The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[BlueMouse]

I am gaurdedly hopeful about my little legbar girl. She seems to be having an easier time holding her head upright to eat, and to be holding it in a more natural position while she sleeps. She was talking to the duckling keeping her company on the other side of the brooder today.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Forgot to say that yes, I think you could add citronella to it as well when you put it into the sprayer. Which reminds me of something else.

I've tried to reuse sprayers from old cleaners that have emptied, have purchased some from the store, etc. Tried using them for various items and they just don't work well or last long.

I was looking for something to put oil into that I could spray on roost cracks, etc. (also as a mite deterrant).and I found some (rather pricy) sprayers that don't need aerosol to spray oil. They're designed for using for cooking oils in the kitchen. I purchased a couple of them over a year ago and they work better than any other sprayer I've ever had. They handle the oil really well. But I also started using them for this vinegar cleaner as well because I haven't been able to keep any other sprayer in working order more than a couple of weeks.

So...thought I'd share them here if anyone is interested. I've used the original 2 for the last 1.5 years and I just purchased 2 more I like them so well that I'll use for other things as well.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=84618

 

[Leahs Mom]

I am gaurdedly hopeful about my little legbar girl. She seems to be having an easier time holding her head upright to eat, and to be holding it in a more natural position while she sleeps. She was talking to the duckling keeping her company on the other side of the brooder today.

That is so exciting!!!! It's especially good to hear that she's communicating. That's usually a very good sign!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I was trying to come up with an idea to keep the chickens from digging up my fruit trees looking for bugs. I had fencing upright around it but it was a pain to keep pulling the tall grass and weeds. I took it down hoping the girls would leave it alone but of course they didn't

So I thought a piece of plastic fencing flat on the ground would work. The center hole is wide enough so the trunk doesn't touch it yet protects it from digging. As the trunk gets wider all I need to do is cut he hole larger. I tacked it to the grass with gutter spikes. Eventually The grass will grow over it and I can mow over it to keep it low

That's a really good idea!

 

[armorfirelady]

I was trying to come up with an idea to keep the chickens from digging up my fruit trees looking for bugs. I had fencing upright around it but it was a pain to keep pulling the tall grass and weeds. I took it down hoping the girls would leave it alone but of course they didn't

So I thought a piece of plastic fencing flat on the ground would work. The center hole is wide enough so the trunk doesn't touch it yet protects it from digging. As the trunk gets wider all I need to do is cut he hole larger. I tacked it to the grass with gutter spikes. Eventually The grass will grow over it and I can mow over it to keep it low

That's a really good idea!

Thanks!! Guess I'll find out tomorrow if the girls figure a way around it lol P.s. I only use the orange cleaner now. And while I don't have a dehydrator I dry the orange peels in the sun then toss them in the nesting box or the coop floor. I'm not a big fan of oranges so I only get peels when I buy them to make cleaner.

 

[lalaland]

So Edie is now Eddie?

yes, but not for long! Edie is a beautiful black ee rooster - but in a few weeks I'll cull the two other roosters that hatched with edie, so three to go. I am keeping a teeny tiny cream legbar rooster that seems bantam sized to me. Hope he will turn out to be a good rooster - I have just one cream legbar pullet and am hoping to hatch more next spring from her eggs.

The 3-4 month old roosters so far are very calm and have great rooster attributes, but I find the flock is so much calmer without a rooster. I also don't want to hatch out any eggs from the current flock except for the cream legbar - I need to add some brown layers to the flock.

 

[BlueMouse]

good news and bad news on my little legbar girl.... she's holding her head up! and she squawked in protest this morning when I hauled her out to give her medecine! Bad news is I felt her crop to see if she's been eating and it felt all squashy and gassy. At least no bad smell out of beak. so. Probiotics for her in addition to vitamin E and Polyvisol now. poor girl, she's gonna hate me after she's better. I will no longer be beloved food lady, but that mean person who hauled her out of her cozy corner and squirted medecine down her beak three times a day.... If this had to happen to any chicken at least it happened to the pet chicken that likes nothing better than napping on a lap in the sun. It would be hell treating my flightier birds....

 

[Tnic]

Forgot to say that yes, I think you could add citronella to it as well when you put it into the sprayer. Which reminds me of something else.

I've tried to reuse sprayers from old cleaners that have emptied, have purchased some from the store, etc. Tried using them for various items and they just don't work well or last long.

I was looking for something to put oil into that I could spray on roost cracks, etc. (also as a mite deterrant).and I found some (rather pricy) sprayers that don't need aerosol to spray oil. They're designed for using for cooking oils in the kitchen. I purchased a couple of them over a year ago and they work better than any other sprayer I've ever had. They handle the oil really well. But I also started using them for this vinegar cleaner as well because I haven't been able to keep any other sprayer in working order more than a couple of weeks.

So...thought I'd share them here if anyone is interested. I've used the original 2 for the last 1.5 years and I just purchased 2 more I like them so well that I'll use for other things as well.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=84618

Pampered Chef has some pump up oil sprayers too. Always liked them.

 

[armorfirelady]

Is anyone else having problems with being logged out when trying to submit something they typed up?

Just wrote up a 3 paragraphs of information to have it log me out when I hit submit it said I didn't have permission to post and it had logged me out. Did same thing yesterday

Anyways I lost a chick last night to a predator. Pop door has been broken for a couple weeks. Waiting on replacement part.

 

[armorfirelady]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EZYNQ8...TF8&colid=1TH1A2R5IZ0PC&coliid=I2QA5LX3EWM82Q

Has anyone ever tried these?