The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[LindaB220]

Welcome. I am new-ish to this thread, too, but I keep learning so much it's great! The only downside is that the more I learn about natural chicken keeping, the more flack I get from family members that know how to keep chickens a different way.

You need to light the coop, why aren't you going to light the coop?, you won't get eggs if you don't light the coop, and a heat lamp, you need to heat the coop too (me: the coop is insulated), still you don't have enough birds to keep each other warm, you know heat rises, etc. etc. etc. Winter is bringing a whole new set of challenges!

Bahahaha I know the feeling. The only difference with me is that my family are the one's that say. " Why raise chickens? It's got to be cheaper at the grocery store". They are just coming around a little to the fact that I'm actually making a success with my chickens. They are well fed with FF and healthy as all get out. No smell. And absolutely gorgeous.

 

[LindaB220]

Since we got the chickens, I've never used light, honestly I had never thought to, the only light source comes from the lamp attached to the back of the house, and that's only for me, so I can see into the back yard. Plus since we have birds, if I want a good night's sleep, it's lights out for everyone

I will admit that at first I was a little nervous leaving everyone outside last night, got pretty cold last night, not below freezing, but because these guys are our 1st group of chickens, I don't want anything to happen to them, I have had all 9 in overnight, but I resisting doing that again

Why not go to your profile page and add your location. I'm out of Shreveport La and will not do lights until maybe later in December. My birds have not started laying yet but SHOULD this month. We'll see.

 

[slayv4petz]

I think it was last year, now we've had ducks before the chickens, going to family for Easter dinner, so I brought some of our duck eggs over, I had hard boiled them and dyed them (FYI duck eggs don't take dye as easy as chicken eggs, nobody would try them! Ya think I was trying to poison them

 

[Lacy Blues]

Linda, if your birds are all younguns they shouldn't need additional light to lay through winter.

Buying eggs at the store is definitely cheaper than raising birds but what about chicken tv? They are so therapeutic, I cannot imagine my life without my chickens.

 

[LindaB220]

Linda, if your birds are all younguns they shouldn't need additional light to lay through winter.

Buying eggs at the store is definitely cheaper than raising birds but what about chicken tv? They are so therapeutic, I cannot imagine my life without my chickens.

Well, that's nice to know. Something to put on the back burner. I have so many things on the front burner now.

I have to tell the kids that they are a HOBBY.

 

[armorfirelady]

armorfirelady,  I don't know if Zorro has the same problem as my boys when they reach 3.5 to 4 months of age... they seem to walk strange too.  They don't relax their feet when they take a step, keeping their toes all stretched out as if they were still on the ground, plus, they lift their feet higher than they need to.  I have found that the problem is with the tendons and have needed to increase their calcium.  I have started putting oyster shell dispensers in with the growing boys plus I changed my pelleted feed to Flock Raiser as it has a higher calcium percentage than chick starter but is still ok for chicks and grown birds.  Giving them this extra calcium, plus the dispensers, has helped a lot and they don't walk weird anymore.

Hmmmm there is oyster shell in the coop 24/7 so I don't know if he has eaten any or not. He walks fine just sometimes it's like he has not grown into his feet yet. Kind of like he hasn't realized he's bigger than the older hens who chase him away from food. Of course he has no problem taking food from his hatch mates. I'm hoping when he gets older he learns to be a gentleman

Eta: I don't think its a tendon problem. He loves to stretch his legs the full length when he is in the yard or roosting. I figure its chicken yoga lol

 

[vpatt]

I need to check out plastic and velcro....sounds like it would work great. What kind of plastic do you use? Thanks!

 

[vpatt]

I totally remove mine on the summer but more importantly I roll it up EVERY morning in the winter. It is only down at night. This prevents high humidity and makes sure you have plenty of ventilation.

I have been using PDZ and sand in the coop...it does not appear to be wet. Will that help keep down the humidity? Or is the humidity still there and just isn't as apparent to us. I guess that sounds silly.

 

[RedRidge]

Here's an odd question


Has anyone ever had any of your chickens get a piece of feed or seed or wood shaving up in their nostril?  Then perhaps have it get crusted over until you had to remove the blockage?

Um mm no. We leave those unique experiences with you so you can share the details with is on case we ever encounter them in the future. ;-)

 

[RedRidge]

I totally remove mine on the summer but more importantly I roll it up EVERY morning in the winter. It is only down at night. This prevents high humidity and makes sure you have plenty of ventilation.

I have been using PDZ and sand in the coop...it does not appear to be wet. Will that help keep down the humidity? Or is the humidity still there and just isn't as apparent to us. I guess that sounds silly.

My breeding pens have Pine pelleted horse bedding in them. They are never wet. But I'm a freak about fresh air and sunshine with all my livestock and never closing them up. Even in the coolest winter with deep snow my ewes lamb outside. They have barn access on the worst nights but it's totally open. Buildings (coops, sheds, run ins, barns), especially closed up buildings, harbor bacteria and increase humidity and decrease air circulation. They also create more work for the human. I have no desire to clean up manure. I have cattle, sheep, poultry and rabbits. My animals aren't even allowed on the part of the property where the barn is except for those 2-3 months of winter. And the main reason they are all close to the barn is not to provide shelter, it's for convenience for me for watering and more importantly to get all livestock off of the forage when foot damage will do more harm than good.