The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Lalala sorry to hear about your hen. I had hoped the new year would be a new start for you with no problems.

Apparently Stella the BR & the resident bully towards the pullets has turned over a new feather for the new year. Imagine my surprise when I took them out some moistened oatmeal this morning to find the pullets in the old run with the big girls. Stella even let one of the pullets eat of the bowl at the same time she did. I wish I would of had my phone on me so I could of taken a picture. I am guessing one of them stood up to her finally.

I got my 2nd pullet egg yesterday. I believe its the BCM pullet who is laying. The egg is darkening every time she lays. She has also become very chatty with me. I do a double take every time I see her. She looks like a twin of Sophie. Hopefully she doesn't have any laying problems. The other 2 pullets I refer to cheeks have also reddened up in the comb & wattles. It amazes me that these pullets at 28 weeks are almost the same size as my 3 yo PRs. They grow so fast !!

And I would like to thank whoever recommended those winter gloves awhile back. I ordered a pair for my mom & myself & they are toasty warm and great for holding on to things that are slippery. I am actually going to order a couple more pairs to have on hand

 

[vpatt]

Lalala sorry to hear about your hen. I had hoped the new year would be a new start for you with no problems. 

Apparently Stella the BR & the resident bully towards the pullets has turned over a new feather for the new year. Imagine my surprise when I took them out some moistened oatmeal this morning to find the pullets in the old run with the big girls.   Stella even let one of the pullets eat of the bowl at the same time she did. I wish I would of had my phone on me so I could of taken a picture.  I am guessing one of them stood up to her finally. 

I got my 2nd pullet egg yesterday.  I believe its the BCM pullet who is laying. The egg is darkening every time she lays. She has also become very chatty with me.  I do a double take every time I see her.  She looks like a twin of Sophie.  Hopefully she doesn't have any laying problems.  The other 2 pullets I refer to cheeks have also reddened up in the comb & wattles.  It amazes me that these pullets at 28 weeks are almost the same size as my 3 yo PRs.   They grow so fast !!

And I would like to thank whoever recommended those winter gloves awhile back. I ordered a pair for my mom & myself & they are toasty warm and great for holding on to things that are slippery. I am actually going to order a couple more pairs to have on hand  

What kind of gloves were they? Thnx

 

[armorfirelady]

What kind of gloves were they? Thnx

http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Glove-3...166736&sr=1-6&keywords=atlas+insulated+gloves

 

[vpatt]

http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Glove-300i-ThermaFit-Gloves/dp/B006JCVNWW/ref=sr_1_6?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1416166736&sr=1-6&keywords=atlas+insulated+gloves

Thank you!

 

[COChix]

yup.  2 drops in 1/2 cup  water used with cotton ball to wash eyes and nostrils.  Drop on each nostril.  float a few drops in water dish (supposedly good to do for the whole flock if you think there is any respiratory thing going on).  Followed by a smear of neosporin or bacitracin on the eyes - it will melt and the hen blinking will distribute it.

You can also put a couple drops under the wings and around the face to help.  I didn't do that since I didnt think she was congested - her breathing sounded fine, she just had some sort of eye goop.

I hate mareks.

Lala - sorry about Angelina but sounds like the only recourse and she isn't suffering anymore.


Been a few days since I posted. Our boys are doing better with their frost bite as we have managed to oget into the 30's today which had helped. They have been sunbathing. I am more concerned for Rocco as it seems his wattles damage is 1/3 or a bit more up. I have taken a hands off approach until today, noticed a discolored spot on the inside of one of the wattles. Like like maybe his wattle got frozen together, like some dead skin area. So put some Terramycin on it. Haven't done anything else. Did leave the heat lamp on the last two nights but coop got up to 45 last night so decide to go without again. More mild temps at night right now staying around 20. Will check him again tomorrow, can you guys recommend anything else for him? Can you use Lavendar on chickens as you would ourselves for the medicinal benefits it offers?

