Keeping Chickens Newsletter June 2014...Keeping Chickens Newsletter Published June 2014 by Subscriber Letters Barbara: I have a Buff Orpington that went a brooding and when she got

Keeping Chickens Newsletter

Published June 2014 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com


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June 2014

Hi Welcome to my Keeping Chickens Newsletter. Thanks to everyone who has sent in their keeping chickens tips, stories and photos etc. - as usual, if you have anything chicken related (tips, photos, stories, questions, coops etc.) you'd like to share in future issues of the newsletter or blog posts then just email [email protected] and I will do my best to answer / include them. Best Wishes Gina



Subscriber Letters

Barbara : I have a Buff Orpington that went a brooding and when she got off the nest the other chickens would try to attack her. Beings there is no rooster, no chicks, so I put her in a pen by herself and blocked off all nesting boxes. Within two days she was done brooding. Just a tip for those who want to get their chicken to stop brooding. It worked for me. Barbara, Salina, Kansas John : Thanks for the newsletter. I had not heard before of the terrible crash which involved over 6,000 chickens. It was heartening to read that many people turned up to rehome the ones that survived. In New Zealand the production of free range eggs has ballooned over the last ten years, and now people have a choice of barn laid, free range, woodland and organic eggs. They don't cost much more than the eggs from caged hens, and I hope that one day they will replace them entirely. Tracy : I love the newsletter! I have a question to put out to the poultry world. I have a "mature" flock of 6 hens, 4 of which have become too old to lay (but they are my dears and aren't going anywhere). My question is, Is there a trick to getting them to start drinking from the water nipples? Up until now I have just provided a bucket of water, but the nipple method looked so much cleaner that I had to try! Now it's all set up, but it's been a week and I haven't seen anyone use it! I do notice the girls get the wet off leaves and in the garden puddles after a sprinkle, but summer is coming and I would rather know they are getting enough good clean water from the nipples. So can I teach an old hen new tricks? My Reply : It should be possible to teach an old hen new tricks A lot of water nipples are red which in theory should naturally draw them to want to peck at it. Also showing them the water dropping by flicking/tapping the nipples when they are near should hopefully give them the right idea. Once one is brave enough to try then in theory they all will. Angela : I have a weird story and I would like to see if anyone might know what happened to my 4 year old Rhode Island Red. For the past few days I had noticed that she was keeping to herself, not hanging out with the other girls and such. She seemed to be eating and drinking so I didn't think too much about it. This evening when I went to feed all the animals I found her laying on her stomach by the barn. The dirt underneath her was all soaked with something, not blood. There was no trauma and no missing feathers. She looked like she had just collapsed in her tracks. But when I picked her up and turned her over it looked like her bottom had exploded and black stuff had come out. There didn't



even look like much blood, just gross black liquid. I am hoping you or a reader might have an idea as to what happened. Thanks, Angela My Reply : Sorry to hear that. I’m afraid I don’t know what happened there. The closest thing to an ‘exploding bottom’ that I can think of would be a prolapsed vent but that doesn’t really explain the non-blood black liquid unless that could be a black tarry poo. Does anyone reading this know?

The following is a news story from 1919 :

Dead Chickens Brought To Life A method for restoring life to drowned and chilled chickens has been discovered by Mrs. Lenora Yahn, of Wellsboro, Pa., and one Wellsboro chicken has had a taste of the after life and return to the life of the world. A few hours after the flood of July 22, Mrs. Z. H. Peters, of East avenue, was mourning the loss of several of her flock of full-blooded Barred Rock hens, whose bodies lay half covered with mud, upon the floor of the chicken house. Mrs. Yahn, who happened to be passing, stated that she thought that she could bring the hens back to life. Mrs. Peters, unbelieving, allowed the following experiment upon one of the bodies of the dead hens; First, the hen was placed in warm water until the water had turned cold, which operation was repeated three times. The hen was then dried as thoroughly as possible and wrapped in several thicknesses of flannel and wool and placed in the oven of Mrs. Peters’ cook stove for the night, a small fire being kept in the stove. Early the next morning Mrs. Peters arose to hear a noise issuing from the kitchen which proved to be biddy cackling lustily. She was then marked and returned to the few surviving members of the flock, which had been saved by taking refuge on floating planks. Biddy’s less fortunate companions were buried that same morning.

Ten Acres Enough How A Very Small Farm May Be Made To

Keep A Very Large Family

A self-sufficiency classic, in this book Edmund details the first 3 years of his 'back to the land' experience and explains honestly what worked for him and what did not.

