INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Rhandi74]

I did some research into Big Momma's feather loss and it being mites. I have determined that my chickens have lice

I am glad I know what it is so she can feel better and the rest of my flock does not start looking and feeling like her. I purchased the seven dust but have a few concerns.

Does anyone know if Seven Dust is safe to use on a broody that is sitting on eggs?

Is it safe for young chicks also?

This is my first year raising chickens and I have not had to deal with anything like this. Any tips would also be very appreciated on getting rid of the nasty buggers.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

I would have difficulty butchering a brown Swiss, too! ...A tiny meat chicken at 16-20 weeks? If you say so...

oooh, I love the brown swiss, too & jersey -- they have such pretty eyes & eyelashes! maybe someday....

 

[Faraday40]

I hatched out 6 chicks under a broody in the coop. She hatched 3 pullets and 3 roos. All raised within the flock. I took 2 of the roos out, and gave them their own home. On the opposite side of the yard. I kept the lowest roo in with the flock. The middle roo kept flying out of his enclosure and would get back in with the flock. Daily! It was crazy. When he was there those two fought. He would try and mate with the girls, actually rape them, and he taught my nice quiet roo bad manners. Both top roos have been placed in the freezer. And my nice quiet roo does well with most of my girls, protect them, finds treats for them, dances for them. But he has 2 girls he won't leave alone. He has torn them up. Scalped them actually. He's the roo that is next for the freezer. When he would mate with the girls while the other roo was there, they would hurt the hen at the head area. He still does that but just with those 2 girls. I have 16 layers.

Now I have 2 baby roo's, 7 weeks old or so, that I had to help hatch both of them. If they won't play nice in the coop, they are both bound for the freezer. I suppose it all depends on your flock dynamics as to whether it will work or not. Some people have good experiences with it others don't. Good luck with what ever you decide to do. And btw. 3 roos crowing is an all day affair. And LOUD!

 

[Faraday40]

I did some research into Big Momma's feather loss and it being mites. I have determined that my chickens have lice

I am glad I know what it is so she can feel better and the rest of my flock does not start looking and feeling like her. I purchased the seven dust but have a few concerns.

Does anyone know if Seven Dust is safe to use on a broody that is sitting on eggs?

Is it safe for young chicks also?

This is my first year raising chickens and I have not had to deal with anything like this. Any tips would also be very appreciated on getting rid of the nasty buggers.

How did you confirm mites/lice? I've been checking skin by vent & wings & even looking at dropped feathers under the microscope. Nothing found. I've only used DE on them & in the coop.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Thanks for your insight about goat breeds and milk. We were thinking about pygmy because of their small size--didn't even think about different breeds having different milk characteristics. Guess we hadn't gotten that far in our thought process. A screaming pig at 3am would wake a person up with a real start! We're still working on the potty training phase, and they get their second set of puppy boosters today. We have absolutely no good reason to keep these two pups--except that we love them so much. We feel guilty just talking about keeping them, because they would so easily get a forever home. Usually, we adopt special needs animals. Currently, we have an ancient mean Chihuahua with heart failure, a blind and deaf Cocker Spaniel, and a cat with cardiomyopathy among our old and special needs pack. If we did adopt the puppies, there would be some special needs animals out there going without a home. That makes me sad to think about. Can you tell I'm trying to talk myself out of adopting them? I would have difficulty butchering a brown Swiss, too! ...A tiny meat chicken at 16-20 weeks? If you say so...

It is the runt. She probably weighs two pounds. They weren't taken properly care of before and I think that has an effect of their growth rate.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

If your wanting a smaller goat look up Nigerien Dwarf ( don't know if I spelled that right ) I don't know anything about their milk, but they are small and they are supper sweet.
 I commend you for taking on the Special needs animals, I have a bunch here as well is why our farm is called Missfit Farm... lol   You do have a hard dissension to make. Pups do find forever homes faster, and allot of the Special Needs go unwanted thats for sure.


 I want a Swiss real bad, not to eat, I want the milk, never tried it but have heard that it is great. ?? but we don't have room where we are now, we are looking to get a bigger place some day.  

I have 2 GP's and they are great with all my critters, Sorry to hear you lost yours. Hope you find one soon. 

Congrats!!! 

My Nigerian dwarf doe is a nightmare. She I setting old now and is much better than she use to be.

 

[chick rookie]

How are you keeping the netting high enough in the center of their yard? Mine is 45' wide, I could attach to the trees, but there really are only 2 trees. Fence is 4' high and most of their yard has nothing to attach the netting to. I had no problems with wild birds last year getting into their food. They eat everything normally within 20 minutes since I feed FF. Same with their snacks. The bigger birds, my roo chases them off. Its just the little babies he's having a problem with, well he wont chase them off. Which may have been where my birds got the worms, therefore I have a problem with them too.

Well my ba broody that hatched out chicks last year is broody again. She's getting locked up. I don't want anymore chicks this year! And the rest are going into molt. I got 5 eggs Sunday and 8 eggs yesterday. Normally 14-16 a day. I guess I'll throw all my eggs into the fridge and try to make them last longer. Good thing I can worm them now, I won't feel so bad about tossing so few eggs.

We use 4x4's 8 footers and we put 2' in the ground, and attach to the tree, it looks like a tepee in the 4' fenced pens, my lg run has 7' fence all the way around and so it is easier to hold up the netting. The run we are working on is big enough that we cant buy everything at once so we get a ok of netting and 2 4x4's a week, we need 2 more 4x4's and 3 more pks of netting and will be done, I think we will be done before the cold hits....

 

[chick rookie]

My Nigerian dwarf doe is a nightmare. She I setting old now and is much better than she use to be.

Really??? I had a wither and he was a sweetheart. Got a friend that hast 2 does and they are Sweethearts too... They have their own personality's. First time I ever heard a complaint about them. Not that I know allot of people with them just my wither and my friends does, guess we got lucky maybe. My Boar doe is my nightmare!!!!!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I don't like Nigerian dwarfs. But I love pygmys. My boars are sweeties too. I also like touganburgs (sp) and Nubians.

My b

Really??? I had a wither and he was a sweetheart. Got a friend that hast 2 does and they are Sweethearts too... They have their own personality's. First time I ever heard a complaint about them. Not that I know allot of people with them just my wither and my friends does, guess we got lucky maybe.  My Boar doe is my nightmare!!!!!

 

[Rhandi74]

How did you confirm mites/lice?  I've been checking skin by vent & wings & even looking at dropped feathers under the microscope.  Nothing found.  I've only used DE on them & in the coop.

I looked everyone's feathers over and at the base of some of the chickens neck feathers there was strange tiny clumped up white balls. I checked pictures online of mites and one site showed pics of lice eggs. It looked exactly like what what I was seeing. Big Momma is not doing well at all though. I brought her inside because she started spinning circles this morning and squaking and now her neck is stuck in a twisted position. I am thinking maybe it is wry neck??? but I am a major newbie and am not sure. She is no longer squaking, I think she was worried the other chickens might hurt her .