Consolidated Kansas

[cleansquared]

If you ever come to wichita they have it at hillside feed & seed foodgrade organic de i think its 20 or 30# they had smaller but i got the bigger one

 

[Trish44]

Sharol, I'm glad you've got a little roo that is an offspring of the one you lost. I hope he's as awesome as his daddy was for you.

I don't know about all the proof to show that DE works, but I know it's safe & can be used for all of the animals. When I clean my coop out completely every few months I always put that & sevin dust in there before putting the new pine shavings in. I wouldn't count on it if you knew you had a mite issue or substitute for worming, but it's certainly not going to hurt.

My new set of Lavender Ameraucana eggs came today, so I have high hopes these do as well as the last set did & I get some beautiful chicks for replacements. By the time they hatch the chicks will be in a different pen & hopefully we have all the flooding problems dealt with now. I will work on the pen for them as soon as I finish this hoop coop for the turkeys. Then on to converting my other hoop coop to two pens for the Orpingtons. There is always something to do around here it seems like.

 

[22qZoo]

This may sound strange but I like to put DE in the horses stock tank. It makes it kind of cloudy the first day but then after it settles it seems to keep the water clearer longer. The horses seem to like it too, makes it smell fresher. I even put it in my own smoothies .
My latest kick is coconut oil, might not be for everybody but the chickens and I like it. It's nice to find natural stuff that works .

 

[chicken danz]

Holy cow... life has been busy the last 2 days. I had to leave town unexpectedly and just got back in town a couple of hours ago. I will catch up on posts tomorrow.

I have an issue with 2 of my Ancona ducks. They were having problem getting up and walk. I noticed this issue when I went to check on them as soon as I got back in town. DH claimed that they were fine this morning.

No telling if they started having this problem as soon as I left or not. 1 is more severe than the other. When I tried to get a hold of the more severe one, she tried frantically to push herself away with her legs, dragging her belly on the ground. I read on the ducks forum that this could be caused by Niacin deficiency. I could use some help from the duck experts....I went ahead and bought some Brewer's Yeast so in case it is Niacin deficiency, I can sprinkle it on their food. Talking about food, I feed them All Flocks since I have a mix of hens, roosters and ducks of various ages.

I'm really worried about the ducks so if you can give me some help in diagnosing the issue, I would really appreciate it.

This may sound strange but I like to put DE in the horses stock tank. It makes it kind of cloudy the first day but then after it settles it seems to keep the water clearer longer. The horses seem to like it too, makes it smell fresher. I even put it in my own smoothies .
My latest kick is coconut oil, might not be for everybody but the chickens and I like it. It's nice to find natural stuff that works .

I have used DE for any number of things. My BIL who is a pharmacist uses DE in his drinks and was directed to do so by his physician. I haven't asked what for but I know he has a lot of digestive problems. I have put it in my dogs and cats and chickens feed as well as dusting the coops with it. I use it as a drying agent in coops and on the ground. It cuts flies by a ton. The duck pens are always damp and I just spinkle DE to keep the fly population down. Regardless of doubts I can see it does make a difference. It's a naturally occurring product and certainly can't hurt.
I don't know that it acts as a wormer but can help prevent worms and mites. If nothing else it decreases their breeding grounds.
I got my lemon cuckoos all sold and have had a few other calls. I am down to only 6 lavender orpingtons and have two interested parties. I do have one lavender hen who has been broody for a couple weeks. I haven't collected eggs so hopefully she will be hatching some soon. If not nothing lost. I really need room for my fall hatches.
I realized I am down to needing to get the breeders all separated in the next few days to capture some fall market. I wish I knew how many I could sell and not set extra eggs. I sure don't need any extras to feed.

 

[dwink2]

Thanks everyone for the replies and suggestions about the DE. I will return what I have now and get a little of the right kind. I do get to Topeka or Wichita every so often so I will look up those feed stores that were suggested and be all set. I want it to help keep the coop dry and control flies. Anything to make it more comfortable for my friends.

I started acquiring my flock the first part of May and my husband tells me that I am done now but that is yet to be determined. LOL My current flock consits of 2 Rhode Island Red hens, 2 Barred Rock Hens, 1 white rock hen, 3 Ameraucana hens, 1 black austalorp hen, 1 white rock roo, and 1 Ameraucana roo. I also have 1 blue slate hen turkey, 1 royal palm tom turkey, 1 black spanish tom turkey, and a pair of white Embden geese. I am not so sure that the Ameraucana's are not Easter Eggers instead. I bought them as Ameraucana's but they don't look pure to me. They are really pretty though and I just wanted the different colored eggs so I really do not care.

