The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[fenwickchic]

Just found this on one of my hens. Is this poultry lice? How can I treat them.

Here is what I found on my girl so you can compare. She definitely had/has lice. I really freaked out when I saw it and sent a picture to my friend. She told me lice and told me to go get Sevin and dust them with that. Well, I did it unfortunately. I was trying to keep them organic for my own consumption, so I was upset later when I realized I used a pesticide. Ugh. It didn't even work well. I wanted a natural cure. I researched and got some advice here at BYC and on this link. There is a great YouTube video on dust bathing them with wood ash. I did that next. Since it was so d*#ned cold outside I set up the saw horses in the garage with a partial sheet of plywood, and a big bowl of the finest wood ash. (I used a screen and rubbed the fireplace ashed through it.) You need to be extremely careful doing this and the hens need to stay calm or you will end up with ash all in the air and breathing it yourself. If you hold their wings down firmly and lay them on their back (making sure to keep the ash away from their head). You will have to turn them on their sides, etc. My daughter helped me keep their heads up out of the ash on the board. Do yourself a favor and get a mask for your mouth and nose or put a bandanna over them. I did mine at night when they are calmer but one still managed to flap her wings a little. The wood ash seemed to work great. Unfortunately, I went away and did not get back soon enough to re-dust them. Yes, you will need to re-dust them because the egg sacks that (if yours are lice) will hatch. Then make sure you have a bin in their coop/run where they can dust bathe themselves. I just added another dust bin/sanitized old kitty liter pan and added dry sand, wood ash and "food grade" (very important) Diatomaceous Earth because I think they needed more than just the ash. I also had one hen who would get into the one bin that had sand and wood ash only and not get out, so none of the others could get in. The other thing is that you MUST make certain that these dust bins do NOT get wet. Once wet they will not work. This is what I've learned so far. If, indeed, they are lice I have read that they do not live "off" the bird, so you do not need to treat your whole coop but you should get any loose feathers out because they could have egg sacks on them. WARNING: This is just what a have learned lately, so you are not getting expert advice from me; just what I have read/been told. Mine definitely felt better after being dust bathed by ME thoroughly. I just should have kept dusting them after a few days a couple times.
If you are dealing with mites, then they live off the chicken and your coop will be infested and need to be completely cleaned. I have a web site that should help you: http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_6930.html and this one is good too: http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2013/02/mites-how-to-prevent-them-and-treat.html
Good Luck. Mine are looking better but still working with them.

 

[RedRidge]

 
they have armadillos in florida?  hm. never noticed any when I lived down there (16 years!)  but then, I was in south fla. near the glades.


LOL  if people want to come up, unless they've been here before, I warn them of the "dogs" (1 standard poodle)...  but my driveway is enough to deter all but the bravest who may also be driving 4x4... LOL  heck, hubby's mom just lives 30 miles away and she won't come up here unless she has to...   and she's got 4wd now.

To me, it's a lifestyle choice. People come to get eggs on Friday afternoon and on Saturday. The Heelers are either locked in the barns or out with the chickens and the Patterdales are safely locked in another room, although neither of them would even think of biting anyone, they would be under-foot.  Beyond that, I like my privacy.

Someone walking into the chicken flock or goat barn would get shredded if I weren't handy to call the Heelers off.

Same here... it's a lifestyle choice.
But I don't sell eggs off the farm. I sell hundreds of eggs each week and have drop points every two weeks in a few towns. I drive to town once every 2 weeks, deal with all the customers in a 30 minute time frame and don't have people showing up at the farm.
I like it that way. My husband teases that if I didn't have those drop points I would never leave the farm - he's right... I have no reason to.
And i don't ever have to lock my Maremma up. That would be a pain and would confuse them terribly as they are never away from their livestock.

 

[hellbender]

Same here... it's a lifestyle choice.
But I don't sell eggs off the farm. I sell hundreds of eggs each week and have drop points every two weeks in a few towns. I drive to town once every 2 weeks, deal with all the customers in a 30 minute time frame and don't have people showing up at the farm.
I like it that way. My husband teases that if I didn't have those drop points I would never leave the farm - he's right... I have no reason to.
And i don't ever have to lock my Maremma up. That would be a pain and would confuse them terribly as they are never away from their livestock.

I have great respect for Maremma, Akbash, and other large livestock guardians...they do a wonderful job. I decided to go another route, with smaller very intelligent dogs in their own right and it works very well for me. On the point of locking dogs away, only the Patterdale Terriers are kept away from the chickens because they would do more damage in short order than almost any wild predator.

The Heelers are always with their flock..24/7.

I allow folks who buy 25 to 50 dozen at a time to pick theirs up, especially restaurants and cottage industry cake bakers. I to have 'drop' points for clients with smaller orders.

We are all individuals in this 'chicken' world and nothing is set in stone.

