The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Perris]

I lacto ferment 3*1 without molassass

can you explain please? I have no idea what this means, and 3954 pages is a long way to go back to try to find out!
Cilantro is aka coriander, yes?

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Mine love spinach, garlic and all sorts if fruit and vegetables.

Cilantro seems to be their current favorite for greens, what I fo as it's easy and so prolific is do several buckets to grow inside and then cut and toss to them, that way they aren't tearing it up.

I lacto ferment 3*1 without molassass then back feed and you can keep that going for forever as long as you can keep it from freezing if your in the northern states, I feed that spring through fall here in Idaho

Not so much a question per say just looking to make some changes in my keep practices and have been digging around BYC threads... and this one popped up in my feed search... I am going to move away from commercial feed...

So you are growing inside in buckets, do you use lights? We just started experimenting with a mini hydro system... we definitely need grow lights for that. How do you have your sprouting green system set up?

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

can you explain please? I have no idea what this means, and 3954 pages is a long way to go back to try to find out!
Cilantro is aka coriander, yes?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-make-fermented-feed.1151552/#post-18030314

The above link Is about fermented feed...

I am thinking of trying this myself but probably after I figure out my basic whole grain feed formula... I already have decided whole flock is coming off of corn as I am now adding bird genetics to my flock that contain high % of Green Jungle Fowl... corn super bad for the high % Green Jungle Fowl birds.

My feed will be rice heavy because of the Oriental breeds I am raising right now.

Perris this is a great thread to poke around in... I want to go more natural any way.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

I started trying to decipher the medical advice from a book on game fowl chicken keeping circa 1700s.

The first one I decided to figure out is for a Green Wound... after reading carefully through the text I have determined Green Wound is not Gangrene but I think Green means Fresh or perhaps bruising that turns green? The herb used is named Herb-Robin, I do believe this is Geranium robertianum which has a lot of common names and was widely grown, collected and used for medicine and other uses durring this time period.

So here is how I would translate and reorder the instructions for today... I have not tried this. Just sharing for those of us interested in olde tyme chicken keeping.

First bathe the wounds in Stale Beer or Ale (Beer that has become clear from long standing). Next put Geranium robertianum powder in a fine clean clothe and dust/rub the sore... I am inclined to think the meaning here was dust.

The word used was “pounce” which does have a fine powder or dust meaning and a rub meaning in addition to the swoop down and grab with talons meaning.

In looking up Geranium robertianum amongst its many uses is applying it to wounds and bruises.

Anyway that’s my stab at one of the medical recipes from The Royal Pastime of Cock-Fighting 1707... I am not condoning Cock-Fighting just looking for real olde keeping methods... the Herb is actually rather interesting and now I want to put in a Colonial Garden This herb was planted around gardens because it smells bad as a deer deterrent. Supposedly it’s juice keeps mosquitoes away too... another reason to be in my yard... it has a ton of uses actually. Anyway just thought I would share. Use at own risk because I have no idea how this recipe would work...

Oh and Stale (Stale Beer) sounds like something fun to make... but because we are talking 1705 I wonder if non filtered beer would be the best base versus modern store bought stuff or if that even matters... anyone have thoughts on Stale Beer properties from home brew vs Samuel Adams for instance?

 

[Perris]

a Green Wound

as it happens I just witnessed this; 2 of my roos got injured by a fox, and one of them had definitely been grabbed/held by the neck. Because the feathers were gone, a couple of days later I could see the skin in the area had turned a very nauseating shade of green, to one side of the puncture wounds. At first I wondered if it was gangrene, but he has recovered, and his crow is distinctly changed, so I conclude it's how bruising can come out in a chicken.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

as it happens I just witnessed this; 2 of my roos got injured by a fox, and one of them had definitely been grabbed/held by the neck. Because the feathers were gone, a couple of days later I could see the skin in the area had turned a very nauseating shade of green, to one side of the puncture wounds. At first I wondered if it was gangrene, but he has recovered, and his crow is distinctly changed, so I conclude it's how bruising can come out in a chicken.

Okay so the author was probably describing just that sort of wound with bruising... he has several remedies for this type of wound btw.

The other is using what he calls Greater Wild Daisy which is Wild Daisy, English Daisy or Common Ox Eye aka Chrysanthemum leucanthemum in modern herbals. He says it is good for both inward and outward wounds, Used in oils, ointments and salves. The leaves can be bruised and applied to any part that is swelled & hot, it dissolves and tempers the heat.

I need to research the Daisy a bit more... but seems pretty straightforward.

There is also a long treatment instructions page for treating wounds immediately after and care support for the bird... It’s an interesting read... some of the advice I understand based on the science of the day, others I am grasping to understand... but working on trying to understand the reasoning.

 

[Perris]

old herbals can be very interesting, but sometimes the plant identifications are tricky - the same names can be used past and present for different plants, even by the same author! It helps a lot if they are illustrated.

All European herbals are derived ultimately from Dioscorides' Herbal of the 1st century AD btw (and a manuscript of that is the oldest surviving illustrated book, fittingly). He is thought to have been a doctor with the legions. The Roman agronomists were also very popular through the ages; one Virginia farmer published a translation of Cato and Varro in 1913 because he thought his compatriots could learn so much from them; it includes any veterinary care needed.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Yeah the plant identification can be tricky in old books... I need to get a translation of Dioscorides Herbal. The translation of Cato and Varro sounds super interesting.

The lingo is very challenging too as different medical philosophies about illness and healing in different time periods and cultures.

One thing I have observed both in modern people and texts olde I have found is that what ever humans do to themselves for in care, hygiene, even religious belief practices we tend to do to the animals we keep. Thus I have read about having animals fast during religious fasting periods and how it was done... or if using urine as a medical was in there it is in the book for the critter... just an observation.

 

[Perris]

that's a good observation; it holds with what I can remember about other cultures' habits.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Found this on Geranium robertianum, some science... https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/153414691.pdf

I guessing it may do the long list of uses I found on it outside of the book based on this paper. I noted In the paper different parts of the plant has different concentration of compounds, so based on that the instructions say powder of but not what part? But it seems modern herbal powder of this plant uses the root.