The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[AletaG]

Also, from the roadside mower crew ... is there any concern about what might be in the mowing/mulching debris? Or does "proper" aging eliminate any concern about the origin of the debris? How about fall leaves? Are any of those undesirable for chickens? Do they need to be thoroughly dry and crumbled for bedding, or does the chicken do the work for you?

Yes, these questions seem silly to me in a lot of ways, but each time I bring this topic up -- we have a landscape maintenance business and haul home several pick-up loads of yard debris every single day -- I get shut down with a story about how the stuff that is brought home wouldn't be fit for the chickens. But I just get arguments and/or condescending/pitying looks or blank stares when I try to discuss it with the Powers That Be.

Just for the sake of irony ... I've been talking about this for AGES, particularly the part about how much the chickens LOVE scratching through the evergreen droppings ... and recently one of the team thought the chicken area looked messy, so raked up a wide path of evergreen droppings and HAULED THEM AWAY to the monster of a compost pile the maintenance debris goes to!

I'm not sure I feel better after that rant ...

Hmm... I know that cherry wood off gases for a while, and that cedar *in the coop* where they sleep wouldn't be good - can cause respiratory issues. Other than that, we just use fresh chippings from our local tree trimmer guy. Works fine. Just about anything should; soaking wet is not the best, but I live in WA -damp is a fact. Can put paper dry stuff in, then, well, um, rain? You know? LOL. The goal with DL is to make it deep enough that moisture isn't a problem in the top few inches even if it does rain. Seems to work here.
My only worry about using landscape trimmings from locations you don't have control over, is knowing what sorts of chemicals have been used, and whether that's a problem with the chickens. That's it. Also, some chemicals degrade over time, others don't. Just be aware.
Gotta say, unless the Powers That Be are your gentle grandparents, I'd be lettin' fly. Condescending looks from people that are ignorant of perfectly viable husbandry alternatives would be WAR in my world.
Good luck!

 

[Chrysolinsbirds]

Well I still can't get the pics to load =( but I had my friend look at the feedstore chicks and confirm that yes they are slw , so yay =) also more eggs are peeping and trying to hatch I will let u guys know how many make it, their days early. So far two bantams and another white rock/leghorn cross =) I will keep taking pictures but who knows when my app will let me post them..

 

[lalaland]

I have never had a worm overload in my little flock. I don't want one either

But I am curious.......have you ever regularly given your flock natural dewormers like cayenne pepper, seeds from pumpkins , cukes or gourds?

I am just curious if you did and still got the worms. I try to give my gang one of those items at least monthly. More as a preventive of a worm overload.

My thinking is like the wood ash......if I would of kept it available to them throughout the summer maybe I could of prevented the mite infestation?

Just my 2 cents and thoughts though

I do give the following:
ACV - alternating fresh water with ACV water, or else both options
garlic: fresh crushed 2 x month. This year I got behind, and let my garlic blossom - the bloosoms turned into sead heads with zillions of tiny cloves, so in August they got a ton of garlic because I scatter those and they scarfed them up
pumpkin and squash seeds: this pullet probably had them only once, she was hatched May 26. By then, out of pumpkin sees, adn finally bought some in Aug. And I noticed the seeds I bought were green pepitas, and my pumpkins have always had white seeds. Also have read the pumpkin seed deworming is a myth, but who knows?
red pepper flakes maybe once a month, but I didn't give any to the pullets til August. They were chicks....didn't think they needed it

I read soo many worm threads on BYC where the person did all these things and more like using DE in the run, oregano, etc but still got worms. Thats why I am wondering about whether there are some weak genetics that lead some chickens to suffer from an overload.

 

[lalaland]

ok, here is a herbal concoction to be worm preventative:
Verm-x for Poultry, contains: Liquid ingredients include:
Allum sativum, ulmus fulva, mentha piperita, thymus vulgaris, galium aperine, cinnamomum zelandicum

translated, thats
garlic, slippery elm, mint, thyme, woodruff or cleavers, and cinnamon.
hmmmm

 

[Chrysolinsbirds]

 

[Leahs Mom]

Finally! The photo!!!!