I had an old chicken house that had not been used in over 25 years and intended on fixing it up. My loving husband decided that it might be more eye appealing to just go ahead and get a new shed for my friends. Their new home was just delivered this week and we are planning on getting it all fixed up this weekend and getting them all settled in. I am wanting to put poop boards under their roosts and also put linoleum down on the floor to help keep it nice and make clean up easier. I am thinking that the turkeys will try to roost in the loft so we will fix something for them up there. It is a learning process for me but they are being very patient with me. I have learned so much from all of the posts that I have read on here and am hoping to add a few more chicks this fall so I may be contacting some of you to purchase.

 

[chicken danz]

If you do get to Topeka I, like Sharol would recommend buying the 50 lb bags at Premier Farm supply. They told me they always try to keep at least 4 bags in stock at all times.
These people are great and although it is a fairly small store they have nice competetive prices. (This is not a paid advertisement!

)
Instead of doing anything this morning I've been doing on line shopping for my Christmas decor. Actually I would love to create some of my own ornaments using some things I have around here. But really I don't have the time. It would sure save me a bundle though.
I am very picky about a Christmas tree and usually have a monochromatic color or at most a two color scheme. I have so many Christmas decorations. But after a year or two at most I want to change colors or themes again. So last year I got an idea of doing a peacock themed Christmas tree. I didn't even get a tree up last year. I was dealing with some major losses in family and pets and it just wasn't a time to celebrate. This year I plan to have my kids here and I want to do it right. I think I can tweek some of what I have if I just take the time. I am never organized enough to plan Christmas this far ahead. I have no idea why I am even thinking of it at this point.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Welcome dwinks2.

So here is a question, my mom ordered the Cornish cross so I could raise them up and we could butcher them. She got the vaccs for mareks and cocci. If I would have known I would have told her not to. I cant feed medicated feed and I have my new hatchlings in with them. Iam wondering if feeding the new ones non medicated for a week is going to be ok. I have never done anything but medicated so I am kind of nervous. We plan on splitting them up once we have the shelter finished.

 

[chicken danz]

There is no reason you can't use medicated feed. The vaccination is a just that. It forms antibodies so it isn't necessary to feed medicated feed. It won't hurt them.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Dwink2, I'm with Hechicken, I put Sevin dust in the nest boxes and sprinkle them into the sand after cleaning the coop. I bought the 10 lb Food grade DE from Tractor Supply for $12, I think and it lasts a while since I prefer to use Sevin dust over DE. I also use sweet pdz in the nest box. I'm thinking of putting Sevin dust on the roost as well. I dusted the birds a few months ago when I found the mites on them. It worked really well.

Danz, I gave Brewer's Yeast to the ducks last night. Not sure if they ate any since they were trying to run away from me and tipped over the pan. They were let out of their house daily when I was gone. DH did all the feeding but didn't really pay attention to them much. I checked their feet, looked normal and no bumblefoot that I could tell. I don't think they were swollen either. DH put her into a clean pool and she was happily swimming away. This morning, they were looking better and were able to walk out of their duck house. I sprinkled some Brewer's yeast over some green peas and mixed them up with their feeds. They ate most of the peas and a little bit of the All Flock pallets. They were happily swimming in a puddle in front of a drain hole. I'll go get some cat kibbles for them today. I hope they will be ok. I have gotten really attached to them.

We had some rain this morning around 5:30 when I was getting ready to go out to check on the ducks and birds. Inthink we had about 1/2" rain in an hour. More rain commingled this weekend. I really need a few dry days so I can get a load of sand into the coop and the covered portion of the run. Guess I'll have to wait till next week.

Stay cool everyone. The humidity is just awful.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

I know Sevin Dust is a fairly safe insecticide and is used on garden plants as it isn't suppose to be not harmful to humans or animals. But it is banned from use in the United Kingdom and many European countries because it is harmful to Honey Bees and Crustaceans.. Most bee keepers are aware of this but not all gardeners. If you do use it on your plants, don't apply it after they start blooming. Honey bees do more than just make honey.