The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

Who told you to cull your whole flock? I never read that.
Who told you that feather picking will never go away? I missed that one too. I must be missing so much information.
Good information about ACV in a spritz bottle..

lol, no one on this thread! But you know how it is, there are so many ways of doing things, and so many differing opinions - you have to think through what you are told, considering everything else you know and also who it is that is saying that... needless to say, I didn't cull. I did see featherpicking go away, but it did come back.

 

[aoxa]

I hate tax season @_@

 

[Ashdoes]

lol, no one on this thread!  But you know how it is, there are so many ways of doing things, and so many differing opinions - you have to think through what you are told, considering everything else you know and also who it is that is saying that... needless to say, I didn't cull.  I did see featherpicking go away, but it did come back.

I've seen on another thread someone else get that same advice, cull all and start over! I'm like, are you kidding me? I hate jumping in when something like that is said, because people get really defensive. I usually hope the person getting advice likes their chickens too much for that, and knows that usually there is one or two causing the problem, and that it is fixable.

 

[armorfirelady]

I hate tax season @_@

I love getting my taxes down

but I do feel sorry for those who are accountants lol

Those Buff silkies are beautiful.....they look like they have Poof balls on their heads

 

[chickiemomy]

Quote:
I did something similar -- my coop is elevated - 30" or so off the ground - so I REALLY don't want the wood to rot. I put 3 coats of heavy duty oil-based urethane for floors - on the floor & up the sidewalls about a foot. Took FOREVER to completely dry! I'm sure you couldn't apply it in winter temps outside. I don't think my coop is going to be big enough for a really good DL - but I haven't had to change out the shavings since I finally got the chicks to roost (no mama to teach them- I failed at my first attempt to build a good roost - but we're good now). Under the roost, at floor level is screen - allowing poop to drop through, to an area accessible to the outside for clean out. There is a 10 inch board separating the screened area off from the rest of the coop, to keep the shavings from falling into the poop area.

Point being only that yep - my set up needs to try to keep wood from getting wet. Thought about linoleum, but not sure about the ease of putting a sheet down, cutting it to fit & all. My coop was made to fit the area - & is kind of an odd L-shape - a few too many corners. and I'd heard the squares don't work, as they tend to pull up at the corners. So I bot a can of floor urethane from the 'oops' section of the hardware store -- it's a nice dusty gray color - the rest of the inside is pink as I had some leftover enamel from something else - function over form LOL - chicks don't care what color they're sleeping in!

 

[aoxa]

I love getting my taxes down

but I do feel sorry for those who are accountants lol

Those Buff silkies are beautiful.....they look like they have Poof balls on their heads

I don't mind the taxes themselves, it's the people that come with them lol.

We seem to get a lot of weirdos.

 

[mlowen]

I don't mind the taxes themselves, it's the people that come with them lol.

We seem to get a lot of weirdos.

Let's all hope none of them are BYC "natural chicken keepers!"

 

[chickiemomy]

I have calf manna..I have added it to the Orpingtons feeds. I used to do it all the time but holly cow that stuff is expensive. It is 55.00 for 50 lbs here. I was told to give them a cup per bird a day. I gave them a cup for all of them per day. It lasted 4 months. I will buy another bag just before the show season starts here and give it to all of my show stock. I was reserving a gallon of it to feed to the catdance chicks..however..I do not have any to feed. (well just one). I will get more eggs and feed it to them when I do.

a CUP per bird??? Do they even eat that much of anything in a day - wouldn't that be all that they ate???? I haven't used it, but thought about getting it as a supplement to up protein for molting season - not looking forward to molt.

 

[Sally8]

I'm convinced that ACV is a cure all for a lot of things. My poor Australian Shepherd was driving himself and DH & myself. After reading on the earlier thread I diluted just a little water with the ACV, Prob 6:1 and spritz him nightly. I was careful to stay away from hot spots. It hasn't cured him but when Mom got sick I haven't been as faithful. mom's illness caused her to itch so badly, she bled, all over. I convinced her to try the ACV on spots that weren't raw and it does help. Because her illness is on the inside, the relief is temp. (Very OT, she starts chemo Wed).

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: I was also thinking of using it during the hens molt as well. I can get a small bag that they make so it will be less expensive & last awhile