Consolidated Kansas

[Kansas Prairie]

I was told by an old farmer to feed the chickens pumpkin that would naturally get rid of their worms and they wouldn't pass anything to the ground to make turkeys sick with blackhead.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I was told by an old farmer to feed the chickens pumpkin that would naturally get rid of their worms and they wouldn't pass anything to the ground to make turkeys sick.

Pumpkin is great to help as a preventative or if there are a very small number of worms. And the blackhead disease is a very small parasite that lives in the soil once infected and stays around for a very long time. But who knows really I give mine pumpkin because they like it..



Danz- Thanks. It was kept with chickens and I dont have a place that is covered except my coop. My hospital unit is only covered on the coop part not the run.. I am just going to rehome it with someone who knows more about them. I only bought it because she was going to release it into a field if noone took it.

 

[HEChicken]

I was told by an old farmer to feed the chickens pumpkin that would naturally get rid of their worms and they wouldn't pass anything to the ground to make turkeys sick with blackhead.

I think it is the pumpkin seeds rather than the flesh that is the natural wormer. Mine will eat the seeds but I've never had any luck getting them to eat the pumpkin flesh. My neighbor at my old house used to save her jack-o-lanterns for me, having read that chickens love to eat them. The first year I set them out raw - they didn't touch them. The next year I roasted them. They didn't touch them. The third year I cut them up. They didn't touch them. Eventually they rotted and I threw them in the compost.

 

[Trish44]

HEChicken, yes the rooster that died was the one with the broken foot. He just went down hill fast after I took him out of the pen & put him in a cage. It was really a shame because he was going to be a pretty rooster for breeding. Yes, there is powdered Tylan you put in their drinking water. It's hard to mix up, you have to mix the powder first in a small amount of warm water & then add it to the rest of the cold water. It does smell nasty too, but it's pretty powerful stuff, so I hope it will get these birds whipped into shape pretty fast. I'm glad I just had bought another cannister of it because the one I had was almost gone. I have used quite a bit of it trying to get my Cream Legbars well.

Gosh, I was out cleaning out water bowls in the rabbit cages in the garage tonight, I had gotten all of the trays cleaned & new pine shavings put in, but didn't get to the water bowls yet. I was trying to clean all of them out first & then was going to go back & fill them all with fresh clean water. I use vinegar in their water too, just like the birds. Anyway, I was working my way across the bank of cages & some of them were having a fit because they had no water, one was chewing & pawing at his bowl, one was standing in his, & one of the females was just chewing at her cage to get attention. They are just characters sometimes, they all have these unique personalities. Earlier today I went out to the garage & my little chocolate Mini Rex buck was loose hopping around on the floor, he had escaped his cage. Fortunately he is still young & not too scared, so I was able to catch him right off & get him back in.

I let the guineas out first thing this morning when I went out & they stayed out all day until I got them in to feed them this evening, so they did really well today. I didn't see either of the dogs even looking their way this time & they had plenty of opportunities when I was in the house during lunch. Maybe they finally got the message to leave them alone, I sure hope so. I eventually would like to have them out most of the time anyway free-ranging so they can get the darned ticks under control. The dogs have just been covered with dog ticks lately & they do have flea & tick collars on, so they must be multiplying again. The younger guineas just aren't old enough yet to have them out that much, at least not when I'm not able to watch them. I have seen the bigger ones fly very well up into the trees, but I'm not sure the smaller ones can that well yet. Danz, those little ones I got from you are doing great, growing pretty fast. I only had them in the garage for about a week & then put them in with the rest & they just hang around in their little group. I have 23 guineas now that I lost one to the dogs. Maidenwolf is this an adult guinea? Where are you at in Missouri?

