INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[iamfivewire]

My DW makes our chickens oatmeal w/ some flax seed mixed in (& sometimes mealworms added too) - They just about attack her to get their yummy treat & there isnt even a speck left after they get done cleaning the bowls . . . . = spoiled chickens
: -)

 

[pbirdhaven]

Hello, everyone. Been a long time since I've been on--lots of new people and updates. Actually been following posts about 2 weeks but haven't been able to post anything from my PC. Can't log in from Firefox--BYC tells me cookies aren't enabled (they are) and IE lets me log i n and brings up the reply box but won't let me type in it. So decided to try the tablet; it works but hate typing in it.
Anyhow, that's my sob story. Welcome newbies, encouraging words to those encountering challenges, condolences on losses, and "awww" to the great pictures. Sorry to be so generic but the best I can do right now!

 

[Kiniska]

Trying to talk my husband into buying this handsome boy for my 40 the birthday this year. That is me riding him. He is wonderful!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

First of all

A long time ago I quit going into pet stores that sold puppies and the like because seeing the conditions just made me

I would have been

to see that in the store. Did you notice that I'd be

Anyhow, there is a product that really does well on injuries and heals them up very quickly. I've never been able to find it locally and have had to order online. It has a very strong smell, but it works well, is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. I got it, scooped it out of the tube into a small canning jar, and keep it in my chicken first aid kit. It's worth having around even though it does stink. It works very well on almost any skin injury, on the vent if there gleet, etc. It seriously starts the healing process very quickly and is almost like a miracle. It is most often used for hot spots on horses, dogs, etc.

I really like having it around for just such an situation as you find yourself in...or any injury.

NuStock http://www.amazon.com/Durvet-001-05...=UTF8&qid=1392510321&sr=8-1&keywords=nu-stock

The other thing that may sound strange... Coconut Oil. It is also anti-fungal/anti bacterial in a more natural form and the oil does wonders to heal the skin. Have to put it on more frequently than the Nustock and doesn't show the extremely miraculous-quick healing that the NuStock does but it does a pretty good job all on it's own.

I feel so bad when I go into pet stores. Some think that just because they look healthy they are treated well. Ok

. In the case of dogs- I am sure they loved being locked in a cage, where strangers can stare at them and not get to run around in grass.

oh don't worry... I rant and rave all the time about RK. the only reason I was in there today was for meal worm treats for the kids. I have live ones but not ready to be feed for treats yet. DH says that is my problem... I care too much and that's one reason he has to build a addition and a whole new coop... lol
I agree... they need some people that know " a little bit of what they are talking about anyway " ... but that's not going to happen.

Just couldn't turn my back on them it was hard enough to leave the " Arucana's "
ok let me know what you find out about the feeders. I'll let you know if DH gets feeling like building a couple before you start building.
I have been hearing alot about that Nustock need to find me some and try it. in the mean time going to use blue kote cause I have that on hand.

put some on a while ago. I had forgotten about that, and I use it on goats and horses all the time.

Ya, i agree that won't happen. That would make entirely too much sense lol. Hope you get your chickies taken care of.

 

[chick rookie]

Yikes! Good to know for the future! Someone should contact Rural King corporate and complain about that store. They should have someone knowledgeable there and monitoring the babies closely or should be reported for not caring for the animals. This should not happen

Rural King gets about 100 calls a year they don't care

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

My DW makes our chickens oatmeal w/ some flax seed mixed in (& sometimes mealworms added too) - They just about attack her to get their yummy treat & there isnt even a speck left after they get done cleaning the bowls . . . . = spoiled chickens
: -)

I feed it to them in styrofoam bowls. A BR rooster tried eating the styrofoam

bad rooster!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Rural King gets about 100 calls a year they don't care

Agreed, probablymore. Like most coorperations (sp), all they care about is the money

 

[CRSelvey]

Missing you guys, things are nuts again. This is going to be our worst year for my family, MIL had hip replacement. Dad was in hospital, still waiting for his valve, so he can have the surgery. My sister had gall bladder out, brother had the heart attack & bypasses. Now mom had a bad fall, and has to have knee surgery! I am wupped. I know I have a few eggs, frozen in the boxes. All I am doing is just feeding, watering and driving away. Really, really ready for this ice and snow to go away. Am going to try to at least catch up tonight.

Quote:
I showed a male goat in 4-H last year he was supposed to be neutered (lets not go into that) and he was super sweet, gentle and handsome (I know you guys think im crazy lol). After fair he turned into a buck and was very mean and aggressive. He went away :'(

I'm sorry you had to get rid of your goat. That's probably what will happen to Peanut Butter too.

We've raised meal worms for about 4 yrs. They are so easy. We use chicken feed, I have them in one of those plastic 3 draw containers you get at wal mart.. Put in some potatoes and that is all we do. Just get rid of him. I've never known a mean one to get much better, no matter what you do. I've gotten them to leave me alone, but they will still go after other people, plus I have to keep them in line all the time, just not worth it You should try Buckeye, I've never had such a friendly breed !!!

Thank you. I appreciate the info and I'd love to have a buckeye. If I could find a chick at the same time as a black copper Marans, Welsummer, and Orpington I'd be set!

