Maine

[lazy gardener]

No, I've never had one. But I saw a thread regarding chicken swings. One fellow made one from what looked like a piece of fire wood with bark intact so it gave a wide easy to grip surface. An other gal has patented one and is trying to market them, saying that of course hers have built in safety features, and are far superior to any home made version. (We'll just have to see about that! Sounds like a challenge to me!) The video clip I saw showed a chicken happily swinging away. When the chicks were little, I contemplated putting a swing in their brooder, but never got around to it. May try it next spring with chicks. No parakeet or canary cage would be complete without one, so why not chickens??

 

[CoopChick719]

It's been 2 weeks since I brought Maran in to sick bay. I'm not seeing any improvement with her. I'm afraid I'll have to cull her. I'm so torn by this decision.

 

[lazy gardener]

So Sorry, Coop Chick.

 

[CoopChick719]

Thanks LG. DH has been very supportive pointing out everything I've done that should be helping.

Cute nest box BTW.

Here is some info I found when researching making your own ACV. I keep mine in my hutch--in the dark.

If you add your mother vinegar to apple juice you may be waiting awhile for the whole mix to become fermented but you can skip that wait by just placing the same mother into regular ACV from the store....the only reason the mother is important is for the good bacteria(probiotics) it contains. Regular, pasteurized vinegar still has good health benefits due to the vitamins and minerals but the true health benefit for us and for chickens is in the probiotics of the cultures that form the "mother".

This thread will explain just why those bacteria are important for livestock, beyond the benefits of the vitamins and minerals:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/632840/prevention-of-coccidiosis-and-other-poultry-diseases-in-chicks-acv

You can "infect" other jugs of vinegar with it by just shaking your mother up in the jug until it fragments and then pour some of it into the pasteurized version of ACV, leave it uncovered for a few days in a dark and reasonably warm~ but not hot~ place...room temp is fine. I usually place a paper towel over the mouth of the jug and secure it with a rubber band. Within days you can pick up your new jug and see the swirl of snot-like "mother" growing bigger and forming into a single unit again. If you pick it up in your hands it is much like the stuff around frog's eggs.

 

[lazy gardener]

What brand to you find that has a good "mother" and where do you buy it? I had some Heinz that was supposed to have the mother, but all I could see was a bit of dark sediment in the bottom of the jug, and it was more cloudy than the pasteurized ACV. Went to NLC, and didn't even find any there!! I tried inoculating a regular bottle of ACV with my Heinz, even added some sugar, but didn't leave the bottle uncapped. Nothing at all happened with it.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Bucka, that looks great. How long did it take you?

 

[MEMama3]

What brand to you find that has a good "mother" and where do you buy it?  I had some Heinz that was supposed to have the mother, but all I could see was a bit of dark sediment in the bottom of the jug, and it was more cloudy than the pasteurized ACV.  Went to NLC, and didn't even find any there!!  I tried inoculating a regular bottle of ACV with my Heinz, even added some sugar, but didn't leave the bottle uncapped.  Nothing at all happened with it.

Braggs is what most people use. It can be found at natural food stores, but sometimes even at the regular grocery stores and Wal-Mart.

 

[quailtrail]

Can you add the premium ACV to apple cider, or are you better off just adding it to other vinegar? I'm thinking the cheap apple cider vinegar is probably pasturized and "dead", so if you add the "mother" doesn't it have nothing to feed on? I'm not really sure how this works.

Does fermented feed offer the same bacteria? I have done fermented feed successfully, but I haven't done it for a while. I was getting tired of the mess, neglected the bucket for quite some time, and then it turned really nasty!

So, a long time ago I posted photos of a homemade nest box that I made out of corn stalks. Unfortunately, the chickens thought it was a giant snack and spent all their time trying to destroy it. Since I am stubborn, I insisted on trying again, this time with sticks, in hopes they won't find it so tasty. It was today's project:

I hope they'll use it!

if I was a chicken I would!!!!

 

[quailtrail]

Ok so I've been wondering "when will my roo cock-a-doodle-doo"... I'm sitting here at 7am getting ready for a fundraiser for homeless teens in Portland. ..well he's crowing now...Non-stop! !!! Started with a strangled sound and now singing! I want to go out and tell him to stop "barking" like I would my dogs! !!! Hopefully the neighbors think its the roo across the street that crows all day lol!!!! Oh boy....

 

[quailtrail]

It's been 2 weeks since I brought Maran in to sick bay. I'm not seeing any improvement with her. I'm afraid I'll have to cull her. I'm so torn by this decision.

((hugs))