The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Pozees]

Oh it was tough.. I left it to Susan. She deals with delinquent youth yelling all sorts of things at her, so she can handle this.. though it did really bother her as well.. the kids were very upset. They weren't bad kids, just hyper.. They would have been a good family for a large breed dog.. one that can handle being wrestled with, or dropped.. I don't feel like this little pup would have been a good fit. For the longest time we thought she was blind, but she was just very slow to develop her sight. She would look into space. She had a big piece of skin missing off her head and the vet wanted us to put her down becasue they have never seen this before.. we decided to give her a fighting chance and treated her all naturally with coconut oil to fight off infection. She healed all up and looks like a healthy puppy now. Had her vet check and the vet said she is perfect, and it's a good thing we didn't listen to the other vet who advised euthanasia!


This is her here. She is a tiny little booger. We want her to go somewhere special for sure. It's hard not getting attached...

I'm overwhelmed with people wanting them today. Big interview process goes on. We are very thorough. We even make them sleep on the decision.

I am way behind after a week out of town, but I wanted to tell you, I agree with your decision. Runt puppies of any breed are fragile but when the breed is a Toy all the more so. When I had dogs, I didn't tell the usual puppy buyers the runt was even available. I waited for the person I knew would be able to manage the care of a runt. They are like cross beaked or mini chickens - they don't have the resources to deal with challenges, and have to have extra, careful attention, and gentle handling. Most people don't realize how fragile they are until they are on death's doorstep and at that point it's often too late.

 

[Pozees]

Did y'all hear...Robert Blosl died, yesterday.

I had not heard. How sad for the world of Poultry.

 

[Jewelwing]

A SHORT PUMPKIN RANT (Subtitle: WHAT ISN'T GM NOW-A-DAYS?)

I've been contemplating for quite some time why my chickens wouldn't eat the pumpkins I got last year.

Then, this morning, a little thought came to mind. I have read that animals will AVOID GMO products if they have any other choice of food. In the wild, they won't eat it from the fields unless they are starving.

I know this was a few days ago, but I've been offline for over a week, and I have to get to bed now before I finish catching up! But I wanted to respond to LM about this. Don't get me wrong, I totally agree that GMO crops are horrible for a number of reasons and I do my best to steer clear of them. But I think it may be just an urban legend that animals will avoid GMO foods if they have a choice. As I understand it, there's nothing in the food that would indicate to them that it's GMO, so really no way to avoid it specifically. I found this article that goes into this issue in a little more depth (it's kind of like a science Snopes.com):

http://academicsreview.org/reviewed...ection-1/1-19animals-can’t-identify-gm-crops/

I'm completely with you on wishing GMO crops didn't exist, though, and I'm disappointed to find out that the pumpkin seeds I was going to bake next weekend may be more laden with pesticide than I thought, but I don't think that's why your birds weren't eating the pumpkins.

I'm only on page 2222, so if people have already talked about this, sorry!

By the way, I love jammies too, especially the footed ones! Don't wear them in the summer - too hot for anything but a t-shirt, but now that it's getting colder, time to break them out again. We'll start up our masonry heater soon too. I love that radiant heat! It's our third year using it, and each year my DH worries that he hasn't split enough wood for the winter. But I figure we can split more if we start running out - we still have logs waiting to be split. I just love heating with wood!

Maybe it'll get old, but not yet.

 

[FoxThicketFarm]

Hello!

I'm in the middle of binge reading the Road Less Traveled thread, and have a question inspired by it- thought I'd ask here. Has anyone used Lilly Miller sulfur dust for roses to make their sulfur lotion? I was planning to do so, but it has a bunch of horrifying safety warnings on the back for the package, and I got scared. Is the more expensive people grade stuff on amazon truly necessary?

Also. I am thinking of soaking my girls in a synthesized sulfur spring, instead of giving them a woodash rubdown. I've Epsom salt bathed them before, with great success. The warm water relaxes them and I can do a pretty thorough exam/ massage without distress.

