Oh no, that shower door IS glass. But its that tempered glass that makes it pretty shatter resistant. I found it on a trash pile years ago, when walking DS to school, and my first thought was that it would make a great cold frame top to get things started in the garden earlier. Well, I never got around to making the frame to go with it, so I've never used it for that but it has been in constant use ever since anyway! I have a little 2x4 run that I made from 1x2's and chicken wire years before I even started back into chickens, and DD used it to put her rabbit and guinea pig outside to get some green grass. Now that run works great for my chicks for the same purpose and the shower door fits over it perfectly to shield them from rain. It also fits nicely over my nursery in the coop, to keep the chicks in the nursery and the bigger birds out. In winter I use it as a solarium, and today it is leaning against my chick pen, as a wind-break for them! The amazing thing is, we've had hail storms - big ones that did lots of damage and broke other things left lying outside in my yard - but the shower door hasn't sustained so much as a chip, so I guess that tempered glass is pretty good stuff.WOW, HEChicken! Clearly he's feeling better, that's great news! I like the shower door idea because it's not glass. At first glance I thought it was a window and I just knew how long that would last around here. I will keep a look out for old shower doors, that's a great idea.
My 10 yo made a chicken shoe out of a foamie sticker, she really had a great idea and it stayed on until I took it off. It was a little flexible and slightly grippy. The bare foot slid around moreso than the shoed one. I'm wondering if I couldn't cut that stuff with my cricut and just make it a little better shape. This chick didn't need a shoe. Because it's kinda thick I think two shoes would be better even if they only needed one.
That little shoe for the chick is about the best idea I've ever seen. I agree they probably need one on each foot but yeah, what a terrific idea for any chick with crooked feet or toes. You have a pretty smart 10yo DD there!
When I first saw the roundworms, I did a treatment with Wazine but I did have a problem with that due to the ducks. While chickens are happy to sip out of any bowl I put water down in, the ducks see a new bowl of water and can't wait to dive in and start splashing it around. I was out there trying to keep the ducks away while each chicken got a drink but with so many chickens its hard to keep track of who got it and who didn't. Then, the more I started researching, most people don't have anything favorable to say about Wazine anyway. I think it does do okay at treating roundworms, but it doesn't affect any of the other types of worms they can get. So - I started looking for something that would get them all, and the problem with that is administration, because some of the better wormers can't be put in the water. The Valbazen got the best reviews but has to be administered orally. One guy said you have someone else hold the chicken, then pull down on the wattles, squirt it in the mouth and immediately let go of the wattles so they can swallow without aspirating. Well, that just sounded like a big ordeal to me, when I'm talking about 50 birds and teenage kids who don't share my enthusiasm for the birds, so wouldn't have been willing "holders". Plus, keeping track of who has been dosed and who hasn't, catching the ones who don't like to be handled, and, inevitably, not letting go the wattles soon enough so they either aspirate, or the stuff all drips back out of their mouth. So - I wasn't favoring that one so much. When I heard about the Ivermectin, I read further, and learned that unlike the Valbazen that really does get them all, the Ivermectin does not get tapeworms. However they say that tapeworms in poultry are pretty rare anyway, so I was willing to take my chances that mine did not have tapeworm.
I did find Ivermectin online but before I had to pay for and wait for shipping, I decided to make a run to Atwoods and look for it. It was up front, not in the fridge where the Pen G is, that you were getting for your birds, but in the cabinet right next to the fridge. Oh wait - I wasn't at the Derby Atwoods - but, I'm sure they all store it somewhere similar. You only need 4cc of the Ivermectin to a gallon of water. What I did, since the bottle is an injectable, is I put a large gauge needle through the rubber and attached my syringe, drew up the cc's I needed, then twisted the syringe off the needle (leaving the needle through the rubber) and squirted it into the container I was using to measure out. I had to do multiple draws since I was using a small syringe, and I didn't want to puncture the rubber more than I had to. After drawing up 12cc, I filled 3 gallon containers with water, then emptied out my 5-gallon water fount, poured the Ivermectin in the bottom, and immediately poured the water in on top. It frothed up, almost like the Ivermectin was a mild detergent.
Oh - I did also remove any other sources of water so they all had no choice but to drink from that fount. The article I read said to administer for 2 days. She said she used to do 3 days but found that 2 is enough. I decided to do 2 days or until the waterer is empty. This afternoon will mark the end of the second day and there is still water in it but I'm guessing the level is getting low by now, so I think the quantity is going to work out about perfect.