KarenS, wow now you take the cake for buying a bunch of birds at once. You must really like those ducks! I have been so tempted to get some after seeing how cute Sunflowerparrot's are, but the only pond I have is my water garden with a bunch of plants in it & the ducks would just make a mess of that & eat the plants, so that wouldn't work. I would have to pen them up & give them a swimming pool to play in & that's just not in my plans right now. I do like ducks, but I just don't need any new birds or projects right now.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Kansas Prairie, I have a Styrofoam incubator, I got it at Orcheln's.

I took out my partially zipped egg, got it out and went to look more closely and it peeped and startled me because I was really staring hard and thinking it was dead. Then I hurried to put it back in, I didn't even open the incubator all the way, just enough to reach inside, and as I put it down my thumb crushed the shell. I left it for a couple of hours but kept watching for bleeding. I can't keep opening the incubator, but the chick does seem weak. I can tell it tries to wriggle out but it's not getting anywhere. I'm heating up the brooder and moved the light really close and I will probably just take that one out soon and leave it in the brooder so we can work on this hatch slowly. Nothing else is going on in the incubator. If I only get this one chick it'll be okay it can go with the EEs.

I know many say you only want the chicks that can get out of the egg by themselves, I don't sell chicks or hatching eggs. I candle at 10 days and at 14 days. I put the incubator in lock down on day 18. I have taken zipped eggs that have been at it for several hours and carefully picked some egg shell away, and very carefully ran some warm water, without drowning the little thing, freed the chick from the shell, ran warm water over it, then gently dried it and got it into the brooder. They have already absorbed the yolk sack.The water temperature is very important, to cool or to warm is bad. I use my wrist to check the temperature. They need to have zipped for a while or they will sure bleed to death, but sometimes it's their only shot! BECAUSE I think these Styrofoam incubators blow and dry out and shrink rap the chicks, or cause part of the shell to stick on the chick and it can't move correctly, I wish we could shut the blower on the warmer off when they begin to pip...

 

[chicken danz]

I'm so sorry - I bet you are feeling discouraged - you've had a lot of bad luck lately. Was this the one with the broken leg?
X2 Yeah Trish you have my sympathies! It does get really discouraging when you see your money and work going down the tubes not to mention loosing birds you like.
Hmmm...maybe that is an Australianism? I didn't realize... You put a pole through the whole animal, from mouth to um, tail, and roast it over a fire. The "spit" turns so the animal is cooked uniformly. I don't know what word is used here since I didn't realize this wasn't a universal term. Maybe rotisserie?

On the chick with the hurt eye, I think you are right about it adapting. I had a pullet who had poor eyesight, and when pecking at treats in my hand, would miss by about 1/2" every time. I had a little fun with it one night visiting my in-laws. I told my brother-in-law about having a pullet with poor eyesight, and how I had come to realize that. I finished with "So now I'm looking for an Avian Opthalmologist". He just kind of looked at me, not wanting to look disgusted in case I was serious and not wanting to laugh either. It was hilarious. I let him squirm for awhile and then let him off the hook telling him, "That was a JOKE". Anyway, that pullet did adapt and shortly after that I noticed she was able to peck and grab just fine.

You are lucky you have a BIL that is sensitive to your feelings, but it's so funny you can joke with him as well.
Oh no!!! I hope they make a quick recovery. I didn't realize Tylan can be used in water - I thought it was purely an injectible?
Tylan comes in two forms. A soluble powder and an injectable. I only have injectable but there have been many times I wish I had powder as well.
I don't know a lot about blackhead but it would be worth googling that to see what the symptoms are.

Oh, that is so fun - I've seen it recently as my mum emailed it to me and I was going to wait until close to Thanksgiving to post it here. Now I've got that song stuck in my head again....

Oh my, what are we going to do with you??? This is Dancizing at its finest, and it sounds like you're giving Danz a run for her money for number of birds kept!
Oh don't say that too loud! We must remain enablers for chicken hoarders around here for sure.

