The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[mlowen]

Sally8,
My heart hurts for all the "stuff" you've had to deal with today (and the past long time!) Sending out prayers and positive vibes for you, your mom, and Cecilia.

 

[armorfirelady]

Delisha & Leah- my girls just wanted to say THANK YOU ............


You got 8 tails up for suggesting soaking their feed in raw milk. I have never seen them gulp their food down so fast once they got a taste of it. And their crops were BULGING tonight. I didn't even need to touch them to see if they were full. They all seem to be in a food coma dreaming of more yummy raw milk

Mrs green has another spa treatment today. She really seems to enjoy them. I just set her in and she stays put till i take her out


Here is the bumblefoot today


The one on the left is the smaller one. Its def smaller than when I started treatment awhile ago. The one on the right is still the biggest and seems to be the same size. Ive tried over a week of surgery, then iodine/sugar wraps. then blue kote alone, then drawing salve & now coconut oil wraps. I saw the best change with the drawing salve. the scab on the small one came off (it returned in the 5 days I was out of town and applied blue stock while I was gone) and the bigger scab was starting to lift around the edges. I was hesistant of using the drawing salve after the scab came off? Ill try the coconut oil for a week with daily dressing changes (she gets them filled with dirt no matter how I wrap them) & see how it looks. the downfall of the wraps is her scales baove it raise some. She has no pests its just the dirt getting up under them and they return to normal when I take the wraps off. All I know is this treatment is taking forever........I think I started the beginning of July? She doesnt seem bothered by it or any of the treatments. Must be because she enjoys the Spa days

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Red Ridge your puppies are very pretty.

 

[aoxa]

We have some pups here as well 7 miniature poodles from our Chloe (and Camille's boy Henry).



We have 5 girls, two boys. One brown, two white or creamy ones, and four black.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Hi All, I just started keeping chickens and got my first egg today and was wondering if I need to clean it? It was not "dirty" or anything and Im really am not into chemicals so any pointers would be much appreciated.
Thanks

You can wash eggs if you want. Some people don't recommend washing eggs because it disturbes the bloom (the last bit of protection the egg gets, a thin coating put on the egg just before the egg gets laid), and in some countries washing top grade eggs us not allowed. But a backyard isn't a factory and sometimes eggs get dirty and we want to wash them -- that's okay because the egg does have other layers of protection inside the shell. You just need to wash eggs "right" if you choose to wash them at all.

Use very warm running water.

Do NOT submerge the egg in water.

Rinse away as much of the dirt as possible and scrub away the rest with paper towel that you discard after use. You can use a scrubbing pad for egg washing as long as you sanitize it and let it dry between uses and don't use it for anything else.

Let the egg air dry before putting it in a carton.

Refrigerate washed eggs.

Sanitizing is a separate step, and should be done after washing if you choose to do it at all. If you sanitize, you may also want a final rinse. A mild bleach solution is fine for sanitizing, but it must be plain bleach (no scents or soaps). Lists of appropriate sanitizers are a available online. Some people recommend vinager as a sanitizer but I find it starts to dissolve the shell, so I don't like it for egg washing.

I've read that coating washed eggs in mineral oil can make them taste different. If you refrigerate your washed eggs and use them within a month you shouldn't need the mineral oil preservative layer. Some commercial eggs are coated with stuff ... I consider avoiding that one of the bonuses of having backyard chickens.

In the USA commercial eggs are washed and sanitized because they are refrigerated and an unsanitized egg can contaminate a refrigerator (and everything else that goes into it) ... In the USA the food safety rules are based on worst case scenarios.

It isn't really necessary to refrigerate eggs if you don't wash them, use them soon after laying, and they don't get too warm wherever they are stored. Some humidity helps keep eggs from dehydrating ...

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Sally8, Oh dear.. that really sucks..

Nustock, BlueKote, something like polysporin will help fight infection.

I would use coconut oil though.. It saved one of Chloe's puppies from having to be put down.

We had a couple hens with mating injuries (tears down their side) that looked awful. Someone recommended Vetericyn spray, and it worked. It is a spray so you don't have to touch the area, and it washes as it rises, and supposedly helps their skin heal where things like peroxide or thick creams slow healing down. Or so I was told ...

