The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[stonykill]

great duckling pictures Justine.

 

[armorfirelady]

Aoxa such beautiful pictures. Pickles in the last pictures looks like she is trying to decide if she should join brown for a swim

 

[aoxa]

great duckling pictures Justine.

Thanks Stony, you too! I think this one is going to be one big duck. I had some day old chicks in with them for an hour or so. They were chasing the duckling around and it was terrified of the chicks.. I was scared it was going to crush the chicks lol.



I made a little play pen around a lilac tree. I made it so I could catch them easily when it was time to go back in. They had such fun. Tomorrow is going to be 78, so they'll have a full day outside again. Today was cold and rainy

 

[aoxa]

Aoxa such beautiful pictures. Pickles in the last pictures looks like she is trying to decide if she should join brown for a swim

Thanks! Yep. Asking if it's warm enough for a dip

 

[Leahs Mom]

Lice/Mite Question

I read a post on "Fresh Eggs Daily" from last year. It was talking about natural pest control. There was a "recipe" for treating a lice/mite infestation ON THE CHICKEN. Here is the procedure that was posted:


Quote: Fresh Eggs Daily, April 2012

Mix 2 cups of salt into 2 gallons of warm water. Soak the hen for 10 minutes, then soak her for five minutes in a tub of 2 gallons of warm water with 1/2 cup of Dawn dishwashing liquid and 1/2 cup of white vinegar mixed in. The lice should drown and float to the top. Rinse her well and dry her thoroughly. Dust with food-grade Diatomaceous Earth. Repeat every other day or so until you no longer see evidence of the lice.

Now I know most of us would dust w/ wood ash rather than DE. But here is my question:

It seems like this would kind of bath would be very drying to the skin. What do you with more experience think?

I'm curious because if I ever need to treat for lice this sounds like it may be a quick way to treat initially. I especially like the idea that you can see the lice coming off the bird. (I like to see results and not just hope...)

Anyhow - your input on this, please.

 

[stonykill]

Lice/Mite Question

I read a post on "Fresh Eggs Daily" from last year. It was talking about natural pest control. There was a "recipe" for treating a lice/mite infestation ON THE CHICKEN. Here is the procedure that was posted:


Now I know most of us would dust w/ wood ash rather than DE. But here is my question:

It seems like this would kind of bath would be very drying to the skin. What do you with more experience think?

I'm curious because if I ever need to treat for lice this sounds like it may be a quick way to treat initially. I especially like the idea that you can see the lice coming off the bird. (I like to see results and not just hope...)

Anyhow - your input on this, please.

why???? is my input. Good lord that is a lot of work instead of just using wood ash. I'll share a little more of my .02. That site is full of all kinds of poor info. Well it was last I looked anyway. Last year one of the owners of the page told me she would NEVER use broody's as the chicks won'tbe friendly. Then gave a dozen other reasons why to incubate (while claiming multiple 100% hatch rates on shipped eggs) . Now I see she has a broody.
It may be the biggest FB chicken page but it is far from the best one. This is the only time you will hear a guy say this. Bigger isn't always better

 

[Kassaundra]

why???? is my input. Good lord that is a lot of work instead of just using wood ash. I'll share a little more of my .02. That site is full of all kinds of poor info. Well it was last I looked anyway. Last year one of the owners of the page told me she would NEVER use broody's as the chicks won'tbe friendly. Then gave a dozen other reasons why to incubate (while claiming multiple 100% hatch rates on shipped eggs) . Now I see she has a broody.
It may be the biggest FB chicken page but it is far from the best one. This is the only time you will hear a guy say this. Bigger isn't always better

Careful, if "they" hear you say that they will take away your man card! lol

 

[armorfirelady]

I have a question for the OT's

She is a year old. She was the one I posted with the bare belly. To me her face looks real red. Of course her sisters are red to but to me she seems bare btw her eye and ear. It's not hot to touch. I checked her head area, neck, belly & vent are and didn't see any mice/lice. She's not scratching incessantly or shaking her head.
I do know yellow picks on her and they roost next to each other and she usually goes for the head area. Could it be part of a molt or feathers being pecked when yellow pecks at her?
Thoughts?

I planned on putting her in with the babies tonight as part of quarantine. She is very docile.

Leah's mom- I can't imagine trying to bathe 8 chickens for mites/lice. They love their wood ash baths and bathe daily in it

 

[Quailsong]

I started mine using a bottle of raw original from the market.... It too a few weeks to grow the scoby but now I have scoby for everyone!!! I just need a bigger container to ferment it in!!! or more ......

PS I love the ginger Kombucha and juice fresh ginger to add to mine.... I had some all natural Peach juice from Trader Joes that was way too sweet for me on its own but added to kombucha with ginger it is AMAZING!!!!

I was looking for a good container for my Kombucha today & found some perfect ones at Walmart. They had all sizes but I settled on two 1 gallon glass cookie jars for $10 CDN. Thick & sturdy, perfect for big batches of Kombucha.

The ones I found were upright cylindrical with the classic bubble glass lid (which I won't need while fermenting). I found 'em in the cooking/canning area. I'm sure if you have one of those stores (unless you live in the Antartic..) you can find similar.

I know the second one I got will be for my kefir grains, or maybe sourdough, depending on the week/month. Though after I move this summer I'm going to get the 4 gallon ones. Just 'cause you know, I may need 4 gallons of Kombucha. Yesss..

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Ok, so I get excited about the dorkiest things, but I'm so super duper excited about this that I had to share. I've been fermenting my whole grains in a 3 gallon bucket setup. I didn't feel like with the number of birds I have on that particular ration the grains were getting really enough time in the bucket to get a really thorough fermentation. And, the more I read about plastic the less I want to store my food in it. Especially something as acidic as this. I mean, you don't pickle in plastic, you do NOT make Kombucha in plastic.... This week I scored this! $30 of craigslist!

It's a 15 gallon pickling crock. Glazed stoneware. It weighs about 3 tons without any feed in it. Now that it is full of water and grain I am never moving it again.

Oh I looked for years before I found a crock just to make pickles! Great find. Finally found a kitchen shop in Gaylord, MI that had them. I paid that much for a small one. But I am only a family of one.... and I know mine IS lead free.

Careful, if "they" hear you say that they will take away your man card! lol

Leave it to Kassaundra to comment on that.


I lost my multiple replies too..... I forgot which were them.

Uh two I do remember is:
Congrats on Barn
Musmsy sorry on your chicken loses. I'd be freaking out to watch my chicken fill that way! As it is I am fretting somebody might be sick as egg production has dropped. I can't figure out who is not laying. All spend time in there but I am suspecting my best looking girl. I know the smallest scraggliest (red neck) lays at least every other day. Last three days were 0, 1, 2, 1 again today (but today I was gone and they had to stay cooped or in the screened part of coop.)