The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Great post fox- funny thing I have an owl sitting on the wall of the compost pile, no wobbly head just eyes that glow at night lol.

I am going to try for spinners like the one I have (it looks like a flower) first stop is the dollar tree tomorrow to see what I can find. I have one on top of the coop now. I figured if I can find some that have tails like kites I can hang them from the tree where the hawk tried to attack last week. Going to get something silver to hang off that tree and one by garden. It will look pretty if nothing else

 

[lalaland]

They are definitely all girls

yay! thats what I was guessing and when I got to your answer, I cheered out loud. like taking a quiz and turning the page for the answers.

Leahsmom, those are sweet chicks.

 

[Gramma Chick]

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?

yes

 

[lalaland]

Cool! What was the plain sulfur packaged for? Was intended for human topical use or did it have instructions for treating plants for mites and fungus? The stuff I'm able to get at Lowe's is $6/lb and says it's 90% pure sulfur. I actually am somewhat concerned about that 10% since it's packaged for use as a plant pesticide, you know?

Do you remember what concentration of dip you did?

Never thought of adding it to their food. Makes sence, tho. Veeeery interesting...

Thanks!

i bought it off amazon, it was sold as pure flowers of sulphur. I would avoid the lowes as I share your concern about that 10% too. Here's an earlier post of mine:


sulphur!!!

I just found this formula for a dip for mites from a 1956 usda book on animal diseases. The page is referring to "parasitic chicken mites", including red mites, scaly leg mites, northern fowl mites, depluming or body mange mites.

"Sulfur has been used for many years. The treatment of individual birds with powdered sulfur is satisfactory if liberal amounts of dust are used and if application is thorough. Dipping the birds in sulfur baths is laborious, but the results are gratifying. Dips may be prepared by mixing 2 ounces of finely ground sulfur (325 mesh) and 1 ounce of powdered soap or detergent to a gallon of lukewarm water. The feathers should be wet to the skin, and the head ducked. It is always advisable to dip fowl on warm, sunny days or in heated buildings. Treatment with either sulfur dusts or dips should be repeated as required."

I ended up using an enamel washbasin, and put 1/4 tsp of sulphur and 1 tsp of liquid bronners (castile soap) per two gallons of water. It seemed as if the sulphur stuck to the chickens because after dipping two, I couldn't see any sulphur in the water anymore, not to mention the water was pretty disgusting. I read somewhere else to use sprinkle the water around the run to deter pests as well, so I sprayed it around, and then started over with a fresh mixture. It took forever! But I had a pretty bad infestation, the run has 5 mature red pines and is home to countless wild birds, who visit the chicken waterers. I don't use DE, but I do and did use wood ash, but it was insufficient. I was also using nustock, which has sulphur in it as well on some of the badly infested areas.

I've run into references to using sulphur in 1920's poultry books as well. I would not use it as a preventive, but if you have a problem, it seems better to me than sevin dust or some such thing.

I'll see if I can find the original references to adding it to food, I ended up adding a scant pinch to the daily mash for a flock of 26, and did it for a week.

 

[Eggcessive]

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?

I was hiking on my farm with a friend once, and on the edge of the woods a redtail hawk swooped down on a woodpecker that was in a lower tree, knocking itout of the tree. We stood there watching as the woodpecker got away, and cheering.

 

[FoxThicketFarm]

Thank you for that post!

-Can you give a link to show the bobble-head you have?
-Both you and Aoxa said more roosters and that is the plan for next spring. Just my one boy for now.
-So, no chicks in Fall, but how early in the spring? I'm guessing that the hawks are migrating back north sometime in the spring but not sure the busy time.

And, yes..so far I've only broody hatched and it is at the discretion of mamma. She want broody in November last year; August this year. Maybe her cycle will keep her moving back 3 months and she'll be ready in May


I've always been hesitant to put up fake raptors because of some of the reasons you stated and I wondered if it would desensitize them to the real thing. There is just that little caution in me on that.

Did you keep the bobble up even with multiple roosters?

