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

[Fred's Hens]

For an ammonia smell, ventilation, ie, fresh air is key. Second, that smell is most obvious because of moisture being present. When the pens are dry, there's rarely that odor. We only fight that issue in late, late winter, early spring. The rest of the time, our air is dry enough here to never have an issue with wet poop out-gassing ammonia.

You could clean, of course, but short of that, applying some calcium carbonate will help dry it out. DE will too, but pricey for that purpose in a large stall. I prefer the calcium carbonate. If the hens pick at it or ingest, so much the better. I am careful about using the preferred calcitic lime, to avoid the high magnesium content. Keep the magnesium percentage below 20%. Some garden lime has magnesium as high as 32%, which is too much.

 

[Briezeechicks]

When we unloaded and defrosted my M-I-L's freezer, we found several packets of beaten up eggs in vacuum packed bags labeled "3 eggs" and a date. She donated many, many eggs to various peoples and foundations, but still had lots to spare. My sister-in-law and I have used these frozen eggs to cook with. They are great! No fuss, no muss, no measuring!. Of course the "freezer life" of eggs is much shorter than some foods (3 mos.), so we used them quickly, but it sure was nice, and it might be considered as an efficient way to prolong your fresh egg use.

Brie.

 

[Mountain Momma]

fact check, Al I will read and appreciate your advice on chickens but this statement is completely wrong.

Currently subsidies are paid to the "corporate farmers" to plant corn, soybeans, sunflowers, all sources of bio-fuel. I think we(as a nation) made some poor choices when the ethanol industry wasn't pushed to use sugar cane (example Brazil) but at the time the big farmers in the grain belt needed financial help.

Are you also one that suggests that the drought in the mid west is also the President's fault?

I'm not wanting to get into a political discussion it's certainly not the forum for it, please don't drag poor/bad info here to try and encourage the current trend of"lying being acceptable" as demonstrated daily in this election cycle

for those of you that care to read some good info on this topic here's a few links:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fresh-fruit-hold-the-insulin

http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Ethanol_Biofuel_Pros_and_Cons

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...r-subsidies-as-senate-farm-bill-debate-begins

FYI, there is no current farm bill in affect thanks to the "do nothing" House with it's current anti bi-partisan majority

I for one hope we stick with the topic as expressed in the name of this forum so all of us can learn about chickens

Dan
(a small market farmer just trying to make a living in the far north)

I understand what you are saying but actual information from people it happened to supercedes fact checks done with companies that are owned by Chicago companies that heavily support a certain Partry. Even the fact checkers cannot be trusted . But like it or not politics is heavily in our food. That is why I decided to let the kids get chickens in the first place. We are one of the last industrialized countries that allow GMO and roundup ready crops. They put arsenic in chicken feed for store bought eggs so the shelf life is longer. Since 1996 our food has been corrupted and none of the political people including the FDA is doing anything about it. 4 chicken eggs is enough protein to keep a grown man alive on a daily bases. So no matter how you slice it without a free market and a free information and labeling system the whole Country left and right is being duped. If none of us ever talk about it then we'll look up one day and a food company that invented agent orange will have taken over the world and we will eat if they say so. Why are you even messing with chickens if you arent concerned with the food produced in our country? Anyway I will shut up but this is a forum of people with wisdom from experience who have common interests. That wisdom seeps out over thedges into other areas aswell you know. Politics is a silly reason to ever get offended. Our goose is cooked either way because the greater agenda to fleece the population nuetralize our power as a Country and possibly lower the overall population so the planet isnt burdened with too many people is already being played out. Fertility, auto immune diseases, weird cancers, heart attacks, allergies. Old timers lived in a time where these things weren't rampant. I want to hear about it and as for bringing it up well, it was late and I had a bed full of kids that sleep like windmills so I enjoyed the discussion until I could zonk out.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not Julie and I don't have photos, but chicken feet and legs coms in all kinds of colors, yellow, white, black and all shades in between.

The one that is limping probably injured herself somehow. She'll probably get over it. When that happens I don't worry about it but she is usually next on my crock pot list. It's probably nothing genetic and probably purely a freak accident, but I don't want injury prone chickens breeding in my flock.

it's also possible she has Marek's or some other disease. I'd watch her to see if it gets worse but I would not freak over it unless others come down with the same symptoms.

The one with the swelling probably has bumblefoot. She either got a cut on her foot that got infected or has something like a splinter that is infected. Just like when you get a splinter, open it up, drain it, and go on about your business. I imagine others on here may tell you how to treat it with medicines or bandages but I don't worry about it. I find it to normally not be a big deal.

