The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[mossyroo]

I got four chicks at the store today! They are really cute. I don't know which hatchery they come from....my granddaughter picked three aracauna and one RIR. I am not sure about the aracauna but the store lady said that is what they are.....I wonder about them being EE's. They are the chipmunk marked ones. I don't know what I will do when they start flying out of the tote I have them in. I did put a clump od wild grass and moss and sand in with them. Tomorrow I plan to start some ff for them.

I made a lid with wood frame and hardware cloth. My frame was a piece of particle board with the middle cut out the size of the tote. Very simple. I did the 2nd tote by just cutting out most of the lid for the tote. The wire is much easier to attach to wood though.

 

[flyladyrocks]

Oh, what store is RK? I was thinking you meant my feed store until I saw Indiana.
I got them at Rockingham Co-op. But the store lady seems not to know ...i called back and asked.

 

[mossyroo]

I got the red light to use....the feed store did not have the plates. They are in the house so I'm not sure if that is better or worse of a risk. Sigh.....

I don't think I would trust the clamp that generally comes with the lamp but I had mine suspended from a ceiling hook so it did not actually come in contact with the totes. I was very confident in its safety. This pic is actually from before I hung the light.

 

[flyladyrocks]

I have 2 question I hope you all can help me with!

1. Brooding chicks and deep litter: If memory serves me correctly, studies show that brooding chicks on previous chickens litter improves their health and viability (or something like that!). So when you brood, do you scoop some of your deep litter out and put it into the brooder? I know it also helps to dig up a piece of sod, but, well - I can't see any sod. We have a lot of snow, well actually after a 40 degree day it is really all ice now. By the time I get my first set of chicks in a week or so most of it I hope will have melted but then I will just have a sloppy mess in my yard so I don't think sod is happening!

2. How do you handle getting chicks from more than one place? My first chicks will hatch in a week or so. Then I am getting chicks from at least 2 other places. So do I treat it like "quarantine"? But not sure how to do that. I mean, if I do a month quarantine, my youngest chicks will still not be outside yet, so then I try to brood in 2 different places in the house? In my house is the only place I have to brood. The next will probably be 4 EEs that I very likely will just stick under my broody (since my roo died and she is sitting on unfertile eggs), but if that does not work well then they would have to come inside. Of course DD is very happy to offer the area under her loft to brood her babies - then the first chicks would be downstairs in the dining/school room. Sometime in late April beg/May would be the next batch (for now, if zoning changes there may be more so I can get grandfathered in!). By then hopefully the first batch will be outside in the grow out coop and hopefully the EEs will be outside with their surrogate mom.

So I guess the big question is do you keep chicks from different places separate and for how long?

 

[mossyroo]

I think I may have a feather picker in the flock, but have not actually witnessed the picking. I just noticed one bird with fluffy butt down missing and another 2 with front neck feathers missing. The other 2 birds have no feathers missing. Does this sound like a feather picker? Do I need to give them more protein? I scatter mealworms for a treat about every other day. Otherwise protein is sporadic depending on what kitchen scraps make it into the chicken bucket. For example, they got a few leftover hamburgers the other day. They ate them up like they were going out of style! I have heard of others giving cat food for protein? Or am I way off?

I have read there are potential problems with cat food. Don't remember what they are but I can't stand the smell of it anyway. I'm sure if you searched the forums you would find info on it.

 

[Lacy Blues]

As far as sticking chicks under a broody setting infertile eggs, be wary of how long she's been broody. Even with an experienced Mama, I wouldn't put eggs under her unless she's been setting for at least two weeks. Something happens in their brain. Any earlier and she would likely kill the chicks... I've had experienced mamas do this and it was quite shocking.

Also, how long ago did your rooster kick the bucket? If it was as far back as two weeks, I wouldn't count the eggs as infertile. Candle the eggs to be sure.

 

[vpatt]

Thanks everyone!

 

[n3kms]

I have 2 question I hope you all can help me with!

1. Brooding chicks and deep litter:  If memory serves me correctly, studies show that brooding chicks on previous chickens litter improves their health and viability (or something like that!). So when you brood, do you scoop some of your deep litter out and put it into the brooder?  I know it also helps to dig up a piece of sod, but, well - I can't see any sod.  We have a lot of snow, well actually after a 40 degree day it is really all ice now. By the time I get my first set of chicks in a week or so most of it I hope will have melted but then I will just have a sloppy mess in my yard so I don't think sod is happening!

