The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Bulldogma]

Thank you, Del! One question just for clarification - after the first 12 hours with no food or water, they get available water 24x7 for the rest of the treatment, right?

 

[Leahs Mom]

We have a nationally published author among us! LoanWizard has a little piece in the June/July 2013 Mother Earth News in the article: "Start a Work-From-Home Business." I was reading my new Mother, last night, and as I reading "Internet Food Sales" it sounded really familiar. Then I got to the "Shawn Dostie Coshocton, Ohio" and sat up straight and said out loud "I know him!!!" I startled my dog a bit.
Nicely written, Shawn, and I hope the business takes off and you can live your dream!

He better get his butt on here and see all the kudos!

The beef liver I got is the same way....I put it in the food processor and its like thick jelly

I put some out for the new babies but they haven't touched it. I think I will mix a little into their FF when I get home.

When I feed liver to babies that don't have a mamma. I cut it into tiny bits then repeatedly drop them until someone gets enough courage to try one. Tap and drop, tap and drop... (tap w/finger) like a momma does when showing their baby food.

After they get that it's food and one of them tries it, you won't need to do that any more. They'll watch for you dropping them.

One thing i learned - rinse the liver w/cold water before chopping. Makes them less sticky. Or..you can rinse them after chopping - or both. Then they don't stick to your fingers and everything else!

This post is about money... or saving money...
Question for those of you who feed mealworms... live or dried either one.

I tried growing mealworms. It was depressing to me because there was no way I could grow enough to make a dent to feed even a very few chickens. I guess if I dedicated a huge area to them it could work.

Have you considered trying to keep bsf alive over winter?

 

[RedRidge]

Have you considered trying to keep bsf alive over winter?

My goal... haven't gotten there yet... is to raise enough BSF during the natural crawl off season (about 6 months here) to freeze and/or dehydrate them so I have them to feed year round.
So I'd have to double the amount I raise during that time.

I am also toying with freezing ALL my BSF instead (since my chickens free range during the summer anyway), and saving the BSF for use over the winter. I am not doing that right now because I have a current population explosion going on... LOTS of chicks that are young... so I'm giving them the BSF right now.

 

[RedRidge]

I should have added that keeping BSF alive over the winter is easy... keeping them warm enough to crawl off is the tricky part.
They simply go dormant from 32-60 degrees, they don't die.
But... for good crawl off they like 80 degrees.

 

[delisha]

Thank you, Del! One question just for clarification - after the first 12 hours with no food or water, they get available water 24x7 for the rest of the treatment, right?

For clarification..

I with hold food for the first 24 and water for the first 12. I release the bird if the crop empties.
If the crop does not ..I do leave the water ..and try to get the crop empty to start treatment. I do not add anything to that crop(any food at all)until it is empty. If it is not empty..there is a reason, adding more volume(food) is not going to help. Massaging, oil, liquids only.

If the crop is a problem again after release, I confine the bird again and start over.
no food for 24 hours and no water for 12. Fresh water with no additives.


If it is sour crop there are many things that can be done to treat thrush naturally. The key to curing thrush naturally and permanently is to kill the yeast naturally and also to cure the underlying deficiency or imbalance that allowed the yeast to grow out of control in the first place. You can do treatments but it is imperative to find the core of the issue.
I offer Oregano, tea tree oil, lavender, and a few cloves to everyone. Usually this time of year it is from over eating all that lush greens. They need that 24 hours. I usually do not worry. I do watch. I have two that are pooping pure green from the wild strawberries and blossoms. They come in at night and look like they are going to blow up.

 

[armorfirelady]

The beef liver I got is the same way....I put it in the food processor and its like thick jelly

I put some out for the new babies but they haven't touched it. I think I will mix a little into their FF when I get home.

When I feed liver to babies that don't have a mamma. I cut it into tiny bits then repeatedly drop them until someone gets enough courage to try one. Tap and drop, tap and drop... (tap w/finger) like a momma does when showing their baby food.

After they get that it's food and one of them tries it, you won't need to do that any more. They'll watch for you dropping them.

