The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[countrygirl74]

How do you get the roos to go into a separate area at night?

We have to take them off the roost at night - usually go out there around 8-9p.m. They have their own "cock box" that's ventilated but keeps them muffled until 8a.m. for the neighbors to sleep in, etc. It also gives the girls a couple hours of peace in the morning - lol.

 

[pigeonguy]

Still waiting for nu-stock to come in. I have neosporin and blukote. Should I put her new saddle on and let her back into the coop? Or is that a bad idea because the rooster can continue to hurt her? Also, I can slide a q-tip all around the wound under the skin - it's like skinning a chicken alive.

I did get some dirt out though.

I don't know anything about saddles. But she probably needs to be isolated for a while or as gruesome as it sound the others might eat her. They may not either but it has happened. Chickens like raw meat.

 

[Sally8]

Question for EVERYONE:

What do you do to prepare your hen house/coop when a tornado watch/warning or severe thunderstorm watch/warning is issued?

-Do you lock them inside?

~OR~

-Do you make sure their pop door/entry door is open so they can escape if they need to?


-Do you MAKE them go inside or just leave them to decide?

I also had a question for everyone 2 weeks ago but things are so crazy. first, I'll answer this one. I think I would leave them but make sure they had access to inside. When a tornado comes, doesn't it get very dark and rain hard? I'd like to think I was giving them a fighting chance. We actually had a tornado about 25 miles away but it's not normal here.

My Question. We have a jr fireman in our area but not from our department that has made a torch that he can use from the car and drive along the edge of the road setting the ditch and bank on fire. Last summer we had 11 fires and burnt a lot of the wooded land all around my house. The authorities say they know who it is but can't catch him. This has gone on for 5 yrs. We've already had 2 this year. So, what do you do with the chickens? Only once did I feel threatened enough to round up cat and dog carriers. This deranged person will set several at one time. In my case, I have too many chickens to pack up.

 

[Bulldogma]

Originally Posted by Leahs Mom

Question for EVERYONE:

What do you do to prepare your hen house/coop when a tornado watch/warning or severe thunderstorm watch/warning is issued?

-Do you lock them inside?

~OR~

-Do you make sure their pop door/entry door is open so they can escape if they need to?


-Do you MAKE them go inside or just leave them to decide?

******************************************************************
OK - If there is a direct hit from a tornado, it won't matter if they are loose or locked up. They wouldn't be able to outrun or out-fly a tornado.

High winds? If the coop is heavy and secure, I would leave them in! A fast enough straight line wind will blow my kids away, let alone a chicken.

If the only available coop is light weight or flimsy, then they'll likely do best with a "choice" of being in or out. If you don't have a lot of chickens and have some warning that a big wind storm is coming, I say put 'em in the garage.

The biggest dangers for chickens in high winds (aside from being blown into the next state) are objects carried by the wind smashing into them and falling trees. You have to make a decision based upon your own set of circumstances where your chickens will be the safest.

Still waiting for nu-stock to come in. I have neosporin and blukote. Should I put her new saddle on and let her back into the coop? Or is that a bad idea because the rooster can continue to hurt her? Also, I can slide a q-tip all around the wound under the skin - it's like skinning a chicken alive.

I did get some dirt out though.

This wound needs to be irrigated with saline or just water. The fact that you can get a Q-tip under the skin suggests that dirt may have been pushed up inside. Get a syringe without a needle, or if you don't have one a turkey baster will work in a pinch, and irrigate the heck out of the wound, gently lifting the skin to allow the water to get in there and wash any foriegn matter out. Don't use hydrogen peroxide - it thins the blood and can cause a wound to start bleeding again.

You have some good advice from others already on topical treatments once it's clean. If you have already put ointment on it, just irrigate it the next few times you treat the wound (2-3 times a day).

Poor bird. Thank goodness you found the wound! Many chicken owners might have missed it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Well here we go again...

There's an interesting conversation going on right now on the SFH thread that I want to share here. This is pertaining to poor hatches on shipped eggs and something I never thought about until someone brought it up over there. It came up in the light of the post office finding risin in the mail to the white house.

