The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Shan30]

Lala, I will be interested to know what you find.(hopefully nothing contagious) I had the same thing happen a few months back and did not find a place to have any tested until later.

Cywiar - if you are brave enough, give your cats or dogs a bath in the Blue Dawn dish soap. It kills fleas amazingly well. Just make sure you rinse very well. Sprinkle your carpet with DE and leave it for a day or two. Boil a pot of water, place cut up lemons in the water and let it sit over night. Spray thr lemon water on couches etc. And vacuum the entire house with a flea collar in the vacuum bag. I use blue dawn and lemon slices in my mop bucket too and we never get bugs in the house.

My husband picked up six week old black silkies on Friday and 18 of 25 Amerecaunas (the real thing) hatched this weekend. Only 6 came out blue unfortunately with 2 others that could go either way. It will be interesting to see how they turn out. Sooo many babies

 

[rambunctious]

Thanks for the feedback friends! They all seem to be happy and healthy here!

 

[ramblinH]

Really appreciated all the info on herb usage! Plan on throwing some dried lavender in with the chickies this eve

Quick story...

My 8 yr old son persists that he wants us to name all the chickies. I explained to him that we need to wait as we can't tell the difference between our female BOs & the Doms are straight-run. When my b-i-l visited yesterday, he suggested we give them unisex names. So, our 5 Doms are now Jo, Billy, Sam, Tony & Sue (after Johnny Cash's song "Boy Named Sue ...

Y'all are so nice and sharing with all your wonderful knowledge. Thank you! I can't say the same for other threads I've been on.

Amen!

And with my kids... well... there is plenty of stress to be found! That's where chickens come in. On any nice day, I can be found lying dormant in my yard covered in chickens. People probably think I'm dead and the chickens are eating me.

LOL - if I knew how, would put one of those lil smiley face people here rolling around in laughter!!!

I completely agree with you on the KISS thing... but I am a complicated person, so while I agree with you the OTHER side of my psyche tries to make simplicity as difficult and complicated as possible!

X2

His attempt as bio-security didn't work at keeping me out of that barn.

Thanks so much for sharing your story! I live reading testimonies

? about "bio-security". I have a basic understanding of what this means but probably need a more concise definition for my flicks well-being. Already know I must consider my flock "closed" because we didn't have them vaccinated. But does this mean I can't let people visit & handle them as well?

 

[ramblinH]

Sorry bout some of the typos ~ gotta love auto-correct, ah!

 

[Bulldogma]

Really appreciated all the info on herb usage! Plan on throwing some dried lavender in with the chickies this eve

Quick story...

My 8 yr old son persists that he wants us to name all the chickies. I explained to him that we need to wait as we can't tell the difference between our female BOs & the Doms are straight-run. When my b-i-l visited yesterday, he suggested we give them unisex names. So, our 5 Doms are now Jo, Billy, Sam, Tony & Sue (after Johnny Cash's song "Boy Named Sue

...
Amen!
LOL - if I knew how, would put one of those lil smiley face people here rolling around in laughter!!!
X2
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I live reading testimonies

? about "bio-security". I have a basic understanding of what this means but probably need a more concise definition for my flicks well-being. Already know I must consider my flock "closed" because we didn't have them vaccinated. But does this mean I can't let people visit & handle them as well?

Bio-security Info:
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2012/12/biosecurity-one-method-of-introducing.html

 

[Leahs Mom]

Just sharing some pictures from today:

And this is how I keep my U-ACV handy when I fill waterers:

Oh - and my SFH rooster showing off:

 

[cywiar merch]

Cywiar - if you are brave enough, give your cats or dogs a bath in the Blue Dawn dish soap. It kills fleas amazingly well. Just make sure you rinse very well. Sprinkle your carpet with DE and leave it for a day or two. Boil a pot of water, place cut up lemons in the water and let it sit over night. Spray thr lemon water on couches etc. And vacuum the entire house with a flea collar in the vacuum bag. I use blue dawn and lemon slices in my mop bucket too and we never get bugs in the house.

Thanks but there's no way my cats would allow me to bathe them. They both absolutely hate water. I am in the UK, I don't know whether we can get Blue Dawn. I will try the other tips though. I will research other possibilities. My youngest cat really wants to go out now - I've kept her in since i've had her. Don't want to go back to spot on treatment. Will use Vermex for worms.

 

[jeepgirl13]

Actually any soap with blue dye 1 in it will get rid of the pests. I don't know why but they let go and rinse right off. They don't die though. I used this on a severely tick infested dog and they all washed off. I didn't find a single one on his body. I found quite a few in his paws though. I'm guessing I didn't get enough soap there. I used a blue suave shampoo.

Fermented feed question again. I know, we've been over this! I've been looming into it. Do I really just take the feed I have now, put it in a bucket, cover it with water and put a lid on in. Then every couple hours stir it and add water if needed, until I see or bubbling. I can add many of the things mentioned before or top dress. Can I put BOSS in there? Somewhere it said I don't have to add the ACV, but the process will be slower with out it. What do I.do once it starts bubbling?
Oh, and one thick I read said to leave it open, bit others were saying to keep it covered. Is there a different process for using ACV vs not using it? I want to try this but am afraid of poisoning my girls.

 

[Sally8]

What is wrong with people? DH just tore out of here to another fire. Remember when I asked what would you do if a brush fire was coming? You usually don't get much of a warning. You definitely can't shut the chickens up in the coop in case the coop catches fire. Too many to crate up and not enough time anyway. I believe we would be ok as my yard and one neighbor's yards are large and mowed. but the woods behind us and unmowed dry field on the other side could create flying sparks. As I posted earlier, we have someone setting them on purpose.

My vote is a big no to Round Up. Can kill your dogs, cats, chickens, etc., let alone children. Never did any study but just from reading the label was enough. After work, I find it very therapeutic to hand pick bugs and mow and trim grass/weeds. If I need anything more, hot, salty water works great. Dawn dish soap and water can make a great spray, also. After working in retail for 10 years, DH learned that I needed 1/2 hour of alone time before I could be social, nicely. I've since quit my job to watch my twin 2 1/2 yr old grand daughters and now when I get home I just need a nap.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: X2

beautiful babies