The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[wlhtx]

They have oyster shell available. The goats ignore it. 

You're lucky! I made the mistake of thinking mine would ignore the oyster shell and put out a large feeder full. My dairy goats tore into that too and it was completely gone before I realized what was happening. The goats seem to ignore the broken egg shells though, so we're just going with that for calcium supplements until I can separate the chickens out again...

 

[armorfirelady]

Advise against it. Plain petroleum jelly toughens injured skin and by itself impedes the healing. It may soften uninjured skin, I don't know, but I do know it's not good for damaged skin. I have used it on wounds once a preliminary layer of pawpaw ointment has been laid down, but using it as a first layer is counterproductive.

You know I used to think that as well. But when I had a mole removed recently the dermatologist said no antibiotic creams. I was to apply peroxide several times a day then petroleum jelly for 2 weeks. I always thought peroxide would damage the skin as would the petroleum jelly. Maybe they prescribe it so it heals slower to prevent a scab? At 2 weeks the circle scar was smaller but had not scabbed until I stopped using the peroxide & petroleum jelly. Have a scar to but its small.

If you want to soften the skin, coconut oil. Yep. That stuff is good for everything.

This is on my to buy list. I saw it at the drug store but it was to expensive for a tiny bottle. SO I am going to bargain shop.

Armorfirelady, I can't see lice in your picture. May be I'm blind. Here is some good info on lice and mites: http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html
As far as petrolleum jelly not promoting healing, I would have to disagree because neosporin, polysporin, and just about every ointment including eye ointments are in a petroleum jelly base.

Thanks I will check it out.

Quote: I keep out oyster shell 24/7 for the hens to eat as they need it. They will eat the oyster shells when they need the calcium

 

[Mumsy]

Weather here has been 80 degrees and under. Fairly tolerable. The Potager garden and orchard are in full swing. It's all I can do to keep up. But...It's a good problem.
The flock spends a lot of time in the compost pile. They wait by the gate while I'm harvesting. They know it's only a matter of time before I throw them pea shells or over ripe fruit.


The barnyard pullets started to lay. Nice brown eggs. This girl is about six months old.


My Bing cherry tree is engulfed with rambling roses. More roses on the tree than cherries some years. I got up a ladder to pick a few pints this morning. The flock under the ladder gobbling dropped fruit. The wild birds eat them and drop a lot too. The chickens are under this tree during the hottest part of the day.




One of the HRIR cockerels hanging about.


Bounty from the garden this morning. Strawberries are done and blueberries coming on. Peak cherry and raspberry time.



The HRIR chicks are around fourteen weeks now. Feathers coming in darker all the time. This cracks me up. They love to roost on the chopping blocks. With ax in foreground. Silly chickens.


The Blue Slate turkeys are spectacular and so funny. One in particular is in love with my husband. Sings to him when ever she sees or hears him in the gardens.


I think the poults are around twelve weeks now. Growing fast.


Oh...I almost forgot to add. No luck with the Silkies going broody and being successful at it. So I set Silkie eggs in the Genesis 1588 yesterday. A good selection of eggs from four White Silkie hens covered by my Catdance White cock.

 

[armorfirelady]

Mumsy I can not believe how much your pullets & turkeys have grown. I am sure that is because of all the fruits & veggies they patiently wait to fall on the ground. I would be waiting as well.

And I love the part about the one turkey who sings for your husband. I hope he enjoys his serenading tho I think it will make it harder come butchering time.

 

[Mumsy]

Mumsy I can not believe how much your pullets & turkeys have grown. I am sure that is because of all the fruits & veggies they patiently wait to fall on the ground. I would be waiting as well.

And I love the part about the one turkey who sings for your husband. I hope he enjoys his serenading tho I think it will make it harder come butchering time.