What symptoms does Tookie have? I've been a bit concerned about Ned Kelly the past two days. Most of the time he seems fine - no discharge or sneezing or any of those symptoms. Eyes bright and clear. Eating and drinking. What has me thinking something is "off" is that he seems too tired. Every time I turn around he's lying down, head tucked under a wing, sleeping. Even at 7:45 this morning, when I went to do my first check of the day, he had emerged from the coop and was lying down asleep. That time I was so concerned I approached and was in touching distance, talking to him, before his head jerked out of his wing and he looked startled. I was gone most of the day and when I went to see them late afternoon, there he was sleeping again. But after that he got up and wandered around for awhile, grazing and such, and by then he looked just fine. I guess I'll just keep an eye on him for a few days.

Yes, I was wondering the same thing. I didn't realize there was anything you could do as a blackhead preventative.

Danz, those chipmunks are adorable. I don't need any though. I raised rats and mice for many years and really enjoy the antics of small mammals but recently sold my big rat cage when we moved, so I don't think I'll be going that direction again in the foreseeable future.

The chipmonks are so cute and funny. Very active. I said I would never have a rodent of any kind. I hate rodents. However these guys are just too cute. I imagine I will at some point decide to sell them and get something else. I like the fact that they don't require much care and that they aren't over prolific like mice,rats,gerbils and hampsters.
Heather, maybe you should give Ned Kelly some probiotics for a while just to make sure he has resistance to disease. Or if he likes veggies some extra green veggies will help.

Maidenwolf, as far as the sick turkeys go she really needs to get them on some antibiotics quickly or at least treat them with some vet RX. I really don't like antibiotics as I have said numerous times but rather than let something die from an infection resulting from a viral infection I will use them. Josie told me that sulfa drugs work best for bad colds just today. So you might suggest that.
Trish we'll get you into ducks yet!!! They are also awesome bug eaters. I think you probably have more guineas than me now that I sold all the young ones today. I would really love to have a big pond closer to the house so my ducks and geese could play all the time. Maybe some day. I guess having a rainy year would help though.

 

[Trish44]

Was there someone on here looking for turkey hens? There is an ad on the KS Poultry Swap page on FB for two hens: Emily Evans-Schnee:
I have two turkey hens for sale, one Blue Slate and one Bourbon Red. Both born in mid-May. I'm asking $20 a piece and I'm located in the vicinity of Topeka. She has pics on the page & they look like really nice hens if anybody is in the market for turkeys.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Trish-- the guinea is about 4-5 months and I am 15 mins south of louisburg if that is a familiar place to you. And I am the one asking about turkey hens..

Danz-- thank you very much for the suggestion I am going to treat them and they are going to give me a hen for making them better,, hopefully I can treat this and knock it out so all 4 survive..

 

[HEChicken]

Heather, maybe you should give Ned Kelly some probiotics for a while just to make sure he has resistance to disease. Or if he likes veggies some extra green veggies will help.

Oh my. [Slaps forehead]. I should have thought of probiotics myself. I will for sure get him started on some tomorrow, first thing. He gets a lot of greens already. Their yard is big enough there is plenty of green stuff growing - the one thing that is missing there that is prolific elsewhere on my property is dandelion greens. I guess they like them so much they ate them first thing. So several times a day I pick huge bunches of dandelion greens and feed them to the birds.

When we moved here, DH and DD wanted the chickens contained because they were tired of the poop on the back deck at the old house. So I built them this large yard and then the other day DH said "I don't know why you don't just let them out to free-range like they used to".

I reminded him of the poop factor and he realized eventually they would make it to the back door again. However since he said that, I've been opening the gate to let them out for the last hour each day. This keeps them close enough to the vicinity of the coop that the poop doesn't end up where I don't want it, but allows them to eat fresh greens and fertilize more of the property for me. So NK does get plenty of greens, but it can't hurt to give him some probiotics - that way if he is fighting something, it will give him a boost.

