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

[fowlman01]

Yes...and they lived to a ripe old age. Go figure. And we think we are sooooo enlightened nowadays about proper food handling, what to feed to dogs (many on here wouldn't dream of feeding their dog spoiled meat from the fridge but go completely unaware that canines will bury fresh meat for days until it is gamey and rotten enough to consume and digest properly), what is "safe" for chickens to eat, etc.

I've read posts where they insist that feeding chickens their own eggs back to them without cooking them first can give the chickens diseases such as salmonella. Really? Can you re-infect a chicken with salmonella that is presumably a carrier of the disease to the degree that it shows up in her eggs?

Get real, folks.

Dogs are some of the nastiest creatures on this earth...I love them, but they do some do some things that the USDA would not approve of. They love to find and eat something the fly's might even pass up......and then roll around on top of what they don't eat. What these newbies should be worried about when it comes to salmonella is the greens they feed the chickens.......like lettuce.......old lettuce is far more likely to cause a problem in poultry than just about anything else I have seen. Waterfowl, whiich for the most part are indestructible, can get salmonella from bad lettuce if it is left out cooking in the sun.

Walt

 

[Beekissed]

I know my dog is and I really LOVE that about him! That makes him a real dog, IMO.

Someone was cautioning me on making homemade dog biscuits from chicken processing leftovers and pointing out that I need to be careful about getting the right ratio of bone to muscle fibers in the biscuits so my dog wouldn't get sick.

I about spit my drink onto the computer during my initial guffaw over that one!

I informed them that my dog is a REAL dog and doesn't get sick over the correct ratio of calcium to protein...as a matter of fact, if I threw all the left over parts out in the woods, he would immediately fill his gut with the whole pile without a flip given over the correct ratio.

The only reason I was even making the biscuits were to make the parts last a little longer than the one day it would take him to gorge himself on them! Dogs don't care about ratio in the wild, nor do they care about germs...they eat it, vomit it, eat it again and finally poop it. Then the chickens come along and scratch through and eat anything that didn't get digested...at which time he will return the favor by eating their poop after all is said and done.

Healthiest, glossiest dog on the planet sitting up there with chicken poop in his teeth...

 

[Clay Mudd]

I know my dog is and I really LOVE that about him! That makes him a real dog, IMO.

Someone was cautioning me on making homemade dog biscuits from chicken processing leftovers and pointing out that I need to be careful about getting the right ratio of bone to muscle fibers in the biscuits so my dog wouldn't get sick.

I about spit my drink onto the computer during my initial guffaw over that one!

I informed them that my dog is a REAL dog and doesn't get sick over the correct ratio of calcium to protein...as a matter of fact, if I threw all the left over parts out in the woods, he would immediately fill his gut with the whole pile without a flip given over the correct ratio.

I think I remember that thread. I have to bite my tongue on pretty much any post where people get serious about ratios in general.



But I do have some nice game cam pics of a coyote with a scale and a calculator...

 

[Kassaundra]

Dogs are some of the nastiest creatures on this earth...I love them, but they do some do some things that the USDA would not approve of. They love to find and eat something the fly's might even pass up......and then roll around on top of what they don't eat. What these newbies should be worried about when it comes to salmonella is the greens they feed the chickens.......like lettuce.......old lettuce is far more likely to cause a problem in poultry than just about anything else I have seen. Waterfowl, whiich for the most part are indestructible, can get salmonella from bad lettuce if it is left out cooking in the sun.

Walt

Mine think the cat's litter box is a treat dispenser, and the toilet contains water straight from the legend fountain of youth!

 

[daver]

Thanks Walt............... Here ya go LOL

Now that's funny!!!!

 

[fowlman01]

There are people who feed there dogs vegetarian fare...don't know how long the dogs last though. I can't think of anything a dog won't eat..at least twice.....maybe three times for the ones that eat poop.....it is kind of an unending cycle. It of cracks me up that mine eat hen scratch......I can't imagine it has much taste since it come back out in the same form it went in.

Walt

 

[JustFeathers]

Advice needed - My Lavendar Orp's eye is really swollen - she is scratching at it - I believe it to be a pecking injury from my RIR who recently took over as "Alpha Chicken" RIR has become more agressive during the last 2 - 3 weeks. Been watching fairly closely til this weekend when I wasn't as available to spend time with them as before. I am not "wing holding" just watching to get to know the chickens ways and figure out if RIR is too agressive. I have 4 pics will try to post here. So far, all I have done is isolate her. if it isn't due to pecking maybe it is something else. either way - if I can treat it easily enough ... Hate the idea of processing her - but may have two for the pot. (the aggressive one may need to go too).

7-23 her normal look

8-6 her good side (not so much)

8-6 top of her head

8-6 her swollen eye

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

Can you get a closer shot of the swollen eye. Can't see much.

 

[thedragonlady]

Advice needed - My Lavendar Orp's eye is really swollen - she is scratching at it - I believe it to be a pecking injury from my RIR who recently took over as "Alpha Chicken" RIR has become more agressive during the last 2 - 3 weeks. Been watching fairly closely til this weekend when I wasn't as available to spend time with them as before. I am not "wing holding" just watching to get to know the chickens ways and figure out if RIR is too agressive. I have 4 pics will try to post here. So far, all I have done is isolate her. if it isn't due to pecking maybe it is something else. either way - if I can treat it easily enough ... Hate the idea of processing her - but may have two for the pot. (the aggressive one may need to go too).

7-23 her normal look

8-6 her good side (not so much)

8-6 top of her head

8-6 her swollen eye

The whole sinus is swollen. You can try massaging that sinus from the the nostril to the eye.If this is a very special bird, and get Gentocin Durafilm eye drops from your vet. I've seen this before. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but sometimes you can massage out a white plug that looks like a contact lense from the eyeball.. I would absolutely seperate her, just in case. Otherwise...into the pot, as this is painful!

 

[JustFeathers]

I will go try.