The turkeys are penned separately from the flock. They are thriving on fermented turkey grower with Greek yogurt. They can fly really well and I've clipped their wings twice already. My husband laughs every time he goes past that singing turkey hen. We have decided to keep her to breed along with one of the nicest toms. One of my Grandsons named the singing hen 'Wendy' and the tom 'Juicy'. I told him they wouldn't be butchered. Two of the poults belong to him. He refused to name them. Hah!

 

[aoxa]

I feed layer of course . it is convenient for me . Mine free range with the option of food if they want it
I didnt realize you feed them their calcium separately .
I havent read this thread in a while so I dont know your preferences

Thats a sugar craving LOL..Me too
So the Goats think chicken food is their food too .
Can you manipulate them with something other than grain / chicken food ?
Do your goats free range too ?
I have heard they clear bushy areas well if you tie them up ..I have thought of trying to rent one for that purpose ..
Save me some work ...I have a area that is forest..that foxes can hide in ...that I would like to clear .

I can get them to go where I want yes, but not keep them distracted long enough to feed all the penned animals without the grain in their feeder. I spread it out so they have to work a little harder to get it. Otherwise they break into my pens trying to get at me feeding the silkies. Crazy goats!!

They only clear what you don't want cleared. That is what goats do. lol My two thought it would be a grand idea to clear the woods in between my neighbour and I. I mean, we have a ton of trees for them to browse.. but they want the ones that allows us to wear embarrassing clothing without being noticed

Yes goats free range. I don't even have my fence completed.

My comment was really more of a general sympathetic statement at seeing that someone else's goats also feel the need to be all up in the way when the FF (or any other food for that matter) gets broken out.

I'm not "punishing" the chickens for the goats enthusiasm... This is the first week that I have not fed the FF every day, and is kind of an experiment on my part. On the days they were not provided FF, they still received garden excess, dinner scraps (which included their own broken egg shells for calcium purposes), etc. But I really am trying to actively encourage them to range (most need no encouragement, but several do). My flock has the run of 100 acres if they want it (open pasture, wooded areas, pond banks, you name it they have it), so I see no reason to encourage the slackers to stay inside their run waiting for the food woman to make a delivery every day, at least not right now. It's the season where they have access to all the food they can possibly desire if they leave the run... So if it takes them not having a full food bowl inside the run during the day to encourage them to range, so be it. Believe me - they are not starving. And at least in my case the older ones are not stealing from the youngsters (who get fed FF every day right now). I keep them several acres apart.

And if my egg production drops somewhat because they do not have layer feed available 24/7, then I'm okay with that. I keep my birds for more than just their egg production. Besides, chickens have laid eggs for forever without having constant access to commercial layer feed, so I'm of the opinion that its not going to severely hurt mine for only getting it every other day during this otherwise bountiful season that we are currently in.

You're lucky! I made the mistake of thinking mine would ignore the oyster shell and put out a large feeder full. My dairy goats tore into that too and it was completely gone before I realized what was happening. The goats seem to ignore the broken egg shells though, so we're just going with that for calcium supplements until I can separate the chickens out again...

Wow. I just throw mine on the ground behind the barn near the woods where the chickens hang out. Goats haven't bothered it.

You know I used to think that as well. But when I had a mole removed recently the dermatologist said no antibiotic creams. I was to apply peroxide several times a day then petroleum jelly for 2 weeks. I always thought peroxide would damage the skin as would the petroleum jelly. Maybe they prescribe it so it heals slower to prevent a scab? At 2 weeks the circle scar was smaller but had not scabbed until I stopped using the peroxide & petroleum jelly. Have a scar to but its small.
This is on my to buy list. I saw it at the drug store but it was to expensive for a tiny bottle. SO I am going to bargain shop.
Thanks I will check it out.
I keep out oyster shell 24/7 for the hens to eat as they need it. They will eat the oyster shells when they need the calcium

Costo sells it in bulk for $17.99 if you don't want to order online. The container lasts a good 8 months at least, and we use it daily.

