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  1. Al Gerhart

    Flea infestation?

    I had to finally stop rescuing dogs from the pound when I lost an older dog. Couldn't control the fleas. Now the neighbors cats have taken over my back yard and I still have fleas on the back porch and they get inside the house! The most effective long term thing I have found are small pie...
  2. Al Gerhart

    snakes in the hen house, will they hurt the chickens?

    Snakes come for the rats and mice that come for the chicken feed. Both are capable of bringing in diseases and vermin of all times, as are the wild birds if they are getting to your feed or flock. Snakes do kill chicks and eat eggs, so do squirrels and rats. Thus the saying that if you need a...
  3. Al Gerhart

    All Things Treadle Feeder

    Great questions posted so far. First, a picture of the treadle feeder as there are many different types. Some types, like the light weight under $50.00 Chinese made feeder have such a light lid the might not kill too many chicks and they might be okay to use. Years ago, when they first hit...
  4. Al Gerhart

    Switched to layer crumbles, now there’s food waste!

    It is uniform feed, no treats mixed in, correct? Any decent feeder should have a feeder lip extender available for those rare hens that try to rake feed. Call the manufacturer to see if they have one available.
  5. Al Gerhart

    Ash in feed?

    It has been many decades since Vo Ag classes, but the ash content in feed isn't indicative of actually having ash as an ingredient. It is the amount of ash percentage wise left over after a calorie test (where they burn the feed and measure the heat output). Either way, it isn't going to harm...
  6. Al Gerhart

    Chickens disappearing

    Look up wry neck in chickens. You might have a mix of disease and predators.
  7. Al Gerhart

    Pest Control Sprays

    Permethrin isn't going to hurt anything other than insects and the BT is a bacillia, a biological control. About as benign as you can get.
  8. Al Gerhart

    Need soft food ideas for weight gain

    soft boiled eggs is the perfect food for a sick chicken. Everything they need. Maybe some sardines for the oil content.
  9. Al Gerhart

    HELP Bugs in chicken feed

    That is the key word, if done right! I like most men just assume people will know what most consider common sense but sometimes that common sense is just experience that others might not have! There was a family just South of Midland Arkansas that I knew. Saved and scrimped for years and built...
  10. Al Gerhart

    HELP Bugs in chicken feed

    Not so. To heat treat for insects in cabinet hardwoods you start at 120 degrees and go up to 140 degrees if you want to kill the eggs, or for for hard to kill insects like bed bugs. Specifically, drugstore beetles, minimum heat is 125 degrees for four hours to kill all forms including the...
  11. Al Gerhart

    HELP Bugs in chicken feed

    Might put the sack in a steel barrel, hang a couple of 100 watt incandescent bulbs inside, put on a lid, wrap it with something to insulate the barrel, and cook the little buggers over a couple of days. Or put the feed in a barrel with a tight lid and drop in a couple bucks worth of dry ice.
  12. Al Gerhart

    ants in my feed can

    Seal the bag of feed up in a plastic bag and drop it in your freezer for 48 hours.
  13. Al Gerhart

    Rat in Duck Run

    You stop feeding the rats. It is that simple. Search using the keywords rats and chickens on this very forum or site wide. Tons of advice available. Forget the old wives tales about strong smells, spices, ultrasonic sound, baking soda or plaster mixed with baits. There are only three...
  14. Al Gerhart

    Correct Way to Feed Chickens

    Good advice so far. A lot depends upon the time you have available and if you can keep a strict schedule. Some are retired and don't mind being up every day at daylight to feed the hens and to remove the feed at night. Just starting off you aren't likely to have a rodent problem so you can get...
  15. Al Gerhart

    Chinese Skullcap root extract for Marek's

    Amen, I spent a weekend reading the section on chicken diseases at that chicken feeder review site. It was sobering... amazing that any chickens survive but I guess that is why they breed so prolifically, to stay ahead of the predators and the diseases.
  16. Al Gerhart

    Fixing bad behavior? Help!

    You are blessed to have that luxury, so many of us are still working and schedules are packed with kids, work, education... no end to the demands on time. In my opinion, not having the feed available 24/7 puts you at the mercy of the chickens, you aren't raising them, they are raising you. And...
  17. Al Gerhart

    Chinese Skullcap root extract for Marek's

    Ditto, not treatable at all. Saving the bird would just be infecting more birds and passing the disease down the line. Cull and bury deep or incinerate.
  18. Al Gerhart

    Fixing bad behavior? Help!

    True, but who wants to have to be in the coop at daylight and back at dusk to move the feeder and water? Bringing in the feed at night just means any vermin feed during the day. Doesn't stop feed theft, just changes the time of day the theft occurs.
  19. Al Gerhart

    Fixing bad behavior? Help!

    Yeah, they are starving. Chickens are browsers, eating small amounts of food all the time. They need feed available 24/7. If you have a small budget, I'd suggest fewer hens. Or a cheaper feed if you are feeding something expensive like organic.
  20. Al Gerhart

    I WON!!!

    Without the human source of food the rat colony will move or starve to death. The local natural environment might support one or two rats, they might eat poop for a week or two but that is plant fertilizer, not a food, so eventually and likely very quickly, they will leave for better pickings...
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