Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[NikkiMiChickie]

I have one of them feather dusters too, I usually spray a little endust on her and clean the coop with her. 

And it looks like yours does her broody job well, just like mine! Her feathering is beautiful! Mine is still a bit shabbier than her usual self, as the brooding took a toll on her body.

 

[Maven]

So far what has worked for me on keeping my chickens critter-free is what I've mostly learned right here in this thread from many of the OTs and just a little of my own common sense.

The coop gets 'cleaned' once a month. That's cleaning that's good for the chicken house, not mine!

I take a bucket of HOT soapy water down to the coop and all roosts, working surfaces and windows get wiped down with it. Then the roosts get painted real good with BMO (Was that Fred or AL that taught me that? I think it was one of them!). I wash the windows because clean windows let in much more sunlight, and a lot of creepy-crawly things thrive in the dark.

I also painted the inside of the coop white - the OTs are right in that it makes the coop a LOT easier to clean when it is painted. And again, the white brightens it and lightens it.

I use DE in the nest boxes. I bought the bag before I read all the things the OTs say about it killing the good along with the bad. So I don't put it in the DL any more, just the nest boxes. The girls haven't started laying yet, but they seem to spend more and more time in the boxes 'practicing' and I don't want them getting eaten on while they do that - the DE can kill ALL bugs in the nest boxes as far as I am concerned - good and bad.

Once a month I also wait until everyone is on the roost, then sprinkle them all with DE - again because I have it. I drilled holes in the top of a plastic mayo jar lid, filled the jar with DE and that is what I use to sprinkle it on them. As I go along and sprinkle, each one fluffs up and rustles her feathers as it hits her, and the DE sinks down into the feathers.

No DE goes directly into the DL anymore - I use ashes there. And once this bag of DE is gone, ashes will probably go everywhere else.

So far, knock on wood, there hasn't been a critter in sight! I just love everything I've been learning from the OTs about so many things. And you know what is really funny? I had a fellow stop by this morning to ask ME what I do to keep the lice and mites off my birds. And he has had chickens around all his life! He just can't believe I don't have critters on my birds, never heard of birds without critters before, thought that's just how it was.

ETA: Each morning at feeding time, and the gals roam in and out around me, I pick up a half dozen or so different birds and check through the feathers on their heads, under their wings, and around their vents - I figure going through them regularly will let me know immediately if something starts chewing on them and I can get a handle on it before the infestation gets a good hold.

 

[Beekissed]

I had never heard of birds with critters before joining BYC....

Had flocks all our lives but none with critters crawling around. And we didn't use any treatments in the coops, bedding, etc at all...even ashes. Just let the birds take care of their own problems and everything worked out great. If they dusted in the wood ash pile, so be it. If they solarized their feathers while out on pasture, even better. Not being confined to one area probably helped keep down parasites also. We just never had such things...no parasites, no worms, no illnesses or eggbound crapola.

I guess we just got lucky for all those years....

 

[Mskayladog]

I have no idea!  I'm not well versed on poultry diseases because I never had them, so to me she just looks like an immediate cull.  I'm thinking if you had Mareks before and she was the only survivor that maybe that's catching up to her now....my best advice? Kill her...she's in misery. 

At first glance?  Shoot that first one~you may find it picking on the other chickens...the group? not sure, others are boy, dust mop, girl.  Al beat me to it...that weird looking creature simply is not identifiable as anything close to being a chicken so sexing is out of the question.

Welcome to the thread!!!!!  So glad we can be of use. 

Bee it's not my bird someone else on BYC posted this I copied it into this thread

 

[Maven]

I had never heard of birds with critters before joining BYC....

Had flocks all our lives but none with critters crawling around. And we didn't use any treatments in the coops, bedding, etc at all...even ashes. Just let the birds take care of their own problems and everything worked out great. If they dusted in the wood ash pile, so be it. If they solarized their feathers while out on pasture, even better. Not being confined to one area probably helped keep down parasites also. We just never had such things...no parasites, no worms, no illnesses or eggbound crapola.

I guess we just got lucky for all those years....

Around here, lice and mites seem to be the norm on most people's birds. Gives me the heebie-jeebies!

From day 1 I've tried to incorporate every best practice I have been able to learn from this thread. I don't wait for a problem to present itself - I prefer prevention over cure. I have a list 2 pages long of the stuff I have gleaned from this thread, and when I am working down at the coop I feel like you, Al, Fred, Walt, Ridgerunner, thedragonlady, and sooooooo many more are right there with me, looking over my shoulder and nodding as things get checked off the list of 'good chicken husbandry'

I'll admit to a little whimsy here and there - this sign hangs over the nest boxes:



And this one over the roosts:



And there is a HUGE mirror in there that takes up almost all of one wall. It was already there when we decided to rededicate the shack to a chicken coop and I just left it because it really does a great job of reflecting the sunlight throughout the coop and brightening it up. But when people around here ask, I look at them with a good 'well DUH' look and tell them it is so the girls can make sure their lipstick is on straight and their feathers combed proper before they leave the coop in the morning.

The looks I get are priceless!

The hillbillies just aren't too sure what to make of me yet.

