Consolidated Kansas

[cubbysan]

HEChicken~ I'm trying to understand what it is that the ACV does and how.  Does it kill the worms or just prevent them?  Thinking back to my school days, yeast convert sugar to alcohol and bacteria convert the alcohol to acetic acid(I think).  So is it the acid or the bacteria that are doing the work?  It must be the bacteria, otherwise you wouldn't need unfiltered.  Thinking to bread making, the mother is the starter.  You use the starter which contains the yeast and lactic acid producing bacteria to make the bread.  So essentially, I'm innoculating each batch of bread with the same strain of yeast and bacteria to make my bread rise.  I'm going to guess that this is the same, right?  The mother must be a certain strain/strains of bacteria to convert the alcohol to acetic acid.  I don't think the organic part matters as much as the filtered part.  I wonder if I can make my own.  There are no whole food stores here, it's unlikely I will find it at the local stores but I will look to be sure. 

Do you have a Hy Vee near you? I bought some in their healthy foods section.

 

[mommahen10]

cherwill, there is a health food store nearby but they don't have perishables or anything fresh. Just herbs and supplements in bottles and such. The last 2 items I've purchased there have been outdated so I've resorted to buying those things online. We go to KC, KS once per month to do my big shopping, and that's it. It's just hard to go anywhere other than Sam's because we have a big family and it's seriously a job and full day to do the big grocery shopping and get it home and unloaded. If we try to do more it just makes it more exhausting for everyone but especially the kids.

cubbysan, I checked their website, put in my zip code which is 66748 and I got this...
No Hy-Vee stores were found matching that search criteria. Please try again.

There is a Dillon's in Emporia, I could ask my daughter to check there before she comes back home next time. We really are just in the middle of nowhere, just these smaller towns around us. That's not a complaint, I like it out here.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Concerning the ACV - is that something you always use in the water on a regular basis? And will it hurt the other animals that drink from it - the cats and Fern drink from the same 5-gallon bucket as the chickens.. I just do one big bucket for everyone and then change it out a few times a week.

I think I have someone taking 2 of the 3 RIRs I got that are roos... I'm suppose to meet her in town at 4 today.

Duck pen - I am working on this. I have a large pallet wrapped in chicken wire - the dog house sitting on the pallet with apron fencing on the 3 sides of the house.. I will then put up a run with hardware cloth and apron fencing coming out from that all the way around and the top it all of with chicken wire. I'm hoping this will keep the ducks safe for the winter. Am I missing anything?

 

[sunflowerparrot]

They have this game they play, it's called let's run all the way around the coop so she has to chase us & then we'll run in the door before she gets there. It must be fun for them, but not so much for me.

rofl - that is awesome Who needs a gym membership when you have naughty chickens!

 

[tweetysvoice]

so, It's confirmed. I have two silkie roosters I had a barium test done yesterday and have been very sick since. Didn't go in yesterday and DH brought me back home from work today cuz I couldn't stop throwing up, but when I let the dogs outside to go potty before I headed back to bed (haven't made it that far yet...) I heard not one, but two crows They were going at it full blast, so they might have been crowing for a while, just didn't hear it because I was at work. I'm very sad, but I have to put them on craigs list to sell. I don't want the city coming down on me, especially since chickens have been in the news around here lately.

http://lawrence.craigslist.org/grd/3294969069.html


I hope everyone is doing good. I have to head back to bed and see if I can get my tummy to settle down. This zofran isn't working apparently.

 

[HEChicken]

MommaHen10, as I understand it, the ACV is more a preventative than a cure-all. Honestly, I couldn't tell you HOW it works - I think you're about 10 steps ahead of me on that already LOL. I've always thought of it as a little boost to their overall health, but I don't use it all the time.

I read an article about two decades ago about the health benefits of ACV for people too. Some people swear by taking a teaspoonful a day to keep themselves healthy. And there are some documented case studies where people who suffered from frequent migraines found their migraines largely went away when they started on a daily regimen on ACV.

I can't imagine it would hurt any other pets who drink the same water - it would probably be just as beneficial to them.

Tweety - so sorry you're feeling worse, AND can hear two sets of crowing. I looked at your pictures and the one with the gold leakage is a pretty obvious roo, but the other not so much. Still, silkies can surprise you. With my two, I had a blue and a splash and I had suspected the blue was a roo so when I heard the first crow I went running out there to look at him. He looked back at me innocently and while we were looking at each other, there was a crow from the other side of the yard. That was when Mildred became Milton. I had been so busy waiting for JB to crow, feeling confident "Mildred" was a girl, that her boyishness snuck up on me.

