The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Turk Raphael]

I make soup or dumplings with older birds they tend to be tough.

But you can't beat those dumplings!

WIshing everyone success in getting rid of the predators.

I moved the herb corner planters back against the coop. Didnt the chicks roost outside again? Its going to be empties of dirt tonight & moved somewhere else. I guess they forgot about the predator that got their sibling. I have had the game cam out & recently switched to just go off at night in hopes of seeing what for the chick. Nothing yet.


And some good news. I had put a post on craigs list looking for wood shavings & a gentleman who owns a wood making business called and can supply me with several garbage bags worth a month. Hello free coop shavings

Shavings may not be the most expensive item required for chickens, but the cost really adds up if you clean your coops on a regular basis. Good for you!!

 

[BlueMouse]

Regarding that fox... a protective dog would make short work of him and be a lot cheaper than perimeter fencing.

Wouldn't it just? Not feasible here though. I am hoping to get the back of my property cleared and fenced, and a real barn put up so I can have some other stock. Then I will be able to install a livestock gaurdian dog. We have a dog now, who is out in the yard whenever we are. But he's pretty attached both to me and to his comfy spot on the end of the couch (he's 13 now) so he can't be left out to watch the chickens Someday....

The good news is that half of the fencing is up already, so it won't be such a huge job.

 

[LindaB220]

Thanks for sharing. This is my first year with chickens and I assumed that I would want to give them artificial light in the early mornings so they lay all winter. I started to have doubts that this was necessary when I read about other people's good layers giving them eggs all winter. Now that I think about hormone disruption and how their body could probably use a break, I'm thinking I'm going to skip the artificial light.

Silly question, but do chickens get depressed like people can with the limited natural daylight of winter time?

Just my own opinion, but it seemed that the articles were about the wild birds living in and around cities where light is 24 hrs. I don't think that adding 2 hrs in the morning is going to upset or traumatize the chickens from their natural sleep habits. They like daylight. What's wrong with giving them a couple more hours.

 

[LindaB220]

But you can't beat those dumplings!

Shavings may not be the most expensive item required for chickens, but the cost really adds up if you clean your coops on a regular basis. Good for you!!

I can't wait until my roosters get a little bigger. Ummm dumpling. Turk, is that you in the new pic ??

 

[Turk Raphael]

I can't wait until my roosters get a little bigger. Ummm dumpling. Turk, is that you in the new pic ??

No..no...I think it's Jack Nicholson but I'm not sure...I saw it and liked the colors...

 

[islandgirl82]

No..no...I think it's Jack Nicholson but I'm not sure...I saw it and liked the colors...

That is Jack Nicholson as The Joker from Tim Burton's version of Batman (best version imho).

 

[Leahs Mom]

Well....since wer'e talking about the avatar photo...

I just have a really hard time even looking at the Joker photo. (Sorry) I've always found any of the Jokers pretty hideous. A very strong aversion to describe it mildly. When I saw it on your avatar I had to purposely look away from it.

There's probably therapy for that.

 

[lalaland]

Check this out... for those that consider lighting during the winter months this may be of interest:

​

yeah, it drives me nuts when someone builds a house and immediately puts outdoor lights on the garage/house, etc and leaves them on dawn to dusk. so many fewer stars to be seen with all the light in the world, and there is a correlation with breast cancer and nighttime light, even night lights or lights outside shining in your bedroom.

I'm very anti-light - people keep giving me solar light things to put on a pathway, etc, but I like the stars. Have no quarrel with using outdoor lighting, just, for petes sake turn it off when you aren't outside using it!

ok, stepping off my soapbox (and darned, I have so many

)

 

[lalaland]

I'm not sure if chickens can get clinically depressed but I'm inclined to believe they can, based upon the what I've noticed when two or three 'buddies' are separated, for whatever reason.

Can depression be brought on naturally by the changes of the seasons....I don't think so. In fact, I'm with the folks who might think adding too much (or any) artificial light could adversely affect their moods. JMHO

As an aside...I'm a bit depressed. I've lost 6 of the 25 capons that I worked on over the past week. Many might think caponization is not NATURAL, but since it has been practiced for so many centuries, it might fall into the 'gray area'.

A friend tells me that the loss is small for it being my first time and that does give me a bit of hope. I feel pretty certain the rest are going to be ok and for those of you who have eaten capons, I hope you folks at least understand why I like them so well over their testosterone-filled counterparts. I've seen so many cockerels simply destroyed and thrown into the garden or garbage and while that might be natural.....it is surely shameful to waste such a prospect of excellent protein in this world of ever-rising prices and chronic shortages of food for so many.

I hope I didn't offend anyone!

Turk

seems like a good skill to have! I didn't know that capons would taste better than roosters. I am way behind you, just in the past year or so getting used to butchering roosters. Now I just have to learn how to cook them so they taste good.

Well that was far more excitement than I really wanted in a morning.

I heard a lot of squawking and looked outside to see a fox standing on top of my obviously very valiant rooster, Mr. Bennet. What I should have done is taken the extra five seconds to grab the gun. I would have had a clear shot. What I did was instinct, run out and chase him off my rooster. I was sure Mr. Bennet was dead, he was just lying there, but I think, thanks to his hackles he was just stunned. I looked him over and couldn't find a scratch. When I put him down he called his ladies over and started herding them towards the hen house. I went in and got the feed bucket and rounded everyone up. I'm pretty sure that while I got the feed bucket the fox slunk out of the woods and got one of my meat birds who were out, because I'm almost certain I saw all of them when I chased the fox off, but I'm definitely down one now. Everyone is shut up in coops and runs now. but that's only a temporary solution. This also explains the dissapearance of my very favorite pet hen Lizzy yesterday I hate predators. We've gotta get the rest of the perimiter fencing up. Hopefully that will keep reynard out.

for some reason I always think of foxes as daytime predators. And they definitely keep returning til its gone. I've seen you tubes of foxes climbing fences, too...glad bennet is ok.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

yeah, it drives me nuts when someone builds a house and immediately puts outdoor lights on the garage/house, etc and leaves them on dawn to dusk. so many fewer stars to be seen with all the light in the world, and there is a correlation with breast cancer and nighttime light, even night lights or lights outside shining in your bedroom.

I'm very anti-light - people keep giving me solar light things to put on a pathway, etc, but I like the stars. Have no quarrel with using outdoor lighting, just, for petes sake turn it off when you aren't outside using it!

ok, stepping off my soapbox (and darned, I have so many

)

I agree!!!!! I have neighbors who've put up giant floodlights. The guy behind me has one that, were it not for some well-placed trees, would shine directly into my bedroom window. And the lady across the street has a big spotlight aimed right at her shed (and of course shines right past that directly into her neighbors windows). People are SO inconsiderate. There used to be a streetlight-type light on one of the utility poles in the easement across the back of my yard... what a PITA... when the thing started flickering constantly it was mysteriously shot out. I'm all for motion-sensor lights, especially solar-powered ones. People who live in cities, and even many rural dwellers, would be AMAZED at what the night sky REALLY looks light without all the light pollution. If they could go to western Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, etc and away from the lights. There really IS a heavenly BLANKET of stars out there!