The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Jewelwing]

I know we have a lot of newcomers. Maybe those who plant gardens could share the herbs & veggies they plant that benefit their chickens? Spring will get here sooner or later & people are probably starting to buy seeds.

The seeds I will be ordering this year for the chickens are:
Basil, oregano, lavender, mint chamomile, catnip, rosemary, & sage

Veggies are:
kale, beet greens, mustard greens, sunflowers, nasturtium, lemon balm,

I am sure I will add others kinds as well when I buy plants..............I always do

Are these for the chickens to free range among and eat as they will, or are you going to fence them off from the chickens and just give them the harvest?

I don't have the fence up where the garden is going to be yet (we're still in the process of building the house we're living in!), but I'm totally interested in plants that the chickens could just nibble on at will.

WELCOME BACK Loinwizard

That's a pretty self-confident username!!!

Something that my birds absolutely love.... Bell pepper plant LEAVES.

They wouldn't eat the pepper and don't really care about the pepper seeds. But they LOVE the leaves.

That's funny, because mine LOVE the peppers themselves, especially the seeds and the soft inside parts! They've never been give the chance to try the leaves, though, so maybe they'd like that even better!

What a great topic Comes up all the time on the new mommy boards.

Baby Sally is here. All is well and she is loving her ability to nurse.

Wooo hoooo!!!!

Details, please!!

 

[Jewelwing]

Procaine Penicillin G dosage for chickens is 1/10 ml injected into the breast muscle once daily for 4 days. You can give up to 1/4 ml safely, and just stick the needle in 1/2 inch or so (not sure of the length of your needles.) When they lay a soft-shell egg that breaks inside like that it can set them up for egg yolk peritonitis, so you an also use white vinegar and water to squirt into the vent with a syringe (like a douche.) One ounce of vinegar to 4 ounces of water would be a good ratio.

I am glad you posted this, even though it's a natural chicken keeping forum. We all care for our chickens differently, and what we share is a desire to keep things as natural as possible. Just like in our own lives, I would imagine!! But, just like in our own lives, sometimes natural doesn't cut it, and without standard medical intervention like antibiotics we'd end up with a dead chicken.

For some people, a naturally-treated dead chicken is preferable to a live one that's been treated with antibiotics (and I understand that view), but not for all of us. For me, I'd rather have a live chicken, especially if she were my favorite. I'd just not eat the eggs for a few weeks. If she died, with or without treatment with antibiotics, I couldn't eat her (or let my dog or the other chickens eat her) because my chickens are all pets - my kids would be mortified if I suggested eating them. Just like we wouldn't consider eating our dog if she died!

So, yes, I try to keep things as natural as possible, for the chickens' health, for our health, and for the world we live in. But I also think that there is a time and place for modern medicine.

Just like I don't judge anyone on this forum who eat your chickens, or who cull instead of treat a medical condition (to strengthen the health of the next generation, makes total sense), please don't anyone judge me or those of us who treat our chickens more like pets and would use medications as a last resort to save a favorite chicken's life.

Anyway, I just wanted to pipe up and say thank you for your post, which wasn't recommending giving penicillin to a bird you hadn't seen to treat a condition you didn't diagnose, but rather responding to someone's question about what dose to give. Dosages and routes of administration for different medicines for various species are published in tables, and are not considered a recommendation for treatment.

You also suggested a more natural treatment for egg yolk peritonitis, which was very cool. Thanks again!

 

[RedRidge]

My "nipple waterers" (Ok, LW...control yourself) didn't leak where they screw into the bucket. They just dropped extra water on the ground while they were pushing them for their drink. At least they didn't leak all the time. Just when in use but it was a huge amount over the course of a day.

What makes you think I like leaky nipples?

What a great topic Comes up all the time on the new mommy boards. [COLOR=800080]Baby Sally is here. All is well and she is loving her ability to nurse. [/COLOR]

We Better be getting some photos here soon

Ok. How did I miss this announcement. Congrats! Yeah!

 

[lazy gardener]

So many pages... so little brain power to remember my 2 cents worth... or with inflation... 1.25 cents worth... I believe Sally 8 was mentioning crows stealing planted garden seed? a thin layer of mulch, preferably straw over the entire planted area, like when you're seeding a lawn will deter the crows. They can't discern the tender sprouts among the strands of straw. Works very well with corn.

LM: my girls LOVE pepper seeds.

LW: Your story about Herb cracked me up.

 

[Jewelwing]

So many pages... so little brain power to remember my 2 cents worth... or with inflation... 1.25 cents worth...

I just hit the "multi" button on the bottom of a comment I want to reply to, and keep reading. Then when I'm all done reading, I just hit "post a reply" and it loads them all up so I can remind myself what I wanted to say!

 

[lazy gardener]

For some reason, all of those features are not accessible to me... as of about 4 weeks ago. I'm a computer idiot, so need my husband to help me problem solve the issue... when we both have time to sit down and look at it together.

 

[armorfirelady]

Sally CONGRATS !!! glad both of you are doing well.

Chaos- some are for the veggie garden and some for herb planters I am making to put in the hens are. Just need to finish planters & warm up & I will be good to go. Oh and make the cold frames........

 

[mlowen]

Welcome Baby Sally!!!

 

[Eggcessive]

What a great topic Comes up all the time on the new mommy boards.

Baby Sally is here. All is well and she is loving her ability to nurse.

Congratulations on your little one!

 

[Sally8]

What a great topic Comes up all the time on the new mommy boards.

Baby Sally is here. All is well and she is loving her ability to nurse.

Congrats on Baby Sally!

No way I can put away my heated dishes. When the temps were near 0, I would bring Pester, the bunny in and put him in the tub. Now I have chicks in the tub, Pester is not going to be happy.