 

[mommahen10]

I'm so sorry tweetysvoice, that's sad. Is it the barium that made you so sick? Is that a typical side effect? I don't have experience with that. I do get nauseous way too easily though. Call and ask for Phenergan, it's stronger than the Zofran and may just knock you out. At least if you're sleeping you're not throwing up. If they can't give you that, you can try benedryl if it has that sleepy effect on you, it won't work if it doesn't. Unisom works too and the midwives recommend it for morning sickness and works the same way, I'm pretty sure it has the same active ingredient as Benedryl. Zofran is my favorite for nausea because it's subtle and I can continue my day, but if it doesn't kick it I do Phenergan but I have to call my husband and at least let him know because I will sleep through anything. Did they give you 4mg or 8mg Zofran? 4mg is never enough for me so they give me 8mg, maybe they just gave you the smaller tabs. I hope that you feel better soon.

HEChicken, I've heard that it can be good for all kinds of things. I've read about it being good for UTIs and high blood pressure, even heart burn. My thought is that it has to do with the ph more than anything. It's acidic, so your body will try to balance it out by diluting it. It's a diuretic. If it causes you to lose fluid (pee more) you will flush the kidneys and bladder or have less blood volume. Basically causing dehydration, which makes you drink more. For the stomach and heartburn it teaches your stomach to make less acid because you are consuming acid. But for the chickens, you're mixing a little in a lot of water. This would have to be an extremely mild effect and I can't comprehend any way at all that it could hurt them. I can see that it could prevent microbial growth in their water though, that would have to be beneficial too. Thinking about canning, we use just 2T lemon juice per quart of tomatoes to help increase the acidity and preserve the food. Vinegar is interchangeable with lemon juice, we just like the lemon juice better.

Sunflowerparrot, I don't think the apple cider vinegar would hurt your animals if they drank it straight. It's natural and just something acidic like lemons or oranges, not that your dog would want to eat that. But if it's majorly diluted, I can't see any way that it could hurt them at all, it's almost nothing.

 

[mommahen10]

Now that I know what an EE is, if they are a mix that produces colored eggs, then if you breed them do they gradually lose the colored eggs? What mixes make an EE? I want colored eggs, I think the kids would really enjoy this. We got one chick from Orsheln's this year that was a 'rainbow layer' which I thought meant colored eggs, but I've since learned this is not so. BUT, there was only one and we took her but she looked like a skunk as a chick, she is a dark gray with 2 black stripes down her back and little puff balls on her cheeks, she's more fiesty than the buff Orpingtons and my barnyard mixes. That is an Americauna right? Maybe she will lay a colored egg?

 

[lizzyGSR]

Yesterday, our pastor (who is also a carpenter) came over and helped us with our barn. We made some visible progress (not just giant holes in the ground to avoid stepping in). I am so excited! I am really excited to be able to move my horses out here and to get my mom off my back about doing so (my horses are currently on my parents' property).

Anyway, on to the pictures!

Before today, all we had were giant holes. My husband had to dig a dozen holes that were 2 1/2 feet wide by 4 1/2 feet deep. We've gotten less than half an inch of rain all summer, so the ground is rock hard. Digging was quite a chore.



After yesterday, we actually had some visible progress!



My birds have been free ranging since Friday afternoon. I hadn't let them free range for two weeks, thanks to the addition of the five khaki campbells. They seem to be moving around the yard more now than they had prior to the new additions. So, I think that's a good thing. I still think my goose might not be getting the grazing time she needs, but she seems to be the pack leader, so hopefully she'll get braver about leading.

 

[chicken danz]

Lots of catching up here to do.
Quote:

Hi Everybody,

Well this weekend was a successful one. My baby chickens are quickly outgrowing their brooder, and I was getting upset that the coop wasn't started yet. I wanted it started a couple weeks ago. I gave my husband some pictures of coops from BYC that I liked, thinking he would build on of those. I guess all this time he was trying to come up with his own style. He showed me the plans and started building it Saturday, it should be done next week, then we will need to worry about the how to design the pen. It is coming out adorable, looks like a children's playhouse. It is New England Cape style ( we are from the Boston area ), with a farmer's porch and railing for the chicks to sit on. It has 8 nesting boxes ( I warned him about chicken math ). I can't wait to post some pictures.
What an awesome hubby!
I have been putting my baby ducks in an ex-pen in my adult ducks pen, so they are separated by the fencing. We have done this three times. We have one female Cayuga that will not leave their side, trying to put her beak through the fencing. I decided to let her meet then without the fence, ( put the other ducks in their house ), and after 5 minutes they started biting each other pretty hard and I had to separate them. How long does it take to introduce them? My ducks are about 6 - 7 weeks old, they are a good size but not full grown, I don't think I want them with the males until they are closer to being full grown.

