Preparing Your Flock & Coop for WINTER

[Goronson Chicks]

That's good to know, too. Lots of you studying the nutrition carefully. Wonderful!
Maureen

 

[Lori Marie]

Yes I also read that onions are one of the things they shouldn't eat. If you do a search on what not to feed them, it's not a lot of stuff but important. Onions and potatoes are for sure not good.

 

[Goronson Chicks]

Thank you for adding to the conversation and to my education.

I will do that...
Maureen

 

[chicken04]

If you have play sand outside you can leave it there because I don't think it would be as big as a problem,but I would still spray them with poultry protector by Manna Pro weekly.Also please stop feeding your flock onions it's for there own good I had a friend that fed her hens onions every day and all her chickens got sick from the onions and died.

 

[Goronson Chicks]

Why spray them with Manna Pro? Does the Play Sand carry fleas even if the birds don't already have them? My birds don't scratch/itch etc.
Maureen

 

[Beekissed]

Been feeding onion scraps to chickens for nigh 40 yrs and haven't had an "onion death" in all that time. Unless a person could prove her flock dying was caused by feeding onions, I'd take that story with a pinch of salt.

I wouldn't put too much stock in all the alarm posts about what could potentially kill your chickens. It's best just to filter out any and all posts that promise certain death for your chickens if you do this or that, as many of those stories~ or urban chicken myths~ are just repeated over and over as if they were gospel but have little basis in actual, practical chicken lore.

Here's an old thread that can help a new chicken owner get the skinny on what the old timers in chickens have to say about raising chickens and keeping them healthy. It's a long and winding thread but worth every minute you spend on reading the information there and if you pay attention to who is speaking on there you'll learn something from folks who have actually raised chickens for more than a few years: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...l-up-a-rockin-chair-and-lay-some-wisdom-on-us

 

[tntchix]

@Beekissed, it's good to "see" you. @iwiw60 you too! I've been bouncing all over these threads. LOL


On the subject of sand: I had a run that once the girls destroyed the grass they left me with a muddy mess of clay so i put a layer of sand on top thinking it would mix in. Nope, and it made it even harder after the first rain in an uncovered run. I tried straw, just got stinkier. I raked all that out and put down equine pellets. It was like a miracle. I haven't had to do anything to the now covered run all winter. As the pellets get wet, they poof up into sawdust like crumbs. They love "bathing" in it. Now that spring is here, I'm cleaning out the coop this weekend and putting a mix of pine shavings and equine pellets in there too.

As for onions, I think the taste transfer is the big thing, not necessarily that it would hurt them although I avoid certain things anyway.

 

[Beekissed]

Hey!!! Good to "see" you too!


The thing with taste is this...unless they are downing a huge load of onions or garlic, they aren't going to have any more sulfur taste to their egg than the usual sulfur smell or taste of an egg. I've tried it...no change in flavor. I think that's all perception...if one thinks they should taste different simply because when we use those things in our food it makes our food taste different, then we will perceive a change in flavor. If you take that preconceived notion out of the equation you'll not notice any change in egg flavor at all. They taste just like eggs. I only WISH I could preseason my eggs with garlic or onions as that would save me from having to do it when I cook with them!

Here's a little tip that CAN change egg flavor and only for the better....feed fermented feeds or simply add ACV to their water on a continual basis. Both of these things can clean up the sulfur/eggy taste of eggs and give them a clean, nutty flavor that is noticeably different than the run of the mill farm egg. You can even feed garlic in your fermented feed, as many do, and they never report any negative flavor changes.

 

[tntchix]

I noticed that my fresh eggs don't have that sulfur smell like the store bought ones do. I add ACV w/ Mother about once a week anyway. Yes, pre-seasoned would be awesome.

Kudos to you all for all that sage advice when I was learning last year- I only lost one chicken this winter - she sadly froze to death only because as a bantam, they wouldn't let her roost with them.

 

[chicken04]

Just because you don"t see them scratch and itch doesn't mean they don't have fleas or mites etc.Here are some ways to tell if your bird has bugs,bald paches on the bird,rippled feathers,constant scratching or itching,and decrease in egg production because of stress from the mites and fleas.Yes you can feed your birds SOME onions just don"t make onions there main food sorce.Also they should be sprayed by poultry protector weekly because if the bird has mites or fleas it can decrease there egg production and cause stress.