Was there someone on here looking for turkey hens? There is an ad on the KS Poultry Swap page on FB for two hens: Emily Evans-Schnee:
I have two turkey hens for sale, one Blue Slate and one Bourbon Red. Both born in mid-May. I'm asking $20 a piece and I'm located in the vicinity of Topeka. She has pics on the page & they look like really nice hens if anybody is in the market for turkeys.

My fingers are in my ears.... I can't hear you.....(seriously, I like my pair so much I would be very tempted by this. Fortunately, Topeka is far enough away that I think I can resist).

 

[mommahen10]

Yes, I would have understood rotisserie, but they don't normally do that with bigger animals. Ha, Avian Opthalmologist. That's a good one.

I wanted to wait until I had a place to put him so I didn't have to open/close the incubator over and over. Normally when I help them I do a little and wait, and do a little more and wait. This one is the one that I taped the shell, so it's probably why it pipped earlier. When I had the brooder super warm, I have a light and a heat pad beneath too, got everything warm and just removed the chick/egg from the incubator. It's 85 in the house too. I bought the hygrometer, but I didn't put it in there, I'm not sure where to put it that it wouldn't be in the way. There are 2 sponges in the incubator, scotch brite sponges, yellow on one side/green scratchy on the other. I'm using a big syringe with tubing to rewet them, and the little channels on the bottom are filled too. I don't know what the humidity is, but there is condensation on the window. There are 2 more chicks pipped now, that makes me feel better. Maybe tomorrow will be their day. Anyway, I did get the chick out of the shell and it seems fine, not really up yet but trying to get up and then sleeping again. It's yolk sak may be just barely unabsorbed, not enough to be a problem. There were no bleeding issues helping this chick, it wasn't so stuck that everything was dried to it but the membrane was definitely against it, I think that is why the shell crushed so easily.

Danz, you probably really needed that nap. Getting more sleep will just help you stay on task better and be more productive, although it feels like wasting a day, you need your sleep.

We picked up some free pumpkins from a pumpkin patch yesterday, they were starting to get some bad spots and they just gave them to us. We put one big pumpkin in there and all of the chickens have runny poop now. I can see how it would slide those worms right out of there. We have more pumpkins, but I think I'll give them a break. The bread factory called, it was our turn for a load of expired breads and goodies. We only had to pay $10 for an entire truck bed full of stuff. It's a little truck, but still. The pigs and chickens love it. We opened all of it, they already cut the pkgs to make them unuseable for people, put it all in bins with lids to store.

My dh has been working on the brooder room and I think it's coming out all messy looking and it doesn't make me happy. He looks like he just wants to get it done now and his work looks hurried and I keep biting my tongue and telling myself if it's functional and keeps the chicks safe and warm it will be fine. The big thing I keep insisting on is that I have to be able to reach to clean it and I would prefer to not have to climb inside. I'm only 5 feet tall and my reach is limited and he always forgets about that.

We are still having issues with the furnace but I'm pretty sure it's figured out and we will tackle that tomorrow with fresh energy. We got out the new furnace we had been storing, and we were going to just switch them until we realized we have to have someone drain the freon(sp) from the AC before switching them, so we can't do that on the weekend. We were able to get it running by bypassing the pressure switch, we tested the pressure switch and we know that it works, so that just means that we have lost the seal somewhere. We sealed everything with silicone as it was but it took us so long and so much wrigging to get it all fit back together the silicone was starting to get gummy so this seems logical. I will make registration marks for all of the parts before taking them off this time so I will know exactly where it all lines up beforehand.

We had another electrical issue today that we still haven't figured out, I had to call my dad on this one. I was ironing, my 6 yo dd was doing a headstand against my bed and the outlet directly beside her went POP and smoked a little and I got her out of the way and it was where my laptop was plugged in and I about died for fear that my laptop was surely gone forever. The outlet was all black around it and my laptop seems unharmed, and it charges fine. What on earth was that about? We have been going around checking that all of the outlets are 120 and we haven't found anything out of line.