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

[Beekissed]

Is there a reason that you use hay in the nesting boxes instead of shavings?

I think it conforms to their body more when they are turning and trying to form a nest. I also have shavings and leaves in my nest boxes...I like everything to be as normal as possible and as much like an outside nest they would make. There's even a few twigs in them here and there...

Old timers do you worm your chickens? I saw what might have been a long round worm in a pile of poo on the poop board. I ground up some pumpkin seed and pumpkin and fed it to them but now wondering if I should start a worming program.
Would cold weather when laying down be a good time to worm?

We give this advice every few hundred pages. We don't mind.

Since I grow an acre of cucumbers and squash (market garden farmer) I've got tons of cucurbits. There something about the cucurbit that causes the round worms to drop out and they get flushed from the system. I grind up the seeds and guts from 4 or 5 large squash, I use a Ninja type whizzer. I mix into it a pound or two of the feed mash. They gobble it up. I feed this from September thru January, once a month. In July and August, they get big, 'ol cucumbers and they gobble them up.

If I had concerns, which I do not, I would also use black walnut tea and or cayenne pepper in a mix as well. Got to be careful with the tea though.

That's it. I do not use chemical wormers. Whenever our birds are butchered, we check. The "load" is very, very low, and well within the bird's ability to carry with no weight deficit. Remember, no one worms the wild birds.

Couldn't have put that any better. I use the pumpkin seeds as well. Sometimes I'll throw some garlic in the mash or even red pepper flakes. I too am satisfied with the acceptable parasite load and don't sweat it. As you cull for hardiness and laying, you often cull the animals that carry most of the parasite loads in a flock by sheer default. One university study states that it's likely that 20% of a flock or herd will carry 75% of the flock or herd's parasite load. The bird I just culled the other day had this in her small intestine.... I wasn't surprised. They have been in the worst possible environment with the worst care and only now are getting back to a healthy regimen. Time and culling will weed out the birds that are prone to heavy worm loads and the rest thrive with a certain amount at all times.

 

[Beekissed]

Ditto from me. REally cool to disrupt your life in such a self less way.
I'm moving the dogs outside. i think they will be happier and I will be happier. Its obvious we dont understand each other and after last night I'm not sure we ever will. I moved the hay barn to the back deck and left them there all day. Then when I got home I let them run the yard. They proceeded to dig at the chicken run until they could reach a rotten pumpkin and ran off with it like a huge prize. Emma was very willing to stay in the maint area of the chicken coop. Actually she would not come with me and I left her there for about an hour, she was content. This weekend im gonna get DH to install a dog door in the garage- I think. Its insulated with a Southern facing window and I can arrange it so they cannot destroy much. That and the electric collars and if they get killed by some animal it will be because they have no sense and they dont pay attention.
DH says no to leaving them out all night. Its 50 degrees, they have a dog house aka hay barn. I might not give in. Ive vacuumed the whole house already.

The roosters were not afraid of them but they were vocal about them digging at the fence. Of course the numb skulls didnt even take any notice. So back on the back deck locked up until I can fix the fence again. Honestly, Ive had dogs my whole adult life and i mite not be great at training and enforcing but im certainly marginal and not totally responsible for the total idiocy of these two. They have good hearts but are useless in every other way.

I was at the feed store today and they had free samples of some high line 23 dollars for 12 pound freez dried dog food. So I got three small packets and added it to my ff.
So the chickies will have a treat in the am. Sorry to gripe about the dogs. Maybe my neighbor will take one. He likes Darcy a lot.
L

A single strand of hot wire at the bottom of your chicken fencing and a $30 fence charger will go a long way towards keeping them from digging under that fence. A good snug dog house with lots of hay and keeping each other warm will keep them nice and warm this winter. Better now so they can get acclimated to the cold than later on. I'm with you on this one...two large, hairy, young dogs rampaging through your house is more your problem than your husband's. You are the one that has to clean up after all that mess!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Would you mind sharing the recipe for the black walnut tea? Would feeding some black walnuts have the same effect? They are plentiful on our farm.........

No. and here's the reason. It can be a bit scary to use. You can certainty research the web where others can and will offer recipes galore. A safer bet would be to buy from an herbalist and start slow by using very small doses. It may be, may be, that the herbalist would assist you in formulated a proper dosage for a 3 lb bird.

These folk medicines were and are used by Appalachian folks, my folks. Some worm their children this way and practice other homeopathic type, herbal, folk medicine. It is a touchy subject and like a lot of things, and there's no offense intended, it doesn't really get discussed. Hope that didn't seem off putting.