It never occurred to me until that conversation that some post offices use x-ray technology to scan packages. Without looking it up and doing a little more research, I don't know what other ways they check packages, mail etc. But if they are routinely x-raying or somehow scanning packages, could that possibly account for some of the poor hatch rates we're getting w/shipped eggs?

If there is an "irradiation" at all, it could actually "cook" those eggs (as in irradiation used to "pasteurize" various items including nuts).

So...in my wondering about that, I'm also wondering if there is some way to approach the post office for an exemption from package scanning on shipped eggs? Maybe if you package them right there in the lobby so they see what's going into the box they could somehow stamp them for an exemption...

Just thinking

 

[hotrodflash]

Well here we go again...

There's an interesting conversation going on right now on the SFH thread that I want to share here. This is pertaining to poor hatches on shipped eggs and something I never thought about until someone brought it up over there. It came up in the light of the post office finding risin in the mail to the white house.

It never occurred to me until that conversation that some post offices use x-ray technology to scan packages. Without looking it up and doing a little more research, I don't know what other ways they check packages, mail etc. But if they are routinely x-raying or somehow scanning packages, could that possibly account for some of the poor hatch rates we're getting w/shipped eggs?

If there is an "irradiation" at all, it could actually "cook" those eggs (as in irradiation used to "pasteurize" various items including nuts).

So...in my wondering about that, I'm also wondering if there is some way to approach the post office for an exemption from package scanning on shipped eggs? Maybe if you package them right there in the lobby so they see what's going into the box they could somehow stamp them for an exemption...

Just thinking

I have seen "LIVE EMBRYOS" and "DO NOT X-RAY" written on the boxes in large letters and this person has excellent hatches according to her. Might be worth trying having the shipper write it on the box in large letters and speaking to the clerk at the post office about it as well.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote: Vertycin spray works well too. I had a girl have that exact same thing happen. I kept her isolated with a buddy in the tractor for 2 weeks for the skin to re-cover the whole.

 

[aoxa]

EMERGENCY!

Ok, here's the scoop - got some saddles for my girls because I'm still waiting for my new pullets to get big enough as I already know I have too many roos to my hens. All my other girls are just a little feather bare on their backs and a small bare spot on their heads - no wounds, no completely bare backs, yet - which is why I got the saddles. I have one big EE roo and two other little silkie roos.

Anyway, I noticed something when I was putting on her saddle and then when I pulled some feathers away and her wing, this is what I found. I feel terrible! I haven't done a full examination on them for a while and I wish I would have caught this before.

I just need help to know what to do - I am guessing she got tore open from the roos as there is nothing else that could have caused this that I can think of. Also, the rooster does not have his spurs yet.

I have her in the house right now - soaking her in warm water to loosen up the junk that's dried all over it. It's a bunch of dirt and stuff. When I try to pull some, her skin is pretty raw underneath, but I know I've got to get it all - it's like she's skinned alive right there.

I have neosporin, bluekote - maybe other things that you would suggest. What is the best way to deal with this? I don't see any big signs of infection yet.

That looks identical to Penny's wound! Blue Kote all the way. Took 2 weeks to cover over with fresh skin She'll be fine!

ETA: Definitely rooster damage if you ask me. Penny had it on both sides. We kept the roosters away from her by kennelling them separately.

 

[Melabella]

I have seen "LIVE EMBRYOS" and "DO NOT X-RAY" written on the boxes in large letters and this person has excellent hatches according to her. Might be worth trying having the shipper write it on the box in large letters and speaking to the clerk at the post office about it as well.

Having a cousin who works in the post office in NYC, I don't think that writing that on a box will matter much. If they want to scan a package, they will. Unfortunately in today's world where we have to be suspicious of boxes, envelopes, backpacks, and now pressure cookers, when they deem a box for scanning, not much we can do about it,, understandably and sadly so.

MB

 

[hotrodflash]

Having a cousin who works in the post office in NYC, I don't think that writing that on a box will matter much. If they want to scan a package, they will. Unfortunately in today's world where we have to be suspicious of boxes, envelopes, backpacks, and now pressure cookers, when they deem a box for scanning, not much we can do about it,, understandably and sadly so.

MB

Maybe a small town post office would be more responsive and understanding about not x-raying. I don't know, just throwing out an idea. I wonder if Fedex or UPS would be a better though more expensive option?