The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[starlingdaly]

If she is that far gone I personally would cull. If it looked like she would just need a little assistance for a period of time and would recover, then I would wait and see. Around here, I do not do extraordinary measures. I will care for animals that need some help and watch to see if it looks like they will be able to recover or not, but I am not the sort to do special setups for long term living. For instance, I don't do misters, ice bottles and things like that in the heat. I do make sure they have shade, cool water and make them mud holes so they can cool off in the afternoon, but my personal feeling is that this is the climate they live in and they need to adapt to it. Same with sick or injured birds, I don't do the vet for a chicken, if keeping it clean, keeping them calm and well fed and watered is enough, then I give them a fighting chance.

Running tally:
Cull: 1
Care: 0

She probably would never recover without some major splinting and physical therapy. Splinting may not be enough at this point.
I told bf I want to help this chick but I am not going as far as breaking it's legs so they can heal straight (as they would do for a human for a crooked jaw)
This chick, if left to live, would always need special care of some sort. It might have to be an inside chicken if it lived to adulthood. I would imagine it would still lay eggs in the end.
I would feel bad for it and be embarrassed when anyone visiting asks about why the chicken can't walk. :/

 

[loveourbirds]

I have tried everthing to deter foxes. The peeing thing plain flat out does not work on the foxes I have. Male human urine does not bother them in the least. The best thing I have found to do is kill the fox. For me that is all that stops the attacks. Last year 2 foxes got 15 of my birds. It only ended when the foxes were dead.

coyote urine will detour fox, but it draws coyote. not sure if that will help you. I myself use dogs around my coops, the only predator attack I have had was a mink; who attacked a pen that didn't have a dog close. 12 ga shotgun cures mink problems.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Mumsy, and everyone else, here are the MB Silkies that have survived and now thriving. They are 7mo.

General Tso, Dark Blue

Marsala, F1 Porcelain/Buff

 

[loveourbirds]

feather mites in 4 week old chick?

the coopermaran chick has something funky going on with an eye, when I caught it for a closer look I saw that the tail feathers look like lollipops - the feather shaft is bare til the tip, so it looks like a lollipop on a stick. This is not the feather casing covering the feather part. I didn't see this in any of the other chicks.

They have wood ash to dust bathe in, but some prefer to bathe in the shavings. I don't know if this one uses the wood ash or not. I'll give it an ash dust bath tomorrow.

I checked over the hens, who are at the other end of the coop, and found two hens with some missing feathers on the side of the neck - some feathers are just gone, no shaft or anything, and then there are some shafts without the feather part. I've never seen this. The strange thing is that these fwo hens have the feather problem in the very same spot.

Isn't there a feather mite that eats feathers? Skin looks fine on everyone. No sign of lice, vents are fine,....

dang it, I think this is the year I am going to experience every weirdo thing that can go on with chickens.

there is a feather mite that lives in the shafts of feathers. ive never had it and im not sure of all the symptoms.

i used to do the wood ash thing, and i had feather loss after rains. a friend of mine (who knows poultry pretty well) pointed out that my wood ash contained red oak. red oak ash contains lye, when they would get wet it sort of "burned" their feathers. in my case most of my ash was oak and cherry.

edited to add:
you guys may already know about this thread, i find it inspirational on homeopathic/natural remedies.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-horrors-anyone-want-to-follow-their-progress

 

[BrownEggsnHam]

I'm a relative newbie to this site/forum and to chicken rearing as a whole... and additionally... just found this great thread. I've started reading from page one but so far have only gotten to page 6 when I thought I would make a posting to link me to the thread. WOW!!!!! 1716 pages of reading since 12/13/12.... that's impressive for any forum. Guess I've got hours of reading to catch up on.

On page two (post #11), BusyBlonde from NC added that she/he (?) feeds the chickens fermented feed. That reminded me of adding this. As I haven't read through the entirety of the thread I'm uncertain if anybody has added SCOBY as a food supplement... As I'm making a weekly batch of Kombucha (fermented tea) I've been chopping up part of one of the SCOBYs (Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria & Yeast) that is continually reproduced in the fermenting process. The chickens love it and gobble it down like earthworms. I figured that since the body of the SCOBY is primarily cellulose (from what I've read and is a typical plant fiber) and the bacteria and yeast being good for the human gut for health, nutrition, and maintaining overall flora, certainly wouldn't be bad for them... as their guts no doubt utilize many, if not all of the same bacteria/yeast for proper digestion as ours do. Its been weeks now since I began and the hens and roo show no ill effects, still being healthy and continue to like the stuff, so I guess it should be good for them as well.

So does that make these gals 'pro-biotic egg' producers?

WOW! A whole new genre of marketing that the FDA-Ag-Food industrial complex could exploit... You heard it here first folks!

Natural organic KOMBUCHI-EGG! Coming soon to a market near you.

Now to continue reading this thread... back to page 6.

 

[BrownEggsnHam]

Has anyone started a worm farm, with something other than meal worms? I bought hubby a red worm composting habitat, and am pretty excited to get that going. The worms are for two things, one buying fishing worms has gotten so expensive and two for the chickens. Just wondering if anyone else is worm farming.

Yes, Ashdoes...

I started vermiculture (red wrigglers) one year prior to starting with chickens. I immediately saw the benefit of fresh wintertime protein for the girls. My little worm farm consists of two black plastic IKEA storage tubs (about 15 gallon each). My problem now seems to be who gets some of the food from the kitchen... the worms or the birds? Either way, the birds end up the winners!

Plus we get an extra kick of fabulous worm casting compost.

 

[lalaland]

browneggsandham, Welcome to the thread!

feel a little silly asking, but being in sweden, does this mean you have what we call swedish flower hens? Or do you have other breeds?

I've always wondered about wood ash and lye, but I've noticed the hens don't have any problem when they are in the firepit after a rain. THe wood ash dust bath is mixed with dirt, and is inside for the chicks, and dry under the coop for the hens.

Did some research online and ordered pure sulpher last night. Should be here Tuesday. I've was waiting to order til I used up current stock of nustock, but it sounds like it will do the trick wtih these feather mites. Its a wild bird thing apparently, and there are always birds in the run and sometimes even in the coop.

Dang bear came in the day and took down the sheapard hooks to get at the suet and bird feeders. ALl of the hooks are already catty-wampus from previous bear visits. I take it all in at night, haven't had a daytime visit before.

 

[stonykill]

coyote urine will detour fox, but it draws coyote. not sure if that will help you. I myself use dogs around my coops, the only predator attack I have had was a mink; who attacked a pen that didn't have a dog close. 12 ga shotgun cures mink problems.

I was just answering a question for someone else. I killed my problems

.

 

[Kassaundra]

Yes, Ashdoes...

I started vermiculture (red wrigglers) one year prior to starting with chickens. I immediately saw the benefit of fresh wintertime protein for the girls. My little worm farm consists of two black plastic IKEA storage tubs (about 15 gallon each). My problem now seems to be who gets some of the food from the kitchen... the worms or the birds? Either way, the birds end up the winners!

Plus we get an extra kick of fabulous worm casting compost.

I have my outside worm composting bed made I am about to order my first red wigglers for it. How many chickens do you have, how often do you harvest the redwigglers through the winter (or any other time of year) Trying to figure out how big I need to let my future colony get to be able to harvest from w/o risk of colony crash.

 

[BlueMouse]

12 gauge solves most pest problems, but you have to SEE them to solve the problem this way. Set the trap out baited with raw chicken, awaiting developments....