Colorado

[ColoradoChicks]

Where are you located? Do you have a picture?

I'm in Boulder County. Here he is after a red-tailed hawk attack. He's making sure everyone is safe inside.

 

[Ashdoes]

I agree with two things - Valbazen was easier dosing orally (my chickens don't gobble anything up when I'm holding them) but it didn't work on the aggressive tapeworm load this year, at least with three of my hens.  I just dosed them with Zimectrin Gold.  Pea-sized dose on my finger, opened each bird's beak and kinda scraped it in.  Worked great.  Hoping for a positive outcome!

That's eaxactly what we did. The Zemecterin gold worked on the Tapes, and then you follow up after ten days with the Valbezen again. We are two days from finally being able to eat eggs again. My husband really hates the store bought..especially Egglands Best, which I buy just to make him crazy they are "the best" after all.

 

[Double Kindness]

I just won't deworm them since freezer camp is soon. It's been incredibly wet this year bringing slugs out in force. I need to move the buckets of ff somewhere besides outside the different pens where my flocks are, so I don’t try to scoop out frozen feed in winter.

My bf just mentioned if anyone complains about our rooster then they should just listen to the annoying neighbor who parks his hearse in front of our house and starts it up every 3 hours for 45 minutes for no apparent reason. Every day. For 3 years. And the other neighbors who have a bassett hound that sounds like it's being killed for 4 hours every afternoon.

So the screeching dying cat sounds my ee Josephine makes as her egg song is not a big deal,, along with my semi-quieted rooster Lenny, who does crow, but it's pretty quiet at about 25% of normal adult rooster sound. The slw 3 month old on the other hand is getting louder. Caponizing equipment ships today, we plan on doing the slw this weekend caponizing. 2 of my ayam cemani roos go for decrowing surgery this weekend. It's a busy stressful week with my roos being decrowed and us learning to caponize.

 

[Ashdoes]

DK~I'm of the opinion that if they're legal, I'm going to have them. I try to keep the Roo count at a low, three Creams were very loud, so we won't ever do that again. We also bought Silkie chicks from Pozees, and 5 of 6 were males...that was the loudest it's ever been here, and we promised the one acre away neighbor we'd never do that again. Those boys even made me crazy. Having Cochins again is great, because they really are the calmest, quietest boys ever. Rarely crowing, I guess they're so big they feel like they don't have anything to prove.
I would not worry about hen noise at all. My SLW girl is so noisy, she does the egg song while others are laying...and her Cream mix baby is starting to be quite noisy as well.
I'm hoping we get our final CSU report today. I have a salmonella check on the 15th, CSU does research every year and they offered to come out here because they're already going to be in Elbert. My hens are molting, which is super fun to watch. Hubbies fav Barred Rock has no tail, and when she lies on her side to sunbathe, her wings are two sad little feathers. I'm hoping we have enough eggs for them to test, because we're only getting one or two a day.

 

[Double Kindness]

My girls are just starting to get into their lay, but my wheaten ameracuna is headed to freezer camp in 4 weeks or so when we do 3 ducks and the 25 dp meaties I have. We're caponizing 6 cockrels this weekend, to keep noise down and make better meat birds.

We're learning caponizing to help us offset my chicken addiction costs, as the breeds I covet are expensive. The neighbors are great with us having chickens etc, b/c they are quiet and I think I'm getting my management style dialed in.

From our front yard you would never guess we have so much going on. Which is how it should probably be in an urban area, I stay in my city ordinances, keep the neighbors happy, no excessive noise/smells etc. A lot of people that come over are really surprised and we've prompted other people to want to get chickens in the spring.

 

[Ashdoes]

My girls are just starting to get into their lay, but my wheaten ameracuna is headed to freezer camp in 4 weeks or so when we do 3 ducks and the 25 dp meaties I have. We're caponizing 6 cockrels this weekend, to keep noise down and make better meat birds.

We're learning caponizing to help us offset my chicken addiction costs, as the breeds I covet are expensive. The neighbors are great with us having chickens etc, b/c they are quiet and I think I'm getting my management style dialed in.

From our front yard you would never guess we have so much going on. Which is how it should probably be in an urban area, I stay in my city ordinances, keep the neighbors happy, no excessive noise/smells etc. A lot of people that come over are really surprised and we've prompted other people to want to get chickens in the spring.

Something for you to try, for smells or moisture in your smallish area...PDZ, stall refresher. It is awesome, and found easily and cheaply at Big R. It's a white powder, I dust over roosting areas, where the poo tends to pile up. It absorbs moisture and smells, and walking in my barn, you wouldn't know there were chickens in there....except for all the chickens since I do deep litter, I'll dust all the shavings right before I turn it all over. It is most useful during the winter, while the birds spend more time roosting inside, and the cold keeps things from drying out.

 

[Double Kindness]

I have the poultry dust and food grade de, and bokashi. I am very into biodynamic living, growing and natural living, but I do also believe in using medication when necessary.

The recent addition of muscovy ducks is different type of odor I think. My bf mentioned that it's b/c of the musk part of muscovy ducks lol. Idk anything except I got the breed for sustainable duck meat and their quite nature.

