The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[curious chickee]

Both but coop is a three sided coop with lots of ventilation at the top, coop is only used for nest boxes and roosting. We get very hot in summer with mild winters so lots of ventilation is key for us.

 

[Leahs Mom]

The openness of the coop takes care of the concern for being too confined with the strong fumes. Nice looking setup btw, @curious chickee Wish I lived in a warm year-round area and could do that. Just looks so nice.

 

[mossyroo]

They've never been around my roos. They start way before dawn and crow all day long. I also don't see this taking into account neighboring flocks. We have crows coming from 5 different directions at our place and any one of them can set the whole county off.

 

[curious chickee]

The openness of the coop takes care of the concern for being too confined with the strong fumes.  Nice looking setup btw, @curious chickee
  Wish I lived in a warm year-round area and could do that.  Just looks so nice.

Thanks, one advantage of CA is mild winters, although those few nights we get below freezing I have to add a heat lamp but that is only a few weeks a year. The summers are the hardest on the birds think of areas like phoenix arizona, 3 months over 95 with most days over 100 degrees going up to 110 at times.

 

[artsyrobin]

Quote: grew up in San Diego- the land of Santa Ana's .. That heat is incredible- how do you keep them cool? We have a couple months a year in Oklahoma that is miserable

 

[JanetMarie]

for mite deterence

I have recently in the last 2 months found a wonderful mite deterant/killer. It's NEEM SEED OIL. I have a rooster who has suffered from many mites on him for a long time, and I found a thread on BYC on the neem oil. I used it full strength on him, where the mites are and rubbing into the skin, and used quite a bit the first two times, and he is no longer infested. They haven't come back like all the other times before. I am so impressed with this new find, that I'm exicited to share it with anyone asking. It's organic, and it's an ingredient in all natural toothpaste.

 

[Attila the Hen]

I will try that. I have a sultan rooster that always seems to have mites.
thank you

 

[shortgrass]

I have recently in the last 2 months found a wonderful mite deterant/killer.  It's NEEM SEED OIL.  I have a rooster who has suffered from many mites on him for a long time, and I found a thread on BYC on the neem oil.  I used it full strength on him, where the mites are and rubbing into the skin, and used quite a bit the first two times, and he is no longer infested.  They haven't come back like all the other times before.  I am so impressed with this new find, that I'm exicited to share it with anyone asking.  It's organic, and it's an ingredient in all natural toothpaste.

Absolutely, Neem oil is awesome stuff; keep it around for the garden too!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Okay... but the SDS for neem oil says not to get it on skin so I'd surely be cautious using it on the body.... Unless someone has some other information?


From MSDS:

Quote: http://cdn.arbico-organics.com/downloads/monterey-70-neem-oil-msds.pdf

thoroughly with soap and water after handling. Remove and wash contaminated

clothing before reuse. Keep children and pets off the treated area until sprays
have dried.

Although this mentions using on skin, there are a LOT of cautions...including issues with fertility/endocrine. Advised not to use with children (Chickens are much smaller than children):
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...iveIngredientId=577&activeIngredientName=NEEM




Anyhow...whenever I've read about using neem, it was on roosts, etc., but not directly on the bird itself. Has anyone read anything that states safety/toxicity issues for use directly on a bird?

 

[curious chickee]

grew up in San Diego- the land of Santa Ana's .. That heat is incredible- how do you keep them cool? We have a couple months a year in Oklahoma that is miserable

Ventilation is key, I use the run with two fans on one side to give air flow. Then I have drip irrigation in three spots (my bushes) for cool water, comes on for 30 min at the hottest time of the day. 1/2 gallon emitters. Finally the bushes and coop provide shade so majority of run has shade during hottest time (my coop is on the west side run on the east side)