Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Marie2020]

I knew I was doing something wrong. It's going to town in my work clothes and not showering.
I had someone comment on the mud on my clothes while on the bus a while ago. He mentioned I had a lot of mud and asked what I did. I explained most of it wasn't mud as such, more like slightly diluted chicken shite. He didn't talk to me any more.

Sod em.

I've found myself in town with chicken shite on my polished boots and clean trousers. Hey ho, so what

 

[Shadrach]

They got out again today for a couple of hours.
Chopped cabbage, cheese and brussel sprouts for tea.

 

[Marie2020]

Currently it is thought that Ivermectine is still effective against mites. It is apparently no longer effective on worms. The does it work on lice is an interesting question because lice don't bite the chicken and eat dead skin and stuff so in theory they are unlikely to get a strong enough dose to kill them. Some say it works; some say it doesn't. I don't know. I've use ti a few times for roosters and non laying hens to treat both lice and mites. It seems to have worked for both on those occasions.

I'm really wary on the worming I think it really had a bad reaction on Agatha but garlic seems fine

 

[sourland]

There is some truth in many of these home brew solutions to parasites and chicken health in general. The general rule as with most things is keep an open mind but not so open that your brain falls out.
Wood ash comprises very fine particles. In theory if you cover a mite in very fine dust it will suffocate. Throwing a light coating on top of some feathers hoping that a mite is stupid enough to roll around in it seems a rather forlorn hope imo. If you've ever dealt with mites you will know that as soon as you part a chickens feathers to look for them they scury off to somewhere with better cover, on the chicken of course. Even lice, which to me at least don't seem as mobile, or as intelligent as mites, will try and hide as soon as anything invasive disturbs the chicken feathers. Finding mites is like hunting in a way. You have to sneak up on them and chase the little feckers. During the chase one is likely to find that there are quite a few more, all trying to hide.
Lots of chickens ime carry a few mites. When you can see lots easily, you, but more so the chicken, has a problem. You could sit there for countless hours chucking handfulls of wood ash at them and you might get one or two. Essentially this is what chickens do in a dust bath. They scratch up a a bit of dust and chuck it over their backs. The front part of a chicken of course is in the dust and this will work a lot better than the chucking dust approach. One will have noticed that despite a chickens best contortion acts when dust bathing they don't seem to do that unpside down stuff so their backs and under their wings etc doesn't get much of the dust at skin level. The mites seem to know this. In fact, come chicken bath time if you listen carefully you can hear the mites shouting to each other "bath time chaps. Everybody head for high ground."
It would be wonderfull if we could all go the right on organic route and give the chickens something harmless to both them and the poor little mites that would just make the drop off and go elsewhere. I don't believe in Santa Claus either.
The horrible truth is, if one of your chickens has gots mites and you've noticed then there are lots and lots of them. As mentioned, you can plot up in the feathers and take pot shots at one or two as they pass or you can just nuke the lot and be done with the problem.
Current easily delivered nuke option is a chemical called Permethrin. Mites don't like it.
What gets overlooked more often than I would like is it doesn't matter what you use, it's a chemical of some sort most of the time; sulpher, lime deet, whatever. Some chemicals some people have designated as "bad"chemicals and others as good chemicals.
I like those get the job done chemicals.

I'm between and . Think that I shall do both :

 

[Marie2020]

They got out again today for a couple of hours.
Chopped cabbage, cheese and brussel sprouts for tea.
View attachment 3025945View attachment 3025946View attachment 3025947

Mine had cabbage sardines and fresh thyme today. Sour milk a little olive oil with bits of cabbage and an egg beaten into it and a bit of banana

I was rushed for time so they will have apples an blueberry in the morning.

I've noticed they take it in turns for treat watch. One hangs out by the kitchen staring in, in hope's I'll go out with treats the minute my door opens they are all there in a flash

 

[Shadrach]

I'm really wary on the worming I think it really had a bad reaction on Agatha but garlic seems fine

But Garlic won't rid a chicken of worms Marie.

 

[GregnLety]

There is some truth in many of these home brew solutions to parasites and chicken health in general. The general rule as with most things is keep an open mind but not so open that your brain falls out.
Wood ash comprises very fine particles. In theory if you cover a mite in very fine dust it will suffocate. Throwing a light coating on top of some feathers hoping that a mite is stupid enough to roll around in it seems a rather forlorn hope imo. If you've ever dealt with mites you will know that as soon as you part a chickens feathers to look for them they scury off to somewhere with better cover, on the chicken of course. Even lice, which to me at least don't seem as mobile, or as intelligent as mites, will try and hide as soon as anything invasive disturbs the chicken feathers. Finding mites is like hunting in a way. You have to sneak up on them and chase the little feckers. During the chase one is likely to find that there are quite a few more, all trying to hide.
Lots of chickens ime carry a few mites. When you can see lots easily, you, but more so the chicken, has a problem. You could sit there for countless hours chucking handfulls of wood ash at them and you might get one or two. Essentially this is what chickens do in a dust bath. They scratch up a a bit of dust and chuck it over their backs. The front part of a chicken of course is in the dust and this will work a lot better than the chucking dust approach. One will have noticed that despite a chickens best contortion acts when dust bathing they don't seem to do that unpside down stuff so their backs and under their wings etc doesn't get much of the dust at skin level. The mites seem to know this. In fact, come chicken bath time if you listen carefully you can hear the mites shouting to each other "bath time chaps. Everybody head for high ground."
It would be wonderfull if we could all go the right on organic route and give the chickens something harmless to both them and the poor little mites that would just make the drop off and go elsewhere. I don't believe in Santa Claus either.
The horrible truth is, if one of your chickens has gots mites and you've noticed then there are lots and lots of them. As mentioned, you can plot up in the feathers and take pot shots at one or two as they pass or you can just nuke the lot and be done with the problem.
Current easily delivered nuke option is a chemical called Permethrin. Mites don't like it.
What gets overlooked more often than I would like is it doesn't matter what you use, it's a chemical of some sort most of the time; sulpher, lime deet, whatever. Some chemicals some people have designated as "bad"chemicals and others as good chemicals.
I like those get the job done chemicals.

I've used permethrin for my hunting clothes. It keeps the ticks and chiggers away and its sold here as a flea and tick prevention so I would probably go with that if I saw mites or signs of them.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Whatareyouonabout. How much more important can anything be above Flexi laying an egg?

Exactly!

 

[RoyalChick]

They got out again today for a couple of hours.
Chopped cabbage, cheese and brussel sprouts for tea.
View attachment 3025945View attachment 3025946View attachment 3025947

My lunch today:
- Shredded green cabbage
- Shredded red cabbage
- Shredded carrot
- Shredded Gruyere cheese
- Raisins
- Apple cider vinegar and olive oil dressing
Chicken lunch:
- As above minus the dressing

Who is eating whose lunch?

 

[Iluveggers]

My lunch today:
- Shredded green cabbage
- Shredded red cabbage
- Shredded carrot
- Shredded Gruyere cheese
- Raisins
- Apple cider vinegar and olive oil dressing
Chicken lunch:
- As above minus the dressing

Who is eating whose lunch?

- Shredded

That sounds really good! I have two heads of cabbage (red and white) that I was trying to figure out what to do with! Thank you!