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

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Color me sceptic but that story is too cut and dry. I don't believe that one day she slipped and fell into the hog pen all by her itty bitty self do you? Odds are you'd never even hang off that fence rail, let alone climb into it....anybody else having those thoughts? Most pens you feed from outside....don't you?

 

[Clay Mudd]

Color me sceptic but that story is too cut and dry. I don't believe that one day she slipped and fell into the hog pen all by her itty bitty self do you? Odds are you'd never even hang off that fence rail, let alone climb into it....anybody else having those thoughts? Most pens you feed from outside....don't you?

You're not alone. But as long as the Sheriff and the insurance company bought it, he's good.

"I went to town, and when I came back, the hawgs had done et her!"

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Yeah. Very little evidence remaining. Who knows really knows. Hogs are big time dangerous, at least that's the moral of the story. But haha love the accent.

 

[galanie]

I don't think like that either. I understand that they consider them as pets and they won't hesitate to spend huge sums for medical treatment for them. The way I keep them, they'd die a horrible death unless I made sure it was swift and sure.
Clay, I wonder which the world changes faster for. My father, who was born when cars for personal transportation was just barely starting and horses were still the main mode of transportation for individuals to where we had men landing on the moon. Dad went through a period of tremendous technology and social change. We are going through a lot of changes too, but I'm not convinced they are as much of a fundamental change as Dad saw.

Gotta go with you on that one. Just after my mother passed away at age 80, we were packing up her things and I got to thinking about her world. Born in 1919, served as a WAVE in WWII, died 1998. What a world that must have been.

 

[Beekissed]

not sure what to do about an egg eater flock. i am open to suggestions.

Go back a few pages and you will find my suggestion, Bruce.

 

[normanack]

Worms reflections and questions. If you are squeamish, skip this post!

Reflection: My first puppy came home a little slow and got slower. Since she came from a conscientious breeder, we never considered worms, but when the puppy looked like she was going to die, we took her to the vet. Diagnosis: worms. She gave her a dewormer, and when the puppy hit the grass at home, she pooped out that famous ball of spaghetti. Disgusting, but not as bad as the foot-long tapeworm my cat yakked onto the kitchen floor . . . . Said cat was a big game hunter and regularly took down rabbits as big as he was. I'm guessing that's where he got the worm.

Question: It makes sense that chickens have a natural supply of parasites and bacteria that they handle with ease. And that if the amount gets too large, the chicken gets sick, visibly or not. Assuming that is the case: How do we know, when we use garlic or pumpkin -- or chemical dewormer, for that matter -- and the chicken looks good and continues to live, that it was the garlic or dewormer or whatever that cured it? Or that it was indeed worms that caused the problem?

We can give an animal (including ourselves) any substance, and if it feels better, than we assume that substance did the job. Note, I'm not saying that using garlic/dewormer/whatever is wrong, or that we are wrong to give it. (Unless the chicken gasps, totters, chokes, and drops dead immediately upon receiving the stuff.)

Most of us are not scientists and don't run tests before and after treatment. And I'm not saying we need to. What I want to know is if there is any concrete evidence that any particular substance works as a dewormer?

 

[galanie]

Well, maybe you'd consider this anecdotal, but here goes.

When I was little, all us kids got worms. Me, my sister, and my two brothers. This was in the 50's. Mom got some pills the doctor prescribed and they didn't work. Finally, the doctor, an old man, told mother to just give us a spoon of garlic juice. She did, and we all tested free of worms. (edit: no more itchy bottoms!)

It is probably the regular spoon of garlic juice I got as a kid once every few months after that until I was, I don't know, around 10, but to this day I Love Love Love garlic lol.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Oh, there you go being reasonable again!

I know, I'm boring. That's just me.

I've only had one hen that would open eggs to eat them. Several others would help her eat the eggs when she opened them but I don't consider them to be egg-eaters. That' just chickens being chickens. When I permanently removed the one from my flock, that problem stopped.

