Recent content by beans2

its doubtful that a first time mother hen would accept day old chicks. you could try and it might work but its more likely to cause confusion and possibly turn her against all chicks in future. some hens are great natural mothers. others gain the habit of killing any chicks they see very easily...

yes.

pick them up and hold them till they thoroughly calm down. Then feed them a little of their favourite treat. soon they'll run to you from a mile away to be picked up. its really handy if you pair this with a specific sound so they learn to come when you call.

that's really interesting but there is more than one way a liver can be damaged. I'm training as a medical herbalist (we work a lot on nutrition) and I've lived and worked on farms my whole life. I've talked to several vets about this kind of thing. liver stress, inflammation and fat...

they don't take up much space but they can take up alot of time. they'll often sit quietly all year, needing checking once every 2 weeks then a warm spell hits and suddenly they need you. you have to be able to drop everything and deal with them. it was great for me and my mum because we both...

thats an oversimplification. there are several different ways the body stores fat. some healthy, some unhealthy - and healthiness depends on your living situation (climate, activity etc). as a rule grass fed animals produce healthy meat because they contain more omega 3s whereas cornfed...

fresh is always best but I do sometimes use powdered because its convenient and cheap (it does degrade quickly so theres no use in buying alot at once) with garlic, you can just mash loads up and offer it freely to them, they'll decide how much they need. sprinkle a treat over the top and make...

not at all. kale and spinach contain oxalic acid and phytic acid in forms that are easily dissolved in water. so soaking them for a few minuites before feeding them to chickens makes them totally fine. also, most greens don't contain any phytic acid. (or at least not enough to undo the good of...

it depends on the quality of the fat and the individual animal. the whole thing is more nuanced than one is good and another is bad.

I give my birds echinacea tea for their water and i've never had any disease in them at all. We live right next to the largest battery hen farm in Europe and they spread the manure all over the fields around us so I'd think they would be at high risk otherwise. I also add ginger in the winter...