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lalaland said:
I know, it looks good doesn't it?


Found a nice 2 1/2 inch round worm in a dropping. And I waited too long, now half the flock are molting. Guess its time to start the soapy water in the waterer, and to grate up a couple pounds of carrots.
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I am intrigued with what you said here. Can you explain more on how the soapy water and carrots work? I have read all kinds of things but this is the first I have read of this. We were considering using a worming course here. But I didn't know how young you can worm them and what season will work best for our farm. So I am working on reading up on all kinds of things. BYC is FULL of worming information. Now to sort through it and figure out what info is workable for us and what isn't.

Klop your fire!! Yikes!! that looks really big in the picture. That reminds me of a few piles here and there I need to take care of.
 
Oh I forgot I was going to ask something.
I have one polish hen of laying age. She had started laying in August. She laid around 10 or so eggs total. Always normal eggs. She hasn't laid an egg now since August 16th. Not a one! Overall, her health seems fine. She does get picked on though. She is missing her tail feathers and most of her crown. But that isn't new. She has been the bottom of the pecking order always. So what could be going on? No feed changes or anything like that. I am stumped. Wondering if there could be something I am missing here that I can do for her. Any thoughts?
 
Rhetts said:
I am intrigued with what you said here. Can you explain more on how the soapy water and carrots work? I have read all kinds of things but this is the first I have read of this. We were considering using a worming course here. But I didn't know how young you can worm them and what season will work best for our farm. So I am working on reading up on all kinds of things. BYC is FULL of worming information. Now to sort through it and figure out what info is workable for us and what isn't.
Click to expand...


Rhetts said:
Oh I forgot I was going to ask something.
I have one polish hen of laying age. She had started laying in August. She laid around 10 or so eggs total. Always normal eggs. She hasn't laid an egg now since August 16th. Not a one! Overall, her health seems fine. She does get picked on though. She is missing her tail feathers and most of her crown. But that isn't new. She has been the bottom of the pecking order always. So what could be going on? No feed changes or anything like that. I am stumped. Wondering if there could be something I am missing here that I can do for her. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Your polish might not be laying because it is molting time, or she might be giving into the stress. Polish have a very hard time, as do silkies, in some flocks because they get picked on - more so than just the lowest on the totem pole.
I actually lost a little hen that was always being picked on and attacked - and the necropsy said it was an overgrowth of ecoli from stress. Not sure of the solution.

now, about worming. Easiest is chemical worming - I like safeguard paste because it is so easy. You'll find dosing instructions and when to repeat. You can't eat the eggs for something like 10 or 14 days after the second dose. Also, you need to avoid worming when the hen is about to molt or is molting because it literally causes problems with the feather development and you'll get awful feathers - scant and crooked, and in Minnesota with winter....don't do it.

A problem with chemical worming is that the worms are becoming resistant to the wormers.

I try to stay away from it, but will use it when I have a single hen who needs special attention and is under the weather.

Generally, you don't need to worm the first couple of years you have chickens if there havent been chickens on the land previously. worms lay eggs in the chicken, the eggs go in the chickens droppings, other chickens pick them up, cycle continues. Chickens confined to runs are exposed to more worm eggs than chickens who totally free range.

Some people who have kept chickens for years worm once or twice a year, routinely. But if you butcher your chickens at age 2, and are always getting new chickens, you might not get such a worm problem. Earthworms supposedly are a big source of worms, and so are wild birds....and chickens will always have some worms -what is called a normal parasite load. It is when they get out of balance and can start to affect the health of the bird that it is a problem.

Alternatives to chemical wormers are rare. People will say DE is a wormer, I say not. Some people will say pumpkin seeds and cayenne, I think not alone. They are helpful, as is garlic, in creating a gut environment hostile to worms, but if you have a worm overload (fecal float? hens that aren't laying? hens not at a good weight?) it is too late for preventative type things.

Dish soap in the water is a possible dewormer. supposedly the surfectants harm the worms skin and the worm is digested. I don't know. I do it just because traditionally, and we are talking in the 20's and 30's here I believe, the chickens got the dishwater after the dishes were done because there was a bit of food in the dishwater, and supposedly this also helped with worms. I wouldn't use any old dish soap. I wouldn't rely on this when you have a worm overload either.

I do rely on this herbal wormer which many many goat people swear by: Molly's herbal wormer. http://fiascofarm.com/herbs/wormer.htm

I know people who have used it on chickens and verified via fecal floats that it works. It is a 2 part system - a concentrated powder you put in the feed , and then a booster used routinely. I tend to forget to use the booster, or run out of it, and....find myself where I am today, with a roundworm in the dropping and not having done a danged thing all summer about worms! No egg withdrawal, and no problem with molting.

Molly is out of town til 9/20. I ordered last night, and perhaps I will luck out and she will ship before she goes. In the meantime, I started a few drops of castile dish soap in the water, and put some tumeric, garlic, and the booster herbal formula in their feed.

When I am back in town on Tuesday, I'll pick up carrots and grate them up and feed those to them.
There is a guy named paul healy, and people swear by his worming mash. It includes taking your regular feed, adding hot milk, tons of mashed fresh garlic, some tumeric, a bit of kelp powder, and something else. YOu can google it probably. He says to withhold feed for 24 hours, and the next morning feed them this mixture which has been made the night before and sitting. I think you also repeat this in 10 days or something.

Tons and tons of worm overload symptoms so it is hard to know definitively without a fecal float, a necropsy, or visually observing worms, but there are some you can't see. Your polish....she could have worms, but I am betting on the stress of being an outsider because of her puff. You could try keeping it trimmed but it might not make a difference to the flock at this point. I would also try some probiotics with her (you can feed the whole flock good yogurt with active cultures, or give powdered probiotics to the whole flock) and watch her droppings carefully. Make sure your run is big enough that she can be somewhere without being chased away, and make sure she has easy access to water and feed - so more than one feeder and waterer.
 
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Well. the Steep Canyon Rangers were fantastic! Garrison and his crew had some great talent too. Besides for his politics, he really reminds me of someone on here!! We can all guess who that might be.... If you want to hear the Steep Canyon Rangers; the show is on at 5. It was a good one. I have an intermission video that was exceptional and a video of the band. Just no time to put it here. Going up to a cabin in the iron range I believe. Maybe when I return.
 
Big Bird Dies today in this heat. I found him lying next to the waterer. He has spent the last three day holding his wings out and trying to stay cool. This heat is terrible on the larger bodied birds.

I am hoping not to lose any CXs during this. It cannot end soon enough. I have several of the larger roosters holding their wings out too. I am letting them have lots of shade and water, I think that is about all I can do.


I am amazed anyone down south can raise birds at all. When we get hot weather in the summer or warm weather in the winter, I lose birds.


It is hard to believe chickens are descendants of jungle fowl the way the heat effects them.


Blanchranch I can clean him quick for you if you want?
 

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