EDIT: I sell hundreds of dozens of eggs each week...I let someone else carry a few of them.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: wow. how many chickens do you have? it sounds like you're bordering on a commercial thing not a backyard flock for sure. LOL

 

[hellbender]

wow. how many chickens do you have? it sounds like you're bordering on a commercial thing not a backyard flock for sure. LOL

I don't do a daily head count but somewhere between 430 and 460...including pullets that are laying eggs large enough to sell to 'here and there' buyers.

 

[RedRidge]

Yes there is a big difference between hundreds and hundreds of dozens.
I only keep 40-50 production layers. They support my HRIR and my Rhodebar breeding project.
While they free range and rotationally graze like my others, they are tracked by age and slaughtered every 3 years after their max production is over. I breed enough more of them each year to replace the 1/3 I slaughter each fall. This assures a very high rate of lay and I over winter much fewer birds. And by free ranging, feeding bsf, grinding and fermenting my own grains when I do feed any, and never feeding soy or anything gmo, this assures top dollar for the eggs.
Each production layer makes enough to support herself and a trio of purebred birds. I make it a practice of never exceeding that average over the course of each fiscal year.
What that means is that while my flock is not profitable, they aren't a money pit either. I over winter fewer than 60 -75 total birds each year.
We have a rule here... Each type of livestock must put food on our table and not "cost us" to keep them. They may all earn their way. That is why we have carefully chosen the breeds we have.

We tell people all the time, we do not raise livestock... We raise forage.

We simply use the livestock (cattle, sheep, chickens, bees) to convert that forage to meat, milk, eggs, and honey.

 

[aoxa]

You can cut them up right away..
Resting in cold water is necessary before freezing. Freezing stops the muscles for decomp and releasing gasses.

I agree..the best way to catch fruit flies is..open a bottle of wine..drink the whole bottle and leave the empty bottle on the counter..do it every night till the flies are gone..


please post..ok I see you did.

Yes..and makes a good flush..
good pictures and tells a story..

This bird was fat..all that yellow should not be in a young bird. The excessive fat made the organs work too hard. Liver color is good..intestines are a little irritated..(see red veins). Nice looking egg formation...lungs are inflamed and have bits of blood ..off color and not bright enough..I would think this bird died from organ failure..it looks free from any type of sickness or disease. I would cook and eat this bird.

Exactly what I thought.. She has a lot of fat!

 

[RedRidge]

As an aside, I have a group of customers who have located here from Nam. They prefer pullet eggs, so all pullet eggs are sold to them.
I used to save all pullet eggs for us but we could never consume them all... This has solved that problem since more than 1/3 of my eggs each summer are pullet eggs.

 

[hellbender]

Yes there is a big difference between hundreds and hundreds of dozens.
I only keep 40-50 production layers. They support my HRIR and my Rhodebar breeding project.
While they free range and rotationally graze like my others, they are tracked by age and slaughtered every 3 years after their max production is over. I breed enough more of them each year to replace the 1/3 I slaughter each fall. This assures a very high rate of lay and I over winter much fewer birds. And by free ranging, feeding bsf, grinding and fermenting my own grains when I do feed any, and never feeding soy or anything gmo, this assures top dollar for the eggs.
Each production layer makes enough to support herself and a trio of purebred birds. I make it a practice of never exceeding that average over the course of each fiscal year.
What that means is that while my flock is not profitable, they aren't a money pit either. I over winter fewer than 60 -75 total birds each year.
We have a rule here... Each type of livestock must put food on our table and not "cost us" to keep them. They may all earn their way. That is why we have carefully chosen the breeds we have.

We tell people all the time, we do not raise livestock... We raise forage.

We simply use the livestock (cattle, sheep, chickens, bees) to convert that forage to meat, milk, eggs, and honey.

Ok...I made money as a trial lawyer, now retired. I also draw royalties from natural gas wells on my 1200, plus or minus acre farm, to which, I own the mineral rights.

Therefore, I don't have to make money on my birds and I really don't...they are but a glorified hobby.

Oh darn, I'm slipping. another EDIT: My hens lay well enough that I 'cash them in' at the end of their 4th year of lay, no matter how well they might be laying. You will have that when production birds are in play...

 

[hellbender]

As an aside, I have a group of customers who have located here from Nam. They prefer pullet eggs, so all pullet eggs are sold to them.
I used to save all pullet eggs for us but we could never consume them all... This has solved that problem since more than 1/3 of my eggs each summer are pullet eggs.

I don't doubt a word you write but I too was in 'NAM', many years ago and for three tours. I don't recall any of the populace demanding pullet eggs but war will take it's toll on the best of us. I certainly have my scars, physical damage and some will say, considerable mental deficiency...but I passed the bar on my second effort so I guess I hide it well.