Posts by Erica

Hi Nonny,   it's definitely too early to tell if it's IB; in fact it doesn't sound a lot like it is. Usually IB goes through a flock so quickly there's no point separating the sick; they've all already been exposed. Other...

I'm no vet, but wanted to raise a caution about presuming recovered birds are no longer infectious. When my flock had apparent IB (suspected to have come by a bought-in carrier) it was quite an acute disease with very obvious symptoms...

One little-discussed danger (aside from potential kidney trouble) is that their calcium storage system gets overloaded, and they stop being able to absorb calcium or use it properly. A sign of this would be soft shelled eggs when they...

Hi Zanna,   have you thought of soaking/sprouting the peas? It makes them so much better nutritionally (lower levels of anti-nutritional compounds) and far easier for the birds to digest.   I sprout everything here:...

I use a combination of soured milk and careful management to make sure my chicks don't get cocci. Graduated exposure is the key, starting from day one in the brooder (with a handful of healthy hen pen soil).   People sometimes...

Keeping plain old fashioned grains in ratproof and preferably airtight storage will go a long way. Sprouting them as you need really ramps up the vitamin content and is a great way to turn dried hard grains into wonderful nutritious...

Yes, I do, and have been doing now for at least 5 years. The basis for all my diets are sprouts with protein meal, alfalfa, milk (soured with probiotics) and minerals. I raise birds from start to finish on variations of the diet. With...

I've heard that commonly too, CAjerseychick, and my feeling is it's sort-of true but not really. That is, if your scraps are high in protein, not too high in salt (bad for birds' kidneys) and fairly low in fat, they won't delay laying...

Hi Gander111,   there's a lot of difference in terms of breastbone meat between breeds. The really high volume layers (like ISA Browns) have very light frames, and can seem quite bony. However when you feel around the...

Hi aldren90, I would think about what plants you have that might be flowering/seeding at this time, and see if that might be a culprit. Any toxic toads that might be prevalent in summer? Foul water sources or runoff or possible...