The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SeattleSelkie]

Ps: @SeattleSelkie

Where do you get your Welsummers...are they "hatchery quality"?

Mine are from a breeder who was one of the original breed advocates in this country. He has lovely birds, very reasonable prices for the quality, and does ship hatching eggs.
My rooster (in my avatar) is a wonderful flock master. He is always on guard and leads the flock in foraging. He also feeds the hens very well and courts them civilly. My eggs are all large sized and either a dark brown or speckled. Yet for their foraging ability they also are easy to handle and not flighty. I recommend the breed, but would only buy from a thoughtful breeder.

http://kummerpoultry.com/

 

[Paganrose]

Thanks for the suggestions! We do have electricity out in the coop/barn- We could set them up the seedling mats on a timer so they are not running all night- ill have to keep this in mind for next winter.

 

[Paganrose]

Grr internet was wonky- triple post

 

[Paganrose]

Grr internet was wonky- triple post

 

[lazy gardener]

@Paganrose

Do you have electricity to your housing? I've heard many people that recommend putting seedling mats in the bottom of nest boxes to keep eggs from freezing. Have never tried it myself. Though I work, for some reason I've never had an egg freeze.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Viagrow-...pagating-Seedling-Heat-Mat-VSEEDMAT/202985174

I very rarely have frozen eggs, in spite of temps the last 2 winters that stayed at or below 0*F for weeks at a time. I think it may be because of population density in the coop, as well as # of birds sharing nest boxes. The more birds laying in a particular nest, the more frequently all of those eggs in the nest are being heated!

 

[Paganrose]

My first few years of having chickens I rarely got frozen eggs- we had insulated behind the nest boxes, and had a 20ish chickens in the coop with southern window so it stayed toasty. When we moved to our current homestead we re-purposed a corn crib for the coop. We lined the two exterior walls with plywood, added a tin roof, and cut some windows on the west side. The other two walls are slat walls with 2" gap between the boards and is open to the sheep pen which is open for them to come and go on all but the coldest days. Coop was also bigger with fewer birds- so we had frozen eggs often.

I am going to rearrange the coop- moving the nest boxes to a less drafty corner along with lining another wall, and add a southern window above the door. hoping this with wool lined boxes will help with the frozen eggs before having to use electricity...

 

[smokie]

On the subject of natural chicken keeping , I moved to cambodia , as I'd always kept chickens ducks geese turkeys gunies and pheasants in UK I really wanted to keep some hear but extreamly limited on breeds could only get Cambodian breeds I have grown to love the Cambodian chickens never have I known hardier or better foragers they make excellent meat burds they hatch their own eggs they are very ferocious mothers that easily rear four lots of chicks a year they come in a wide variety of different collars which makes them interesting for me to admire they eat practically anything they find or anything I give them they rally need the bare minimum of mollycoddling and you have very natural meat only downside is they lay very few eggs actually a clutch of 9 to 12 eggs and then go brudy is the norm so I keep ducks for eggs again an unknown local breed but they are good layers

 

[mlowen]

On the subject of natural chicken keeping , I moved to cambodia , as I'd always kept chickens ducks geese turkeys gunies and pheasants in UK I really wanted to keep some hear but extreamly limited on breeds could only get Cambodian breeds I have grown to love the Cambodian chickens never have I known hardier or better foragers they make excellent meat burds they hatch their own eggs they are very ferocious mothers that easily rear four lots of chicks a year they come in a wide variety of different collars which makes them interesting for me to admire they eat practically anything they find or anything I give them they rally need the bare minimum of mollycoddling and you have very natural meat only downside is they lay very few eggs actually a clutch of 9 to 12 eggs and then go brudy is the norm so I keep ducks for eggs again an unknown local breed but they are good layers

Welcome! I enjoy hearing about chicken raising in other areas of the world.

 

[lazy gardener]

Welcome Smokie. I also enjoy hearing about chicken raising in an other part of the world.

 

[tjo804]

Oh me too!

Welcome Smokie
A wealth of knowledge here