 

[Ashdoes]

The PDZ isn't a chemical, I put the shavings straight into compost. http://sweetpdz.com Great stuff.

 

[trsturself]

Lol. If you'd like, I have a bunch of 10-11 week old pullets, I have 1 barred rock, 3 white leghorn and 13 silver laced wyandottes if you would like them. They aren't laying yet and are very friendly and love to be held/petted. Pm me if you want any, otherwise they go to freezer camp in a month!!

see below

I just lost another bird this morning - going into her 3rd winter and I'm pretty sure it was a build-up of internal parasites/worms. I just didn't catch it soon enough but she couldn't keep weight on and had just started to show signs of anemia. SOO - since we're headed into the dark and difficult time of our Colorado year, anyone have suggestions of what I should be doing to better control parasites? I check my birds externally at least once a month, have spread food-grade DE around their inside coop and have just added more apple cider vinegar to their water (while I can before it goes into the galvanized heated waterer soon). What am I missing? I'm pretty sure when I lost my first bird it was probably parasites too (looking back at weight loss and such) and I don't really want to haul up to CSU for a necropsy when my flock hasn't had contact with anyone else and all signs point to parasites. Any suggestions? Worming protocols you follow? Thanks for the help. Now down to 3 birds and feeling depressed since it seems as I've failed my flock when I probably could have done something sooner to save her.

Pumpkin/squash seeds are a natural wormer. They can't handle a heavy load but they do a good job of keeping them from getting that far.

Well I got 20 pullets for sale/trade for cockrels or muscovy ducks or a french bcm pullet then! I was holding them today as they follow me around & was dismayed at how light they feel. They would be excellent layers though, and are very sweet and spoiled. But aren't all our chickens spoiled??

My bf says freezer camp or gone... b/c I have 19 chicks in the barn that need to move outside eventually.

I was surprised out of 27 straight run chicks only 5 are boys!! Pfftt so much for my dp meatie project. I have white bresse, ayam cemani and haffies chicks, the bresse are suppose to be great meat chickens, caponizing equipment is through Chinese customs, but who knows how long to get here?

I would gladly trade any of my dp meatie pullets for any cockrels anyone doesn't want, understand though, they are headed to freezer camp in a month.

Greetings all, sorry I have been absent so long. It has been a busy and challenging summer! I hope all are well and hope to be visiting more often. If anyone is looking for chicks I have some Silkies and Ameraucana/EE, and I plan to attend the swap at the Elizabeth Big R this coming Sunday. I will be home Saturday if you would prefer to come see them and pick what you want. Feel free to PM me for directions, or send me a text at 719-492-0688.

BrotherJosh, what I've found simplest for worming is liquid Safeguard for goats, 0.5 cc per large fowl, 0.25 cc per bantam or juvenile, repeat in 7-10 days. Do not consume their eggs until 2 weeks after the second dose.

The PDZ isn't a chemical, I put the shavings straight into compost. http://sweetpdz.com Great stuff.

Finally back on the board after no internet for 6 days! Wish I had seen that you guys were going to be in Elizabeth. I would've come out. I have 2 10 week old roosters (EE and SLW) I would love to trade for a SLW pullet. I also am looking for a silkie pullet since our 2 turned out to be roos.

I need to pick up some PDZ next trip to Big R. I need to go there soon and get some shavings. With all this rain the flock has been in the coop a lot more and I had smell today. Need to add some new shavings.

Can't remember what I posted on here or not. Here's our updates:
1) processed Dinner. He was 6 months old. Unfortunately I didn't get a weight on him but he was pretty lean. We made stock and dog food out of him. I will not be skinning an old chicken like that again. That was tough!

2) we sold one horse and bought another. My daughter is in love with the new one and always wants to ride.

3) We were woken up to our dog barking this morning. Look out the bedroom window and see a fox running through the pasture. It was heading straight for the goat/chicken area. Of course we ran out with the .22. It was hiding in some weeds, I threw something at it, and it ran to the neighbors pasture. The good news was when it hit the gate it thought it would be able to run through (right into the goat area), it saw the wire fencing across it and turned around.

4) our older girls are molting heavily and we're getting 0-3 eggs a day.

5) some of the girls have eye boogers the last couple days. I put some vetrx in their water but might need to treat a couple more intensely

6) performed bumblefoot surgery on 4 birds (2 of mine, 2 of my friend's). stupid rain!

7) our pug had her puppies. 7 of them!!! We were thinking 3 maybe 4. Totally shocked to get 7.

 

[Double Kindness]

Wow, you have been busy! We didn't end up going to Elizabeth, but I have lots of slw pullets if you want to trade your roos. We're learning caponizing this weekend, yay. We are short on roos big enough to caponize, but I have 4 out of 6 ayam cemani and haffies that will be big enough eventually.

I know it's that time of year to cull older birds (I have one in mind too) and roosters, I have 20 3 month old pullets if anyone wants any, they are mostly slw. I have them on 18% protein all flock feed atm that I ferment. Healthy birds and very sweet, I handle them a lot to make it easier to catch them lol.