It is a bit spendy ... and less natural than other options. But effective.

 

[delisha]

Love the puppy pictures..

The video was a hoot

Poor injured bird..those darn predators!!

Great egg washing points

I do not wash mine and never have..I never refrigerate.

 

[delisha]

Delisha & Leah- my girls just wanted to say THANK YOU ............


You got 8 tails up for suggesting soaking their feed in raw milk. I have never seen them gulp their food down so fast once they got a taste of it. And their crops were BULGING tonight. I didn't even need to touch them to see if they were full. They all seem to be in a food coma dreaming of more yummy raw milk

Mrs green has another spa treatment today. She really seems to enjoy them. I just set her in and she stays put till i take her out


Here is the bumblefoot today


The one on the left is the smaller one. Its def smaller than when I started treatment awhile ago. The one on the right is still the biggest and seems to be the same size. Ive tried over a week of surgery, then iodine/sugar wraps. then blue kote alone, then drawing salve & now coconut oil wraps. I saw the best change with the drawing salve. the scab on the small one came off (it returned in the 5 days I was out of town and applied blue stock while I was gone) and the bigger scab was starting to lift around the edges. I was hesistant of using the drawing salve after the scab came off? Ill try the coconut oil for a week with daily dressing changes (she gets them filled with dirt no matter how I wrap them) & see how it looks. the downfall of the wraps is her scales baove it raise some. She has no pests its just the dirt getting up under them and they return to normal when I take the wraps off. All I know is this treatment is taking forever........I think I started the beginning of July? She doesnt seem bothered by it or any of the treatments. Must be because she enjoys the Spa days

You have more patience than i do. I would have done some major cutting after one week.

It looks like what ever you are doing is working..even if it is slowly.

 

[Mrs Hutcherson]

I have a question, do pullets get a lil more testy as they get closer to laying?
I have 4 barred rocks that are 16 weeks this week and have been chasing my 2 blrw that have started mercilessly picking on my blrw hens that are 2 weeks younger. Just curious, they square off with each other too, not as bad thoogh. They chase them all over the place. Just wondering if its hormones?
Please and thank you!

 

[aaggjg]

I need a little help. I came home from work early today because I'm sick. Opening the car door, I heard a chicken screaming. This is Cecilia's behind. I had already poured water/peroxide over her before I remembered to take a picture. What can I do now? I know this is a Natural thread but my gut feeling says to start an antibiotic. I have 2 but never used them. Tylan 50 and Duramycin 10. I have homemade NuStock and farm salve. I gave her yogurt.

She has 5 baby chicks and they stayed hiding until I got her back in a cat carrier and then she started calling to them. they came out of hiding from under a huge bush.

She has several bleeding areas and her tail looks a little ripped, mostly she's missing feathers.

I called the neighbors to get their dog and they are as sick as I am over it. I had told them that Ginger chased the chickens and they didn't believe me. It's only because I came home early that I happened to see her here. I know they let her out to free roam when I'm not home. No bad feelings between us, unless it continues. My chickens sometimes roam on their way back yard but she was on mine when I caught her.

Hopefully, I can heal her.

BYW, my mother is still in the hospital and hopefully she can come home in 2 weeks. But today, I had to put her 15 yr old dog to sleep. He's been sick for some time now and was vetted. But now he's just suffering. (Cushing's Disease) When it rains it pours.

Oh poor hen!!! I see that you went ahead and gave her a shot of tylan... I was going to suggest that you give her some type of anti- inflammatory to help the pain... not antbiotics...
I wouldn't give her more. Tylan injections cause necrosis of the muscle. I'd follow the great advice everyone has given about the epsom salt soaks, Nu-stock, coconut oil etc etc and see if she is improving. I'd also give her all the immune boosting things garlic, oregano, acv... & some egg & yogurt etc etc.... As far as the chicks maybe they can be kept close by and can rejoin her in a few days????

Sorry for all the stress you are dealing with right now.... I hope you & your hen feel better soon!!!