Organic chicken keeping

[asmfshr]

Tracydr, you are awesome !!!

 

[gmendoza]

Tracydr,

This is what I do:
For sour crop, I but some plain yogurt and mix it in their feed.
For any intestinal problems I grind cayenne pepper and garlic and put in their feed, and garlic in their water.
For mites, we burn the fireplace and give them a couple of old tires filled with warm ashes. (They love this a lot!!)

We don’t spend a lot and we do this totally organic. Some things I asked about, some I found out about.

Our garden is 100% organic. We use pine shavings from the chickens, leaves from the trees, and grass clipping from mowing and toss that mess into the garden for next year. Then in Feb we let a select bunch of chickens plow our garden for us. Then we add seeds and grow our own food. Fertilizer you ask? Well we use the duck pond water and the fish water from the 55 gallon “fish in a barrel” project. It makes the garden BOOM!!

 

[remuda1]

From what I have read, the reason for grinding the curcurbit seeds is that they work using the sharp edges of the crushed seeds to make an inhospitable environment for the internal parasites.

 

[Tallulah Chicklet]

Kassaundra, can you tell me more about the vining ideas you mentioned? I grew squash over my run this year with dubious results, but I want to use vertical space to increase the efficiency of my yard and garden. BTW, the most prolific and delicious things I got were the "squmpkins" that grew out of the composter!

 

[Tallulah Chicklet]

OK, gmendoza, tell me about the "fish in the barrel" project. I just picked up some 55 gallon barrels with a friend for his gardening community. New gardening ideas are the best Christmas presents I can ask for!

 

[gmendoza]

Quote:
Here is a good site that I used to start with:

http://stevequayle.com/News.alert/06_Prep_tips/Raising.Catfish.in.Barrel.pdf

You can see it has a pdf.Print and keep it handy

I stumbled upon this and decided to try with a 55 gallon plastic barrel, a 200gph pump with 7 head, some pvc pipes and valves, an umbrella to keep rain and dust out, a digital hygrometer, that was not useful, to measure temps, and 40 fingerling channel catfish.

I dont want to hijack this thread so pm me if you want the whole cassaba about catfish in a barrel.

Heres the thread I started and my updates:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=442419&p=1

 

[Fred's Hens]

Tracydr, first, I want to congratulate your on your goals of a drug free flock. The simple fact is that the chicken survived thousands of years, both feral and in domesticated flocks without the pharmacological approach. I know lots of folks here use lots of drugs. That is THEIR decision and not one I deride. I repeat, it is their choice. On another thread, right now, someone is assembling a recommended "shopping list" of chemicals to give their chickens.

Here's one person's list:

Tylan 50 injectable (antibiotic)
duramycin 10 powder packet (antibiotic water soluble)
corid (to treat coccidia)
wazine (dewormer)
ivermectin 5% pour on (dewormer in the cattle section) good for mites and some worms
Maybe some water soluble vitamins like chick saver?

Here's another's recommendation:

Corrid
L-S50 (this is much cheaper at our Southern States) not even sure TSC has it
SafeGuard
Ivemectin
Electrolytes unless you can get those at home
Tylan
Tylan
oh and Tylan
Sulmet (liquid)
Eye antibiotic ointment or spray.

And on and on.

I am not sure, not sure at all, but it is hard to imagine a commercial, "factory" hen being administered as many drugs. I realize I am on thin ice here. How are the home flock's eggs/meat going to be substantially different or any more healthy? Just an observation. The home folks can do as they wish, as can the commercial farmers. Better living through chemistry. More power to them.

That some, as yourself, choose to march to a different drumbeat? More power to them as well. Best regards.

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
What were your dubious results?

 

[centrarchid]

I think Tracydr proposed route is the most frequently realized with barnyard (contrasting with backyard) chickens. With the typical barnyard arrangement multiple species such as cattle, small ruminants, horses and / or hogs are present a fed sometimes organically. In such integrated settings the forage base is greatly diversified and is likely more important than the health managament issues being stressed at moment. That is why I stress question about what resources are present.

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
What were your dubious results?

Took me a little bit to find dark matters post, it is his idea / system here is the link

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=547282&p=1