The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SherrieC]

Statewide Weekend's chook guru Paul Healy recommends making your own worming and winter mash for healthy birds.

Worming Mash
1 kilo of mash (commercial ground meal or 7 parts wheat,2 parts barley, one part oats or other grain),1 litre of milk, one knob of dark purple garlic, 3 hots chillies, 1 tlbsp tumeric, 1 tlbsp parika, 1 tlbsp cayene pepper, 1 pinch seaweed meal per bird
Put the milk in a pan.Crush garlic and add immediately along with chopped chillies and spices and seaweed meal.Warm up and stand overnight. In the morning warm up again at the crack of dawn and add to the meal. Feed to chooks while your breath is still cloudy. The chooks should be starved for the 24 hours previously and the meal should be given on the last weekend before the full moon.
Winter Mash
1 kilo mash (as above), 1 litre milk, garlic (as above) and a pinch of seaweed meal per bird.
Prepare as above and serve warm. Feed each bird 100 grams each morning for two weeks.


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[edit: seems to be quoting my reply aswell so have seperated it with a broken line]
I hope this is quoting the post I want to reply to, this forum software is very weird so I am not sure if it is!

I have Paul Healys book and just wanted to add to his worming mash recipe, in the book for 10 chickens he has that recipe above but with some changes such as 2 whole bulbs of purple garlic instead of 1, 6 chillies instead of 3, 6 whole cloves, 1 tbls of ginger, 1 tbls of cinnamon as well as 2 grated carrots and apples or pears. This is a preventative mash recipe. If you need to purge a heavy wormload then you swap out the milk for olive oil.


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[TX2CA]

Hey y'all, how do you tell the difference between vent gleet and diarrhea? Two of my pullets have dirty butts. There have been much larger droppings and some diarrhea looking droppings as well. There is no bad smell, but, compared to pictures, it looks like gleet. Just not as severe.. I've had them for 4 weeks and I feel they are just about to lay. I've been putting AVC in their water a few times a week and giving them yogurt about once a week. I've heard about Nustock but I'm not sure my local store sells it. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[lalaland]

Sherrie, thanks for posting that update on the recipe. Have you tried the worming mash?

I hadn't heard that you would sub oil for milk to worm them. Sounds worth a try.


tx2ca, I would bathe them so you can get a good look at the skin around the vent. dishtubs, buckets, etc work well for the bathing. water at a temp not to shock them - warmer if it is cool where you are, cooler if it is hot where you are.

I wouldn't use soap. Just get their back ends wet - usually if you firmly press down on their backs, they will sit down in the water. Use your other hand to swish the water around the feathers to loosen any dried poop, get it off.

Its a good time to check for mites around the neck, back of neck, around the vent area.... If it is warm out, you can let them air dry. If cool, a blow dryer works well but you have to be careful to not let the overheat.

Around the vent - if the skin is very red and irritated, I would consider putting a little sulphur powder if you don't have nustock. You can order it online....a little goes a long way. Sulphur powder is in garden centers or sometimes feed stores or garden areas of big box stores. Also called flowers of sulphur. Also avail on line. Just make sure it is pure sulphur.

If no sulphur, just watch them.

If your yogurt is sugar free - meaning not vanilla, no fruit syrup, and says on the label that it has active cultures, I would give it them daily for a week or so.

More than likely it isn't gleet since you aren't noticing a bad smell.

And welcome to the thread!

 

[TX2CA]

Thanks so much! It's hot here so I will give them a good bath and let them air dry. I was worried plain yogurt everyday might give them diarrhea. But if it's good for getting their digestive tracts in order we will get on it.

 

[SherrieC]

Yes I use the worming mash, they love it but I don't have access to raw milk, you're meant to use raw milk. I have farms all around me so I should ask around.

To bathe my girls I use an eco friendly dog shampoo that I have for my dog who has sensitive skin, its very mild and has tea tree oil etc I use a foot soaker container, perfect size

Grated apples and slippery elm are meant to be helpful for loose droppings but when I was checking the book with the worming mash recipe I noticed he mentioned that loose droppings are common during changes of diet such as feeding them something different, increase in protein (baxter splats) or particular times of the year when you have a burst of lush grass or they have been moved to a new area that was rested etc

He also says that constant chronic loose, runny dark and discoloured droppings being left by just one or two are often (50%) a sign of birds having suffered previous liver or kidney damage from toxins such as mouldy food or poisonous plant.

 

[lalaland]

Thanks so much! It's hot here so I will give them a good bath and let them air dry. I was worried plain yogurt everyday might give them diarrhea. But if it's good for getting their digestive tracts in order we will get on it.

hmmm, if it is really hot, the hens will have very watery droppings as a means of dispersing heat. So that could be whats up as well, or if you are giving lots of fruits.

Yes I use the worming mash, they love it but I don't have access to raw milk, you're meant to use raw milk. I have farms all around me so I should ask around.

To bathe my girls I use an eco friendly dog shampoo that I have for my dog who has sensitive skin, its very mild and has tea tree oil etc I use a foot soaker container, perfect size

Grated apples and slippery elm are meant to be helpful for loose droppings but when I was checking the book with the worming mash recipe I noticed he mentioned that loose droppings are common during changes of diet such as feeding them something different, increase in protein (baxter splats) or particular times of the year when you have a burst of lush grass or they have been moved to a new area that was rested etc

He also says that constant chronic loose, runny dark and discoloured droppings being left by just one or two are often (50%) a sign of birds having suffered previous liver or kidney damage from toxins such as mouldy food or poisonous plant.

Sherrie, have you done the worming mash with the oil instead of the milk? i am kind of imagining an oily mess of droppings....

 

[TX2CA]

...

hmmm, if it is really hot, the hens will have very watery droppings as a means of dispersing heat.  So that could be whats up as well, or if you are giving lots of fruits.

good to know. We had a cool down for two days, but tomorrow it's back up to 102..... I gave them a bath today along with AVC and yogurt. They free range in my backyard for a few hours everyday, maybe they are getting into the compost. I try to only give leafy greens. These are my first chickens ever so everything is new! But I've been reading up on here and some other blogs. Thanks for the input

 

[EastNashChick]

My chickens don't like raw pumpkin seeds. I even put them in their feeder, they just peck around them. What should I do?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Mine won't eat them either.

 

[hellbender]

Mine won't eat them either.

Huh... I have 4 breeds of young pullets and cockerels, all about 5 months old that absolutely love raw pumpkin seeds and raw pumpkin too for that matter but they eat the pumpkin quicker/better if it's been in the oven for a while. I cut it up into chunks so it cooks quicker but throw out the seeds by themselves and the birds almost fight over 'em!!! There's no understanding chickens...not really.