Necrotic Beaks

[tripletfeb]

Thanks for the update! And so glad that everything is good!

 

[MaxwellHouse]

Glad the antibiotic worked. I wanted to add that I had a very rare infectious agent with some of my ducks. I had to throw out all plastic such as the water container that you are showing in the image. Due to the porous material it was able to absorb and keep the pathogen. I did not believe my vet as this stuff is manufactured just for animal drinking water. Needless to say I poured some hydrogen peroxide on the plastic water dish and sure enough it effervesced. Of course, not all pathogens cause effervescing but all excrement in enough quantity will also effervesce. I had just bleached the plastic and it still effervesced.

I now no longer use any plastics. I now use dog dishes made from stainless steel and regularly bleach. I also use enamel cookware but it occasionally gets chipped so I have to throw it away once a chip is created.

 

[lazy gardener]

I may have to get some of that for flock change overs. The way our system works is we are using back to Eden method on all of our garden beds. The area where the chickens are located is 50X100, but it’s divided in half to 25X100. Its deep mulched 6” plus deep with freshly chipped wood chips. This year the chickens are in the left and Garden on right. Next year the chickens will be moved to the right and Garden in the left. We’re not certified organic but we could be. We only use rated products. So I have to be careful of what I use on the mulched area, but this product says it’s for Garden follow up use. I’ll have to research it some more.

This one statement sent up a huge red flag to me. I am also a fan of BTE gardening and use DL management in coop and run. IMO, bare soil is unhealthy soil, or is on it's way to becoming unhealthy. God did not design soil to be exposed.

About a year ago, a BYC member was starting the DLM with his flock. IIRC, the flock was kept in a coop and smallish run. He put fresh wood chips in the run. That season was particularly wet. Soon, he started loosing one bird after an other. I believe he ended up loosing 90% of his flock. Necropsy and cultures indicated that the flock was being killed by mycotoxin produced by the fresh chips. Since then, I've been recommending that folks use AGED chips in their DL. Something to think about. I wonder if it's possible that your contamination could be growing in the fresh wood chips???

 

[ageranger361]

Glad the antibiotic worked. I wanted to add that I had a very rare infectious agent with some of my ducks. I had to throw out all plastic such as the water container that you are showing in the image. Due to the porous material it was able to absorb and keep the pathogen. I did not believe my vet as this stuff is manufactured just for animal drinking water. Needless to say I poured some hydrogen peroxide on the plastic water dish and sure enough it effervesced. Of course, not all pathogens cause effervescing but all excrement in enough quantity will also effervesce. I had just bleached the plastic and it still effervesced.

I now no longer use any plastics. I now use dog dishes made from stainless steel and regularly bleach. I also use enamel cookware but it occasionally gets chipped so I have to throw it away once a chip is created.

Hey, thanks for the heads up. I’ve been washing them daily with dish soap and leaving them in a solution of soapy water over night and then leaving them out in the sun all day at least one day, then washing them again before reusing them (I have several to be able to do this). This seems to work very well as the soap and water can soak and penetrate overnight, and the UV radiation can kill off anything else.

 

[ageranger361]

This one statement sent up a huge red flag to me. I am also a fan of BTE gardening and use DL management in coop and run. IMO, bare soil is unhealthy soil, or is on it's way to becoming unhealthy. God did not design soil to be exposed.

About a year ago, a BYC member was starting the DLM with his flock. IIRC, the flock was kept in a coop and smallish run. He put fresh wood chips in the run. That season was particularly wet. Soon, he started loosing one bird after an other. I believe he ended up loosing 90% of his flock. Necropsy and cultures indicated that the flock was being killed by mycotoxin produced by the fresh chips. Since then, I've been recommending that folks use AGED chips in their DL. Something to think about. I wonder if it's possible that your contamination could be growing in the fresh wood chips???

You could be right, it may have grown in them, but all of our chips were green when put down and have been down for over a year. Also we have several large loads of mulch that we received summer of last year that we pull chips to mulch with. We have an aging process in place, but the chips are still typically “wet” on anything more than 4” deep because we have 60” of rain per year here.

Another thing to consider is that I raised a brood of 11 White Bresse chicks in the same brooder about 8 weeks ago without any of these problems. Before I put these chicks in I raked out the old chips and let the floor dry while raking the old chips flat around the trailer. Then I added fresh aged chips from elsewhere on the property. Anything is possible though, I’m not denying that it could have been sourced on our property, I just doubt it highly due to the reasons I outlined in my earlier post about the quality of these chicks thus far and the number of problems they’re exhibiting already.

Either way, I value the information you shared. I will try to keep the chips in the chicken area and brooder from being “green” chips from here on. I like to get chips delivered and have them piled and aging on the property because they’re easier to move and mulch with after they’re partially broken down. We have plenty of room to do it. I’m actually trying to get more chips delivered right now for next year even though we still have a ton of 1 year old chips lol. ;-)

 

[lazy gardener]

I wish I could get chips delivered. Have not been able to get them delivered for at least 3 years. What is your secret to getting them delivered?

 

[ageranger361]

I wish I could get chips delivered. Have not been able to get them delivered for at least 3 years. What is your secret to getting them delivered?

Well, several things. One is that we have a large property of 14 acres, and have dedicated a 1 acres portion to be used for firewood bucking and splitting, and wood chip dumps. We told the Tree Service they could make as many dumps as they wanted whenever it was convenient for them to dump here rather than anywhere else. When they DID come we gave them free water, beer, peppers, and loofah squash to take home to their wives. Lol

We’re also not picky. We told the guys it could have sticks and a few branches and and knobs that won’t go through the chipper. The big stuff we either build a hugelkulture mound with, put in the woods to rot, or burn them.

And We’re not opposed to paying for it, but I know that around our area whenever there are storms trees go down in the city and around the countryside, and the tree guys typically have to pay to dump their “waste.” Whereas here, it’s free to drop off and usually faster than going anywhere else. We’re on agriculturally zone property over 10 acres, which makes us a “farmstead” in our county, which is specifically designated for what we’re doing.

Another thing to try is “www.getchipdrop.com”

I didn’t have any luck with it, but many others have. Good luck!

 

[tjo804]

@ageranger361 Thank you for seeing this through to a positive note here. Hopefully it can help someone in the future and I have learned a lot. So again thank you for sharing your experience and being so kind to all parts of the journey it is a positive thread.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm signed up on "chip drop". No results. I may resign myself to "paying" to get some stuff dropped. I can go pick it up at our town transfer station, but, I'd rather have a mountain dumped which could then age properly to be dispensed here and there. I have easy access, but it entails backing up. Of course they would have to back up some just about anywhere.

 

[ageranger361]

I'm signed up on "chip drop". No results. I may resign myself to "paying" to get some stuff dropped. I can go pick it up at our town transfer station, but, I'd rather have a mountain dumped which could then age properly to be dispensed here and there. I have easy access, but it entails backing up. Of course they would have to back up some just about anywhere.

My wife will actually stop and tell the guys running the chipper to bring their chips to our place when she sees them working anywhere near our road. Usually, whenever that’s the case, it’s a lot faster for them to drop it at our place rather than drive up north to get rid of it. It saves them time and gets them back chipping again. If you can figure out a way to make it more convenient for them, or you could resort to paying, that’ll usually get you a minivan sized load of chips dumped. Lol! ;-)