The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[flyladyrocks]

Never tried to quote on my phone so we'll see if this works. That is exactly what I thought I'd dine before. This time I made sure it was in my wish list!

Lol..if you only knew how amazing it is for me to remember something like this. But right when I read the post I looked it up on amazon and saved it on my wish list.

 

[vpatt]

Yes! It was sixty four today with sun.....they are calling for warm weather thru the week...but rain on some days.....I hate to think of the wet ground after the snow...but ill take warm weather now with the rain and be thankful for it!

And I talked to my son today about adding on to my coop...he said he will more than double it...I'm so eggcited!!
e

Oh and I will try to watch the snacks for the little ones....

 

[farmerfogg]

I've been given 6 laying hens from a friend who no longer can care for them due to health issues. I've had them quarantined from my flock since they arrived. I planned on joining them after dark on the weekend. I just got a good look today and noticed that two of the girl's have pasty butts, which I think they've had from prior to their arrival. I'm planning on catching them and cleaning up their bums, followed by a good blow dry. Is their anything else I need to do? Any harm in joining them in with my girl's?

 

[vpatt]

I just read that I could have taken the chicks outside today and I missed it cause I thought they had to be older. So how long can they be outside? I know it needs to be at least 55° according to what I read....that is a big drop from the brooder temps. If I make them a small pen I hope I can catch them to bring them back inside. Any suggestions to make the process easier?

 

[lalaland]

I've been given 6 laying hens from a friend who no longer can care for them due to health issues. I've had them quarantined from my flock since they arrived. I planned on joining them after dark on the weekend. I just got a good look today and noticed that two of the girl's have pasty butts, which I think they've had from prior to their arrival. I'm planning on catching them and cleaning up their bums, followed by a good blow dry. Is their anything else I need to do? Any harm in joining them in with my girl's?

its all about risk management. If your friend had them vaccinated when she got them, if she got them as chicks, if she got them from a hatchery, if she picked them up at a feed store, if she has not had other chickens, if the coop was used for the first time with these laying hens, if other chickens weren't kept on that land.....all of these and more are factors on the liklihood or possibility that her flock is carrying something that might hurt your chickens.

To be strict, you could do the sacrifice, which is first her hens are quarantined (there is debate about how long but a min of 2 weeks and some go for 6 weeks!), and then you take one of your hens and add it to the quarantine and see how that one does.

The easiest time I ever had integrating grown ups was when I kept my hens in the coop for half the morning, and let the new hens get used to the run. Before I let my hens out of the coop, I moved as much as I could in the run so it would be different. THen let the hens out. It went super smoothly. Also helped that there was no rooster. And that some of the new flock were same breed as some of the old flock.

Good Luck!

 

[farmerfogg]

The hens that were given to me are two years old. He has raised hens for many years, and all have been healthy. In fact, I recieved my first flock from them. He took a terrible fall off an extension ladder and hurt himself badly.

I've had these girls now for about 4 weeks. I think I'll keep them separated for a couple more weeks. In the meantime, I'll get them cleaned up and offer a little bit of yogurt.

I should add that my own flock of 12 layers range in age from 1 @ 6 years old, 4 @ 2 years old and 7 @1 year old. No roosters in my group.

 

[sunflower4you]

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?

Update...I DEFINITELY have a feather picker in the flock. Now that it has warmed up some, I have been able to be outside with the chickens and observe more. I already suspected who it was since she is not missing any feathers and I have seen her randomly pick at another once or twice. She started by picking all the fluffy down off the bottom of one hen and progressed to vent picking so that one hen has bleeding around the vent. I have been putting NuStock on the wound every night, hoping that it would help with healing AND cause a nasty taste in Miss Picker's beak. Unfortunately, she seems to bleed again every time she lays an egg. Wish I could get her to stop laying for a week so it can heal! I thought about applying NuStock and then applying castor oil on top of that to soften the area and keep it from re-cracking. I noticed feathers missing on another hen's bottom and a third hen's neck. I think she picks while in the run and maybe also on the roost, but not sure.