The owl I got was just the one my feed store had on the shelf. I'll look for an example online after I post this. My computer is crazily slow.

I had to get the bobble when I had two roos. When the hawk ate one baby, I put up a masonry twine web like I had at the old place, only improvised around trees. There were biggish gaps. It was more a deterrent than an excluder. A few days later, he got my best broody in the thickest, most roped off shade of her separate run, probly with her kids under her belly. :'( I then brought the rest of the little kids in with the roosters, and put bird netting over the masonry twine. It's the stuff orchards use to exclude songbirds from their fruits. Mine was 8' wide and had 1"holes. Because I have many many trees to work around, there were lots of gaps, but open areas were pretty closed off. This bought me some time, but the hawk kept coming around, perching and staring, and made dives at adult hens while I was there, eventually getting a hen sized cockerel inside the house while I wasn't. As soon as I got the owl the hawk stopped coming around. Several times I saw him turn around in the field next door, as if he was checking to make sure or had forgotten that the owl was there, and then pulled out upon seeing it. Warmed my heart. I don't know if he would have eventually tested the owl enough to be unafraid of it, because the crows were out in force by then.

If you have a Red Tailed hawk, and he hasn't gotten one of your birds yet, I don't think you have to try that hard. He's unlikely to risk his wings trying for your birds when they are undercover. It looks like momma is being very vigilant and safe, and babies are being good listeners. I don't free range- my birds are behind a fence, so was possible for me to put up an anti-hawk web over all of my run. If you have a bigger space then can be covered with this way, I might just get something up over the open high traffic areas. This excluded Red Tails for me. If it were me, I would get an owl up right away (being sure to move it every day), and do a bit of webbing where I could for extra credit.

You are supposed to take the owl down in the off season, and them put him back up just before the on season starts, to keep the wildlife on their toes, but I left him out all year, moving him to a new fence post very religiously all winter and spring. My birds did not lose their hawk wariness in the presence of the owl- I was worried about that, too.


It was windy this summer and my bobble fell down and broke his attachment mechanism, so right now he's perched on the roof of their house, not looking very real, instead of his carefully chosen pole. :-( Also, I'm not moving him enough these days, gotta fix that... But, I think this is an instance where prevention is much easier than remedying a problem after it has started. Once a pred has gotten one bird, they are willing to take bigger and bigger risks to get another.

My broodies have hatched clutches of chicks in early March and mid June and raised them with no losses. The early March broody was on her own out in the open with her chicks for about a month, too. No roosters, no trees, no web, no deaths. I'm in New England- my serious hawk season is Sept-Dec. We probly do have a spring migration, too, but I haven't noticed it as a serious predation time. Maybe they are passing through faster? Or maybe I had my owl routine in place this year and the year before just got lucky?

One thing to consider in a multirooster flock is that the boys need to have a rapport to work together well. Not all do. For whatever reason, my original two boys came up together and are a solid team. Persimmon (the alpha) Is a very vigilant noticer, always sees the hawk first, raises the alarm and brings the girls to safety. Helium (the beta), at Persimmon's word, either gets between the hawk and the flock (screaming obscenities), or goes looking for straggler hens, or comes away from the coop (screaming obscenities) to draw the hawk off the rest of the birds. Those two boys tend to stand together but looking in different directions throughout the day. They take turns eating and watching. They agree on the social hierarchy. This year my cockerels have had a really hard time fitting into their rhythms. Only one seemed to work well with them, and I've waited to cull him only for that reason. One boy that I want to keep for his genes is completely despised by Helium, and might not stick around bc of it. So, if you are going to keep a roo that you raise, I would pick one that is deferential to and tolerated by your lead boy. If the new guy is cowering at the edges of the flock or causing drama with his political ambitions, he can't help keep the girls safe.

Sorry so long!

 

[CoopChick719]

But I witnessed today the girls taking off for coop when crows started yelling. Guess maybe they know the crows only start yelling when chasing hawk away? The funny part I was sitting in run with them. They didn't care off they went........

