Arizona Chickens

[kpgoldstar]

I don't usually have a problem with those little ants, however last year, they were coming into a turkey pen, under the fence. They were after the spilled feed. I put down DE really heavily all along the fence line and it stopped them. I have also been told Nutrisweet will kill ants. Think about that, all you people who drink diet soda. Sprinkle it around the ant hill.

Are you using what they consider food grade DE? My cockroach problem went away after some trapping and I think they must have been rampant from a hatch, but now I have billions of crickets when I put the girls to bed at night. I got the DE at TSC and it shows it as a food supplement for all types of livestock. Is that the one that kills bugs? I saw the pest control one but it said not to use around kids or pets so I figured it wasn't safe for my chickens.

 

[desertmarcy]

Are you using what they consider food grade DE? My cockroach problem went away after some trapping and I think they must have been rampant from a hatch, but now I have billions of crickets when I put the girls to bed at night. I got the DE at TSC and it shows it as a food supplement for all types of livestock. Is that the one that kills bugs? I saw the pest control one but it said not to use around kids or pets so I figured it wasn't safe for my chickens.

Yes, food grade DE. I bought a 50-lb bag of it since it was cheaper that way and lasts forever if you keep it dry. I think either will kill bugs but you want the food grade if you are using it around your animals.

 

[carnivore]

Yes, food grade DE. I bought a 50-lb bag of it since it was cheaper that way and lasts forever if you keep it dry. I think either will kill bugs but you want the food grade if you are using it around your animals.

X2 lol! I bought mine at Post Feed in Marana. $18 for a jug of about 5 pounds, or $24 for a 50 pound bag. Gotta wonder how many 5# jugs they sell?

 

[carnivore]

Are you using what they consider food grade DE? My cockroach problem went away after some trapping and I think they must have been rampant from a hatch, but now I have billions of crickets when I put the girls to bed at night. I got the DE at TSC and it shows it as a food supplement for all types of livestock. Is that the one that kills bugs? I saw the pest control one but it said not to use around kids or pets so I figured it wasn't safe for my chickens.

Diatomaceous earth is the silicious skeletons of diatoms, microscopic little critters living in seawater, like plankton. (Hey, I used to live where they mine it, in central California!) The skeletal remains are tiny, and sharp. It kills bugs by wearing holes in their exoskeletons. I'm not sure what makes it food grade or not, but either type will kill bugs. The food grade DE can be used as a food supplement, and will kill many types of internal parasites.
In it's natural form, it looks very much like chalk, but with pronounced bedding planes. Really good for finding fish fossils in, by splitting it apart on the bedding planes.

 

[desertmarcy]

The Salvation Army driver just left here a little bit ago. I donated 138 lbs of organic, processed, bagged and frozen whole chickens.
Discovered a Bourbon Red turkey hen in the freezer I didn't know I had. Kept the turkey! These were old chickens, frozen 2011 and 2012, but they are feeding the homeless so they were happy for the donation. And I am happy to get them out of my freezer. They mostly make a lot of stews because the food goes much farther. Perfect way to cook these birds. We can't eat as much chicken as I cull around here. Just culled 8 more today. 7 little cockerels hardly worth the effort and a one year old way too broody hen.

Now I need to move the rest of the stuff out of the freezer, mostly bags of wheat and mesquite flour, and defrost it.

I hope their cook doesn't look at the labels on the bags too closely. He/she might wonder what the heck "bobcat hens" are. I saw there were still some of those. Hens a bobcat killed several years back. It was winter and cool out when I found them all dead in the pen one morning when my poultry house was not 100% completed and bobcat-proof. There were about 20 or more of them. Cat killed them all. I said, I'm not wasting all that meat! At the time I didn't have my auto plucker. I was in tears as we sat there plucking birds. Labeled them "bobcat hens" so we'd know it was that group.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

 

Are you using what they consider food grade DE? My cockroach problem went away after some trapping and I think they must have been rampant from a hatch, but now I have billions of crickets when I put the girls to bed at night. I got the DE at TSC and it shows it as a food supplement for all types of livestock. Is that the one that kills bugs? I saw the pest control one but it said not to use around kids or pets so I figured it wasn't safe for my chickens.

