The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Lacy Blues]

Oh yeah... I meant to say this earlier and then forgot. Regarding adding chicks together... maybe it would be a better idea to take away the ones she has (mark them) every day, but leave several in the nest overnight for her until your eggs arrive in the mail. At that point, either incubate the ones that are a day or two or even the same day as the shipped eggs or let her incubate the shipped ones. She's a cochin so hopefully that means she'll be a good mama. If you have chicks that are 5 days old when the others hatch, they may not adjust to a broody hen well (some might) but its likely that they will be afraid of her and stay away when she is trying to mother them and warm them and then you have the issue of cold chicks... or worse.

If you have some kind of a box or pan (dish pan) that will fit into the nest space she is using, moving her will be fairly easy. If its not already in the nest box, you can make even a short cardboard box to fit, have it ready once its dark. Someone's help is a plus. Lift her off her nest, get the eggs into the cardboard box that already has nesting material in it, put all of that into the nest box so it doesn't wobble and put her back on the eggs. As far as moving her, you could probably do it at night. Learn her routine. Generally, they will get off the nest every couple of days to eat, stretch, drink and then get right back on. Usually, this brief exercise takes 5-10 minutes (at least with my birds). If you catch her on the day that she gets off the nest, then move the whole box with her and the eggs in it that night, she should move fine. What I've done to move them when required is make it so they cannot get out of the nest for 24 hours and they adjust well. The next night, do whatever you need to do to allow her to get off the nest. She'll wake up in the morning and see her new area and be unalarmed because her nest is still her nest and she has adjusted to the sounds coming from the new directions.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[potagergirl]

Oh yeah... I meant to say this earlier and then forgot. Regarding adding chicks together... maybe it would be a better idea to take away the ones she has (mark them) every day, but leave several in the nest overnight for her until your eggs arrive in the mail. At that point, either incubate the ones that are a day or two or even the same day as the shipped eggs or let her incubate the shipped ones. She's a cochin so hopefully that means she'll be a good mama. If you have chicks that are 5 days old when the others hatch, they may not adjust to a broody hen well (some might) but its likely that they will be afraid of her and stay away when she is trying to mother them and warm them and then you have the issue of cold chicks... or worse.

If you have some kind of a box or pan (dish pan) that will fit into the nest space she is using, moving her will be fairly easy. If its not already in the nest box, you can make even a short cardboard box to fit, have it ready once its dark. Someone's help is a plus. Lift her off her nest, get the eggs into the cardboard box that already has nesting material in it, put all of that into the nest box so it doesn't wobble and put her back on the eggs. As far as moving her, you could probably do it at night. Learn her routine. Generally, they will get off the nest every couple of days to eat, stretch, drink and then get right back on. Usually, this brief exercise takes 5-10 minutes (at least with my birds). If you catch her on the day that she gets off the nest, then move the whole box with her and the eggs in it that night, she should move fine. What I've done to move them when required is make it so they cannot get out of the nest for 24 hours and they adjust well. The next night, do whatever you need to do to allow her to get off the nest. She'll wake up in the morning and see her new area and be unalarmed because her nest is still her nest and she has adjusted to the sounds coming from the new directions.

Hope that makes sense.

got it. I'll do just that. As for the ones I end up putting in the incubator I'm probably going to have to put them in a brooder and care for them myself. Unless I get lucky and have another hen go broody =). Then I could slip them under the second hen.
The shipped eggs were sent out today and are only 2 states away. I believe they will arrive no later then Thursday. So Friday night I will be able to do the egg swap. I hadn't thought about other chickens depositing eggs. I'll make sure we move her it's the only way to stop it from happening. Moving her will be easy she chose to make a next on the floor in the corner of the hen house.
After checking on her a half hour ago she is still sitting on those eggs her entire body is all puffed up around them.

 

[jtn42248]

hey now, thats interesting. so your grandparents had you clean the run out every day - what, was that raking it out? and cleaning the coop - removing the droppings daily? do you remember the run being pretty full of chickens, or half empty?

Yes, rake out all the poop, feathers, uneaten scraps, everything that was there. Shovel it out to a pile along with the cow manure near her flower garden. It was used to fertilize the flowers and her vegetable garden. There were usually about 100 chickens at any given time. They sold the eggs and butchered and sold the birds eventually. They churned butter from the milk they got from the cows and sold that. Crops that were grown were canned and some sold to local grocers. This was in the mid-1950's in the Central Valley of California when you could make a decent living as a small farmer and before California got "healthy" and made it almost impossible for a small farmer to exist. As I recall a trip to the market was to buy a few staples and that was about it. Everything else we ate, washed with and just about everything was home made. I just wish I had paid a little more attention to how she did some of the things she did.

 

[Sylviaanne]

Yes, rake out all the poop, feathers, uneaten scraps, everything that was there. Shovel it out to a pile along with the cow manure near her flower garden. It was used to fertilize the flowers and her vegetable garden. There were usually about 100 chickens at any given time. They sold the eggs and butchered and sold the birds eventually. They churned butter from the milk they got from the cows and sold that. Crops that were grown were canned and some sold to local grocers. This was in the mid-1950's in the Central Valley of California when you could make a decent living as a small farmer and before California got "healthy" and made it almost impossible for a small farmer to exist. As I recall a trip to the market was to buy a few staples and that was about it. Everything else we ate, washed with and just about everything was home made. I just wish I had paid a little more attention to how she did some of the things she did.