Usually when you mix ducks they go through a short period when the "taste" each other and determine who is the lead duck. They really don't hurt each other. I just put several young ones in a breeder pen. There was some chasing and nipping on the first day but no one gets injured and once they get used to each other it's all good. It's the way they socialize.

I also read about the pumpkin seed thing but I believe it is only a preventative. I use safeguard to worm my flock and it is a great product. There is not a long hold time if you worried about that, growing up it is what the gparents used and we always ate the eggs, did not toss them after use. I of course read up on it alot and found it is not going to hurt you in that small of a dose and hey you will be parasite free as well

LOL I know I am going to get it for this post....

Actually pumpkins work in two ways. One the food itself is high in vitamin A which all birds needs additional dosages of to help resist parasite infections. That is why feeding fruits and veggies of any kind is a great benefit to chickens. It not only improves their immunity it will help with egg production etc.
The seed itself has a chemical in the coating that paralyzes the worm thus allowing it to be flushed out of the chickens digestive system. This will help with any kind of worm that lives in the digestive system but not anything that lives in the lungs or meat of the chickens, which are fairly rare any way.
I suspect ACV also works from the conditioning stand point with vitamins. But ACV is also a natural antibiotic.My doctor told me some time ago that virtually nothing can live through the high acidity of vinegar. That is why it is healthy to drink and eat and use for any kinds of infections. As far as worming I'm not positive what effect it has other than it may be too acidic for the worms to survive.
Quote:

Oh bummer! The guy who was hatching the Cream Legbars contacted me and said somebody messed with the bator and the temp was sky high for a long period and ruined the hatch. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, right? Oh well, I'll live and I'm $300 richer. I decided I'd rather pay the big bucks for chicks than try to buy multitudes of hatching eggs that were shipped through the post office. Who knew it was this difficult, either way?

Life.

Have a great day!

Oh Karen that just bites. Sorry you didn't get your chicks. Maybe you can get some later.

Thanks for the quick ideas to help me get them straight. I bought vet wrap and we tried to straighten them on triangles of cardboard. She now has purple shoes.... She is a TWCharger for sure! I had put the paper there to make the picture clearer, to show the curl a bit better. She isn't having to walk on that She is my oldest daughter's favorite. I am not sure who Verna got them from, since she was terribly kind and served as the middle man when I could not find any splash chicks. I am sure she will pass it along. There are 3 more Marans chicks and their toes are all normal looking.. Who da thunk a year ago that I would be making little braces for chicken toes, when I was totally against having any kind of bird...
Yes, Josie, I am seriously hoping this one is a girl. As long as she can function, curly toed, or not, she is a keeper! So sweet! My kids got a kick out of her "curly fries". Somehow, I think she has a new name, Curly Sue.

The chicks came from Eileen and she has nothing but the best high quality stock. She has about 1 year left before she gets her animal science degree and a minor in food management. She was trying to become a vet but I think she is needing a break from school for a while. She is seeking a position in the poultry management building to supplement her income while she studies. If there was
any thing wrong I would think it would be a temperature fluke that occured in her incubator. I know her stock is excellent as I own some of it. Most of her birds came from Greenfire but the Marans came from Bev Davis and Wade lines. Top quality birds. I have some of her eggs cooking right now in my own.
Quote:

HEChicken~ I'm trying to understand what it is that the ACV does and how. Does it kill the worms or just prevent them? Thinking back to my school days, yeast convert sugar to alcohol and bacteria convert the alcohol to acetic acid(I think). So is it the acid or the bacteria that are doing the work? It must be the bacteria, otherwise you wouldn't need unfiltered. Thinking to bread making, the mother is the starter. You use the starter which contains the yeast and lactic acid producing bacteria to make the bread. So essentially, I'm innoculating each batch of bread with the same strain of yeast and bacteria to make my bread rise. I'm going to guess that this is the same, right? The mother must be a certain strain/strains of bacteria to convert the alcohol to acetic acid. I don't think the organic part matters as much as the filtered part. I wonder if I can make my own. There are no whole food stores here, it's unlikely I will find it at the local stores but I will look to be sure.

