The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[rambunctious]

I have 15 - 11 week old pullets is this amount of feather loss normal? They're in 18% feed, fermented w/ 1 c of boss extra a day...

 

[Leahs Mom]

When my first group of chickens were that age I also had that kind of feather loss. I think they can have what is referred to as a "Juvenile Molt" But.....

I Defer to others who know more about that than me...

Do they look and act healthy otherwise?

 

[jeepgirl13]

Send the snow my way! Ill be glad to take it! Here in southern Az its already 81! And its not even noon! Ugh...

ok, the dead hen is off to the lab for necropsy.  I asked them to also check the parasite load just out of curiousity.  
so far today, all surviving hens still active, responsive, happy.

Except......10 more  #^@*($ inches of snow coming.  I don't think I can take this anymore!

 

[Melabella]

Happy Earth Day everyone...

Let's do our best to take care Mother Earth as well as we would our own mothers.

I love this day, for all it represents, it's also my third born's birthday!

​

 

[Melabella]

I never heard of BYC six months ago. It's changed everything I thought I knew about raising chickens. I'm very grateful.

Mumsy, I always love reading your posts. You remind me that we all learn from experiences, done "right" or done "not right". With my own line of work with horses, I have always disliked meeting the person who was around horses their entire lives, and who closed their minds to learning. You have also reminded me that even though I have only owned chickens since last July, it's never too late to begin!

I wish you many more decades of living life with your chickens on this beautiful Earth we all have been given. My favorite people on this planet are the ones who realize we share it with animals.

MB

 

[cywiar merch]

Hi Ialaland, I have a kitty that has allergies too. Is your orange kitty coughing at all? (sounds like a hairball but nothing comes up?) My kitty has asthma, and allergies, and when the two mix, its horrific! Two years ago she had an asthma attack so bad she died on the way to the hospital, I talked my DH through mouth to mouth as I was doing 90 mph down the road. He got her back. She also stopped breathing twice in the hospital but they got her back.

We have to give her 2 inhalers a day! Imaging the fun! She gets a daily dose of a steroid (Fluticasone), and when the allergens are bad outside and she gets affected, I have a rescue inhaler of Albuterol or Prednisolone pills. Quite a process. But we keep her happy and healthy.

Noodle, the Russian Blue kitty. Who was also a rescue.

Love your cat!

My blue british shorthair also has allergies and asthma. I really tried to get her on the inhaler but she absolutely refuses so she gets a daily prednisolone pill. She was been quite ill over the past couple of weeks and more or less stopped eating because she was so congested. The vet has given her an antibiotic injection even though she has no signs of infection but it did the job of decongesting her. She loves (rather used to love) tinned cat food but it does not agree with her.

I must say though that raw feeding did wonders for her and luckily she took to it straight away. I agree making your own raw food for cats, making sure you have the right proportions of everything that is necessary for them is quite challenging. I buy mine from a company that makes it up fresh in the right proportions.

Hope everything works out for

 

[cywiar merch]

I honestly don't know about DE and lice/mites.

In the cat food, it will help keep the buggies from growing in your dry feed if you put a bit in the bag or storage bucket and shake it around in there!

I had a 50 lb bag of spelt that began to hatch some moths one time, I put about a half cup or so of the DE in there and shook it around. Never saw another bug the whole time I had the bag!

I raw feed them so I guess my question is answered. I know this is a chicken site but does anyone have any ideas of what I could use for fleas etc for cats (non invasive?)

 

[countrygirl74]

as per dog food, we've gone to a grain free food for both the dog and cat. It is expensive, but they eat way less. The dog also gets leftovers, and a fresh egg every so often. They are both much healthier, beautiful glossy coats. Kitty is nine, and Griz is eight, and other than a touch of arthritis in Griz, no health problems. I simply will NOT feed anything that has "by products" listed on it. People sure do look at you like you're crazy! I think I'm going to freeze chicken feets and necks and feed those to the dog this winter (raw). they need raw meat, and those raw bones really contribute to good tooth health and overall wellbeing. I've started putting UP ACV in their water too. I think it has significantly decreased the odor in the cat box as well as the number of stinky farts from the darned dog.

I am right there with you with the dogs... no by-products, grain-free, etc. We pay a little more for their food but they really do eat less so it lasts me a long time. We just purchased a quarter cow and I gave them some of the extra bones. We also put upacv in their water - in the summer it keeps their buckets from going green and yucky from bacteria with the heat.

I have 15 - 11 week old pullets is this amount of feather loss normal? They're in 18% feed, fermented w/ 1 c of boss extra a day...

It looks normal to me...I have feathers everywhere but the birds aren't bare and they are all healthy.

 

[Bulldogma]

Just sharing some pictures from today:











And this is how I keep my U-ACV handy when I fill waterers:


Oh - and my SFH rooster showing off:

 

[Kassaundra]

I tried mealworms too...but it would take a whole warehouse to make enough mealworms to make a dent in just what 6 chickens would eat if they could! It just felt like they were a "drop in the bucket" and I've decided not to do it anymore.

Tell us about your dubias. How do you keep them?

One thing I get concerned with is the possibility of releasing a bug into the environment that doesn't grow here natively. I know we're keeping them inside, but the possibility exists that they can get out so I am always a little conservative about what kinds of bugs I try to raise.



Thank you for sharing that history overview! I know I've picked up bits and pieces of your story but never all in one place like that.

All of your previous experience is invaluable to us - in both what you learned NOT to do and what you learned TO do.

I'm so glad you're here with us and starting out with a new flock of kiddos!

Oh...in case anyone wants to read about the "gnarly" chickens that Mumsy is talking about, the whole story was taken from the beginning and put in a quick-to-read full version at this link called: Healing Story. Definitely worth reading!

Page 24 has pics of my latest dubia home, it works the best by far, when these pics were taken it wasn't completely finished it is now and has been working awesome for several months.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/412070/raising-feeder-insects/230#post_10891867