 

[LadyRagz]

I'm a newby here.... My black silkie hen surprised me with serious setting on 13 eggs her first time around.
New Years Eve, there were 9 healthy babies hatched. Unfortunately, the 10th baby was rolling around stuck on its back so I nudged it back under its mother. That one ...got smothered somehow, I lost it and was sick about it.
Well, New Years Day, two more hatched and I put a paper towel down with sides to try to keep the robust babies from overwhelming the 2 newbys.
It has now been 24 hours or more. The dark one is eating and moving around more, but the light one is still a bit wobbly, not really eating, and seems estranged from the other chicks.
Should I pull it from the other chicks and try to feed it directly or just keep it with the group. I'm starting to worry. Also a friend read to feed new borns smashed cottage cheese and scrabbled egg mixed with water every half hour which was done some today. But this little runt is not interested in eating, except for a couple tiny sips. Also should I feed them through the night every half hour to hour?
Because I lost one, I want to make sure I am assertive in keeping these last two hatchers alive, especially the smallest one of the whole bunch.
I hope someone can advice me soon.
LadyRagz

 

[lalaland]

I have no experience with silkies and only one broody hatch - but I wouldn't feed them at all. Let momma do it. Occasionally new mommas don't take care of the chicks - this doesn't happen very often, but that is all you need to watch for. As long as she is there tending the chicks, she is best suited to feed them. Make sure there is water and chick feed. The waterer should be chick proof so no drowning....

And you will need to watch that they are safe from other hens and roosters- sometimes they can be a problem.
jmho

there are chicks that won't make it no matter what you do. Its a hard truth

How exciting! I hope you can post pictures!

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Avian influenza has been found in a home flock of 150 birds in Washington State, and a half-dozen poultry farms in British Columbia have also been stricken. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/...-stock-in-washington-state/?intcmp=latestnews

I personally worry so about avian influenza, because even if your own birds aren't infected, the government may order them slaughtered as a precaution. I hope that this outbreak remains small and confined.

 

[vpatt]

I have a couple of things I've been wondering about. One is that my FIL raised chickens probably about twenty years ago. The eggs he gave us had the hardest shells I've ever seen. I mean I think you could have injured someone with them, lol. I wonder how he fed them to get such hard shells. Do you think he added extra calcium to their feed. I am not concerned about the shells on my eggs. There is calcium in their feed and I leave out oyster shell in case they want it. I have not asked him .....he is close to 90 and I'm not sure he would remember or that he would hear me. He refuses to wear a hearing aid. I am just curious about what he did.

My other question is about the color of my egg yolks. My chickens are free ranged. I feed them fermented feed with occassional scraps, scratch, BOSS and pumpkin seeds. I don't think the yolks are especially dark. It may be that they are darker than I realize because I don't see many commercial eggs to compare them to. Also,even tho they are free ranged I only began collecting them in september so the bug population was going down and they are eating more of what I am feeding them and fewer "wild things". I'm just curious if anyone has any ideas.

Also, one of my Doms is sitting on four eggs right now so she is not laying. It now seems that her sister has stopped laying, too. Is this normal chicken behavior?

And last, what is the best way to encourage the hens to lay in the designated area instead of hiding eggs. I cannot catch most of my chickens so I don't know how I could contain them...especially as most of the nests are not enclosed. I have closed off the last hiding g spot...I don't see any more places they could use but I know they may find other places that I don't see. I don't mind walking around the yard to gather eggs, but this last place was one I couldn't reach and would not due to snakes in the summer.


Just curious and I hope its ok to ask on this thread. I know that was more than a couple....can you tell I have no one to talk "chicken" with in person?

 

[jtn42248]

While any outbreak of Avian Flu should be taken seriously it is also important to keep everything in perspective and follow the guidelines outlined by the CDC and WHO which include to, as much as possible, isolate domestic poultry from wild bird populations. According to this report aprox. 245,000 birds in British Columbia have been infected. While that is a huge number of birds it is only a tiny fraction of the chicken population of British Columbia. According to http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/aboutind/products/livestck/chicken.htm

"BC has over 323 commercial chicken producers. They produce almost 90 million chickens weighing a over 150 million kilograms (after evisceration) with a farm gate value of over $300 million. If all the chickens produced in 1 year in BC were standing in a line they would form a line more than 15,000 miles long."

So please keep those numbers in mind as well.

My birds are constantly exposed to local wild bird populations and that does cause me some concern. However, this time of year, it is migratory water fowl that cause me more worry. We live on a migration path so we do not keep unattended water in pools for our ducks and geese until the migrations are over. While it is unlikely that any of these wild birds would actually land and mingle with our domestic birds it is something I want to take steps to assure does not happen.

Take care of your flocks, protect them from ALL predators including those microscopic ones that move in and out of our environments daily and you should be o.k.