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Elaine : Hi, Gina... I'm attaching a photo of Bella (in the middle) now known as Big Bella. She weighs 9 lbs. I found this out when I took her to the vet 2 weeks ago. She stopped eating, her favorite thing, and just sat around looking sick and croaking. I had to wait 2 days until the doctor who treats chickens could see her. I was so afraid that I would come out in the morning and she would be dead. I had limited funds, so the vet took a fecal and suggested giving her an antibiotic, hoping it was a bacterial infection. Her temp was so high it was over the thermometer's limit. He gave her an a vitamin shot, an antibiotic shot, and some antibiotic pills for me to give. The next day, she seemed even more lethargic. But the following day, she started moving around, and by the next day, she was eating. Every day, she got stronger, until now, a week later, she's back to her bossy self. Even her crow is normal again. What strikes me as strange about this is, the other two girls never got sick. The enclosure is small. I can't understand how one chicken can get so sick, while the others are just fine. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. I'd like to do whatever I can to make sure this doesn't happen again.



My Reply : If it were a virus it would have been more likely to spread throughout the flock but would not respond to antibiotics. Bacterial infections can be treated by antibiotics. We can try to keep things as clean as possible to minimise the risk of infections but however clean a coop is there are always lots of bacteria around the coop that the hens are fighting off on a daily basis. It is impossible to know exactly what she was fighting without lots of tests but generally the reason one hen might get ill and others don’t could be that she was either weaker in some way (she might naturally be weaker, stress can make infections more likely, or a break in her natural defences such as internal damage, cuts etc. ) or perhaps there was a particular item with the bacteria that infected her which was not ingested by the others.

Jerry : I don't know if you remember when I was looking for a male Silver Duck Wing bantam. Well, I found one last year and he came with a hen. Since then I have had all three running around. JACK - JILL - JANE. A few weeks ago I came up missing Jill. We looked all over the place and finally found her inside a roll of old plastic. She laid 5 eggs. Yesterday, three of the five hatched. And are they little, about half the size of those you see in the farm stores for sale. I took a piece of plywood and ripped it to 6 feet. cut the last two feet in half for ends. Screwed them together. Put in some straw and feed and covered the top with an old sliding glass door for the top. I have attached a pic of momma and the three babies.

http://www.self-sufficient-life.com/off-grid/



Ed : Hi Gina, New subscriber here and my 1st email to you, I grew up on a farm in Ohio where we raised chickens, now 40 years later, I'm retired and living in Tenn and started raising Chickens again, can't believe how much I have forgotten! Your newsletter has been very helpful. I've got 4 Leghorns and 4 Rhode Island Reds, the pics I have attached are 20 days apart, I've built a coop with an 8'w x 13'l x 4'h run/flying pen, they seem happy, healthy, & safe from predators, so I must be doing something right! thanks again! Ed Wingfield

Chris Hsia : Newly Hatched



Lori : Hi Gina, my husband and I have 26 hens. They are 3 years old. We get 12 to 16 eggs a day. Recently we've had some strange looking eggs. Our girls are very healthy, we treat them for mites and internal parasites. They get all natural crumble layer feed and also we give them unprocessed oats. We also give sunflower seeds, tomatoes, watermelon, grapes... lot's of fresh fruit and veggies. They also get oyster shell. Not sure what is going on with the eggs though.... maybe due to their age? Three of our girls lay eggs that look like there are miniature eggs all over the shell. Do you have any idea what might be going on? Thanks so much for your help and your newsletter!

My Reply : The things that look like miniature eggs on the shell are calcium deposits and could be related to diet (i.e. too much calcium) but also is something that is more common in older hens.

http://www.self-sufficient-life.com/easy-diy-aquaponics/



Amy : I currently live in Florida but will be moving to Maine in a few months. I know big change. I would like to bring my 4 ladies with me. First question: How do I help them move stress free or will it be too much for them? Second Question: How do I prepare them for winter? Do they go outside when it snows? If you could help me answer these questions I would be grateful. Thank you for your time. I love your newsletter! My Reply : I haven’t transported any chickens myself but I do have some subscriber tips for travelling with chickens here : http://www.keepingchickensnewsletter.com/Newsletter/feb14/keepingchickens_page09.htm Some chickens will go outside when there is snow on the ground, others hate it and will avoid walking in the snow. If they normally are free ranging they may still want to go out and about even if there is some snow on the ground and the fresh air is obviously good for them, especially when there is a bit of winter sunshine. It can help to clear an area for them so they have the choice to avoid the snow if they want to and can peck about a bit.

Rikki’s Refuge : Nanny was standing around sound asleep when Blondie declared himself the winner for jumping on a goat instead of just dirty old gravel piles.