 

[AletaG]

Just making sure I got the acronym... SLW = silver laced Wyandotte? sure dang cute as babies!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Hmm... I know that cherry wood off gases for a while, and that cedar *in the coop* where they sleep wouldn't be good - can cause respiratory issues. Other than that, we just use fresh chippings from our local tree trimmer guy. Works fine. Just about anything should; soaking wet is not the best, but I live in WA -damp is a fact. Can put paper dry stuff in, then, well, um, rain? You know? LOL. The goal with DL is to make it deep enough that moisture isn't a problem in the top few inches even if it does rain. Seems to work here.
My only worry about using landscape trimmings from locations you don't have control over, is knowing what sorts of chemicals have been used, and whether that's a problem with the chickens. That's it. Also, some chemicals degrade over time, others don't. Just be aware.
Gotta say, unless the Powers That Be are your gentle grandparents, I'd be lettin' fly. Condescending looks from people that are ignorant of perfectly viable husbandry alternatives would be WAR in my world.
Good luck!

Ugh. You have no idea.

I am younger, shorter, female and sometimes speaking a second language. But really? My conclusion is that I must be very, very annoying. The other day I googled "how not to piss people off" ... could be useful info presuming that really is the problem ... turns out there are more resources available for people wanting to be MORE annoying. :/

 

[Leahs Mom]

On the wood chips -
Mine came from fir/pine/spruce type trees. Because I understand that fir can be very acidic, I just let them set in a pile until I see that there are worms starting to inhabit the pile. It was probably about 3 months before they begin to start to break down at the bottom of the pile. If I smell really strong pine smell I avoid that part and use it from whatever part of the pile has started to have a less strong smell and begun to break down a little.

I use the worms (red worms in my case) to give me a heads-up to when it's inhabitable. If the worms can live in it I know it won't be to strong for the ground under them. I just don't want to have the opposite effect and kill off the worms, etc. with too strong a resin and acid base. I'm wanting to promote living things in the run rather than killing things.

One of the things that I take my clue from is using mulch on landscaping beds. I really don't like "ehow", but this little overview is worth taking a look at:
Quote:

If you read some places it says for a year or more... That is partly because the carbonaceous material pulls nitrogen from the soils to be able to break down. That deplete it from your plants.

Note that the article is referring to "mulch" which is typically more finely ground than wood chips from the chippers.
Here's another link regarding CHIPS in sustainable gardening: http://www.sustainable-gardening.com/archives/425

BUT...THE GOOD NEWS!
Guess what chicken poop adds? You guessed it....NITROGEN. So when you put the chips in and add chicken poop...a great combination for break down without taking such a toil on the plant roots, etc.


We know not to use cedar and apparently it can be toxic to some animals in general. I'm not sure about other types of wood and don't have time to look into it at this moment.


But, since we're not worried about feeding plants, but in creating a healthy soil environment in the run, while I don't think you need to wait for years, I still like waiting long enough that I see those worms or some level of live in there.

As far as particular species of wood...haven't had time to find more info on that.​

 

[aaggjg]

I have never had a worm overload in my little flock. I don't want one either

But I am curious.......have you ever regularly given your flock natural dewormers like cayenne pepper, seeds from pumpkins , cukes or gourds?

I am just curious if you did and still got the worms. I try to give my gang one of those items at least monthly. More as a preventive of a worm overload.

My thinking is like the wood ash......if I would of kept it available to them throughout the summer maybe I could of prevented the mite infestation?

Just my 2 cents and thoughts though

I have used all of the natural wormers a lot and constantly yet I still had a amerucanas poop out round worms! I also added the Shaklee's Basic H , wormwood, cinnamon and have now added the ropapoultry oregano concoction.... My hens must be penned up when I am not around as there are too many predators looking for a snack! So I think it has to do with soil overload... I try to constantly add new organic matter to refresh their runs but I'm not sure how much that helps.