The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[JulesChicks]

I love having chickens but I hate this learning curve.....I wish I just had the confidence to try something but I guess it will come with experience!

Boy do I know how you feel!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think most of us follow our gut feeling, and if that don't work we chase down some chickens and try something different, it might just be to keep trying them together and separating if you feel uncomfortable, you'll never know until you try, supervise and have places for anyone to get away if they choose, I've had chickens for over 20 years, I still don't know who's going to get along until I try, and the thing with chickens is if it doesn't work today, it might work tomorrow, or next week. So good luck, I personally would try getting them all together as well.

 

[allyclair]

Thanks guys

I liked the ideas and I think I'll try the chicks in the main coop tonight. I can put their brooder in there and leave their little door open, there's no way my big old rooster is fitting through that door! And I'll set up a couple other hiding spots, though the coop's not very big, it was built for 4 chickens who spend their days free-ranging.

Last night I divided the run that the 12week olds are using, so the chicks can use one end. I'll leave them like that for a couple weeks so they can see each other and maybe get used to each other a bit.

 

[Lacy Blues]

wow! this is so timely, as I've been struggling with the idea of vaccinating future chicks/chickens with my flock having mareks. Its convinced me not to do that.....but another posting on one of the mareks's thread feels the study is not credible. I'm trying to find out why....

I would just keep on with the turkey manure. Keep doing it and you shouldn't have any further issues of new Mareks outbreaks in your flock at all.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Thanks guys

I liked the ideas and I think I'll try the chicks in the main coop tonight. I can put their brooder in there and leave their little door open, there's no way my big old rooster is fitting through that door! And I'll set up a couple other hiding spots, though the coop's not very big, it was built for 4 chickens who spend their days free-ranging.

Last night I divided the run that the 12week olds are using, so the chicks can use one end. I'll leave them like that for a couple weeks so they can see each other and maybe get used to each other a bit.

Hopefully it won't take a couple of weeks. With the loss of half of their growing space, they'll need to be out of it sooner. You might try just introducing for 3-4 days and have it so the rooster cannot get into either of their little compartments and only the smallest chicks can get into their own as well.

Don't force them out of their comfort zone as that is when problems will arise. Just open the partition so only they can get through it and they will venture forth when confident to do so.

 

[hellbender]

Hopefully it won't take a couple of weeks. With the loss of half of their growing space, they'll need to be out of it sooner. You might try just introducing for 3-4 days and have it so the rooster cannot get into either of their little compartments and only the smallest chicks can get into their own as well.

Don't force them out of their comfort zone as that is when problems will arise. Just open the partition so only they can get through it and they will venture forth when confident to do so.

I don't want to be a downer but over-crowding is one of the main reasons for chick loss.

 

[JulesChicks]

Hey gardeners, someone posted a link on our local thread I thought was interesting. I haven't studied the hugelkultur that someone mentioned here yet, but this is based on that but in a raised bed (which is what I would like to do). @Lacy Blues I thought of you with your very dry climate - this person said she hadn't watered the beds in 6 weeks and they had less than a quarter inch of rain.

http://www.homeindisarray.com/2015/06/low-water-vegetable-gardening.html

 

[Lacy Blues]

Thanks Jules. I've heard of the hugelkulture and I may yet try it some day. I think though, that if I piled a bunch of stuff up and didn't water it, I'd still have what I put there in ten years time, basically unchanged. The person in the video may have been somewhere where it rains a bit more than here... I haven't watched it yet so don't know about that for sure.

Now, all I need is a backhoe so I can pile all that dirt up.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have started a HK bed of sorts. When we had land cleared last summer, the excavator left behind a horrid mess. All of the trees that we wanted removed were gone. He buried a lot of the roots and trunks, left behind a wasteland of rocks and heavy clay subsoil, with the good black humus soil buried deep. At the back end of the yard, the graded area quickly comes to an end with a 2 - 3' drop off, leading to a waste land of rocks and rubble. So, I've been gathering some of the many dead wood trees and laying them at that drop off to create a HK terrace. I then dumped some chicken litter over the first section, and this spring, planted some rhubarb at the very edge of the new HK bed. That rhubarb is looking fantastic. My plan is to continue to build the terrace as time and materials allow, dumping some chicken litter, and compost, and soil on each HK section as it's built up. I'll be happy to complete a 4 - 8' section each season, and will most likely plant it to squash, corn, cukes, or any other space and nutrient hungry crop I think of, to free up more space in the main veggie garden. The entire terrace will be about 40' x 4 - 5', and I won't care how pretty or ugly it looks! Oh how I'd love to have a backhoe!!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

So you HC experienced...

Instead of building down a hilly area, could you actually build hills up with this method? I have a video - remember @Lacy Blues from the summit) where they talk about it. I guess I'll need to go look at it again. It would be nice to have some hills here on the plains of Indiana