The ammonia smell is probably because it is wet. Since they are tromping in the mud, it sounds like you've had some rain. More bedding might help, but stirring it up might help more. You need to open up as much ventilation as you can. You might want to scatter some corn or something they want so the chickens will scratch it up for you. Make an effort to find out why it is getting wet anbd stop the water from getting in.

 

[Beekissed]

Not right off hand but I'm sure I can dig you up some off the web.

Leg colors vary from breed to breed and chicken to chicken. When I talk of pale legs on the other thread, it's because I know these birds like the back of my hand and I know what color their legs are at what time of year. When I say they are pale, it's really in comparison to their norm. Each flock and flock member has a normal leg color that is specific to them, some breeds have a specific leg color that identifies them as to the breed, etc.

When a chicken is limping, it's best to identify that particular chicken and examine their feet. There are a few things that can cause a chicken to limp, but you'll never really know what it is unless you first look at the foot. If you have examined the whole foot and could find no outward appearance of any abnormality, no calloused or scabbed areas, no redness or uplifted scales, no broken nails, no joint deformity, no broken toes, etc.,~ then it's time to determine if this is a chicken problem or a flock problem.

A chicken can sprain a leg/foot just by jumping down off the roost or getting it caught under a feeder or in wire and it may never show on the foot itself...they just start limping. This should go away within a few days. If it doesn't then you need to determine if this bird can still thrive with this disability.

If you have more than one chicken limping, it's a good bet that you may have a flock problem vs. a chicken problem. And those problems can be myriad and varied in nature when trying to determine what they have, why they have it and what needs to be adjusted to get rid of it or prevent it from happening.

Too much info for just one post or thread, really. That kind of info is accumulative in nature and comes from reading, reading, reading, comparing systems and methods, what other flocks have or do not have compared to yours and why, what you can change to make sure your flocks stop having or won't get such and such symptoms. It could be dietary, environmental, genetics, etc.

I'm sorry if that wasn't very helpful but it really is a process, this chicken thing, and we all have to go through it over time and one cannot learn it quickly....we have been at it for years and are STILL learning as we go along.

 

[loanwizard]

Y'all are good, I will give you that.

My breeds? I have hybrid comets/sexlinks, rocks, RIR, Brahma, etc....

I figured the ammonia was due to dampness. I live in a valley, water runs to the barn, leaky roof hopefully will get repaired/replaced next spring. I have done some irrigation ditching, dikes etc...

I added the hay to help dry it some and have hauled dirt with the loader to dike and raise the barn floor areas. I need to get a box blade for the tractor, handy piece of equipment there.

Will the Calcium carbonate help absorb the wetness too?

Not much to stir up. This is what is strange to me. I add hay, don't scrape or clean it out, and yet it still stays basically firmly packed.
I suppose I could go in there with a ... I don't even know what it's called... a 3 prong fork hoe thingy....

 

[loanwizard]

I might add that the stalls are damp but not muddy, however the entrance to the barn and just outside have some standing water. Nice in the summer so they don't have to go all the way to the pond (25 yards or so).

 

[Briezeechicks]

Fred's Hens: Where do you get your calcium carbonate? I did look at the feed store here (complete with "evil feed store guy"), at the lime, and as you said, it has a high magnesium content. He said it wouldn't hurt them, but...

We have great air exchange in both the chicken coops (1 deep litter, one about 6" deep straw on linoleum floor), so I don't expect any problems, but I don't want to wait until I have a problem to be prepared to fix it.

Brie

 

[Missa Chickabee]

We use a cooking bag, turn the breast down for the cooking, flip it and open the bag for the browning. Juicy and tender every time!

My mom did the same, breast down...but she used a brown paper bag. It was before the cooking bags came out. What temp? how long per pound?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Lime, ie, calcium carbonate, can be purchased direct from the mine, if you live in Kentucky, LOL

OK, most garden centers, big box stores, Wally's, TSC, Farm Stores all have garden lime in bags. Just read the labels. One local farm store sells garden lime that is somewhere around 32% magnesium. Another sells a bagged garden lime (pelletized) which is only 13% magnesium. High levels of magnesium is not good for the birds, and frankly? Isn't worth a hoot in the garden either. Just gotta check those labels.

With winter coming on here, most of the stores are putting their lime away. Reminds me. Better go get a dozen bags.