 

[jockeyeba]

I have one of them feather dusters too, I usually spray a little endust on her and clean the coop with her. 

:yiipchick so cute

 

[jockeyeba]

To I read this post this morning what is wrong with this chciken?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-a-leg-injury-pictures-included#post_10013603

I have no idea!  I'm not well versed on poultry diseases because I never had them, so to me she just looks like an immediate cull.  I'm thinking if you had Mareks before and she was the only survivor that maybe that's catching up to her now....my best advice? Kill her...she's in misery. 

Caught this little guy in the live trap baited with marshmallows last night will be relocating him to a state park 10 miles away or so... Husband says he can't shoot an animal in a trap.

Took some pics of my 6

At first glance?  Shoot that first one~you may find it picking on the other chickens...the group? not sure, others are boy, dust mop, girl.  Al beat me to it...that weird looking creature simply is not identifiable as anything close to being a chicken so sexing is out of the question.

I am new to raising chickens, eventhough I have fond memories of my father's uncle

Welcome to the thread!!!!!  So glad we can be of use.  X2

 

[jockeyeba]

I had never heard of birds with critters before joining BYC....    Had flocks all our lives but none with critters crawling around.  And we didn't use any treatments in the coops, bedding, etc at all...even ashes.  Just let the birds take care of their own problems and everything worked out great.  If they dusted in the wood ash pile, so be it.  If they solarized their feathers while out on pasture, even better.  Not being confined to one area probably helped keep down parasites also.   We just never had such things...no parasites, no worms, no illnesses or eggbound crapola.

I guess we just got lucky for all those years.... 

 

Around here, lice and mites seem to be the norm on most people's birds. Gives me the heebie-jeebies!

From day 1 I've tried to incorporate every best practice I have been able to learn from this thread. I don't wait for a problem to present itself - I prefer prevention over cure. I have a list 2 pages long of the stuff I have gleaned from this thread, and when I am working down at the coop I feel like you, Al, Fred, Walt, Ridgerunner, thedragonlady, and sooooooo many more are right there with me, looking over my shoulder and nodding as things get checked off the list of 'good chicken husbandry'

I'll admit to a little whimsy here and there - this sign hangs over the nest boxes:



And this one over the roosts:



And there is a HUGE mirror in there that takes up almost all of one wall. It was already there when we decided to rededicate the shack to a chicken coop and I just left it because it really does a great job of reflecting the sunlight throughout the coop and brightening it up. But when people around here ask, I look at them with a good 'well DUH' look and tell them it is so the girls can make sure their lipstick is on straight and their feathers combed proper before they leave the coop in the morning. The looks I get are priceless!

The hillbillies just aren't too sure what to make of me yet.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I know how they feel....I are one.

When I came to BYC I felt like I had fallen down the rabbit hole, for sure. Saw and read things I'd never heard and in short order went out to the coop to see if I was still on planet Earth and in the appropriate dimension.

Yep, chickens still wore just feathers and not clothes, coop still looked like chickens lived there not Barbie dolls, feed still looked like chicken feed instead of an organic, gourmet meal that I could never afford. It sure was a comfort to know that my own little bubble in the world had not tipped off plumb...just the rest of the universe.

A mirror in the coop could sure make the flock look bigger...but beware of it reflecting and concentrating the sunlight and catchin' yer beddin' on far!

Gonna have to get Al some of those nifty signs like you have in your coop as a Christmas gift for his laying flock. I just know he will love them! Very cute!

 

[JeffOeuf]

...I use DE in the nest boxes. I bought the bag before I read all the things the OTs say about it killing the good along with the bad. So I don't put it in the DL any more, just the nest boxes. The girls haven't started laying yet, but they seem to spend more and more time in the boxes 'practicing' and I don't want them getting eaten on while they do that - the DE can kill ALL bugs in the nest boxes as far as I am concerned - good and bad.

Once a month I also wait until everyone is on the roost, then sprinkle them all with DE - again because I have it. I drilled holes in the top of a plastic mayo jar lid, filled the jar with DE and that is what I use to sprinkle it on them. As I go along and sprinkle, each one fluffs up and rustles her feathers as it hits her, and the DE sinks down into the feathers.

No DE goes directly into the DL anymore - I use ashes there. And once this bag of DE is gone, ashes will probably go everywhere else....

Maven,

Before you give up on DE, let me share some things I've found in researching it. I've been using it with great success and did a little digging after reading about the death of "beneficials". DE kills hard-bodied insects, that's it. The "beneficials" that everyone wants in their DL aren't hard-bodied, they're microscopic critters and a few worms. I've used DE in my garden for years, and I've noticed no decrease in the size or quantity of earthworms. I just don't buy that there is any negative effect on beneficials from using DE in the coop. If anyone can point me to some research, rather than conjecture, I'd be happy to read it.

I use it primarily to dry up the litter. Mite control is a side benefit...I guess, my girls have never had any bugs, but they dust bathe like crazy and seem to take care of themselves on that front pretty much on their own. A tuna can of DE in my rice hulls and I can scoop the poop out with a screen once every 2 or 3 weeks and never, ever have any smell in the coop. But, that's just me. If you want to do DL, I really don't think DE is going to keep the pile from doing whatever it is supposed to do.