I'm SUCH a bad chicken momma!!!!!

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

Put the ashes in an out of the way area.
You do not want to be tracking black soot all over.

I grew up on a farm - this was standard practice for
every one we knew. We had a large variety of laying hens.
That free ranged during the days. They would wander down to
the area dad always dumped them. they seemed to injoy it.
It was not a thick pile of ash it was an area about the size of a baby pool
and every time it rained a lot of it washed away.
I would not use it on my silkies now.
"I HAVE ENOUGH TROUBLE KEEPING THE FLUFFY LITTLE BUGGERS CLEAN"
And everyone be mind ful of starting fires.
Make sure you are not dumping any hot cinders.

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, you don't need to check all of them, because if you have them, checking the first two or three will be good enough, as they will all have them.

 

[TerrasCritters]

I have 5 gallon buckets of Mt Saint Helens Ash. Back when it blew everyone thought "it would be worth something" Hmmm lol

 

[aran]

Just so I get this right because my birds are not free ranged, they live in a 1200sf enclosure...should i make a plywood box to put the sevin/ashes in or do i just spread it all around in the bedding of the coop or do i put it in the nesting boxes? I want to get this done asap but want to make sure i get it right. Southern how are you girls doing?

 

[bantymum]

Hi Aran, just make a shallow round hole about 2 feet diameter and dig it so that the earth is dry and sandy, use a shovel to flatten any lumps and get rid of hard stones and twigs, you need to make it look real inviting, then sprinke the ashes through it, they should be nice and fine as well not rocky and hard. they will fight each other for their turn in the hole!!
I find that my eldest hen goldilocks gets lice quicker than the rest of my flock.
If you are looking for them you need to be really quick as they run for cover as sson as you touch the feathers. look under wings too.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I am sure this will seem like a really stupid question but I'll risk looking like a nincompoop to find out! I don't really suspect mites but if I were looking at a chicken to determine if she had them, what exactly would I be looking for and would she have symptoms that I would notice? Thanks for helping me out here and hopefully I will never need the DE stuff -- but I did bookmark the page you all referred Southern Chick too --just in case!

 

[bantymum]

Hi scrambled egg, love that dish , especially with parsley, onions, mushies and cheese!!!
My chickens just start preening a little more than usual, my oldest hen once had it so bad that she went very weak. Never again will she suffer, im really vigilant now.
Just sift through the feathers and you may notice little yellow bugs, the size of a pin head running very fast!
The red blood sucking mites show at night if you use a torch to search.
You really need to be quick, just like trying to grab a seaworm out of the sand!!

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Thanks bantymum --I will check them out this morning. I haven't seen any excessive preenig though so hopefully all is well. I cleaned their pen yesterday and put fresh alfalpha in the pen and new pine shavings in their coop so hopefully they are mite-free but I will look, thanks again

 

[patandchickens]

Aran - I understand your point about inhaling DE dust, but on the other hand do you really think that's so much worse than inhaling wood ash and Sevin, as you've proposed as an alternative???????

I think it's all kind of relative... how much of a problem with mites you have, how dusty the area is, how well ventilated.

JMHO,

Pat

 

[aran]

pat i totally agree with you the sevin and ash is also certainly not going to do anyone's lungs any good LOL. I guess my thing with the sevin and ash if it will work is it allows me to have a discrete and finite area where that pile of stuff is and not in the animal's living quarters or bedding or feed where they are exposed to it constantly. As for my lungs im paranoid about getting psittacosis anyways so its a good thing I have access to masks at work!