The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[bluebirdnanny]

Welcome Brian.

 

[Leahs Mom]

brandislee, countrygirl74, FridayYet, and dcba flock, thank you all for your suggestions! I will share with my friend and hopefully set her on course to a cure. I have been wondering about the coconut oil since it was first mentioned here, is it something you also give your chickens? Maybe it was said and I missed it (all I can do to keep up with this thread most days!).

Thanks again for all your help! With everything!

Pozees, my oldest son has a milk allergy. He had dry skin when he was little. Then it became eczema. We tried treating it with different creams , but it gradually got worse. When he was 9 the skin got really bad and he also started getting bad tummy aches. That was more than 4 years ago. Once we found out he had the milk allergy, we removed all milk. His skin cleared up within a week! Now he just has normal winter dry skin. I have a nephew that had the same symptoms. His mom took him off milk and everything improved. Good luck to your friend!

In a hurry today and no time to document but... wanted to throw in that removing all vegetable oils from the diet and eating ANIMAL FATS from pasture raised animals most usually clears skin disorders. There is plenty of documentation for that...maybe I'll have time later to put some links!

(This includes CREAM from RAW milk from cows RAISED ON PASTURE with NO GRAIN in their diet.)

ETA: To clarify, not including olive oil and coconut oil in "vegetable oil" category.

 

[ramblinH]

BUMP

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mumsy

His attempt as bio-security didn't work at keeping me out of that barn.

Thanks so much for sharing your story! I really enjoy reading & learn so much through personal testimonies!

? about "bio-security". I have a basic understanding of what this means but probably need a more concise definition for my flocks well-being. Already know I must consider my flock "closed" because we didn't have them vaccinated. But does this mean I can't let people visit & handle them as well?

Thanks! Kendra

PS ~ Have enjoyed the gardening discussions. We are in the process of weaning our property of chemical killers like round-up, so appreciated reading about some alternative methods some of you have had success with. Also, have been meaning to watch "Back to Eden". We had the most beautiful spring rain here yesterday - just after I sprayed my yard & beds down with LAB - hoping this boosted the microorganisms activity

 

[Leahs Mom]

In the meantime, here are a couple links on skin and the role of fats:

http://www.westonaprice.org/health-issues/skin-deep

http://www.westonaprice.org/ask-the-doctor/treating-eczema

http://www.westonaprice.org/ask-the-doctor/dry-skin

 

[Leahs Mom]

Can someone direct me to the link on the gardening? Somehow I totally missed it. We do the layer gardening but I wanted to see the video y'all are talking about!

 

[Kassaundra]

Mine probably won't be partially composted either, but you gotta start somewhere, right? Also, I found the video clips under the FAQ's to be really helpful...

Those gardening w/ non composted wood chips, as wood chips decompose they tie up the available nitrogen before releasing it plus some through decomposition. So when using "raw" wood chips use them as a top mulch not mixed into the soil until they are at least partially composted. There may be some magic ratio of poop to raw chips that would work (adding extra nitrogen) but I do not know what that ratio would be w/o adversly affecting the growing plants.

 

[BlueMouse]

We also put upacv in their water - in the summer it keeps their buckets from going green and yucky from bacteria with the heat.

My 8 yr old son persists that he wants us to name all the chickies. I explained to him that we need to wait as we can't tell the difference between our female BOs & the Doms are straight-run. When my b-i-l visited yesterday, he suggested we give them unisex names. So, our 5 Doms are now Jo, Billy, Sam, Tony & Sue (after Johnny Cash's song "Boy Named Sue

...

Actually any soap with blue dye 1 in it will get rid of the pests. I don't know why but they let go and rinse right off. They don't die though. I used this on a severely tick infested dog and they all washed off. I didn't find a single one on his body. I found quite a few in his paws though. I'm guessing I didn't get enough soap there. I used a blue suave shampoo.

Fermented feed question again. I know, we've been over this! I've been looming into it. Do I really just take the feed I have now, put it in a bucket, cover it with water and put a lid on in. Then every couple hours stir it and add water if needed, until I see or bubbling. I can add many of the things mentioned before or top dress. Can I put BOSS in there? Somewhere it said I don't have to add the ACV, but the process will be slower with out it. What do I.do once it starts bubbling?
Oh, and one thick I read said to leave it open, bit others were saying to keep it covered. Is there a different process for using ACV vs not using it? I want to try this but am afraid of poisoning my girls.

That's so interesting about the soap with blue dye! I may have to try this.... Right now we treat with frontline, I don't like it, but we have a truly aweful tick problem. We've had one dog with lymes already, and my Blue heeler has SUCH dense fur that you don't see ticks until they're HUGE. I'm hoping the guineas (arriving thursday! Squeee!!) will clear up that problem. We found one on my 10 month old's FACE saturday. Yeah. I got a call at work about that one... I don't mind bugs but ticks give me the heebee jeebeees

I keep my FF covered with a towel. keeps buggies and whatnot out of it, lets it have good airflow. It's a growing organism in there doing the work, give it some air!

We want to start a bee colony maybe next year

I have a mountain of horse manure next to my barn and two horses on the way in a month to start making me a new pile for next year . Also I get free wood chips as there is a saw mil like litterally behind my house. The father in law of my landlord cuts wood planks so he said he would have bags of chips for me if I wanted. That and imperfect planks for building thinks such as raised garden beds.