So...last night Miss Picker pecked at the poor wounded girl and made her shriek right in front of me and I sent the offender straight into chicken solitary confinement. I have a small chicken playpen/tractor that I use in the summer so I pulled that out and put it next to the existing coop and run. I put a large Pet Porter in there along with food and water. I put it next to a tarped area of the run, so she can only see the other birds when they are on one end of the run, but they can still see each other.

Has anyone else had this problem? Will separation help her to "snap out of it"? Or is it once a picker, always a picker and I have to get rid of her? If I get rid of her, will the next hen in the order take over picking? Sigh...I am obviously new to chickens so I have lots of questions. As a side note, I have tried more protein in their diet (mealworms, hamburger), more time out of the run, toys/treats like a flock block and hanging basket with greens to keep them busy. I'm sure boredom has a lot to do with it since it has been such a long winter. We have cabin fever and they have coop fever.

 

[ronott1]

Update...I DEFINITELY have a feather picker in the flock. Now that it has warmed up some, I have been able to be outside with the chickens and observe more. I already suspected who it was since she is not missing any feathers and I have seen her randomly pick at another once or twice. She started by picking all the fluffy down off the bottom of one hen and progressed to vent picking so that one hen has bleeding around the vent. I have been putting NuStock on the wound every night, hoping that it would help with healing AND cause a nasty taste in Miss Picker's beak. Unfortunately, she seems to bleed again every time she lays an egg. Wish I could get her to stop laying for a week so it can heal! I thought about applying NuStock and then applying castor oil on top of that to soften the area and keep it from re-cracking. I noticed feathers missing on another hen's bottom and a third hen's neck. I think she picks while in the run and maybe also on the roost, but not sure.

So...last night Miss Picker pecked at the poor wounded girl and made her shriek right in front of me and I sent the offender straight into chicken solitary confinement. I have a small chicken playpen/tractor that I use in the summer so I pulled that out and put it next to the existing coop and run. I put a large Pet Porter in there along with food and water. I put it next to a tarped area of the run, so she can only see the other birds when they are on one end of the run, but they can still see each other.

Has anyone else had this problem? Will separation help her to "snap out of it"? Or is it once a picker, always a picker and I have to get rid of her? If I get rid of her, will the next hen in the order take over picking? Sigh...I am obviously new to chickens so I have lots of questions. As a side note, I have tried more protein in their diet (mealworms, hamburger), more time out of the run, toys/treats like a flock block and hanging basket with greens to keep them busy. I'm sure boredom has a lot to do with it since it has been such a long winter. We have cabin fever and they have coop fever.

Blood on eggs is a sign of mites.

Also, are you sure mice or rats are not eating the feathers off of her at night?

 

[lalaland]

The hens that were given to me are two years old. He has raised hens for many years, and all have been healthy. In fact, I recieved my first flock from them. He took a terrible fall off an extension ladder and hurt himself badly.

I've had these girls now for about 4 weeks. I think I'll keep them separated for a couple more weeks. In the meantime, I'll get them cleaned up and offer a little bit of yogurt.

I should add that my own flock of 12 layers range in age from 1 @ 6 years old, 4 @ 2 years old and 7 @1 year old. No roosters in my group.

the stress of the move could create some more liquid droppings soiling the feathers - but yogurt never hurts!

Is your 6 year old laying? I also have just one 6 year old in the flock and a few weeks back she started laying again after her fall molt. I'm always crossing my fingers after molt to see who will come back into lay and who won't. Now mind you, she only lays every 2 or 3 days but thats fine with me.

I'm sorry for your friend's injury - a terrible thing and also a good reminder about safety as we all start up spring chores. LOL, I am dreaming of spring beause it is an unprecedented 60 degrees here, still snow on the ground, usually should be around 30 at this time of the year. Not that I am complaining!

You know alot about the hens and the guy who raised them - that would lower my risk factor assessment.

 

[farmerfogg]

Rosie, my 6 year old, still lays eggs. Not as many as the others, probably 3 or even 4 a week. But she surely still rules the roost. It will be a sad day when she passes. She has been a great joy to have around. This winter she ended up getting an injury to her comb, which made me have her in the house for a few days for some healing time. When we took her back out, there was a bit of a scuffle. She reminded everyone that she was top hen.