(Rain + hail +cold doesn't make for hooking a sump pump up outside any fun. "Sigh" sitting by fire to warm up till rain stops again so I can finish it)

I watched my girls do this too w/the crows. About 5 years ago a large number of crows started showing up in our neighborhood. They've figured out when trash day is and love to open any bags not in cans with lids!! I kept thinking it was a dog but could'nt figure out who's dog was roaming free--very rare on our street.

Rain + hail +cold in NY?! UGH...I think that's moving my way this week.

The blacks are BA/SFH cross.

Larger Black:


Little Miss Mini Gray (SFH)
(I think "Miss")

I thought they all looked femine too but what do I know?! I'm just proud that I guessed the correct breeds.

yay! thats what I was guessing and when I got to your answer, I cheered out loud. like taking a quiz and turning the page for the answers.

Leahsmom, those are sweet chicks.

me too lala!

 

[delisha]

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?

They hunt every where, but prefer open places. It is dangerous for them to hunt in the woods.

Quote: x3

 

[FoxThicketFarm]

i bought it off amazon, it was sold as pure flowers of sulphur. I would avoid the lowes as I share your concern about that 10% too. Here's an earlier post of mine:


sulphur!!!

I just found this formula for a dip for mites from a 1956 usda book on animal diseases. The page is referring to "parasitic chicken mites", including red mites, scaly leg mites, northern fowl mites, depluming or body mange mites.

"Sulfur has been used for many years. The treatment of individual birds with powdered sulfur is satisfactory if liberal amounts of dust are used and if application is thorough. Dipping the birds in sulfur baths is laborious, but the results are gratifying. Dips may be prepared by mixing 2 ounces of finely ground sulfur (325 mesh) and 1 ounce of powdered soap or detergent to a gallon of lukewarm water. The feathers should be wet to the skin, and the head ducked. It is always advisable to dip fowl on warm, sunny days or in heated buildings. Treatment with either sulfur dusts or dips should be repeated as required."

I ended up using an enamel washbasin, and put 1/4 tsp of sulphur and 1 tsp of liquid bronners (castile soap) per two gallons of water. It seemed as if the sulphur stuck to the chickens because after dipping two, I couldn't see any sulphur in the water anymore, not to mention the water was pretty disgusting. I read somewhere else to use sprinkle the water around the run to deter pests as well, so I sprayed it around, and then started over with a fresh mixture. It took forever! But I had a pretty bad infestation, the run has 5 mature red pines and is home to countless wild birds, who visit the chicken waterers. I don't use DE, but I do and did use wood ash, but it was insufficient. I was also using nustock, which has sulphur in it as well on some of the badly infested areas.

I've run into references to using sulphur in 1920's poultry books as well. I would not use it as a preventive, but if you have a problem, it seems better to me than sevin dust or some such thing.

I'll see if I can find the original references to adding it to food, I ended up adding a scant pinch to the daily mash for a flock of 26, and did it for a week.

Very cool,thx for reposting! I love the tone of that '56 pamphlet.

My girls are super mitey and at least one is gleety right now, I'm so ashamed. I don't have a helper and there are 29 birds, so dusting thoroughly enough with woodashes feels impossible. Also I don't have any woodashes atm. Planning to set them up with a woodash dusting box for the winter to maintain mitelessness, but feels like I need something else to achieve mitelessness in the first place. My girls take Epsom salt baths like champs, so if I can do a wet dip that would be awesome. How bad does it smell? Okay to do inside? Did you wear gloves? Eye protection? Did it feel awful on your skin? Did you dunk the birds heads?

There is apparently a long tradition of elemental sulfur applied topically on people for a variety of skin conditions. There were once many NuStocks, it seems. I'm curious about the efficacy/ safety of sulfur salts as opposed to elemental sulfur, too. Beloved Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, after all. There is a fertilizer salt, potassium sulfate, that gets used in people grade healing bath salts, but, again, I worry about the purity/safety of the stuff packaged for sale as fertilizer. I do like the idea of this $5 stuff you found...

 

[aoxa]