The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[ki4got]

Karen, I have read that Ivermectin may not be as effective as other wormers, and am treating my flock tomorrow with Safeguard. Might be something to consider if you don't see improvement in your little girl.

yup. already said that... I don't want to kill the worms quick, since I have no idea how heavy of a load she might have, and the fact that she's half starved from the rest of the parasite load she came with.

 

[delisha]

oh..and how 'bout a photo of that mirror mount? I'd like to see how he did it.

I will post pictures tomorrow..The mirror is an old antique on an old wood frame. It is very heavy made with good wood and has the rear mounts with the wire across the back. He anchored the back and the mounts with caulk to keep them weather proof. Than hung it. He also used the caulk around the top seam so water and snow would not get under it. Hawks are territorial and do not infringe on another territory. If a hawk came to see the Owl it would see its reflection. The Owl keeps the Hawks attention away from the chickens.

 

[ki4got]

Just something for everyone who reads this thread to think about...
everyone has a right to choose what path they want..This is just my opinion..

Do you want birds resistant to disease and illness or do you want to be treating forever?
Tossing this and that drug at birds when you do not know what they have or what is wrong is a never ending cycle. Chickens should be fun and not stressful. Cull the weak out of your flock and bred the strong. If TLC and 24 hours does not show improvement..cull.

if it's a bird that I've had all along, i'll agree with you.

but in this case, I have no idea of the background of this pullet, if she was over-medicated with something, never fed, hung upside down by her feet for hours on end, whatever. since I have no idea what her background is, I will give her the benefit of the doubt and presume her condition is due to 'human error.' if she recovers and progresses like i'm hoping, then my time has been well spent.

as for 'tossing this and that drug' at her, i'm not. all new birds coming on my property are treated with ivermectin as soon as I get home. again, I have no idea of their background, so I feel that is well warranted. and each time I have, there's evidence of worms in the droppings. one drug, treated once then a week later and then once they're deemed fit they're integrated into the flock.

I'm all for natural methods of maintenance, but it requires a healthy bird to maintain healthy.

 

[CoopChick719]

You know you want to smooch her!

Yes, I do!

Oh, yeah! And hug her and squeeze her and call her George.

x2--

update on Mrs. Murphy:
she is still here, but not really improving. Very very emaciated. I've been feeding her lots of fresh garlic, yogurt, buttermilk, eggs, canned cat food, oat groats. ACV in the water. Dosing with vitamins every other day for 3 days. I notice she does spend time on her hocks, and one foot is usually curled up tight.

By the way, flock has good feed, acv, garlic, access almost daily to free range for at least a couple of hours, etc.
Not a happy camper today.

I'm sorry to hear this Lala.

This sounds a lot like one of mine that I lost early this month. I'm sending her to my state university animal lab for necropsy next week. I know it's not helpful to you now but I'll post findings when I get them.

She is a pretty little thing! I like her coloring.

Hawk was here all day moving from tree to tree. Girls were out early looking like statues. Plus they didn't seem impressed with the hail storm

Completed my insulated ff box. Need to do a couple minor things to finish it up but have to wait for foam to dry.-

Yikes on the hawk situation!

Hailstorm...ugh! We're supposed to get rain tomorrow night...a cold rain. Very nice job on the box! I might think about 1 for my coop. Right now the FF is in the garage.

I'm thankful to hear other people are realistic. My chix are my friends and I will do whatever it takes to keep them happy but they are just chickens. They are spoiled and it kills my husband when I come home from the grocery store with treats for them - not to mention giving them leftovers from my own plate.

X10 here! DH saw me tearing up bread into a casserole and pouring buttermilk over it. He said "That's for the chickens, isn't it?" "I thought maybe you were making a french toast type dish but realized that was the stale bread I said should be thrown away."

I told him, "No sense throwing it away when there was no mold on it!" However, this is the man who didn't want the chickens, says he doesn't care about them but brings his lunch leftovers home from work for them, lets them out to range if he's home before me, and talks to them. AND has been looking at animals & chooks on Craig's List--the other night he looked at me and said like a littIe kid at Christmas, "Can we get goats?!" Showed me a picture of 2 Nigerian dwarf goats. I do believe if they had not both been bucklings, we would have gone to pick them up and they'd be living in the garage (w/the 5 hens he brought home from a friend) until he could build them a shelter! I love that man!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

A mirror, eh? Hadn't thought of that one. Do hawks run from other hawks?

I saw a disco style / dunce cap style mirror cone on a hawk thread. looked interesting but the cost for me to make from all new materials was not reasonable.
I think it is the light gleaming and flashing in strange patterns more than another hawk in the mirror that deters the real hawk.

edit to add link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/723375/our-first-year-redneck-backyard-hawk-deterrent-disco-cone

 

[Jewelwing]

Can't stop laughing. For some reason this made me think of Aoxa... (Thanks to the IN thread where I first saw it.)

That was soooo funny!

The guy made me laugh at least as much as the turkeys!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Thanks for the link! I just read through his/her thread. I sent a pm to see if they would let me know it it has continued to work. Not sure I'll get an answer, though, as they only have 9 posts on the forum and may not be around anymore.

If he does answer and thinks it's still working I might try to find some of those at a better price and give it a try!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: I know! I think it was the guy's laughter that got me going more than the turkeys!

 

[armorfirelady]

Thanks Del me to. I try not to treat them like pets but her

My back yard looks like tinsel town..DH mounted a plastic Owl and a huge mirror on the roof of one of the coops..since than..no hawks have come close.

I am hoping the silver bales deter him. My ghost probably won't bit with 50 mph winds today he will def be flying around. I'm off to conferences all day but I am hoping the high winds will put a kink in the hawks flying so the hens can get out and forage. Edie was fine this morning. Her and the others were complaining that the pop door wasn't open yet & they wanted out. To bad they have to wait for the light sensor to open the door lol. It finally did and out they went to forage.

AFL...that is too freaky.  I'm wishing there were permanent fixes for the hawks.  Like releasing hawk predators or something. 

I had a lot of crows around last year but not so many this year.  I saw them chasing hawks last year.  A whole group of them would be following in pursuit of the hawks.  And this year - just a few crows here and there.

Strange coincidence...there is a HUGE farm in our area that used to belong to the Catholic church for years.  They sold it in the last couple years and I read that the guy that got it is using it as a testing ground for Monsanto GM seed crops.  If the winds prevail like usual, they are down wind from us.  But I wonder how that is affecting the crow population?  I see the crop dust planes over those fields frequently. 

I haven't seen any honey bees in several  years.  The collapsing hives are due to the pesticides on the GM crops which has effectively killed a whole lot of them off. 

Anyhow...wonder where my crows are?

Crows were around yesterday. I heard them all day as I worked outside. I wish I could get them to just sit in my yard all day and chase hawks away

 

[Myrth]

That was soooo funny!    The guy made me laugh at least as much as the turkeys!!

I finally got around to watching this. FUNNY! I used to enjoy playing with a friend's turkeys like that. They are so funny and responsive. Brought back a fun memory! Also fun to see that others enjoy being silly with turkeys.