Reg : I hope you or your kind readers can help me. My name is Reggie Rooster and I am a very handsome black 18 month old, Australorp rooster. Until six months ago I lived with assorted large soft feather girls (Buff Sussex, Australorp, RIR) and had no problems with the ladies. In my humble opinion I was quite the lady’s man with my shining plumage, large red wattles, engaging personality, and courteous manner: the George Clooney of the poultry pen. In January this year I was moved into a coop with four 12 month old light Sussex ladies and eager to make their acquaintance I danced and sang for them, got their food, and guarded them when free ranging, but to no avail. Not one of the girls will sit for me, and as I am a gentleman I will not force the matter. My owner’s husband has taken to calling me Dudley Doolittle. I am feeling embarrassed and emasculated! How I can get the girls to sit for me? Kind Regards Reg from Yarrawonga, Vic, Australia

My Reply : My rooster (who I’m sure my girls would prefer was much more like you) forced himself on all but two of my laying hens very regularly. The other two would keep out of his way and run off if he came anywhere near. Occasionally he would catch them (usually I was his unintentional accomplice as he would creep up and pounce on them when I was giving out treats) but they were far from compliant when he did. I am pretty sure he didn’t change anything he was doing but eventually, after several months, the two that were always avoiding him started to sit for him. I think perhaps their natural instincts finally kicked in (the weather had warmed up and it was a bit like ‘spring has sprung’). I don’t know if there is anything that can be done to encourage your ladies, perhaps someone reading this will. Possibly as the new addition to their coop you are just not yet at the top of the pecking order – on the up side, once one does sit for you they probably all will fairly soon afterwards.

200 Eggs a Year

Chicken Care Guide


http://www.self-sufficient-life.com/200-eggs-chicken-care-guide/



MaryJane: Hi, Gina. I’m wondering if you or your readers can tell me how long I can let my broody girl sit on infertile eggs before they may break or explode? My little half-Silkie is very broody and will sit on eggs for a long time before giving them up; this time, it seems to me that she has been sitting a very long time and I’m worried that they may explode while she is sitting on them. What do you think? My Reply : It is possible but they won’t normally explode within the usual 21 day incubation period. You can usually smell an egg that is going bad and then should remove it and throw it away. In theory the hen should kick the infertile eggs out herself as time progresses but they don’t always. If you would like her to hatch eggs then it may be possible to purchase some hatching eggs from somewhere like ebay and swap them for the infertile ones (some people even will swap eggs for actual day old chicks gradually if she has been sitting for a few weeks so she thinks they have hatched – the hen won’t always accept them as her own so you will need to have a ‘plan b’ ready but quite often they do).

Sheila : Sending you the picture of the skeleton of the chicken coop - hopefully tomorrow will put up the side walls. Saludos, Sheila in Mexico Jackie : I have 6 hens, plus 4 new chicks (Ameraucanas and Black Marans) that I plan to introduce to the flock once they are fully feathered and big enough. If you don't mind and/or have time to answer, can you tell me why you have separate coops? I currently have 1 coop that's about 8 x 6. Did you add on as your flock grew? And why not just have one large coop? Sorry for my ignorance. I just got chickens last spring, so still have much to learn. They are so fun to watch and rewarding to raise our own eggs! Thanks again from Texas!

My Reply : I currently have two coops because I started off with a small pre-fab one which said it was for 3-4 chickens and looked quite large in the photos but turned out to be at about waist height in reality and was decidedly small once I had my 3 (growing) chickens in it so I felt I really needed to build them a bigger one – and that then gave me more room for more new pullets. Then one of my



pullets turned out to be a boy and I thought I better get some more girls for him and also started to get ideas of how nice it would be to have little chicks running about. You know how it is things just seem to expand. If I had planned for a larger flock in the first place I probably would have just built one large coop and have been done with it but since I already have the small coop I think it could be quite handy to keep it in use in case it is needed as a broody coop, or for new additions to be kept separated, or a hospital area etc. It is still the favourite place for my original girls to lay their eggs and they still shelter in the bottom part when it rains heavily even though I’m sure the larger coop would be much better for that. I think multiple coops in backyard flocks often do come about from spontaneous expansions. With breeders (which I am not) it is even more common to have multiple coops, often in rows each with a separate run so they can keep their breeding pens pure.

Alisha Vargas : Muscovey, guinea fowl, and rooster hanging out in the yard.

Guinea Fowl

A Guide To Raising Guineas


http://www.self-sufficient-life.com/guinea-fowl-2/



Kathryn : How our chicken tractor works …

Documents

Keeping Chickens Newsletter June 2014...Keeping Chickens Newsletter Published June 2014 by Subscriber Letters Barbara: I have a Buff Orpington that went a brooding and when she got