Bee may be more open than I on subjects such as this, she being a trained nurse.

 

[JeffOeuf]

... The bird I just culled the other day had this in her small intestine.... I wasn't surprised. ...

Bee, is there anything you don't photograph?

Thanks, actually. I had no idea what chicken worms looked like until now.

 

[Zanna]

No. and here's the reason. It can be a bit scary to use. You can certainty research the web where others can and will offer recipes galore. A safer bet would be to buy from an herbalist and start slow by using very small doses. It may be, may be, that the herbalist would assist you in formulated a proper dosage for a 3 lb bird.

These folk medicines were and are used by Appalachian folks, my folks. Some worm their children this way and practice other homeopathic type, herbal, folk medicine. It is a touchy subject and like a lot of things, and there's no offense intended, it doesn't really get discussed. Hope that didn't seem off putting.

Bee may be more open than I on subjects such as this, she being a trained nurse.

Thank you Fred, I completely understand and appreciate your honesty. I am just so on the fence about chemical deworming and have been for the 5 years I have been raising chickens. Everyone has an opinion. I do feed lots of pumpkins, squash, etc. year round and can add garlic and cayenne. Always looking for herbal options, after all, DH and I eat the eggs and all the culls! Have never found a single worm at butcher time but the culls are usually no older than 6 mos. Occasionally see a roundworm in a poop pile but no thin or seemingly unthrifty birds. Just need to make up my mind what is best for me and my flock. I really look forward to your posts and all of the OT's on this awesome thread!

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, is there anything you don't photograph?

Thanks, actually. I had no idea what chicken worms looked like until now.

Well, that pic was taken for the other thread I've got going and was meant to instruct about the reasons one culls as a preventative health measure for the general and overall vigor of the flock. Those are tape worms and not something you'd generally see in the feces as tape worms shed in segments and the segments, as you can see, are tiny.

These are learning threads and sometimes we learn best if we have a visual...wanna see some chicken butt pics?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Thank you Fred, I completely understand and appreciate your honesty. I am just so on the fence about chemical deworming and have been for the 5 years I have been raising chickens. Everyone has an opinion. I do feed lots of pumpkins, squash, etc. year round and can add garlic and cayenne. Always looking for herbal options, after all, DH and I eat the eggs and all the culls! Have never found a single worm at butcher time but the culls are usually no older than 6 mos. Occasionally see a roundworm in a poop pile but no thin or seemingly unthrifty birds. Just need to make up my mind what is best for me and my flock. I really look forward to your posts and all of the OT's on this awesome thread!

Like you, I do not use chemicals on my gardens or in my birds. It is a lifestyle decision and one I am prepared to live with. Again, our birds are overwhelmingly clean when examined. Others take whatever path they choose. You'll find your own path. We chose the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.​

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

​

​

 

[Beekissed]

That's my most favorite poem!

I completely identify with it.

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

And the road takes a literary turn. You OT's surprise me everyday! Thanks, Fred, for giving me the chance to revisit a favorite and to view it, for the first time, through the eyes of a farmer. Or a chemical-free/organic farmer, as it were.

 

[cheeka]

I've tried to read all of this thread, but alas... so many new posts everyday that I'm unable to make much headway. I have read thousands of posts, hundreds of pages, I am only up to mid 2012... awesome thread, memorable information...

while i had "rental chickens" back in the 1990's for a couple of years, my better half and I have only had chickens since this passed Spring. it was a few months later that I found byc... when the chicks were little, the oil filled radiator placed next to their tub kept them plenty warm, and I didn't know I wasn't "supposed" to take them outside before they were a week old or such... but they all thrived despite my lack of knowledge... my better half is an avid hunter, so the Hollywood "Bambi" mentality of not eating livestock and wild game best be left at the door, lest you be laughed at for your sentimentality... he's brought thousands of meals to the table, fish, venison, pheasant, turkey... I said to him, when our chickens were about 15 weeks old that I did not think I would want to eat them... he just gave me "that" look, and the discussion ended. unless they drop dead from a heart attack off the roost... we'll eat them eventually.

it was fun when they were little bitty things, but it's more fun now. they are even more super fluffy, even more well acclimated, even more energetic... it's a mutual benefit. they have a good productive life, and I have more reasons to spend time outdoors. no matter the cold, get bundled up and get outside. reminds me of when I was a kid. we were never inside. mom wouldn't tolerate it. our family had a saying, going back generations... "a pound of dirt a day" now go out and get yours! play in it, eat it... just don't come back til the porch light is on... back to my reading!