I just tuned in and read this and was wondering if you have any cousins or other family that you might be able to put your heads together and maybe remember how things were done. I know when I am talking with my siblings, 6 of us, that we each seem to remember things a little differently. I can remember my younger sister saying something and supposedly I was there when this thing happened but I don't remember it at all. From my older sister to my youngest brother we are spaced out in 21 years. If there is something I want to know about, hopefully, one of them would know something that would trigger a memory that would help out.

 

[Lacy Blues]

got it. I'll do just that. As for the ones I end up putting in the incubator I'm probably going to have to put them in a brooder and care for them myself. Unless I get lucky and have another hen go broody =). Then I could slip them under the second hen.
The shipped eggs were sent out today and are only 2 states away. I believe they will arrive no later then Thursday. So Friday night I will be able to do the egg swap. I hadn't thought about other chickens depositing eggs. I'll make sure we move her it's the only way to stop it from happening. Moving her will be easy she chose to make a next on the floor in the corner of the hen house.
After checking on her a half hour ago she is still sitting on those eggs her entire body is all puffed up around them.

If you are only receiving six eggs and them being shipped, chances of all of them hatching are pretty slim. There's no reason why you couldn't start eggs in the incubator at the same time as she starts the shipped eggs. The chicks should all hatch within a day of each other and you can slip them under her at night. It will be dark and there will be a dish underneath the hen in the bedding so that the chicks will all stay comfortably underneath her. No second broody needed and no brooder manned by you needed either. The chicks will spend several hours hearing her clucking and chirping to them and will not be afraid of her.

 

[Sylviaanne]

When I was just a boy (mid-50's) I lived with my grandparents on their farm. We had chickens (lots of them) pigs, cows and various waterfowl. One of my jobs was to clean the chicken coop EVERYDAY! That involved clean out the run, cleaning out the coop itself and making sure there was no chicken poop in the nesting boxes. I also had to wash the pigs daily, milk two of the cows by hand, feed the other birds and do other general chores about the place. All this was done in the early a.m., usually before breakfast and school and more in the afternoon when I got home from school and before dinner and homework. This was not work. It was just the responsibilities of everyday life on the farm in those days. And, it was all something that I returned to in retirement today.

We never had an outbreak of bird borne disease or problems with pork when we butchered our pigs.

I do not doubt that there are serious issues with bird diseases these days. I read about them almost monthly some place or another. A lot seems to be imported with poultry from countries that have different standards than we do. And, while I respect the work that the CDC does I suspect that very few people have the funds or resources to live the sterile life that they would have us live.

Basic and proper sanitation in and around your animals will deal with almost anything in my experience.

Well, you do realize that one of the reasons you hear so much about diseases nowadays is because of the internet? This is a forum that people from all over the world can come and comment and ask questions and back in the 50's you would not have heard about so many outbreaks because everyone was so far away and the communications weren't there. I was raising Yorkies, Yorkshire Terriers and joined several groups. To my dismay I found that Yorkies have lots of terrible, horrible problems. It really scared me until I figured out that what was being said wasn't in a small area, it was world wide. So yes, my Yorkies COULD get liver disease but that doesn't mean they would. On the other hand, knowing that they COULD get liver disease and being able to read about the symptoms so that if it did happen and I could recognize it, helped ease my mind. LOL On the third hand, I could have lived not knowing that Yorkies COULD get liver disease. The only puppy to ever have liver problems was the fault of the new owner who was feeding him food that was too rich on a daily basis and once that was figured out, he did very well.

 

[flagirl]

the same can be said about this site. when i first got my hens, i was reading different threads and was astounded. I was upset, thinking-gosh-they are chickens, this seems way harder than i expected. then i found the older raising naturally thread and calmed down.
someone, I think mlowen, mentioned about mayonnaise. I always made mine in my food processor, but just stumbled on making it in a jar with a stick blender in minutes. this is fantastic, came out perfect and really simple. http://thehealthyfoodie.com/fail-proof-home-made-paleo-mayo-whole30-compliant/

 

[ThePRfan]

Is deep litter method worth the time?
Why use it?

 

[armorfirelady]

Is deep litter method worth the time?
Why use it?

I use the DL method on a soil floor. It doesn't take any time except when I empty the coop in the spring into the veggie garden & compost pile. During the spring & summer I don't add very much to it. The hens are rarely in the coop except to lay & roost. During the colder months I usually take a pitch fork and turn it once or twice so the broken down compost is at the top to aid in helping the top stuff to break down. I usually add either leaves or saw dust to the coop every 6 weeks or so. Depends on how fast the other materials have broke down.

Why use it? The DL is great for my veggie garden. It improves the soil. ( I have found earthworms in the soil under 3 ft of DL in January after months of old temps & snow) There is no waste going to a land fill. My hens are very healthy since they have exposure to the great soil/compost. There is no odor (as long as you have good ventilation) for most of the time. Once in awhile mine has an odor. I just turn it and add some more material. Its usually because the poop is sitting in a pile under the roost for a few weeks

(I don't use poop boards)

Of course everyone use of DL varies. It just depends how much work you want to do. I've read of others who do stuff with it daily & others like me who do very little. I want my hens to be simple as possible to raise. And the health of my hens shows that I must be doing something right

 

[ChickChickChicky]

More avian flu in Washington state, with huge economic impacts http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/...e/?intcmp=ob_homepage_health&intcmp=obnetwork



Edited to add: More info on avian flu in the US http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyl...cle_ee593a77-8f63-5719-83cc-d83274b55b7a.html