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  1. Al Gerhart

    Is congealed turkey bone broth good for hens?

    I've used chicken broth as a growth medium for bacterial studies so I'd give it a good boiling, serve it hot in small quantities for fast consumption. Then there is the whole mad cow thing. Serving meat scraps or bone scraps to the same species isn't a good idea. Or maybe I'm paranoid about...
  2. Al Gerhart

    New pullets are constantly eating

    You got some great advice already and it looks like it was resolved. They came from a place of scarcity and competition. One of the reasons why we should offer feed 24/7 is to eliminate the idea of scarcity and limit the competition during busy times at the feeder. If you can have two feeders...
  3. Al Gerhart

    My chickens do not eat much

    How are they getting to the grape leaves? As Stormcrow pointed, out, that might be part of the problem. May I suggest you clean out their feeders at dusk, refill with a weighed amount so you know exactly how much is in the feeder once dark begins, then re weigh at dusk the next day to...
  4. Al Gerhart

    My chickens do not eat much

    Or if they are dead. Or if a neighbor super glued their beak shut. Or if the weird uncle took one for a "date". I can think of a million scenarios where they might not. The OP never mentioned free range. Just grape leaves with no mention as to how they happened to get to the leaves. But...
  5. Al Gerhart

    My chickens do not eat much

    Adult full size hens should eat 1/4 pound per day of pellets or crumbles.
  6. Al Gerhart

    Murderous chickens attack & kill crow - is this normal?

    Don't ask what would happen to you if you had a heart attack and died in the coop one day. :th
  7. Al Gerhart

    All Things Treadle Feeder

    Bingo, not about age, about weight and reach. The spring tension can be adjusted down to as little as a pound...but... that light means much less rat proof ability. If you put a scale on the actual door crank which is attached to the door where the springs are located, it is around 10 pounds...
  8. Al Gerhart

    Neverending mites

    If you have the right treadle feeder the wild birds will not be able to get to the feed. Increase the spring tension on the door to the point that your average weight hen can use it, the smaller hens will quickly learn to eat when they can. The treadle step HAS to be narrow and distant...
  9. Al Gerhart

    Neverending mites

    You are correct, small chickens of that age cannot use a treadle feeder but the others can. Segregate the little ones, get that expensive feeder put to use. The wild birds will leave once the food is secured and you have a decent bio security plan in place. The majority of them anyway.
  10. Al Gerhart

    Neverending mites

    Are the mites hiding somewhere or are they being brought back into the coop due to poor bio security? That is the first question to ask. Usually mites are host specific but wild birds will certainly bring in mites that happily host on a chicken. If this fits your scenario, first tighten up...
  11. Al Gerhart

    Northern Fowl Mites on wild turkeys!!!

    Bio security is a major thing folks. Keep wild birds, rodents, anything that walks, flies, or crawl as far away from your flock as possible.
  12. Al Gerhart

    Any advice for keeping starlings out of my hen coop?

    Good advice given so far. Automatic feeder.... you mean some sort of PVC gravity feeder or is it a powered/timed game feeder? A treadle feeder is the obvious answer but a swarm of a dozen starlings might trip the treadle so make sure the treadle step is narrow and distant, not one of the wide...
  13. Al Gerhart

    Goose eating acorns? Help?

    Your goose is not cooked. ;) Her digestive system will do fine and you will save money on feed and still have a fat goose.
  14. 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...
  15. 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...
  16. 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...
  17. 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.
  18. 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...
  19. Al Gerhart

    Chickens disappearing

    Look up wry neck in chickens. You might have a mix of disease and predators.
  20. 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.
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