The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[sunflower4you]

While these hot topics are great, I was wondering if I could bring it back to fermented feed for a moment. Since I started soaking my organic layer mash the last couple weeks (not really fermented yet, just soaked overnight), I have noticed my chickens' poos have gotten smaller and are black. Is that the "difference in poo" everyone talks about when feeding FF? Should I be concerned about black poo? The chickens are all acting normally and nobody is sick or unhappy.

 

[hennible]

My birds don't have black poo... But it's smaller and dryer and darker and a lot less smelly...
Here's a pic

 

[sunflower4you]

My birds don't have black poo... But it's smaller and dryer and darker and a lot less smelly...

Yes...smaller and dryer and darker sounds like what I am seeing. Darker than it used to be...guess that's why I am saying it is black. It is like a charcoal gray.

Maybe it just looks black to me because I am scraping the poop board at 6:30 every morning when it is still dark out!

 

[ronott1]

Hi,

I posted a few months ago about my hens--one was getting pecked on her neck and I couldn't figure out what to do. I finally used blu-kote out of desperation, only to find that the culprit was pecking right through the blu-kote (I had thought blu-kote didn't taste good, so I was surprised). So, I upped their protein, and finally separated the pecked bird. What I discovered though, was that she was actually pecking herself. It is only the neck area, on one side from under her beak to the top of her breast (about the size and length of my thumb). Some days it looks normal skin colour, some days it's red and irritated and has specks of blood around feather root sites. They free range, and now have a larger coop than before, (it's 8x6 for 3 hens, plus a 30 sq ft run that they only spend time in when I'm not home to let them roam). The pecking started before the move to the new coop, so I doubt the two are related. We did have a case of lice in the the summer, but it only affected one hen and all were DE dusted and the coop was cleaned. Obviously, the blu-kote won't work for her, and when I asked someone at TSC they suggested a stress water additive vs. pine tar or an anti-peck spray. I've read that maybe she's suffers from anxiety or that in the absence of a rooster she could be plucking herself to mimic a rooster's marking, but I don't know. If it's just an OCD thing that can be left alone, then I will. It just bothers me to see the occasional blood speck (not to mention the overall bald patch) and wonder if she's uncomfortable. Especially, with winter approaching... Otherwise she is fine--lays every other day or better (she's also moulting and obviously the days are getting shorter). She eats a ton, is friendly, hangs out with the other girls and her poop looks fine. She just got a full once over from me again today--no lice, mites, etc. She also has full time access to a dust bath with wood ash and DE. The lady in TSC said that sometimes chickens are just plain strange. Any truth to that? Should I just chalk it up to anxiety and leave it at that?

That is weird! The protein did not help?

I have heard of over preening--it is a symptom of lice or mites usually.

 

[ronott1]

Yes...smaller and dryer and darker sounds like what I am seeing. Darker than it used to be...guess that's why I am saying it is black. It is like a charcoal gray.

Maybe it just looks black to me because I am scraping the poop board at 6:30 every morning when it is still dark out!

Changes in diet sometimes cause off poo.

It is a bit scary when mine get into the plums each summer....

 

[chicalot]

I don't think it's anything to worry over. That's suppose to be one of the advantages of FF.. less stinky and better formed stools. According to my coop every morning, I need to do FF.

 

[Lacy Blues]

While these hot topics are great, I was wondering if I could bring it back to fermented feed for a moment. Since I started soaking my organic layer mash the last couple weeks (not really fermented yet, just soaked overnight), I have noticed my chickens' poos have gotten smaller and are black. Is that the "difference in poo" everyone talks about when feeding FF? Should I be concerned about black poo? The chickens are all acting normally and nobody is sick or unhappy.

I think they go through stages. Perhaps your birds are being cleaned out somewhat... getting rid of stuff their bodies have been holding onto. I've been feeding fermented feed for over a year now and on occasion, there will still be "black" poops here and there but nobody is sick or acting stressed so I don't worry about it.

 

[hennible]

Changes in diet sometimes cause off poo.

It is a bit scary when mine get into the plums each summer....

Yes plums where terrifying looking! Like end trails... Took a minute for me to figure that one out.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I'm not sure how winter will go but I made myself a feeder to cut down on the work... I am not a fan of giving myself more work... I let it ferment out in the coop in the feeder they eat it as it ripens... works for me but like I said we'll see how winter goes...
If you want to look at ithttps://www.backyardchickens.com/t/931194/fermented-feed-feeder

Thank you for sharing this. This has gotten my "wheels" to churning out smoke. I'm going to try to figure out some way to make this work for me.

If the "multi quotes" would work, I could get all this in one message!

 

[hennible]

Thank you for sharing this.  This has gotten my "wheels" to churning out smoke.  I'm going to try to figure out some way to make this work for me.

If the "multi quotes" would work, I could get all this in one message!

Love to see more ideas for the FF feeder. I'm sure it can improve. Then more people reap the benefits of FF