One thing i learned - rinse the liver w/cold water before chopping. Makes them less sticky. Or..you can rinse them after chopping - or both. Then they don't stick to your fingers and everything else!

And the one thing I learned was not to put it in the food proccesor lol Oh well its done. I froze the other liver up in small portions so I can just take it out & feed it to them.

I will try the *tap like a Momma* method when I get home There is a turkey carcass for the big girls but I am sure I can find some turkey crumbs for the little's

I'm curious to see if they tried the watermelon yet

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Delisha



Hmmm I said before that I think I resemble BA's.... I'm afraid I resemble your strawberry girls too.

 

[aoxa]

What about red wigglers? Or night crawlers? Could one grow them?

I can't do meal worms. They gross me out to the extreme. Not sure why.. just can't.

I'd love to do crickets as well. They love the chase the most. It really cures their wintertime blues. I will buy some feeders for lizards in the winter. More for my entertainment than theirs.

I can't imagine not having worms in the garden. Mine is packed full of them! Every scoop and there are dozens. We have really good soil (organic too).

We have a compost/worm hill similar to Del. We don't do much other than drop off all our bedding if we don't have room for it in the garden. Usually in the fall. The worms in there this spring were astonishing!


Okay you can see it in this picture at the woodsline.

The dirt on the right is sod that was lifted up for the road. I have an idea on what to do with that.. Leave it.. I'm going to plant some seed all over it and use it as a mountain/kick off for the goats!

 

[aoxa]

For clarification..

I with hold food for the first 24 and water for the first 12. I release the bird if the crop empties.
If the crop does not ..I do leave the water ..and try to get the crop empty to start treatment. I do not add anything to that crop(any food at all)until it is empty. If it is not empty..there is a reason, adding more volume(food) is not going to help. Massaging, oil, liquids only.

If the crop is a problem again after release, I confine the bird again and start over.
no food for 24 hours and no water for 12. Fresh water with no additives.


If it is sour crop there are many things that can be done to treat thrush naturally. The key to curing thrush naturally and permanently is to kill the yeast naturally and also to cure the underlying deficiency or imbalance that allowed the yeast to grow out of control in the first place. You can do treatments but it is imperative to find the core of the issue.
I offer Oregano, tea tree oil, lavender, and a few cloves to everyone. Usually this time of year it is from over eating all that lush greens. They need that 24 hours. I usually do not worry. I do watch. I have two that are pooping pure green from the wild strawberries and blossoms. They come in at night and look like they are going to blow up.

I only withheld food for the first day and it was not empty.. Maybe it would have emptied earlier if I had of withheld longer.

Hope I don't have to deal with it again anytime soon. The last one that had sour crop - she was having issues handling the cold and I didn't have the time to baby her along - so I culled. It was the first hen I culled without trying to save at all. I felt terrible.. but it was for the good of the flock right?

She was so cold she was trying to get under a broody for warmth. That was not acceptable. The broody was very upset, so I put the hen in with the chicks while I figured out what was going on with her. The crop was not huge, but she was throwing up when she bent over and very sluggish.

That was in January that I did that.

 

[Quailsong]

Good job, LoanWizard! May we see many more articles from you in the near future!

----

Someone was mentioning raising mealworms, costs & whatnot. I just want to put in a friendly reminder to folks that mealworms for some may be the source of their 'mysterious' allergies. If you're allergic to Bloodworms (Midge Fly larvae) you're most likely allergic to MW's.

In my case, I never had an issue w/ mealworms for years till I suddenly became allergic to bloodworms (freeze-dried for feeding in aquariums). Now I can't even handle MW's anymore. They make my chest feel tight, my eyes/nose run, exhausted feeling, all within seconds of even standing near an open container of them. Although I've issues with gluten, even a rice-based grain meal for them to live in still caused issues (it's their poop that's the biggest culprit).

Two days after removing them from the house I was at my best again. No more exhausted/flu-like symptoms. And that was only after keeping them 3 days (to see if I was allergic to them now). So just an FYI, for you and your family members. Stay safe!