The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Okay...strange question.

I keep reading about people using chicken droppings/litter from commercial farms as fertilizer on their fields saying it STINKS.

My deep litter does NOT stink.

Is the stink in the commercial litter due to meds? Undigested/poor feed? Dead chickens in the mix?

 

[lalaland]

whoooheee! I have today off and got to watch the chicks leave the coop using their tunnel ramp. I have been leaving while its dark...as soon as I got the doorway open, they came pouring out - little herd of elephants! The hens were waiting, and lined up along the tunnel ramp watching them.

I'm thinking integration will be pretty easy this time since they are feeding along the fence line with the chicks on the other side, and are letting the chicks reach through the netting for bits of grain right next to the hens beaks without snapping at them.

sunny beautiful day.

about bumblefoot - I've had a lot of it here. think perhaps the blackberry thorns, but who knows? I used to do the foot surgery thing, but have pretty much quit doing that unless I see someone limping. I know it can be fatal, but I'm wondering if that would only be when the staph infection went systemic - kind of like we could die from a scratch too - but usually our bodies cope with the infection.

On its own, the bumblefoot often ends up with a inflamed bump on the top of the foot between the toes, and it ejects a core. you can see it start to stick out - thats when I scoop the hen up, pull it out, and sometimes add some nustock/salve or something. If I get a splinter and don't get to it, it will do the same thing - get a little inflamed bump/blister til the pressure built up pushes it out.

speaking of which, time to give the girls more garlic to keep up a good immune system.

 

[aoxa]

Okay...strange question.

I keep reading about people using chicken droppings/litter from commercial farms as fertilizer on their fields saying it STINKS.

My deep litter does NOT stink.

Is the stink in the commercial litter due to meds? Undigested/poor feed? Dead chickens in the mix?

Well commercial farms probably aren't properly managing the DL is my guess.

 

[wlhtx]

Well commercial farms probably aren't properly managing the DL is my guess. 

I also think the mass quantity has a lot to do with it. We've had our hay pastures treated with chicken manure occasionally over the years and it DOES stink - horrendously so. (In fact, my MIL has pretty much drawn a line in the sand and has declared never again.) But you have to realize that we were dumping a LOT of manure over a very large surface area. Your coop doesn't stink, and neither does mine, but we're talking about a few square feet vs. acres... Just a matter of quantity.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I had posted the question earlier about raising livestock under or near high power lines. I also posted that on the Family Cow forum and have gotten some interesting replies. Thought someone might want to read it so I'm putting a link here:

http://familycow.proboards.com/thread/64319

 

[starlingdaly]

Okay...strange question.

I keep reading about people using chicken droppings/litter from commercial farms as fertilizer on their fields saying it STINKS. 

My deep litter does NOT stink.

Is the stink in the commercial litter due to meds?  Undigested/poor feed?  Dead chickens in the mix?

In my experience it is rotting dead chickens mixed with raw manure and feathers that smells so horrible. They are fed food that cannot be digested well either and I kind of doubt they put effort into a good DL if they are commercial.

My DL doesn't stink and I only get a few flies after a big rain.

 

[Mrs Hutcherson]

I have a question, I read somewhere on a different thread about some one that lost a hen and they think its gag worm, what exactly is gag worm?

 

[Mrs Hutcherson]

I have a question, I read somewhere on a different thread about some one that lost a hen and they think its gag worm, what exactly is gag worm?

 

[Mrs Hutcherson]

Sorry.dont know why it double posted

 

[Mumsy]

I have a question, I read somewhere on a different thread about some one that lost a hen and they think its gag worm, what exactly is gag worm?

I"ve never heard of Gag worm. I do know about Gape worm. There is no guessing about this worm. You can see it in the bird"s throat. Often wrapped around it's tongue. The afflicted chicken will open it's mouth like it's yawning and stretch it's neck. Ground that is infected with Gape worm often comes from over crowded conditions in a pen or ground. Slugs and earth worms carry the parasite or thick poopy yards. Free ranged flocks that have access to clean foraging area rarely get this parasite.