Haha, very funny. I've been willing it to stop snowing ever since that first nasty snowstorm in January. It's not working! ETA: It didn't quote for some reason, but this was the 'Dr. Phil Pipd' post from M2H. I don't think there's an absolute known reason for why handling young roosters makes them human aggressive, but it has been shown time and time again that it happens, so there must be a connection there. I do have a theory, but nothing solidly proven, so bear with me here. First of all, all chickens tend to view humans as big roosters. This is why the hens 'squat' when you reach for them (or walk past them or look at them funny in the case of some of my girls ). They are assuming the mating position for their rooster. My theory is that by being friendly to a young cockerel, you are showing him that you're a very docile rooster and that you'd probably be easy to dethrone. If you treat the cockerel like an adult rooster would treat a cockerel, he is more likely to be respectful of you because you're not a pushover. As a side note, genetics tend to play a role here as well. As I posted previously, I raised two roosters in the exact same way and though Po is respectful and good with his girls, the other one was not. I mostly stopped handling both of them except for to move them from one pen to another once it was clear that they were roosters. And as for your Cochins, I have found that unless they are raised by hand from day one, my hens have been the same way. All of my Sebrights were adults when I got them and they are all human shy. My Rhodies were adults as well and human shy, too. I know three of the Sebrights came from a less than friendly home, and the Rhodies weren't handled much at all as chicks (they came from a wannabe-farmer type that probably didn't want to touch the germy birds).

Thank you for the detailed explanation. It really does make sense but man it's going to be rough not to baby future chicks if the are boys.

95% of the workers at the farm stores don't have a clue. The rural king I go to has a bunch of rude idiots working for them, so I just do everything myself. I get them and box them myself, I have have for other people. I have had people ask my about their "americana/araucanas" so of course I had to go on my whole rant about that. I have even removed dead chicks from the troughs. I tried to get a worker, but they were "busy". Hello people! How do think a parent is going to explain that to their little kids, when they ask them what is wrong with the chick, laying on the ground lifeless? I would feel bad, even though it isn't m responsibility, I don't work there, They should pay me lol. I make sure I haven't been in the barn and never where my tennis shoes out there so they don't have to worry about spreading disease. I have brought home sick chicks too. They won't take care of it and someone that doesn't have a clue will likely buy them and they will die, so I feel like I need to buy them. I haven't ever got a discount on chicks. I did get an argument, because I didn't get the minimum, i have chicks at home and they will be fine. They told me that they need each other body heat, not if you have a heat lamp. Did she really think i was going to sit them in a box at home without a supplement source of heat? They would die. If they knew they had pasty butt, why didn't they take care of it? thats what gets me. Sorry about my whole rant, but they really need to hire some smart people. I don't even go to the TSC in decatur anymore. Poor chick in the second picture! I hope you get them all taken care of. How great of you to take them home, most people wouldn't care about them.

My TSC said the reason they had the minimum was that animal rights activists took issue with them selling chicks in that kind of a store and they were trying to cut down on people buying their kids one chick for Easter just because they were cute. I know there are a lot of not smart people but buying a chick fir your kids Easter basket seems crazy. I mean eventually they grow up and need friends and a coop.

Trying to talk my husband into buying this handsome boy for my 40 the birthday this year. That is me riding him. He is wonderful!

Good luck with that!!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I'm sorry you had to get rid of your goat. That's probably what will happen to Peanut Butter too.
Thank you. I appreciate the info and I'd love to have a buckeye. If I could find a chick at the same time as a black copper Marans, Welsummer, and Orpington I'd be set!
Thank you for the detailed explanation. It really does make sense but man it's going to be rough not to baby future chicks if the are boys.
My TSC said the reason they had the minimum was that animal rights activists took issue with them selling chicks in that kind of a store and they were trying to cut down on people buying their kids one chick for Easter just because they were cute. I know there are a lot of not smart people but buying a chick fir your kids Easter basket seems crazy. I mean eventually they grow up and need friends and a coop.
Good luck with that!!

This wasn't at TSC, but Ruarl King. That was not why they were having the minimum. This was also past easter. They were just trying to be difficult, they wanted me to spend more money. I had 3 chicks, they wanted me to get 5. I had more at home too.There reason was warmth. My parents have bought me chicks for easter, but it is usually more like 10 and they have each other and then the rest of my chickens once they grow up. Just buying one is ridiculous.

It makes me so mad at easter time when I see the chicks at farm stores died random colors. You arent suppose to do that until 8 weeks of age I believe (even blu-kote).

 

[Leahs Mom]

Earlier when I posted about the NuStock and the coconut oil, there was another thing I was going to mention but didn't because it seems like it is a strange thing. I have done a bit of reading on the properties, however, and thought I'd mention HONEY as an anti-bacterial dressing that's been used and recommended for many years as one of the best topical healing agents around.

It has always seemed strange to me because of the sweetness...seems counter-intuitive. But it's been researched and proven effective to the point that it is even used in medical settings when other things wouldn't work due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Some time ago I had read the article that I will quote below about the questionable use of blu-kote for poultry. I had always wondered about it myself, even though I have some of it in my first aid kit.

So....I thought I'd post the link and the article so y'all could take a look at it and draw your own conclusion. I'm not really sure what I think on this yet. But I do tend to err toward not taking the risk and using something less "chemical" or more "benign" if there is question.

Anyhow...what I didn't remember is that the writer of the article put in a recipe for "home made blu-kote knock-off" that could be used for the color to camo an injury that includes...... you guessed it.... HONEY. Honey and Lemon essential oil.

The other thing I also want to state is that even though I have the NuStock and have seen how well it works, I've always had a question in the back of my mind about it's suitability for poultry. It is mainly sulfur and pine tar. Both items that have been used with poultry and horses for a good long time and it most certainly does an excellent job. But I still prefer to err on the side of caution and prefer to use something that I know has no side effects if it fits the injury.

So - for those that are interested, here's the Blue-Kote article:

Quote:http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2013/10/diy-anti-pick-antibacterial-blu-kote.html
I will add that the Gentian Violet is the anti-fungal in blu-Kote.