The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Leigh,

I posted these pictures on sexing your EE thread, and everyone loved the visual. Maybe you can use them for your thing.

PS: Post 15,000 for me.. Had to make it here

Thanks Aoxa for posting this. Are these pullets or over a year old? Just curious is all.

I'm going to have to take care of someone Else's birds for the week... Any ideas on how to make sure my birds don't get infected with anything his have? I know they have a respiratory sickness, and something else too, I REALLY don't want my birds getting sick, anything I can do to keep the flocks separated?? Thanks!

I would keep them at their home, practice bio security with different clothes & shoes. And I would def do like the others & add some fresh herbs to build the immunity of your own.

 

[camilleathome]

Quote:
I always hated beer but im slowly getting there. I had korean beer which I liked and then my friend is starting to feed me belgium beer anytime im with them XD

 

[Foster's Freehold]

I am still trying to power through the trinity of threads, what a lot of reading! And it doesn't help that I am copy/pasting everything that strikes me into a word file. Certainly don't want to try to have to wade through all this again to find some info that I KNOW is in there lol.

I have two 15 m. buff orpington hatchery hens, they didn't molt last fall, laid regular as clockwork even without extra light. Their feathers look AWFUL. I've checked in bright light and at night for mites and lice, no signs of either. Down is really good, even some new feather nibs, skin is all good nice and pink. They have really taken to the FF (half all flock, half oats, with a handful of BOSS), they get fresh cut field grasses, veg, a meal worm every once in a while as I cannot free range. One is still regular with her egg, the other not so much maybe two a week.

Do the feathers just get worn? They look all lacy like the barbels have worn off, but the darn things just will not drop. Anything else I should be looking for?

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[salt and pepper]

Possibly invest in something to spray on your clothes, arms, hands, shoes, etc when you go over there, something natural but still antibiotic and antimicrobial. Rosemary's one of those things but so are so many other herbs. You'd smell of them but if you let it dry in there it wouldn't pick up dirt as easily and would kill a lot of nasty stuff on contact.

would vineger work?

 

[Quailsong]

would vineger work?

As a spray?

IMHO, most likely not. I feel if you can grow Mother in ACV then it's safe to say some bacteria wouldn't be bothered by vinegar. Garlic is touted as an anti-bacterial but funny that, I use it in my kimchi to help it ferment.

I cannot speak against/for rosemary though. I've heard it's a good anti-bacterial but not sure if it would work to buffer against the infections you'll be up against (in that other flock). Might be like spritzing water into a bonfire.

 

[salt and pepper]

As a spray?

IMHO, most likely not. I feel if you can grow Mother in ACV then it's safe to say some bacteria wouldn't be bothered by vinegar. Garlic is touted as an anti-bacterial but funny that, I use it in my kimchi to help it ferment.

I cannot speak against/for rosemary though. I've heard it's a good anti-bacterial but not sure if it would work to buffer against the infections you'll be up against (in that other flock). Might be like spritzing water into a bonfire.

Hmmmm, Well I planned on washing my shoes in bleach every time I came back, so maybe that will keep it at bay, I have played with the idea of just treating the birds while I'm there, so that I won't have to worry about this again...

 

[Quailsong]

Hmmmm, Well I planned on washing my shoes in bleach every time I came back, so maybe that will keep it at bay, I have played with the idea of just treating the birds while I'm there, so that I won't have to worry about this again...

Prevention is usually a good idea. That may be a big challenge for you, considering there's so many infected. I wish you the best.

 

[salt and pepper]

Prevention is usually a good idea. That may be a big challenge for you, considering there's so many infected. I wish you the best.

Thanks =) Yeah, he has over 30 birds that I'll be around every day, but I'll try my best!

 

[stonykill]

young buck who lives in our backyard. While taking pics of him, a female MOOSE passed through. No pics. Couldn't get any. We RARELY have moose here. I am REALLY hoping she is having babies here.



he will be a nice shooter in the fall

 

[kian]

Hi everyone! I've been MIA for a bit (double ear infection, followed by my 7yr old getting Scarlet Fever--strep throat with a rash-- and then me getting a severe case of strep myself! Loads of fun!). I wanted to share this though thought you'd all find it a bit funny:



I just this afternoon found this egg in the middle of my bedroom floor. Notice the teeth marks? Apparently Leah's (my daughter) little dog (terrier/chihuahua mix) went into the run, up the ramp to the coop, into the coop and nabbed this from the nest box, then carried it all the way back into the house and into our room. This is definitely a first.