The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[sunflower4you]

Looks like mites to me but then I've only had them personally once and helped a friend get rid of them on hers.

Some of our birds legs looked bad and some looked fine. I think they spread slowly and I noticed that they see worse on the feathered legged birds for some reason.

Nustock (or my homemade version of it) worked best and for Intermittent follow up treatments I just sprayed all their legs with Pam while they were roosting haha!

I've seen Nustock mentioned a lot, but I have no idea what it is or what it is for.

 

[Shan30]

I've seen Nustock mentioned a lot, but I have no idea what it is or what it is for.

Only the best stuff ever! Well second to chocolate of course.

http://www.nustock.com/

I personally mix a lot of sulphur powder with a bit of pine tar and enough olive oil to moisten it to a consistency like lotion. I'm not very precise with it but I'm sure others could give you the exact ratio. Olive oil is just my choice as well some people use mineral oil, coconut oil etc.

 

[LindaB220]

Actually, I'm really thinking of making a new and improved wool hen from an old insulation panel, hardware cloth, and wool. The chicks use it only until they're about twelve weeks old, so it can be shorter. And if I make the floor double thick with insulation, and then covered with something easy to clean like a vinyl flooring scrap, that would be a huge improvement.

Also, the person who has the old one is ... Well, I don't know her very well, and she's in an important position in a local organization that my son and friends are involved in. So I'd rather not make waves. And the new one will be ooodles better. So, yeah. I'm good.

Pictures please when you are through.

 

[armorfirelady]

Hoping everyone is having a great weekend. Temps have been mid 30s during the day and in the 20s at night. Edie decided it was a good time to molt :/ Hens have been getting meat almost every day to help Edie and the few others finishing up their molt. So far so good. Edie makes sure at night to roost between 2 of the big girls for warmth.

The peepers seem to be enjoying the weather. They are out & about in the garden all day and even play with each other. It's fun to watch them as one puts her head down & zooms towards her hatch mates as they run around the garden. The big girls tend to stay in the old run and stay warm and dust bathe. Well until they see me coming to see if I have goodies for them.

Still no eggs in almost 3 weeks. My mom said I should take one of the store bought ones out to remind them why they should be laying. This is the first time I've gone so long with no eggs.

 

[Leahs Mom]

No eggs here either.

I put the molting girl out for the last 3 days/nights and she'd doing okay. Still not fully feathered but they are starting to unfurl some (enough to give her some cover). I put her out when it was mid-30s during the day. First night I brought her in at night. After that I "bit the bullet" and left her out but it was above 30.

Anyhow, she's now out permanently but she's in a separated off area. She was ready to fight for her place, but the wing feathers aren't in well enough yet, so she can't fly from floor to roost. I have logs set up that she can hop up to get there, but when there are roost wars going on she's at a disadvantage and tries to fly up from the floor. Kept hitting herself in the neck. Ouch!

So once the wings come in, I'll let her back in the general population. There is one of the lowest birds that is determined to get rank above her and wants to attack. Can't wait until she's herself. I think she'll but that whipper-snapper in her place in short order.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

So, I officially have my first moulting hen. She stopped laying, oh, a month ago or so when we had the first good cold snap. The last week or two she hasn't been as active, but not a big enough change to concern me. Yesterday I picked her up and looked through her feathers and sure enough, she's got patches of new pins here and there.

The other thing is she seem really light when I picked her up. She's a Black English Orp, and my biggest hen. Do chickens loose muscle mass when they moult?

The reason I'm concerned is I was planning on eating that hen this week or next. So the real question is, can one eat a moulting chicken? Should I wait and try to fatten her up again first? Or is my perception of her weight loss all just missing feathers and psyching myself out?

 

[Leahs Mom]

I thought my girls were lighter when they went into molt. If it was me, I'd probably wait to fatten her up a bit but that's just opinion. I also wonder how easy it would be to pluck pins? Seems like it could be pretty frustrating.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I actually stopped in this morning to say that I'm going to be away from the forum for awhile at least. If anyone wants to contact me send a pm

 

[potagergirl]

Strangest place you have ever found an egg??

When I was gathering eggs last evening I found one in the water dish. It is one of those big heated dog water bowls we keep in the hen house to make sure
they have water even when the water bucket outside is froze.
So, I am gathering eggs and then I start to fill the water bowl. There it is a good 2 inches deep in water setting at the bottom of the bowl. I realize this bowl
has about a 5 inch side but I never imagined I would find an egg in it. My girls are laying for the first time I'm thinking the nut hasn't figured out what the straw
is for even though three other girls use it to lay eggs.
Hubby and I got a good laugh about this however, I'm not sure my chicken has her head screwed on right

I have to know the strangest place you have ever found an egg laid by one of your chickens???????

 

[ronott1]

So, I officially have my first moulting hen. She stopped laying, oh, a month ago or so when we had the first good cold snap. The last week or two she hasn't been as active, but not a big enough change to concern me. Yesterday I picked her up and looked through her feathers and sure enough, she's got patches of new pins here and there.

The other thing is she seem really light when I picked her up. She's a Black English Orp, and my biggest hen. Do chickens loose muscle mass when they moult?

The reason I'm concerned is I was planning on eating that hen this week or next. So the real question is, can one eat a moulting chicken? Should I wait and try to fatten her up again first? Or is my perception of her weight loss all just missing feathers and psyching myself out?

How old is she?