I am so jealous that it's quite unseemly. Just the horses are bad enough, not to mention that great manure for your new gardens. Your plants are going to TAKE OFF. someday I want a draft horse.... it won't be any time soon though...

Delisha, Mumsy, others who study natural healing/health, I have a coworker whose 6 year old son suffers every year from horrible dry skin. She has tried myriad ways of treating it, every lotion and oil she could think of, and so far no luck. She was telling me today the skin on his legs is so dry they look like ash. I promised her I would ask here in case anyone can suggest natural remedies for extremely dry skin. She has even asked his pediatrician about it, who recommended a few of the things she tried to no avail.

Thanks

Judi

Dry skin and lousy hair are the most common symptoms of an omega 3 imbalance. Cold pressed flax seed oil, one tablespoon a day. I mix it into a very small glass (like 1/4 c or less) of the V8 fruit and veggie juice and down it like a shot (and I take 2 tbsp because I'm breastfeeding still) even my little guys will drink theirs that way. (of course I'm waving a spoon with a lick of my honey on it in front of them for motivation...) I've always had some funny skin problems, and they were not diet related, and that cleared it up. But see what everyone else says about diet too. she might look into an "ultra simple" diet. grain (or at least wheat, which is the most normal bad actor), soy, dairy free, for a few months, then if he's better, introduce one "problem food" at a time and await developments. it's a good way of figuring out what the allergy is. And it's the quickest road to good health if you DO have an alergy to just cut em all out. If he doesn't have a food alergy it sure won't hurt him. and the flax seed oil won't hurt him either. You need the omega 3's and we don't get enough in our diet.

Welcome to everyone new! this is a great place to learn and share!

anyone want to wade in on whether it's safe to feed my chickens the home canned spaghetti sauce with meat that went bitter on me? (I think it was the swiss chard I was "hiding" in it...) I was thinking like a cup a week to them until it's gone?

 

[rowerjen]

Pant, pant, gasp, gasp, gasp. Slow down y'all! Got behind over the weekend and am now caught up on 350+ posts. Thank you SallinIndiana, Brandislee and Delisha for your responses on my hen who stopped laying. Winning response goes to Brandislee - she decided to take a week off. On Sunday she was scoping out a nest box; Monday she started laying again. Now my EE is broody. She prefers to lay in a tool box on my deck, and judging by the 2 brown eggs I found under her yesterday, someone's jamming in there with her. In fact, I think one of the other girls must have been sitting on top of her when she laid her egg this morning!



Broody? Do I look Broody to you?

I can tell now it will be a pain to get the girls to go to bed if I am still outside. 15 minutes til dark before I got them to go in. Had to step inside the house until they went near coop then run out yelling roooooooooo roooooooooooo and chasing them like I was a collie dog rounding up a herd of cattle. Head them off this way..... run round to keep them from going past door.... kept making my semi circle smaller until they all finally went in! Quick shut the door!! LOL

They just were NOT going in today. Nothing worked. Tried treats thrown in screened area front of coop (greens, sesame hearts, yogurt, sod clump, fresh fermented feed, dry feed handful). Who says Chickens are not smart!!!!! They wanted nothing to do with the coop even with it getting dark. Not until I ran (fast as I ccould with my cane) making noises and roooing to scare them.

Hated doing that but couldn't leave them out after dark.... too many predators and I don't have outside lights!

LOL. Yep, that's me if I try to settle them up before they've decided it's bed time. At this time of year my girls like to enjoy every second of daylight that they can whether i'm out with them or not. The last delinquents are usually just heading up the ramp as it turns pitch black. They wait until they're good and ready, but they do go into the coop. Except for miss broody pants. Her I have to pluck out of the tool box and put her in the coop. Need to do something about that this weekend.

 

[armorfirelady]

Sooooo excited & a little amprehensive today...... My best friend over hooking up the electric netting.......I am so leaving when its live.........I'm cringing even thinking off the dogs touching it.........they have been poking thief noses thru it since its been up :/ told him I'm going for a ride till they both zap themselves then I will come home :/

On another note the sun is shining beautifully, my kale & beets sprouted & off to get some pallets to make a new composting bin that the hens will have access to

 

[Kassaundra]

Sooooo excited & a little amprehensive today...... My best friend over hooking up the electric netting.......I am so leaving when its live.........I'm cringing even thinking off the dogs touching it.........they have been poking thief noses thru it since its been up

told him I'm going for a ride till they both zap themselves then I will come home

On another note the sun is shining beautifully, my kale & beets sprouted & off to get some pallets to make a new composting bin that the hens will have access to

I so know what you mean Tucker my little Doxy has a HORRIBLE phobia about getting his nail trimmed, the vet has never clipped to short but he is still sooooooooo neurotic about it screaming to the point of drooling, and I do not mean whining, or crying, or barking I mean screaming like you are killing him!!!! I have to leave the vets before she starts, drive off. I tried just going outside but no even outside w/ ear protection you can still clearly and plainly hear it all. Even though I know he is not being hurt it is still way too much for my nerves to handle.