California - Northern

[OR4-hmom]

My new baby

Congrats on the first chick.

 

[Ali707]

I don't know about worms, but DE is worthless against mites. My friend who has an organic farm refused to a pesticide on her chickens who had terrible mites so she used DE diligently for 3 weeks with no success. She finally gave in and used Poultry Dust. The live mites were gone the next day. She repeated after a 1 and 2 weeks later to kill the mites that hatched from the eggs.

I read a story on here from a BYC member that used wood ash to kill the mites and apparently it worked. Anyone here ever try that?

Ali707, yes my local vet does it in her office.

Thanks! That "float' test tests for all types of worms? I hate to sound so uninformed but I am...... I wonder if any one here in my area would do it? And if so and what price. Everything seems so expensive these days. Either that or I am more poor than usual.

I see that pine shavings are almost $7!!!! What the heck? Where have I been? Under a rock?

 

[HighNDryFarm]

I have chicks hatching. My bator has been off since June but I had to turn it on because the Crele Orp eggs I have been waiting on for 10 months arrived. So, I of course had to fill the bator with my own eggs also. 8/12 of the crele Orp eggs have hatched so far. I am thrilled with those results considering the eggs were shipped.

I am a little embarrassed to say that I am keeping all the chicks, except the 12 Basque I set for a friend who lost her chickens to a predator.

I'm doing the same thing. Mine's been off since June too and I decided to do two more hatches, let them grow out over the winter and have some pullets to add to my flock or sell in the spring. I've had more requests for pullets then chicks lately and my oldest layers are going into their third year and while everyone is still laying well, I need some fresh blood. Lots of bear casualties in our area lately.

Congrats on the Crele Orps! Wow 10 months of waiting. I would have forgotten I ordered them by now! Do we get some pictures?

 

[ChickNmamma]

My new baby

Yay, I am glad its doing ok!

Quote: I use wood ash for my birds, mixed with a bit of Seven dust and sometimes DE just for fun. As long as the birds dust in it it will keep the mite population down. I used to use just wood ash and it worked also, but not as well and I would have to manually dust the birds with Seven in the summer when it was hot and the mites were having population explosions. I also had a great roost paint, but the great brains outlawed it and now I can't get any more.

DE does not do anything if it gets wet except turn to mush. It has to be dry to scratch the exoskeleton of the bugs and that is what kills them, but it is very slow. I think the acid in the ash eats it too - and the dust clogs their joints so they can't move as well either. I don't feed DE except as a calcium supplement, I don't think it does a thing to internal parasites.

What kind of rock were you under? A pretty one? I like rocks too...

 

[juststruttin]

I'm doing the same thing. Mine's been off since June too and I decided to do two more hatches, let them grow out over the winter and have some pullets to add to my flock or sell in the spring. I've had more requests for pullets then chicks lately and my oldest layers are going into their third year and while everyone is still laying well, I need some fresh blood. Lots of bear casualties in our area lately.

Congrats on the Crele Orps! Wow 10 months of waiting. I would have forgotten I ordered them by now! Do we get some pictures?

Great minds think alike. I have one more (small batch) in also. and then I bator if off for the rest of the year. I swear.

My cousin and I run a Christmas tree lot so we work 27 12 hours days straight so there is no time to care for little babies. This last batch was cutting it close since we open the day after Thanksgiving

I will get some pictures once they fluff out.

 

[juststruttin]

My new baby

Congrats. Is this the one that pipped early?

 

[Kikwi]

Just had a "you know you're a crazy chicken lady..." moment. Noticed a ton of grey floofy feathers all over the run today. Started wondering if the chooks have any mites/lice chewing on them at night. Stepped out into the night to investigate my blue english orp's rear end. I went digging and digging this way and that; I found skin plenty of times, but could not find her vent for the life of me. It was like an unending sea of down. Then I realized just how crazy I must look, wearing only my headlamp, nightgown, and galoshes and poking around a chicken butt late at night.

Yep, that's crazy chicken lady territory.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote: Wow, a Christmas tree lot is a lot of work! My friends son has one and I've seen how hard he works and what long hours he puts in. Of course, I'm in retail so I'm familiar with long hours for this time of the year.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see the hatching chicks this time of year. Getting me excited to see the eggs start hatching this weekend! If I can keep the humidity up....feels like my first hatch in the Little Giant!!!!

 

[ronott1]

I need some advice on my humidity pump. I have the the Brinsea Octagon

20 Advance EX. I've hatched about 5 hatches since I got it last February. It's been turned off for the last few months but wanted to do a couple more hatches to get some spring pullets. So when I brought the incubator back out, I re-cleaned it and replaced the plastic tubes in the humidity pump. I removed them all and measured each one to new tubing that came with the incubator. It seem to be air locking???? I hear the pump running nonstop and the humidity is low because it's not pumping any water into the incubator. I push the air bubbles through the hose into incubator, the humidity rises and works for maybe a day or two and then the same thing happens.

Today they're supposed go into lockdown but I'm really worried that I won't be able to keep the humidity up. Anyone have this type of problem with their humidity pump and can recommend a fix so I don't have to watch it every minute for the next 3-4 days? Dang, I spent all that money so I didn't have to babysit the thing!

The cradle motor(turns the whole thing) failed. I sent them an email and a new on showed up three days later. I did register so I have a two year warranty.

There are water channels in the bottom of the incubator, so You can fill it and give Brinsea a call to see if they can help figure out what is going on.

Maybe it is a problem with the controller in the unit. If you pull the tubing out of the incubator does water come out of it?

I hope you figure it out!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Detached air cell eggs will hatch. Put them under the broody.

Yep, the air cells can reattach. I'd incubate them.

Quote: I've never added it to feed, but I've read it doesn't work once wet. I do however put DE on the floor under the shavings. It works great as a prevantative for lice. It won't work once you have an infestation (you need Sevin dust for that).

I have chicks hatching. My bator has been off since June but I had to turn it on because the Crele Orp eggs I have been waiting on for 10 months arrived. So, I of course had to fill the bator with my own eggs also. 8/12 of the crele Orp eggs have hatched so far. I am thrilled with those results considering the eggs were shipped.

I am a little embarrassed to say that I am keeping all the chicks, except the 12 Basque I set for a friend who lost her chickens to a predator.

Congrats! So sorry to hear of your friends loss.

My new baby

Congrats!