When she started, I had several pullets coming into lay. Some were dropping eggs from the roosts as they sometimes do. I think this is how she learned to open them. One or more broke when they were dropped from the roost.

I don't crush my egg shells. They go into a bowl on the kitchen counter with all the other stuff for the compost pile. I just toss it all on the compost. The chickens scratch through it and eat what they will. Those egg shells seldom get eaten. Other than that one time a few years back, I have not had any problems with them becoming egg eaters and I don't think the compost pile egg shells ahd anything to do with that.

 

[thedragonlady]

Worms reflections and questions. If you are squeamish, skip this post!

Reflection: My first puppy came home a little slow and got slower. Since she came from a conscientious breeder, we never considered worms, but when the puppy looked like she was going to die, we took her to the vet. Diagnosis: worms. She gave her a dewormer, and when the puppy hit the grass at home, she pooped out that famous ball of spaghetti. Disgusting, but not as bad as the foot-long tapeworm my cat yakked onto the kitchen floor . . . . Said cat was a big game hunter and regularly took down rabbits as big as he was. I'm guessing that's where he got the worm.

Question: It makes sense that chickens have a natural supply of parasites and bacteria that they handle with ease. And that if the amount gets too large, the chicken gets sick, visibly or not. Assuming that is the case: How do we know, when we use garlic or pumpkin -- or chemical dewormer, for that matter -- and the chicken looks good and continues to live, that it was the garlic or dewormer or whatever that cured it? Or that it was indeed worms that caused the problem?

We can give an animal (including ourselves) any substance, and if it feels better, than we assume that substance did the job. Note, I'm not saying that using garlic/dewormer/whatever is wrong, or that we are wrong to give it. (Unless the chicken gasps, totters, chokes, and drops dead immediately upon receiving the stuff.)

Most of us are not scientists and don't run tests before and after treatment. And I'm not saying we need to. What I want to know is if there is any concrete evidence that any particular substance works as a dewormer?

I have a microscope, and I do my own fecal tests. Piperizine WILL get roundworms, and Safeguard goat wormer will get the rest. I've seen the proof in my dogs, cats, and birds under the microscope as well as in their condition.

 

[fowlman01]

I don't think like that either. I understand that they consider them as pets and they won't hesitate to spend huge sums for medical treatment for them. The way I keep them, they'd die a horrible death unless I made sure it was swift and sure.
Clay, I wonder which the world changes faster for. My father, who was born when cars for personal transportation was just barely starting and horses were still the main mode of transportation for individuals to where we had men landing on the moon. Dad went through a period of tremendous technology and social change. We are going through a lot of changes too, but I'm not convinced they are as much of a fundamental change as Dad saw.

Just trimming the beak of that bird in the beginning would have helped it tremendously. Early on I kept a bird like that and observed that they adapt readily to the situation. This particular bird would jump into my feed buckets as I fed and was able to eat all it needed becasue it could bury its beak in the feed. I don't
keep birds like that now, but I have also seen other "special needs chickens" do very well without assistance. Blind birds do quite well.....don't know how they find everything, but they do.

My father was born in 1900 and a lot of what I remember him talking about was the great depression and patriotism. Back in those days if you wore flag pants or shirts you would probably be killed on the spot. The US flag was almost considered sacred during those times. One of the other things I remember my dad talking about was "all these new regulations" That was back in the 50's lol....can you imagine the culture shock he would have if dropped into our time now? I had chickens, including roosters in my backyard in San Francisco in the late 40's and no one cared. I don't remember people being so upset all the time back then. In retrospect I remember the 50's as being a nice time in my life. No one had a lot of money, but you didn't need a lot of money and in general folks seemed a lot happier. The police didn't ride around in cars, they walked around on foot and pretty much knew everyone...... and you were more afraid of the cops bringing you home to your parents than going to jail for some stupid thing you might do. I like the new technology's but it seems life is going so fast many people don't even know about the roses, let alone smelling them.

Walt