The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[hoosiercheetah]

Beautiful dog, terrible loss. My condolences.


So, I mentioned I had a hen with bumblefoot. I read up on it and the consensus view was that only surgery would cure it, but that a lot of people do it at home.

I am ethically opposed to preforming surgery, even diy, on a five-dollar chicken. It's sink or swim at the Hennitentiary. Also, I read one person, just one, who said that surgery probably wasn't necessary in most cases. I believe the prevailing response to that comment was something like "Nuh Uh! Bumblefoot doesn't heal on it's own!!" So they said.

Well, to all of the surgery supporters I say, from the bottom of my heart, Neener. Neener.

My hen's foot is completely healed, no remaining trace of injury whatever. And I did nothing, not even a foot soak. So there.

To be fair, the hen in question is Queen Penelope the Great and Terrible, so it's possible that she's got a supernaturally, utterly ruthless and completely deadly immune system. If I ever to have to send her to the freezer, I'm going to glove up for the job, because she might just have acid for blood.





eta- Lots of short paragraphs today. What's up with that?

 

[Leahs Mom]

@hoosiercheetah
That is wonderful news!!!

Curious (and perhaps somewhat related...or not...).....

What are you feeding your chickens now-a-days?

Also, last I heard you were feeling like you couldn't let them range around your yard due to the hawk population. Wondering if any of that has changed for you?

And last, but not least, I'd love to see some photos of what you're doing for housing for them.

 

[gidget106]

Sad day in our house today. Our beloved black poodle, Jake, passed away following minor surgery two days ago. Lots of tears. He was 12 and a half and before the surgery was still full of piss and vinegar. RIP old buddy.

So sorry for your loss!!! Beautiful boy. They are truly like family members.

 

[armorfirelady]

Got,down to 39 last night and now mid 40s and intermittent rain here. I started a fire to take the chill out of the house. The hens well they are having fun digging in the grass turning it into mud. Must be something in there that they are making a mud pit .

I got beef liver out to defrost for them, homemade suet cakes and some yogurt with garlic for them. Figured with temp drop they will enjoy some goodies. I put half the billboard down but they don't seem to care lol

At least they are starting to grow in their feathers finally. Especially Stella. She's losing her ugly ratty brown feathers and finally getting some new black and white ones in. I haven't changed their feed so no idea why she had the color change last spring. I wonder if it had to do with her soft eggs she was laying also?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Got,down to 39 last night and now mid 40s and intermittent rain here. I started a fire to take the chill out of the house. The hens well they are having fun digging in the grass turning it into mud. Must be something in there that they are making a mud pit .

I got beef liver out to defrost for them, homemade suet cakes and some yogurt with garlic for them. Figured with temp drop they will enjoy some goodies. I put half the billboard down but they don't seem to care lol

At least they are starting to grow in their feathers finally. Especially Stella. She's losing her ugly ratty brown feathers and finally getting some new black and white ones in. I haven't changed their feed so no idea why she had the color change last spring. I wonder if it had to do with her soft eggs she was laying also?

Same temps and weather here yesterday too. I was surprised how much the older girls hung around in and around the shed. But I do think between the wind chill and the rain it was a complete shock with no chance to acclimate.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I got beef liver out to defrost for them, homemade suet cakes and some yogurt with garlic for them. Figured with temp drop they will enjoy some goodies. I put half the billboard down but they don't seem to care lol

You make homemade suet cakes? I've thought about doing that for the longest time... but I find that the instructions of throwing in this and that without certain measurements to be a bit daunting. I'm not a cook, by any stretch of the imagination, I need cookbooks with exact measurements... only once I've become very familiar with a certain dish do I feel the freedom to ad lib. Do you have a recipe or is this a private concoction that is used to bolster your income?

 

[armorfirelady]

@Leahs Mom I wonder if because my guys are in the hoop coop that they acclimate better? They were out all day and didn't seem bothered by the rain or the cold temps. Sides still up (I out side up I took down) since here are no high winds.

@Lacy Blues
I learned from Mumsy. Just take some fat (forgot official name of kind) and mixed in different things. BOSS, pumpkin seeds, sunflower hearts.......whatever I have on hand. The local feed store sells different grains so I can have a variety of ingredients to put in it. I just add to the melted lard till it's thick and put in muffin tins then put them in the freezer.,when they are hard I pop them out and put into a big ziplock bag back in the freezer.

 

[Leahs Mom]

You know, the strange thing is that I leave the front doors open all night long. (The interior is predator proof with interior hardware cloth walls and doors.) So it's not like they aren't sleeping with the temps the same.

Perhaps it was just the rain and wind together.

 

[armorfirelady]

You know, the strange thing is that I leave the front doors open all night long.  (The interior is predator proof with interior hardware cloth walls and doors.)  So it's not like they aren't sleeping with the temps the same.

Perhaps it was just the rain and wind together.

Could of been. I know when the winds are high and it's raining hard mine tend to seek cover under something.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

@hoosiercheetah
That is wonderful news!!!

Curious (and perhaps somewhat related...or not...).....

What are you feeding your chickens now-a-days?

Also, last I heard you were feeling like you couldn't let them range around your yard due to the hawk population. Wondering if any of that has changed for you?

And last, but not least, I'd love to see some photos of what you're doing for housing for them.

I'm feeding them... I can't remember the name of it. It's Rural King's standard layer feed, crumbles. I went down a few weeks back and they had it on sale, 9.99/50lb, so I grabbed two bags and a bag of scratch grain.

They still don't get to roam unsupervised. There are still haws, although I haven't seen as many, I do see them around. But also my yard is not fenced. In the spring, we're going to fence the back, and then we'll see. But I have a few strong flyers, so I don't know how that will go. I may transition the flock to heavier birds. Maybe not though, I adore my Golden Comets. They're laying large and extra large eggs pretty much every day without fail. My one black orp seems to have given up for the winter. Everyone else is doing a good pace, 5 or 6 a week. I have eight hens and I'm averaging 46 eggs a week from the flock.

I'll try to get some pics, but it's the same setup. The Hennitentiary is a 12' by 12' converted shed, the Rec Yard is about 6' by 18', low hoop-type with a tarp over the half that meets up with the coop. In the spring I hope to build a bigger run and go up to 12 birds. I will be buying day-old chicks this time. ;-) Some kind of dual-purpose so I can eat the roosters. I think I'd like to buy 12 chicks and hope for at least 4 girls. But we'll see.