Sounds like you have a great understanding.

cherwill, there is a health food store nearby but they don't have perishables or anything fresh. Just herbs and supplements in bottles and such. The last 2 items I've purchased there have been outdated so I've resorted to buying those things online. We go to KC, KS once per month to do my big shopping, and that's it. It's just hard to go anywhere other than Sam's because we have a big family and it's seriously a job and full day to do the big grocery shopping and get it home and unloaded. If we try to do more it just makes it more exhausting for everyone but especially the kids.

cubbysan, I checked their website, put in my zip code which is 66748 and I got this...
No Hy-Vee stores were found matching that search criteria. Please try again.

There is a Dillon's in Emporia, I could ask my daughter to check there before she comes back home next time. We really are just in the middle of nowhere, just these smaller towns around us. That's not a complaint, I like it out here.

Ditto. I need to drive about an hour to get anywhere but I wouldn't trade it for convenience.

so, It's confirmed. I have two silkie roosters I had a barium test done yesterday and have been very sick since. Didn't go in yesterday and DH brought me back home from work today cuz I couldn't stop throwing up, but when I let the dogs outside to go potty before I headed back to bed (haven't made it that far yet...) I heard not one, but two crows They were going at it full blast, so they might have been crowing for a while, just didn't hear it because I was at work. I'm very sad, but I have to put them on craigs list to sell. I don't want the city coming down on me, especially since chickens have been in the news around here lately.

http://lawrence.craigslist.org/grd/3294969069.html


I hope everyone is doing good. I have to head back to bed and see if I can get my tummy to settle down. This zofran isn't working apparently.

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling better. Sure hope you get this thing fixed. Hang in there!

Well we got home about 1:30 last night. When we drove up I witnessed an owl INSIDE of the garage who just ripped the head off one of my salmon faverolle hens. This owl actually was inside the building with only a narrow door opening to get in. Now I know that is for sure what got my pheonix hen and chicks. I've been shutting every one up at night but there is no way to shut this group up any more. I was so upset and couldn't believe it flew inside the building to take a sleeping chicken. Worse yet it must have been without a sound because all three of the dogs were laying in the front yard and would have run if they'd heard anything. There's nothing else I can do if the stupid owls are brave enough to go in a building and grab a bird while it sleeps. I have "wild" chickens of no consequence that sleep in the barn and it is much more open. I have no idea why the owl didn't go there instead. I just have no clue what to do at this point. There is no way to shut this group up until I have my breeder facilities ready. It made me feel so angry!!!

So here is the deal with my trip yesterday. There is a bird seed maker that is in Lawton Oklahoma. Jones Seed company. Only a few times a year, they make what they call Special Mix which is a combination of any and all of the different seeds and stuff they put in all of their bird feeds. They make parrot feed, cockatiel seed, wild bird seed, finch seed etc etc. This mix is not any guaranteed analysis and you have no idea how much of what will be in it. But it is made from top quality ingredients and it is clean. It works out to be much higher protein etc than anything you would normally buy for your birds. An acquaintance of mine lives down there and this is what he feeds 50/50% with his normal layer/grower rations when he is getting his birds conditioned for shows and a slightly lower mix for spring laying. He sells his show birds for $1500 a pair at maturity. To me that says a whole lot about the quality of this feed.
Usually when they make this mix it runs out almost immediately and they normally make about 20 ton at a time. This time they made 40 tons. I've been checking with them for several months trying to get the time right when I could buy this stuff and have time to make the trip. Obviously because it cost me a couple hundred dollars in gas and about $800 for the product I have to believe in it. It actually works out costing less than what you would pay for wild bird seed.
I think not only my chickens but my ornamental birds and game birds are going to really benefit from this. I hope to make this last all winter with some management. You have to keep in mind that I feed about $250 in feed every 10 days to 2 weeks so to justify it I have to remind myself how that adds up. I had to dig deep in the pockets to buy this. I bought two ton of it or 80, 50 pounds bags and paid another $15 to have it put on two pallets and shrink wrapped so it could be fork lift loaded onto the trailer. I think I will initially mix a little with my regular bird feed and feed a little as treats or scratch to see how they like it. It of course has things like BOSS and peanuts in it that they love so I am sure they will really like it.
Some of you that live closer to the Oklahoma border could make the trip in like 3 hours or so each way so it wouldn't be so expensive and time consuming. And if you weren't driving a truck and pulling a huge car hauler trailer it wouldn't cost so much in gas. I was just going to buy 1 ton and put it spread out over the axles in the pickup but that would have been a huge load and hard work on the truck. Pulling the trailer saved wear on the truck even though it cost much more in gas.
The whole point is to give my birds the best possible food for the money so they are in perfect laying condition for spring.