South Carolina

[bmerriam]

I live in Summerville. My wife and I bought 1 pekin and were looking to buy 2 more (female) to keep it company. I'd prefer 2 pekin but she liked the rouens. She's looking for a more colorful breed and I'm looking for good layers. Does anyone know where I could buy ducks in the Charleston area?

 

[dixiebeast]

I agree with Samantha. I have used this before, too when I had birds that were fighting external parasites. I have DE in their "waller" holes but they often still pick up mites so in these cases I do ivermectin. I hate using those types of products but if DE or Sevin doesn't do the job then I go hard ball on the parasites. Mites are difficult to get rid of put I spray the Kleen Green that Jackie got me started on with a bottle sprayer on all the roosting poles to kill any breeders or colonies.

I get my ivermectin from The Pampered Pullet down in Fl. They have good prices on some stuff they carry. I get my Oxine there, too.

yeah I throw DE out in the runs too!! I go a bit overboard on the whole mite thing!! LOL

 

[Cpntherfan]

I use red pepper flakes a lot. We grow them in the garden every year and we string them and dry them for later chopping up in the blender. If I run out before my April dewoming routine then I buy bottles at the Dollar General. They are cheap. I mix up a mash of something like wheat bran, chick starter, rolled oats and red pepper flakes and wet it a bit and feed it out. They love it and gobble it all up. Poultry does not have "hot" taste buds so it doesn't bother them. Pumpkin seeds are also great but I always use peppers because I can grow them better and string them for later. I use this 4 times a year to deworm my birds since there is no telling what the wild birds bring in all the time.

I start my youngins when they hit the ground and it is safe for all birds.

ok im going to try some peppers then just in case

 

[Moonchild]

So Yancy, any more hatched today?
You really thought you were going to get away with not plugging it back in, didn't you? LOL

Sorry about the chick.

About the only hens that will nicely share chicks are Silkies.

One Hatched out today and is doing great I just hope another does so it will not be lonely!!!
AND YES...I thought I would not plug that bator back up..But I will say this it's a great stillair bator. I plugged it in watched the temp for 4 hours and it stablized and now stays between 98-100 perfectly.

So VERY SOON I'll have MFd'Uccle babies(baby) for sale!!!! Who Wants(gotta start trying to sell now)

 

[Moonchild]

I also use Red Pepper Flakes and DE in food plus mint and Eucalyptus and DE in nestboxes. Apple Cider Vinegar in Water with Vits. Seems to work!
To make sure they get the Red Pepper I mix it with can cat food and oats. It's Also their treats that they will fight you for.

 

[EggieRowe]

What brand DE do ya'll reccomend and how early can I start adding it to their food/environment? And are mites & worms inevitable? Do chicks (from hatcheries) come already infected? If not, if I never put them on bare soil how would they become infected? (Planning on sand in run and shavings in coop - full roof over both area.). And yes, I've seriously contemplated making my flock live in a plastic bubble...LOL

 

[FreeBSDCacher]

I just got done watching "Chicken TV". I know it is the same re-run every night, but it never gets old!

 

[Patsy29332]

I just got done watching "Chicken TV". I know it is the same re-run every night, but it never gets old!

A-MEN!!! I can no longer sleep without pecking and cheeps from my "inside" hatcher/brooder bins...LOL...3 age stages right now just 5 feet away from my bed! HAHAHA...Who is the top hen here? When it comes to MY peeps...it seems to be ME!!!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I live in Summerville. My wife and I bought 1 pekin and were looking to buy 2 more (female) to keep it company. I'd prefer 2 pekin but she liked the rouens. She's looking for a more colorful breed and I'm looking for good layers. Does anyone know where I could buy ducks in the Charleston area?

And welcome to our SC thread!

Wish you weren't so far away, I have a pretty flock of jumbo Pekins that lay really well and I am hatching off some ducklings now.
Here is yesterday mornings hatcher contents. Well, part of it. The other side is bantam and LF chicks. The ducklings are Pekin, Cayuga and there is a Pearl Guinea keet. This hatcher runs 24/7-365. It only stops for about a half hour every two weeks for cleaning. Come October it will have been running 3 years.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

What brand DE do ya'll reccomend and how early can I start adding it to their food/environment? And are mites & worms inevitable? Do chicks (from hatcheries) come already infected? If not, if I never put them on bare soil how would they become infected? (Planning on sand in run and shavings in coop - full roof over both area.). And yes, I've seriously contemplated making my flock live in a plastic bubble...LOL

Make sure you get Food grade DE and not Pool grade. I have no idea what brand. I just go to the feed store and tell them I want a big bag of it and do my best to unload the heavy sack when I get home.

I powder down everything but the mites seem to make it past somehow, even with all I do.

No, the chicks from the hatchery don;t come with them. Hatcheries are fairly clean when they send out chicks but wood is a great attractor to mites and once chicks are out of a brooder and on a roosting board or inside a wooden framed coop they are exposed.