Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[galanie]

If you do use DE, make SURE it's food grade. But all it does is dry things out. Unless you're in a humid climate. If that's the case, the stuff will soak up moisture from the air and be rendered useless. The kind with the sharp edges is the pool grade stuff. This is very dangerous to use. Imagine feeding chickens with ground glass. If food grade DE really did kill bugs with sharp edges, then it would be, in effect, ground glass. It has been heat treated and this treatment causes the sharp edges. But I'd imagine breathing anything is not good for the lungs.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

How about this? I found it on another BYC thread.

I use wheat straw. I just make sure to add DE all over the straw to kill whatever lives in the hollow parts. No buggies allowed!!

Any of ya'll got an opinion? Extra Java RattlesnakeRidgeWV
RedRidge Yard full o' rocks ocap

Karen

I live in NW Ga and it is humid as "heck" here in the summer. Unfortunately, most of the dirt here is red clay and it simply holds water OR cracks like cement. My runs are all sand and could honestly use a couple of tons at the moment. Its the only way I've been able to keep them dry.

I tried straw, but it seems to become very damp as it decomposes. I also noticed that it tends to mold as well.

Just my opinion...

 

[Chickens Naturally]

If you do use DE, make SURE it's food grade. But all it does is dry things out. Unless you're in a humid climate. If that's the case, the stuff will soak up moisture from the air and be rendered useless. The kind with the sharp edges is the pool grade stuff. This is very dangerous to use. Imagine feeding chickens with ground glass. If food grade DE really did kill bugs with sharp edges, then it would be, in effect, ground glass. It has been heat treated and this treatment causes the sharp edges. But I'd imagine breathing anything is not good for the lungs.

I'm pretty sure the food grade (what I used for something else) works the same way with sharp edges in people or chickens, but its not supposed to be harmful inside the digestive tract. I haven't seen any benefits from using it either.

 

[Robert Blosl]

I like to use wheat straw and it works very well sometimes I rake it over to a corner in my big pens sweep up the little manure then take that out. Add more straw and do it over again. Great place to condition nice males for shows. Deep wheat little, nice fresh water and feed and boy they have a nice place to finish out before the small conditioning pens. Put a little scratch in ther for them to scratch and hunt for and they stir up the little and keep it dry.
I agree with you Walt I think you and I treat our birds like chickens and not like humans and worry about all this stuff if they make it fine if not so be it. That’s what these old timers did in the old days you and I met as kids. So if they did it with success why not us. I would rather raise 40 super chicks from a good trio narrow down to six good males and ten good females then when its breeding season time only two of the very very best is used and again the Paramount trait you look for is VIGOR. Then type and then color.
Pretty simple if you think about it. In my trio of three year old hens coming to me from my partner in December I will mate one ckl to both females pedigree each egg in the incubator toe punch each chick. Then rotate the male put his brother in and mate him to the hens again for the rest of the season. This will give me a total of four toe punches and four different looks in my program. You can do this also with your Java’s. By the way my paatner in Mottle Java’s in Texas may do the same with a male that has a great comb. Trying to stamp this head on all the off sping on his first breeding seson. Hope this helps.
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Quote:

 

[ocap]

How about this? I found it on another BYC thread.

I use wheat straw. I just make sure to add DE all over the straw to kill whatever lives in the hollow parts. No buggies allowed!!

Any of ya'll got an opinion? Extra Java RattlesnakeRidgeWV
RedRidge Yard full o' rocks ocap

it is extremely difficult for a man to admit that he does not know the answer,,,, I do not know
John

 

[Chickens Naturally]

Karen

I live in NW Ga and it is humid as "heck" here in the summer. Unfortunately, most of the dirt here is red clay and it simply holds water OR cracks like cement. My runs are all sand and could honestly use a couple of tons at the moment. Its the only way I've been able to keep them dry.

I tried straw, but it seems to become very damp as it decomposes. I also noticed that it tends to mold as well.

Just my opinion...

If it gets wet that's another issue maybe? My pens are under a pole barn so they get indirect sunlight and plenty of ventilation, so they don't get wet or mold. With the chickens scratching in it, it actually breaks down and blows away so I rake out what's left and add more every two-three months.

 

[RedRidge]

 How about this? I found it on another BYC thread.

I use wheat straw.  I just make sure to add DE all over the straw to kill whatever lives in the hollow parts.  No buggies allowed!!

Any of ya'll got an opinion? Extra Java   RattlesnakeRidgeWV 
RedRidge   Yard full o' rocks   ocap

Not sure I'll be much help. I have a totally different setup. My coops are actually stalls in a barn with screen doors. They are dirt floor and never get wet. I have never used straw but will sometimes toss a flake of hay in there in the winter just for something for them to scratch through. They free range except for about 90 days over the winter each year, so they are cooped dec thru feb. I am in east TN so very moderate weather and barn is on a crest and all gutters are drained into collections and overflow away from barn.
So... I'm useless in this department. No experience with moisture problems.

 

[catdaddyfro]

If it gets wet that's another issue maybe? My pens are under a pole barn so they get indirect sunlight and plenty of ventilation, so they don't get wet or mold. With the chickens scratching in it, it actually breaks down and blows away so I rake out what's left and add more every two-three months.

Yeah I have this same set up pole barn an all I use is grass/hay and really never have to get shed of it, as it just simply vanishes/ disappears into oblivion LOL they scratch it all around and literally break it up into minute bits and eat it an turn it into poop and this all goes to the gardens annually no composting nothing just haul it out and till it under. Just add another layer and off you go again through another cycle of course it helps that the dirt here is about 99.5% sand too.

Jeff

 

[maryhysong]

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lol. I was looking at buying one last spring, with auto turners & such. Then I found a Robert Bradley redwood for the same price and snapped it up. I think it originally probably held 400 eggs but one tray was modified with hatching baskets and a lid so now only three trays fit into it. I love it. The last owner put in a digital thermostat and it stays right on temp with almost no fluctuation. While I will probably never have 300 eggs in it at once I did have about 150 duck and chicken eggs in it last spring in staggered hatches. Some hatches were 100%, the ones that were less I think were problems with the eggs themselves.

 

[Chickens Naturally]

Yeah I have this same set up pole barn an all I use is grass/hay and really never have to get shed of it, as it just simply vanishes/ disappears into oblivion LOL they scratch it all around and literally break it up into minute bits and eat it an turn it into poop and this all goes to the gardens annually no composting nothing just haul it out and till it under. Just add another layer and off you go again through another cycle of course it helps that the dirt here is about 99.5% sand too.

Jeff

I was lucky to have a pole barn to put the chickens under too. I think keeping them dry and good ventilation cuts out a lot of issues. It gets pretty humid here in SC and parts of the pens actually do catch some rain, but its just the outside part of the pens. The chickens scratch it up looking for bugs and it dries out. It was red clay to start with, but not after the years of 'composting' going on in there. I actually encourage bugs, the chickens process them fairly quickly.