 

[armorfirelady]

No costo's near me but I will check walmart. Thanks !!

 

[chooks4life]

@ armorfirelady:

Quote: In this case I think it's being used as a protective covering. It doesn't heal directly but can act as a top layer under which a body may grow a new layer of skin, but when I've used it directly on wounds through all the layers of skin it's not done anything good. Did you use it directly onto raw flesh? As in, no layers of skin? Or did you put it on top of peroxide?

I do know though that when cutting into or near anything suspected to be a cancer whether benign or otherwise, prevention of normal scar tissue is often desirable to prevent the cells spreading and growing elsewhere. My issue with using it directly on open wounds was that it didn't allow a scab which in turn didn't allow a quick layer of skin to grow, but maybe in this case that's what is needed. The reason the dermatologist would have said 'no antibiotics' would likely be that they also destroy the natural and necessary bacteria and cells involved in wound healing, not just the bad ones, but the bad ones grow back quicker.

Random thought, maybe the petroleum jelly here isn't the same as it is over there. It's called Vaseline over here but its ingredients list only says 'petroleum jelly.' We used to use it for burns, scrapes, cuts etc but found it did more harm than good if the injury was more than a few layers of skin deep, and switched to Lucas's Pwpaw Ointment, which did everything the jelly was supposed to be doing, faster. We still use the jelly as a superficial bandaid sort of thing sometimes though. It does have its uses, but I don't believe it's an active healer.

 

[armorfirelady]

@ armorfirelady:

Quote:

In this case I think it's being used as a protective covering. It doesn't heal directly but can act as a top layer under which a body may grow a new layer of skin, but when I've used it directly on wounds through all the layers of skin it's not done anything good. Did you use it directly onto raw flesh? As in, no layers of skin? Or did you put it on top of peroxide?

I do know though that when cutting into or near anything suspected to be a cancer whether benign or otherwise, prevention of normal scar tissue is often desirable to prevent the cells spreading and growing elsewhere. My issue with using it directly on open wounds was that it didn't allow a scab which in turn didn't allow a quick layer of skin to grow, but maybe in this case that's what is needed. The reason the dermatologist would have said 'no antibiotics' would likely be that they also destroy the natural and necessary bacteria and cells involved in wound healing, not just the bad ones, but the bad ones grow back quicker.

Random thought, maybe the petroleum jelly here isn't the same as it is over there. It's called Vaseline over here but its ingredients list only says 'petroleum jelly.' We used to use it for burns, scrapes, cuts etc but found it did more harm than good if the injury was more than a few layers of skin deep, and switched to Lucas's Pwpaw Ointment, which did everything the jelly was supposed to be doing, faster. We still use the jelly as a superficial bandaid sort of thing sometimes though. It does have its uses, but I don't believe it's an active healer.

The peroxide was mixed with water to clean the wound, skin dried then the vaseline applied. I am sure it was so the skin grew slower. Less scar

And honestly I wouldn't even think of putting vaseline on a wound. I would be more apt to use it for dry skin. but my grandmother used it for a lot. I rarely put neosporine on wounds either. Good ole soap & water and a band aid if its in a place the will not stay clean. I only use antibiotice cream for deep cuts or ones that got dirty before I cleaned them.

And its called vaseline here as well. I know some has used it for leg mites since it is suppose to suffocate them. The added benefit is smooth & soft legs for the hens

 

[delisha]

Goats and chickens..

I did not have the problem with goats and getting into thee feed since the goats were with the horses behind electric fence. The chickens hung out with the horses and goats, however I never put grain in there.The goats were fed a little grain when they got up on the milk stand.

Mites- I looked at that site that was posted and those type of mites were not the type i had. Some mites live inside the hallow shaft of a feather and you never see them. I had only small clusters of eggs and they were hard to see. You can feel them more than see them.




This bird is loaded with feather mites.

all different varieties of mites with different results.


I have three different pictures on here but they are not showing up for some reason.