Please Help Me!

[sadies chicks]

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thanks! we are going for the Old West theme. I am from Arizona and living in Oregon now, so I needed a bit of home with me

my hubby built it in two days, it is so cool!!! the shed in the back will become the General Store, that is where their food, etc. is. I totally love it!

and hey, there is nothing wrong with a converted smoke house! that is original too!!

 

[sadies chicks]

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that would be awesome, thanks!

 

[sadies chicks]

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Heck I hope so! It would seem that the birds would have issues from the start if pine (in any form) was toxic or at least an irritant to them. Let's hope it is a mistake

Excellent point! If it was bad for them, then the day-old chicks, with little immunity, would for sure become sickly, I would think.

Geez, I may have started all this banter for nothing

well, at least it got me away from work for a bit

 

[WhetzelMomma]

I'd take any advice with a couple grains of salt...

There are a lot of us who have grown perfectly healthy babies out of the brooder before fully feathered, and fed so called toxic foods to our chickens. Some of those things make it onto a list because someone loses a chicken and by coincidence it happens to be at the same time they fed something... and even though they didn't get a necropsy done, they assume the food is what killed their chickens. That's not to say there aren't legitimate things on those lists, but I have fed asparagus, and avocado to name a couple... and my hens live near pine trees... no one has died yet!! I also have my chicks in their out door enclosure. Have had since they were about 3 weeks old. Made sure they had heat, and they have been fine. ALSO I don't feed medicated feed to my chicks. Never have, never will. I'll medicate if and when I actually have a SICK animal.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Quote:
thanks! we are going for the Old West theme. I am from Arizona and living in Oregon now, so I needed a bit of home with me

my hubby built it in two days, it is so cool!!! the shed in the back will become the General Store, that is where their food, etc. is. I totally love it!

and hey, there is nothing wrong with a converted smoke house! that is original too!!

I agree! I wish I had had an old building in which to convert into a coop. Think of all the decorating possibilities! You could hang some old-fashioned signs on it referring to smoked foods, orf just some old looking farm-type signs & old farming equipment.

 

[sadies chicks]

Quote:
thanks! we are going for the Old West theme. I am from Arizona and living in Oregon now, so I needed a bit of home with me

my hubby built it in two days, it is so cool!!! the shed in the back will become the General Store, that is where their food, etc. is. I totally love it!

and hey, there is nothing wrong with a converted smoke house! that is original too!!

I agree! I wish I had had an old building in which to convert into a coop. Think of all the decorating possibilities! You could hang some old-fashioned signs on it referring to smoked foods, orf just some old looking farm-type signs & old farming equipment.

tons of possibilites!! let your imagination go nuts!!

 

[FireTigeris]

I also did a hatch that after they were dry I supplied no additional heat in the room (70-75*f) all of them did just fine and are still alive with another member here- they moved outside still in down... (I'm in FL - the coldest it got was 40*F, the hottest after hatching and drying out was 80*F)

YMMV but in FL I didn't see a good reason to over do it hot or cold...

 

[Anianna]

Ok, I didn't find the list I wanted to find. I could have sworn the Humane Society had one specifically for birds, but it evades me now. I did have this list from Poultry Help and I believe the list is specific to livestock birds. It describes the parts of the plant that are an issue and why they are an issue:

http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html

I also came across this one that describes some foods that can cause problems for birds in general:

http://birds.about.com/od/feeding/tp/poisonousfoods.htm

Keep in mind that toxicity does not automatically mean the item is fatal. For example, garlic can be toxic for dogs and cats in large quantities, but are frequently used in small quantities to fend off buggies without ill effect. Different toxins also cause different issues. I do not see pine at all on the list of toxic plants on the poultry site.

 

[sadies chicks]

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Great! Thanks for the links Anianna!!

 

[chickcorner]

The birds answered the ? they have been around the plants for days , will peck at bugs under the rhubarb leaves and scratch under them, so far they don't actually eat the leaves, smarter than we think.