The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Is it the Manna Pro Poultry Protector?

Manna Pro Poultry Protector Ingredients are:
Active Ingredients: Potassium Sorbate .1% by weight
Inert Ingredients: Water, Yeast, Citric Acid 99.9%

Tractor supply carries it. I saw it the other day when I was there. I figured was just a scam like the egg wash & some of the other things they sell. Scam meaning a person doesn't need all the fancy, costly products to have hens

Kind of goes along with the food thats suppose to help chickens thru molt. Hmmm fancy expensive feed so your hens go thru molt easier. I just give them meat protein. Seems to work just fine.

As for putting the leaves in the driveway.......they will just blow away lol I really had no problems putting them in bags last years. Some of the leaves were moldy in spots so I threw those leaves out in the veggie garden. Never had problems otherwise

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:
Hi , Are you using paper leaf bags or plastic bags ? I found that the plastic bags kept moisture in ... too much
I snagged a few paper bags full off leaves last year from the side of the road . I found that I really liked them ...so I bought them instead of the plastic ones
I left them open in the shed for now to air more .

I also bought a lawn sweeper for grass / leaves ...to pull behind our lawn tractor ...I totally love it ...so much easier than raking those things up !

 

[aoxa]

I'm going to rake up the leaves tomorrow or Monday. It hasn't rained all week and the ground is nice and dry. I have way too much going on to dry them out on the driveway, so I figured they'd be okay because it's been so sunny and warm the past week.

 

[lalaland]

I'm not sure if it is manna pro poultry protector - to tell you the truth, it is still in the car from when my friend gave it to me. I don't understand how an enzyme sprayed on wood and bedding will deter mites. It might be totally bogus.
And the funny thing is, I'll never know if it works unless I get mites....and then how long would you expect it to last?

At least you aren't eating it or spraying it on the chickens.

I'm off to to a woodland tour sponsored by a river association. All day on a bus going to different forests and hearing lectures on non-native species, etc. would really prefer to spend the day with the chickens. I have a couple of severe moulters this year that could use some extra protein boosts. And I'm hosting a bonfire tonight, so have to do a bit of cleaning too.

geesh.

along with the road map of where everyone is, I think we out to include a bonus coupon for an extra 24 hours of free time for each of us!

 

[RedRidge]

Quote:
Hmm... I hesitate to say "I've never had mites"... so I won't say it...

But... we heat with wood... plenty of ash to go around... in addition to the fire pit.
We dump buckets of ash on the garden each week all winter.
I also have a dirt floor in my inside coops.
So... now everyone has me paranoid because I was toying with putting shavings or hay in my breeding pens this coming season... bad idea?

 

[delisha]

I use both, with leaves...now I just check before I put them in specially straw.

 

[Leahs Mom]

RR - do your birds dust bathe in any of the ash areas by choice? Just curious as mine wouldn't use it that way. I keep wondering about the lye issue. As in, if a bird dusts itself in an area that has lye then is outside and it begins to pour down rain, will it end up burning their skin?


Also - off topic from the mites but I wanted to ask you about something you said before.

-Did I understand you correctly to say that you only keep your layers for 4 years then process?
-If so, have you ever kept them longer to see how they lay or is that just the number you decided on?

 

[RedRidge]

RR - do your birds dust bathe in any of the ash areas by choice? Just curious as mine wouldn't use it that way. I keep wondering about the lye issue. As in, if a bird dusts itself in an area that has lye then is outside and it begins to pour down rain, will it end up burning their skin?


Also - off topic from the mites but I wanted to ask you about something you said before.

-Did I understand you correctly to say that you only keep your layers for 4 years then process?
-If so, have you ever kept them longer to see how they lay or is that just the number you decided on?

I have some who like to dust and some who never seem to.
They tend to like to go back to the same spots... usually spots picked by the guineas who are great at keeping a circle of dust loosened up (even if it's on top of my cantaloupe plants)

I used to keep my production birds for a long long time... until they died... 7 or 8 years.
At one point I realized that was silly so starting tracking rates of lay.
The decline is so great after they are 4 that we picked the fall of 4 years old to process them.
It's easier with the production birds to just pick an age because I have simply never been good at determining who was laying and who wasn't
With the barnyard mix I have I am sure I have some duds... but that all get to stay until they are 4 regardless.

Purebred birds are a different story... and I don't have a lot of those... mostly HRIR and Rhodebars (although I do now have a few SFH... much to hubby's dismay).
He can't for the life of him figure out why I don't just have one breed.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks, rr. The more birds I get - which is nowhere near what you have - the harder it is for me to determine who's laying too. I'm thinking if i have that problem w/ so few, how would I keep track of it it I had double the amount.

I may consider the 4 year thing myself. I'll have to see what's happening at that point. My first birds are only 1.5 years old right now.

 

[aoxa]

Thanks, rr. The more birds I get - which is nowhere near what you have - the harder it is for me to determine who's laying too. I'm thinking if i have that problem w/ so few, how would I keep track of it it I had double the amount.

I may consider the 4 year thing myself. I'll have to see what's happening at that point. My first birds are only 1.5 years old right now.

I like 4 years. I can live with that. Many do it at 2 years. I'd like to give them a little longer... I do love my Pennies.. The original Penny was 3 years old and still laying almost every single day. When I had 21 chickens, I had a spreadsheet. She went 64 days without a break. Took one day and went 72 days! I know it can't be good to be egg machines like that, but she was the sweetest chicken. I always have RSLs now, and they are all very much the same in personality - outgoing, friendly, good foragers, the best layers, great feed conversion... They are awesome!

I've had an 8 year old silkie who laid almost every day she wasn't brooding.. which was literally just weeks in between broods.