How Many Eggs Did You Get Today?

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RoosterCogburn7 said:
It keeps the mites and bugs down that irritate the birds in the coop. When it is in their food, or they peck and scratch through the hay, it keeps their eggs pristine and clean. If you get poop on your eggs, you have a worm problem. I don't have that problem. No diarrhea poop splatters. I have found that it also helps to have containers they can't poop in.
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Um, I don't want to be argumentative, but generally speaking poop on eggs is because somebody is pooping in the nests. Period. Has nothing to do with worms.....if the same egg was laid on the floor of the coop in poop it's going to be a poopy egg. This video has been the source of a lot of confusion, especially for new people. After all, if chickens are suffering from worms the least accurate method of determining that is finding poop in the nest. Chickens poop. It's what they do. Worms don't make a chicken suddenly decide to poop on their eggs. That makes no sense. Poop in a nest means get that dirty bedding out of there and make sure that the nest boxes aren't used for sleep-overs or naps.

I was a huge proponent of the "miracles of DE" once upon a time. But since DE fed to them goes into the crop, getting ground even finer by grit and getting wet, and worms are primarily intestinal, I just don't see any benefits, despite the internet praises for it. And if I have to wear a mask to put a substance in the coop, run, and/or dust bath, I darn sure don't want my chickens inhaling that stuff either. I use deep litter. I NEED bugs and such to break down the waste. So killing those beneficial life forms deep in the litter makes no sense. I have half a bag of DE out in the garage. If anyone wants it, they are welcome to it.
 
Blooie said:
Um, I don't want to be argumentative, but generally speaking poop on eggs is because somebody is pooping in the nests.  Period.  Has nothing to do with worms.....if the same egg was laid on the floor of the coop in poop it's going to be a poopy egg.  This video has been the source of a lot of confusion, especially for new people.  After all, if chickens are suffering from worms the least accurate method of determining that is finding poop in the nest.  Chickens poop.  It's what they do. Worms don't make a chicken suddenly decide to poop on their eggs.  That makes no sense. Poop in a nest means get that dirty bedding out of there and make sure that the nest boxes aren't used for sleep-overs or naps.  

I was a huge proponent of the "miracles of DE" once upon a time.  But since DE fed to them goes into the crop, getting ground even finer by grit and getting wet, and worms are primarily intestinal, I just don't see any benefits, despite the internet praises for it.  And if I have to wear a mask to put a substance in the coop, run, and/or dust bath, I darn sure don't want my chickens inhaling that stuff either.  I use deep litter.  I NEED bugs and such to break down the waste.  So killing those beneficial life forms deep in the litter makes no sense.  I have half a bag of DE out in the garage.  If anyone wants it, they are welcome to it.
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Blooie. You have such class and etiquette... So we'll said... Even though I DO use DE lol, I still just can't help but agree with you! ;)

I don't use deep litter either though...if I DID, I would knock it off with the DE. :)


I just love how you explained it, easy to understand, and kind to boot ;)

I desire for more people to be like you... Enough gushing lol, I agree. :)
 
Thank you blooie...I am new to this egg laying thing. Just got my girls in March.
I'm going to skip the DE myself. I let my chickens free range as much as possible and have very Sandy soil.
I still offer grit but, so far, they just make a mess of it, which leads me to believe that they are getting what they need through foraging.
So. I will continue to let mother nature take its course till proven otherwise, or the snow falls, whichever comes first. Have a great day. Thanks for the info!
 
Blooie said:
Um, I don't want to be argumentative, but generally speaking poop on eggs is because somebody is pooping in the nests. Period. Has nothing to do with worms.....if the same egg was laid on the floor of the coop in poop it's going to be a poopy egg. This video has been the source of a lot of confusion, especially for new people. After all, if chickens are suffering from worms the least accurate method of determining that is finding poop in the nest. Chickens poop. It's what they do. Worms don't make a chicken suddenly decide to poop on their eggs. That makes no sense. Poop in a nest means get that dirty bedding out of there and make sure that the nest boxes aren't used for sleep-overs or naps.

I was a huge proponent of the "miracles of DE" once upon a time. But since DE fed to them goes into the crop, getting ground even finer by grit and getting wet, and worms are primarily intestinal, I just don't see any benefits, despite the internet praises for it. And if I have to wear a mask to put a substance in the coop, run, and/or dust bath, I darn sure don't want my chickens inhaling that stuff either. I use deep litter. I NEED bugs and such to break down the waste. So killing those beneficial life forms deep in the litter makes no sense. I have half a bag of DE out in the garage. If anyone wants it, they are welcome to it.
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I personally don't want my birds eaten up by mites. So, the DE keeps the bug population down in the coop. I use hay, and change it out once they get stinky. I just cleaned out two out three coops. I noticed my new layers in another coop, that I experimented with, did not put down DE, or hay, and have no dirty nesting boxes came out dirty. The main laying pen lined with DE, covered with straw, not a single dirty egg. And when I let the cleaning go for a couple of months, as long as DE was present, the smell was reduced, and there wasn't a single dirty egg. Before I used DE, and still cleaned it regularly, all the time I was having clean poop off the eggs. Just from dealing with two egg laying coops, the one with DE was cleaner, the one's without and no poop in their boxes, dirty. I can only conclude based on anecdotal experience that DE is keep the mites off my birds and worms out of their guts.

I also noticed the splatter poop in general was reduced to nice clumps. I do allow my birds to eat bugs when I free range them.
 
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That's the beauty of this forum, RoosterCogburn7.....everyone has such diverse opinions and it's good to be able to read them all and decide what's best for your situation. I've said it before and I'll say it again - if there was only one "right" way to raise chickens this entire forum could be read in half an hour!
lau.gif
 
Blooie said:
That's the beauty of this forum, RoosterCogburn7.....everyone has such diverse opinions and it's good to be able to read them all and decide what's best for your situation. I've said it before and I'll say it again - if there was only one "right" way to raise chickens this entire forum could be read in half an hour!
lau.gif
Click to expand...
True. Just look at all the varied chicken coops.
 

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