That is what I use. I used about 4 bags a year. Nove, 2013 when my mom got sick I finished off the bag and did not buy another until April. I used it once or twice on the porch. That had to of been when tge ants went wild. I feel so bad for Mama Hen, such a tragedy. I stopped a lot of the things I usually did. So much stress.

Don't spare the DE, use it like water in the bath tub. I had no idea what a great job it dose. Now I know.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
LOL! I bought a 10 lb bag of DE from Arizona Feed a year and a half ago. It was finally running out so I recently bought a 50 lb bag - under $20 on sale, only a few dollars more than the 10 lb bags. But how to store it? If I leave it in an open bag it will get all over everywhere, and probably get wet at some point. I store my feed in five gallon buckets. A 50 lb bag of feed fits nicely into two five gallon buckets. I had a couple of extra buckets, so I started to transfer the DE. Hmmm... That 50 lb bag of DE wound up filling FOUR five gallon buckets and I still had some extra. Might be a lifetime supply. I am going to be climbing over buckets of DE for a long time.

 

[City farm]

I've always worried a bit about the ants getting to my chickens, my yard is just filled with a variety of ant species. When I was planning my coop and reading this thread (and others) the stories of chickens killed by ants made me want to see if I could design the coop to promote antlion habitat around it. So, I built larger eaves on the two exposed sides of the coop. With the soil around the coop softened from the digging of the foundation and the laying of the apron, the eaves created the perfect sheltered area that antlions prefer to forage from and within a very short time after the coop was set in place they colonized that area. It only protects the coop on those two sides and ants can still get in through the side by the pop door and from behind over the wall, but I've never seen seen an ant inside the coop. Of course I probably just jinxed myself. For those that don't know about antlions they are larval insects that make and maintain these pits while hiding burrowed at the bottom. When an ant gets crosses over an edge, the antlion pulls sand from below the ant, throwing it up over the ant and causing the ant to fall into the bottom of the pit. Once it's finished eating the ant, it throws what is left of the carcass up and over the wall of the pit. You can sometimes see the tracks of their wandering around in seemingly aimless loops as they search for new foraging sites. You can see short tracks in the pic above.

Agh, that is what those pits are from.. I ave noticed a few in the last few days..

 

[a little chiken]

The Salvation Army driver just left here a little bit ago. I donated 138 lbs of organic, processed, bagged and frozen whole chickens.
Discovered a Bourbon Red turkey hen in the freezer I didn't know I had. Kept the turkey! These were old chickens, frozen 2011 and 2012, but they are feeding the homeless so they were happy for the donation. And I am happy to get them out of my freezer. They mostly make a lot of stews because the food goes much farther. Perfect way to cook these birds. We can't eat as much chicken as I cull around here. Just culled 8 more today. 7 little cockerels hardly worth the effort and a one year old way too broody hen.

Now I need to move the rest of the stuff out of the freezer, mostly bags of wheat and mesquite flour, and defrost it.

I hope their cook doesn't look at the labels on the bags too closely. He/she might wonder what the heck "bobcat hens" are. I saw there were still some of those. Hens a bobcat killed several years back. It was winter and cool out when I found them all dead in the pen one morning when my poultry house was not 100% completed and bobcat-proof. There were about 20 or more of them. Cat killed them all. I said, I'm not wasting all that meat! At the time I didn't have my auto plucker. I was in tears as we sat there plucking birds. Labeled them "bobcat hens" so we'd know it was that group.

ah what a great thing to do by donating to the homeless. They are grateful for whatever they get. do you like your auto plucker?

 

[desertmarcy]

LOL! I bought a 10 lb bag of DE from Arizona Feed a year and a half ago. It was finally running out so I recently bought a 50 lb bag - under $20 on sale, only a few dollars more than the 10 lb bags. But how to store it? If I leave it in an open bag it will get all over everywhere, and probably get wet at some point. I store my feed in five gallon buckets. A 50 lb bag of feed fits nicely into two five gallon buckets. I had a couple of extra buckets, so I started to transfer the DE. Hmmm... That 50 lb bag of DE wound up filling FOUR five gallon buckets and I still had some extra. Might be a lifetime supply. I am going to be climbing over buckets of DE for a long time.

You need another storage shed