Sherry Chooks
Hatching
- Jun 15, 2015
- 3
- 0
- 7
Hi all - A little intro. I had an upbringing on farm and now live in the city. We are fortunate to have a large property (double wide including the neighbor's yard) and now I have 8 lovely girls of my own. They lay well and have a good free range diet plus a good mix feed (grain and pellet mix) called Mrs B's - from Harvest Grains in Cambridge if you're in New Zealand (great price too - $30/25kg bag). The 'girls' are mixture of Buff Orpington Blue and Australorp's. Both large breeds but that's good because the cats are scared of them!!
A couple of things - We had scaly leg mite and I was told by a NZ (show breeder) to use WD40 or CRC and only spray the scales on their legs down. I was dubious but assured it was the way to go. It works fantastically well. The girls are not bothered by it at all. Take care not to spray their skin - just the scaly part of their legs and feet. I thought it wasn't going to be a good idea but it's perfect and an easy fix. Twice a week for 4-5 weeks. The scaly mite buildup just falls off and there's nice clean scales underneath!! Yep I understand that there are other solutions that are more eco-friendly but this method is direct and it works with affecting my girls.
The other thing is that I'm feeding the girls by scattering there food twice a day. Manual feeding is not the best but it's better than feeding all the neighborhood birds all day long! I've tried a gravity feeder and a step on feeder to no avail. The wild birds (mostly sparrows) just sit there and gorge all day on the gravity feeder and the larger birds (doves worked out how to open the step feeder and then it was all go again!! I've seen a peck/trickle feeder - the girls would peck at a plate/lever under a barrel to drop only a little feed at a time. Does anyone have plans for one? Or, can anyone suggest a better anti-wild-bird feeder I can make? I have a 100 gallon plastic drum to use (and other bits and pieces)
I'd appreciate your help.
A couple of things - We had scaly leg mite and I was told by a NZ (show breeder) to use WD40 or CRC and only spray the scales on their legs down. I was dubious but assured it was the way to go. It works fantastically well. The girls are not bothered by it at all. Take care not to spray their skin - just the scaly part of their legs and feet. I thought it wasn't going to be a good idea but it's perfect and an easy fix. Twice a week for 4-5 weeks. The scaly mite buildup just falls off and there's nice clean scales underneath!! Yep I understand that there are other solutions that are more eco-friendly but this method is direct and it works with affecting my girls.
The other thing is that I'm feeding the girls by scattering there food twice a day. Manual feeding is not the best but it's better than feeding all the neighborhood birds all day long! I've tried a gravity feeder and a step on feeder to no avail. The wild birds (mostly sparrows) just sit there and gorge all day on the gravity feeder and the larger birds (doves worked out how to open the step feeder and then it was all go again!! I've seen a peck/trickle feeder - the girls would peck at a plate/lever under a barrel to drop only a little feed at a time. Does anyone have plans for one? Or, can anyone suggest a better anti-wild-bird feeder I can make? I have a 100 gallon plastic drum to use (and other bits and pieces)
I'd appreciate your help.
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welcome to BYC !!
