the best eating.

All my hens and the 9 week old chicks are happy & healthy. The chicks have known nothing but this. They are growing like weeds!!! They have never had a sneeze or sniffle. I have treated for bumble foot but I stopped and mrs green still has her spot but it isn't bothering her. I never treated Lucy for a frost bit toe from stepping in her fermented feed. Just watched it. It healed on its own. She lost 2 toenails but you wouldn't notice.

I'm not lazy just busy & wanted to do less for them so they are more self sufficent. THey get fed once a day in the evening. They have full crops every night They are out when the hawks are and range in the electrified fence all day. I do have a plastic owl out but I forget to move it. But they have lots of natural vegetation to hide in.

I want smart birds, healthy birds that don't require me to wait on them. I don't hold them daily but they know I am the food lady and come to me at feeding time or when I go in the yard. Yet I can only grab them at roosting time. Well except Edie she will get close enough for me to grab if I want to. At 9 weeks old the babies are just starting to come within a foot of me. But if I make a quick move they run.

Oh and I fill their dust bath area with peat moss and wood ash.

What I do isn't for everyone. But for me it works. And my hens and chicks are healthy. That's all I really wanted.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm having a hawk-paloosa around here for the last couple of weeks. Crazy thing has been around so much that he/she would probably come up and eat out of my hand if I had food for it... it seems to be getting awful relaxed being around me unfortunately.

I had decided that since it was getting so bold I was going to leave the kennel gate closed yesterday until I got home. The day before it was harassing them so much that they were afraid to come out of the little woods and go to the coop when it was getting dark. I had to escort them over...herd really.

I was glad I left the gate closed yesterday. In the morning when I went out to leave for work it was sitting about 6 ft. from the enclosed run on the big "farm gate" that's right there and only stands about 4 ft. high. The chikens were hollering and I looked over to see what all the commotion was about and saw it. I went out to scare it away and I declare if I didn't get within about 3 ft. of it before it decided to depart.

And then it only flew across the road to a utility pole and sat there waiting for me to leave. And when I returned in the afternoon it had been somewhere low and as soon as I got out of the car, it flew up and onto the neighbor's shed roof.

 

[lalaland]

thats pretty scary, leahsmom! and we are still weeks away from hawk migration. At least it sounds like your flock is pretty aware of the hawk. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

 

[armorfirelady]

thats pretty scary, leahsmom!  and we are still weeks away from hawk migration.  At least it sounds like your flock is pretty aware of the hawk.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

I agree. My hawks haven't been around much. But when the crows left a month or so ago I saw them more. But just in the sky or heard them nearby.

Funny story.......I came home from errands today and had the dogs with me, I saw black birds in the back yard & thought the babies were out of their area. I called the dogs before they noticed and the birds took off. Turns out was an half dozen crows lol. I'm glad to see their back.

LM I'm curious do you think it's around more because of the harsh winter their expecting? I know around here trees area already turning (2 months earlier than usual) and dropping leaves. And I have half dozen pumpkins that are orange already. Even the grass has slowed down growing. Seems autumn is coming earlier this year and usually plants and wild animals know this and prepare earlier.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I just don't know about why it's here so much. I was originally wondering if they had raised enough young that the territories in the area were getting crowded and this guy needed a hunting ground that no one else had claimed. Not sure if they work like that or not.

Just up the road from me there is a family with a very small lot that has banties. Even though we're on a highway, and they have no fence, their little ones run free in their yard which had some really nice spruce trees that they often go up into and sit on the branches. I noticed when I left this morn that the hawk wasn't around but when I drove down that way he was flying up from their yard direction so it looks like he's been staking out there too.

I looked and saw the banties all hiding under a utility trailer that is in their yard not too far from their little coop.