i need help keeping my chickens healthy!

[mshuey1]

Is anybody out there doing organic to keep the flock healthy. I,be been using taylan to treat there health problems. How do I keep them healthy naturally:/

 

[Nicole01]

I give probiotics and vitamins. I also supplement with sunflower seeds, fruits and vegetables.

. My girls look pretty healthy. I also keep the coop and run really clean.

 

[mshuey1]

I do the same my flock is free range too, but they still get sick. They get vegges fruit yogurt sunflower seeds and oil. My problem when it rains, we live in Texas and it never rains but when it does that's when it starts they get a cold and it goes to there lungs.

 

[Aj1911]

chickens dont get colds, they get CRD, read up on it, they show symptoms when it rains b/c they get wet and stressed, dont let them out in the rain and that will help

other wise your gonna have to live with it all tho GSE might help, also modesto milling makes an organic feed with herbs in it that might help

H&H is another good feed.

 

[mshuey1]

thanks now I know what am againts. these guys r young and they just got it my last group of chickens battled it out for a month. i know what to do and at the same time i will give them garlic and apple cider vinger to boost the immune system and clear there lungs while there taking there tylan. am crossing my fingers hope this works.

 

[Beekissed]

You can keep your chickens healthy using all natural approaches if you are consistent and diligent in your husbandry practices. Sentiment cannot play a part in keeping and maintaining healthy flocks. I've never had illness in any of my flocks over these many years and I don't believe that is just good luck...it takes observation, prevention, and intent.

I use unpastuerized apple cider vinegar in their water as an immunity booster and for the good vitamins therein. I never use antibiotics, chemical dewormers, medicated feeds, vaccines, etc. I free range at all times in an acre lot with farm dogs on duty that prevent predation. I feed a mix of layer mash(no animal byproducts, thank you) and whole grains such as oats, wheat, BOSS. I do not continuously feed as this is a waste of feed and attracts rodents.

Another method of building a good immune system while keeping your birds warm in the winter? Deep litter with attention towards keeping the bedding fluffed and dry....your birds can help you with this by scratching for BOSS in your litter.

I've never dewormed a flock except to supplement their forage and feed with pumpkins. I've never disinfected any living areas, never used DE or other dusting powders to prevent lice or mites, clean out waterers with a swish of the hand and fresh water ~and maybe a bleaching once or twice a year.

Nu-Stock is my flock treatment of choice for scale mites (had those once from donated hens) and any wounds they might incur. Nu-Stock is merely sulfur, pine tar and mineral oil....works in one treatment on scale mites when all other natural treatments failed. And the mites did not return.

You can use liquid garlic juice or powder in their feed or water also.....great immunity booster and helps ward off blood-sucking parasites.

Your most useful tool for a healthy flock? Your brain. Choose breeds that are known to be hardy in your climate and in general. Choose individual chickens who thrive on your animal husbandry practices and in your climate....all others need to be culled from your breeding plan. No exceptions. If a chicken always looks raggedy or thin and you have no explanation~cull her. If you have one that insists on leaving the flock and roaming into dangerous areas~cull her. If you have hens that are victims....squat too often for breeding and have a constant bare back...cull them. Bare skin is a source for possible injury and infection...best to cull the birds who never look fully feathered, bright eyed, active and lay well.

Ornamental or bantam breeds are cute to look upon but may not always be the wise choice for your flock, so resist the urge to go with pretty, unusual or weird and keep with the natural beauty of standard breeds with a proven hardiness.

Cull for inconsistent laying practices in peak laying times. If she doesn't lay every day or every other day in peak times, in low times she is eating you out of house and home. Cull any birds that are always fat and don't lay consistently...these too are wasting your money and a too-fat hen is prone to reproductive problems like becoming eggbound, ovarian cysts, reproductive cancers, etc.

Do not use supplemental lighting or heating for your adult birds, try to raise chicks under a broody hen, expose your birds early to your soils, the weather, the climate changes you have. They will feather quickly and build a healthy immune system that doesn't require meds to keep healthy.

By the time you are done with this multidirectional approach to a healthy flock, you should have a flock anyone would be proud of.

 

[bairo]

Quote:
Great advice!!!!!! I think many people need to read this for one reason or another (even me)

 

[mshuey1]

Quote:
Great advice!!!!!! I think many people need to read this for one reason or another (even me)

I think it's a matter of opinion, wheather u want to cull or not, I found that it's used by people very freely to cull. I have over 200 chickens and I take the time to care for them and I have never culled my chickens. this could happen to anyone I know am not the only one that this has happened too. never say never

 

[ChickenAl]

Quote:
Excellent suggestions here. For some of us with really small flocks, and/or sentimental feelings, the culling may be too extreme for us. Though I do understand the necessity of culling in order to keep a prime flock. Everyone should read this.

 

[Beekissed]

I understand that culling undesirable traits from a flock is not something folks on this type of forum consider to be necessary. Many people here are getting into chickens as a new hobby, fad or whim or just as an experiment to see if they can save money on raising their own foods.

Then there are those who think of farming or animal husbandry in terms of decades or centuries....folks who are in it for the long haul and want to insure their efforts actually produce something viable and valuable to the next generation if need be. Even if what they produce is information.

While sentiment and such seems admirable and they usually are when applied to your fellow man and creatures on this earth~the hard facts are that you would not be enjoying the foods you have today if someone were not thinking more long term about quality, sustaining the strong and good producers of any given food source, be it animal or vegetable.

Even nature is set up for just such a system when man does not interfer....the strongest survive and the weak are foods for others so they might survive. It is a good system and though it may seem harsh it is still quite necessary to insure the survival of many and not just a few.

Farming folk are usually the practical people who have to make the hard choices and city folk are usually the ones who enjoy the fruits of those hard choices...has been that way for many generations now. Now the city or urban set want to experiment with keeping farm animals and forget that those who have been doing it for generations may just have a grasp on how to keep an animal alive and healthy~for years, decades, centuries~not just for the life span of a chicken.