2. How do you handle getting chicks from more than one place? My first chicks will hatch in a week or so. Then I am getting chicks from at least 2 other places.  So do I treat it like "quarantine"? But not sure how to do that. I mean, if I do a month quarantine, my youngest chicks will still not be outside yet, so then I try to brood in 2 different places in the house? In my house is the only place I have to brood.  The next will probably be 4 EEs that I very likely will just stick under my broody (since my roo died and she is sitting on unfertile eggs), but if that does not work well then they would have to come inside. Of course DD is very happy to offer the area under her loft to brood her babies - then the first chicks would be downstairs in the dining/school room. Sometime in late April beg/May would be the next batch (for now, if zoning changes there may be more so I can get grandfathered in!). By then hopefully the first batch will be outside in the grow out coop and hopefully the EEs will be outside with their surrogate mom. 

So I guess the big question is do you keep chicks from different places separate and for how long? 

Not sure of the answers but I have had my current chicks in a cardboard box in the house due to the garage being too cold, even witha heat lamp. I hatched my own then bought three more at the CO-OP and added them right in. I thought I probably should have waited just a bit to be sure they were healthy. They all seem fine though. If you are getting them from a reputable hatchery it seems to me if you kept them separate for several days and if they showed no signs of illness they could go together. Others may respond and differ on that.
As far as putting litter from the coop, I plan to do that this weekend. I am moving them to the brooder in the garage. They will be 2 weeks old and I am going to mix a little of the litter from the big coop with clean litter to expose them slowly to what new chicks hatched by mom would have already been exposed.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@flyladyrocks

Here is the old article on brooding w/deep litter: http://www.plamondon.com/faq_deep_litter.html

I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING LIME. PLEASE DON'T USE LIME! or any other additives.

When I brought my new babies home last time, I let them settle in a day or 2 in their box. After that, I brought in a handful of litter from the floor in the regular coop and put it in with the litter already on their box floor. Every few days I'd add a little more of the litter from the regular coop until after about 1.5 - 2 weeks it was predominantly litter from the regular coop.

This is an important step, along with the sod plugs, as it helps their immune system build for the items they will be put into when they go out with the rest of the gang. The studies seem to show that when most chicks get cocci, it is when they are first put out in the regular coop around 6 weeks of age, having come from no exposure at all. The immunities are supposed to be building from day 1 by being exposed to the environment while they still have some of the immunities that come with the hatch.

Interesting thing in that article is that they believe one of the reasons that the deep litter helps is that it has ammonia...as it has been proven to kill the cocci parasite. So... NOT IN EXCESS, but in small amounts, ammonia in the litter is a good thing. (OF COURSE, IT MUST NOT BE STRONG TO CAUSE RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS.) But that bit of ammonia in the built up litter is good when in moderation.

 

[JulesChicks]

@flyladyrocks

Here is the old article on brooding w/deep litter: http://www.plamondon.com/faq_deep_litter.html

I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING LIME. PLEASE DON'T USE LIME! or any other additives.

When I brought my new babies home last time, I let them settle in a day or 2 in their box. After that, I brought in a handful of litter from the floor in the regular coop and put it in with the litter already on their box floor. Every few days I'd add a little more of the litter from the regular coop until after about 1.5 - 2 weeks it was predominantly litter from the regular coop.

This is an important step, along with the sod plugs, as it helps their immune system build for the items they will be put into when they go out with the rest of the gang. The studies seem to show that when most chicks get cocci, it is when they are first put out in the regular coop around 6 weeks of age, having come from no exposure at all. The immunities are supposed to be building from day 1 by being exposed to the environment while they still have some of the immunities that come with the hatch.

Interesting thing in that article is that they believe one of the reasons that the deep litter helps is that it has ammonia...as it has been proven to kill the cocci parasite. So... NOT IN EXCESS, but in small amounts, ammonia in the litter is a good thing. (OF COURSE, IT MUST NOT BE STRONG TO CAUSE RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS.) But that bit of ammonia in the built up litter is good when in moderation.

Thank you @flyladyrocks for asking the questions as I had the same ones and thank you @Leahs Mom for answering. So, I still have a couple of questions. I am waiting on chicks to be hatched by 2 local breeders. I will be getting several breeds from one of the breeders and these will likely be at different times, plus a few chicks from the other breeder. The one I am getting multiple breeds from does breed for resistance, but I don't know if he uses the DLM. I plan on using the DLM but I don't have any chickens yet. Questions are: 1. Should I ask the breeders for a bit of litter if they use DLM to inoculate the chicks a little at a time? 2. How do I handle the multiple batches of chicks? I can set up several brooders but how long will they need to be kept separate? Again, these are not hatchery chicks, they will be coming from small breeders. Thanks!