Good idea!
Please post your experiences with oregano oil and Flavus here. It should go better than the "new BYC myth" post you were hit with on the other thread.
Will do... After I charge my phone

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Good idea!
Please post your experiences with oregano oil and Flavus here. It should go better than the "new BYC myth" post you were hit with on the other thread.
http://www.grit.com/animals/nesting-box-herbs-chicken-aromatherapy.aspx#axzz36X0DWQWgOkay, I know I've asked this twice before, but this time I swear I'll bookmark it. Do you have a link to a good page about herbs that go well with chickens? My wife wants to plant some around the runs, and wants me to find out what to plant.
Seems like I remember lavender and bee balm being high on the list. Anything else in particular?
BEWARE PICTURES OF PROCESSING A CHICKEN. IF YOU DONT WANT TO SEE THEM THEN SCROLL RIGHT BY (I don't can't use the spoiler option on my IPad)
Well I have sad news. Zorro just got louder and the neighbors were noticing. I tried to find him a new home but had no luck. So I put him in a dog crate last night and covered the windows in the hope he would be quiet. He was. So I did the right thing and culled him this morning, I used used milk jug to hang him in. Had to cut open the pouring end so his head fit through it. And I put a heavy duty leaf bag under the milk jug to catch the blood. He didn't fight after I sliced his neck. I let him drain about 20 min and then worked on feather removal. water temp was 150 degrees and the feathers wiped right off. I removed his feet and head then cut him open to take out his organs. He is currently reading in a milk bath in the fridge. I put a towel over him just because I know my son will yell if he sees the carcass. I took some pics of the organs. I've processed a chicken before when I was a kid but my job was feather removal.
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Carcass as I opened it, I was surprised to see the fat.
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More fat as I pulled out the organs
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the organs outside the body cavity
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I believe the lungs, liver & ? I cant remember what the small dark organ is. Gallbladder?
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I believe this is the crop. It was covered in yellow fat. Not thick fat just a layer around it.
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the intestines
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I have no idea what this is. Its at the opposite end of the anus.
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crop cut open. I would have to say the crop was the size of a tangerine. Solid. Inside was what he had to eat last night.
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Heart & testicles
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What was inside the crop that I took out. Fine & grainy. I could see little pieces of corn in there. He last ate last night around 5. I put him in a dog crate in the garage for the night.
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Heart, lungs, kidney? & testicles
If I have mislabeled something please let me know. I couldnt label them on the pictures because I dont know how.
I'm cuious to hear from the old timers is that fat is normal? I didnt see any in the breast area just when I cut him open to remove the organs. He was 21 weeks old and on FF once a day since he hatched. He has been foraging in their space since then. And of course leftovers as we had them. I thought he was real skinny. But being so young I was surprised he has some good meat on his breast. He is currently resting in the fridge in a milk bath. His hatch mates were enjoying his heart. If I cant eat him he wont go to waste. His hatch mates & the other hens will enjoy him.
You're welcome!Bookmarked! Thanks!
While I'm here, I'd like to ask for prioritization opinions from the peanut gallery.
If you had to choose just 3 herbs to plant for your flock, what would they be?
I only feed once a day. Late afternoon and while they are eating I throw out scratch for the next morning.@hoosiercheetah
Yes. It freezes. And quite solid in the feeder.
Last several years I used a flat heat base made from the heating element from a heated dog bowl and used pyrex pie pans (which are shallow) set on top of those heat bases to feed from. If you want to see them I can send you a pm...they're easy to make.
Otherwise, you could approach feeding by just putting out a little in the morning and a little in the evening and hopefully they will learn to eat what they need quickly before it freezes.
I am considering only feeding the wet feed in the late afternoon and not heating it this year. Haven't totally made up my mind on that. If I do that I would have the dry feed with a bit of lard stirred in available for the daytime which wouldn't freeze then feed wet when I get home from work.
My problem has been that I go to work before the sun is up in the winter and if I put out the wet feed in the morning before I go to work, it will be frozen before they get off the roost in the morning. So if I don't put a heater under it, they can't eat it in the morning.
Anyhow...just contemplating on whether I really want to run the heaters again this year.