The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[salt and pepper]

I am definitely no expert and have done no research on this topic, but I am going to throw in my very recent observation regarding chickens and "mammal" lice.

My chickens have never had a lice problem until very recently. For various reasons we are having to undergo a coop rebuild and - in the meantime - our flock is currently cohabitation with the goats in the goat pen. Within the last week or so of them cohabiting, I've noticed a couple of the girls getting really puffed up. No sickness, no lethargy, just feathers so fluffed they looked like they had been electrocuted. Now every single one is scratching and constantly preening.

IMO, there is no doubt about it. They caught lice from the goats. That is the only thing that makes sense to me. I wouldn't have thought it possible until I sat back and watched it happen. Now I have to figure out how to de-lice 45 birds - and 4 goats...

It is possible that because you birds are LIVING with the goats, that the lice are feeding on both animals. Mites and lice can't solely live on poultry if they were meant for mammals, but that definitely still bite them. It is not uncommon for people to get bitten by poultry mites ( I would know ) But they cannot sourly live off of people. I think that a light treatment of wood ash for the chickens, AFTER they get moved back to their old coop would clear up any lice that they carried back.

 

[Leahs Mom]

On the power lines - someone just sent me this link. Very interesting and very contemporary.

http://www.atlanticfarmer.com/article.php?id=15757

 

[armorfirelady]

Squirrels don't live long around here if they come onto my property. The dogs are trained to chase them away or if they catch them to kill them. Since any warm blooded animal can carry rabies my dogs shots are up to date. Tho I have never seen a squirrel acting weird to make me worry & there has not been a report of a rabid squirrel in my county in over 10 years.

For the lice & mites. I've done a little research on them. Everything I have read said they are breed specific.

Wlhtx- I even found a goat forum that says the same thing. Did you perhaps put new straw down? Mites & lice can live in straw. And just about anywhere else...water, soil..........

Ok now I am itchy, time for a Benadryl & some chicken therapy. Darn Mosquitos around here must have stronger venom this year with all the rain since I am itching like crazy even with taking Benadryl all day :/'

 

[jlynnet]

My sick chicks look better than they did 12 hrs ago. Hopefully I caught it in time, but I'll have to wait and see. I'm just not sure where it came from. They're in my basement and I keep the pens clean but not too clean. I did bring in some 1-2 week old chicks in about 5 weeks ago and I switched feed stores. Maybe the feed store? They would've been outside a long time ago, but the rain keeps coming!! We started our coop 2 months ago!! The few nice days we've had, my son has baseball games. We cleaned the brooders on Saturday and threw the bedding in the compost pile. My 3 month olds are out there. Should I treat them now since they were happily scratching in the bedding?

 

[wlhtx]

No straw - just hay. We've been working on the same round bale for awhile now (for both chickens and goats, before and after cohabitation).

It truly is the darnedest thing. My flock has never looked/acted like this prior to sharing the goat space. They've always been semi-close to each other, but never always together like they are now (I hated to even do it, but it was a necessity for the time being...). It is kinda funny though in that I have one Ameraucana who likes to ride around on the back of our matriarch goat. The goat doesn't seem to mind - just lets her ride around up there like a cowboy on a horse...

I do feel really bad for them though. You can tell that they are itchy and its thrown a few of them off laying. The new coop SHOULD be ready in another couple weeks, so they are going to have to suffer for a little while longer. We did burn some wood piles this past weekend and I've hauled the fresh ashes down to the pen for their use. This is their first exposure to the wood ashes though - I don't think they know what to do with it yet...

I also think we are just having a really bad year for lice this year in our area. We're having a hard time keeping the dogs lice free as well.

 

[jlynnet]

If they aren't sure what to do with the ashes, then you might have to put it on them.

 

[chickensnewtome]

Hey ya'll I have just found this thread and I am so glad I did. We are raising all natural Chickens both for eggs and for meat. I dont believe in antibiotics curing everything in chickens or humans for that matter. So to start I would like to say Hi! Thank you for a post like this! Second I would like to say HELP!!!!!!!! My little chickens have a runny nose. It is not clumpy or green and I am sure it will run its course but is there anything I can do for them in the mean time. I asked this on a thread and just got antibiotic answers and I want to avoid that at all costs!

 

[mlowen]

I know this thread is nation world-wide, but does anyone know of breeders of Barred Rocks and/or Silver Laced Wayandottes within a day's drive of southern Maine? I will not be breeding or showing but one of the very wise participants in one of the treads here I follow said: "a bird bred to the SOP is a healthy, thrifty bird." My coop/run is just about finished and I am ready to begin the search for pullets/young hens. Please PM me with contact info, so as not to clutter up this thread with lots of replies (she said, HOPEFULLY.)

Mel

 

[Foster's Freehold]

Just went to the feed mill, got 4 way scratch (corn, milo, oats, wheat) and 16% all flock. Plan to mix it half and half for my fermented feed.
I think I saw what are the luckiest chickens in the world lol. Free ranging with a feed mill in the middle. This is an old fashioned mennonite mill, so there are oodles of a spill here and a spill there. Besides the feed they mill and mix, they also carry some manufactured feeds like calf manna so I am sure there are bits of those here and there about too. What more could a chicken ask for?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Just went to the feed mill, got 4 way scratch (corn, milo, oats, wheat) and 16% all flock. Plan to mix it half and half for my fermented feed.
I think I saw what are the luckiest chickens in the world lol. Free ranging with a feed mill in the middle. This is an old fashioned mennonite mill, so there are oodles of a spill here and a spill there. Besides the feed they mill and mix, they also carry some manufactured feeds like calf manna so I am sure there are bits of those here and there about too. What more could a chicken ask for?