Seems like ppl do sulfur baths for cats with ringworm, and to treat scabies (mites!) on people. The interwebs recommend potassium sulfate for people... There are some expensive vet products for cats that *seem* to contain elemental sulfur. Espom salt is also a sulfur salt... Would a bit of (Lilly Miller) elemental sulfur added to an Epsom salt bath be a terrible unsafe idea? Will my forearms fall off if I immerse them in such a potion? I've never used the stuff for roses, so don't have a sense for how poisonous it is. Anybody use it in the garden and have safety insight?

Thanks!
(I'll try to delurk more completely after I've read up a bit more...)

 

[lalaland]

welcome to the thread, foxthicketfarm.

I am not familiar with the lily miller sulphur dust, but have used plain sulfphur from amazon, think it was 5 bucks for a pound. I tried the sulphur in a warm water dip to deal with feather mites - and have added a trace of sulphur to the chicken food for a week. It worked, and I don't think the chickens had any ill effects.

 

[lalaland]

Great job Lala. I wonder why it was oozing black stuff where feathers were pulled out?

And those kidney shaped things above the bile slime are maybe testicles?

That's a testicle. The kidneys are liver coloured.

thanks, guys.

I was guessing testicles since I haven't seen them in hens, but I couldn't believe the size differences. Some were triple the size of others....

I had a rough night for some reason feeling bad about the roosters, but it must just be I was so tired. things are better this am.
I can't believe how calm the flock was yesterday with the extra roosters either dispatchced or still in lockdown. There wasn't that much chasing going on before, but there was a lot of movement as in "oh oh he is coming my way I better move" type stuff.

So with the extra roos gone, the pullets and hens just grazed and relaxed. Lots of dustbahing, except in wet dirt.

And the second in command roo actually started to crow yesterday - guess the pressure of the other roos kept him from being manly. Now I have my fingers crossed that he turns out to be a good roo. He got to be second mainly because he didn't harass the sulmtalers (a few of the other roos had a fondness for their crests) and because he was not harassing the pullets, and ok, because I love his looks. reminds me of a caramel macchiato:




I'll get a pic of his beautiful tail feathers if I can later.

Buster, the main roo, moved into the older girls coop room last night! And he's pretty, but mostly he is just a prime rooster - doesn't jump the pullets, dances, stands guard, breaks up squabbles, and he seems to be able to be pretty gentle in his mating. No one is missing feathers or anything. This might change in the spring, but I would guess that the hormone level of a juvenile roo is as high in the fall?

 

[aoxa]

I am way behind after a week out of town, but I wanted to tell you, I agree with your decision. Runt puppies of any breed are fragile but when the breed is a Toy all the more so. When I had dogs, I didn't tell the usual puppy buyers the runt was even available. I waited for the person I knew would be able to manage the care of a runt. They are like cross beaked or mini chickens - they don't have the resources to deal with challenges, and have to have extra, careful attention, and gentle handling. Most people don't realize how fragile they are until they are on death's doorstep and at that point it's often too late.

Thank you for saying that. She really isn't unhealthy at all. The vet gave her a full health check and said she was in perfect health, but for the longest time we thought she was blind. She is not though, and we are happy to see she has found a home with a lovely retired couple with a toy poodle for company. She is a miniature, and should reach 10 pounds at least. She is named Missy now.

All of the pups are in their new home except Rosie (keeping) and Inky who is staying for a couple weeks until my friend Jacqueline is ready for him (she is getting over septic shock from a kidney infection gone very bad).

Inky is going to be the hardest. I love that little boy so much. If she changed her mind, we would have four dogs. I am not letting him go to someone I can't visit him at will with.

 

[delisha]

Wonderful job LaLa..

 

[Leahs Mom]

I have another hawk question for those of you that have wooded areas and experience.

Do hawks ever hunt IN THE WOODS?

As in, do they sit up in the trees and watch the ground and get food from there, or do they just hunt in open areas?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

That's a testicle. The kidneys are liver coloured.

We had a funny moment the other day with turkeys ... the testicles are HUGE ... but at first I thought they were kidneys until I didn't find any in the female bird (got the caviar instead). Then the lightbulb moment.