The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

Chicken lice/mites don't feed on blood???? Then how do they negatively effect the chicken? What do they eat?

They make the birds feathering look terrible.

 

[lindz8504]

the cochins are all captive since the predators seem to think they taste better recently. (daytime, so thinking a hawk or 3 )

Something got my bantam cochin last night! The one that was my favorite little broody machine!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
No, why is it always the favorite. I lost my favorite chick during the recent storms.

 

[aoxa]

No, why is it always the favorite. I lost my favorite chick during the recent storms.

It's true.. it's always the favourite

 

[Shan30]

It's true.. it's always the favourite

Me too came home the night before last to find 6 birds missing, found four Amerecaunas alive but a bit ruffled up. Me and my DH's favourite little handicapped silkie hen was dead in the run and her constant companion, a silkie roo, was gone. Her body disappeared while I was grabbing the shotgun (with the bear issues, better off paranoid!)

Everyone has been locked up ever since with live traps set. I believe this was out first successful raccoon attack.

So sorry for everyone else's losses!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I read somewhere, maybe here?, that it takes about a year for the predators to figure out there is a new flock in the neighborhood. Well, right on schedule we've had a couple of nighttime beheadings this fall. We know one was for sure a bird that had refused to come in for the night, and I had thought she'd been picked off the top of the coop by an owl (still possible), but the second seemed to have been taken from the coop, and the only access point is through the lids on the nesting boxes, and that suggests raccoon. We knew the nesting boxes were a weak point, but fizzled out on finding a predator-proof latching system due to Other Priorities.

Time to secure the nesting boxes in a way that is easy enough for the humans that the humans won't be lazy and "forget" to lock up. You know how we humans manage our "priorities."

My nesting boxes have hinged lids that can be lifted from outside the coop ... they are very DIY, so each box is it's own peculiar dimensions. Something that latches automatically and can be undone with one human hand but presents a reasonable challenge to a clever raccoon would be preferable.

I had been thinking about attaching an "eye" to the top of the lid with a carabiner clip on a cable to the box, so at close-up time each box could be individually secured. But knowing my partners, they would just skip that nightly chore.

Any clever ideas?

 

[Shan30]

Raccoon have opposable thumbs so they are pretty good at figuring out latches etc.

I'm not sure if I am picturing your set up correctly but is there a way of attaching something to the main structure of the boxes in between the doors that you could slide a board or pole through in a fashion that it would hold the doors down? Preferably a tight fit or to large for a raccoon to remove.

Did that make sense? Lol

 

[Jewelwing]

What are the benefits? Probiotics?

Too bad Leah's mom is not on this week - she's the perfect person to ask! Here's a link to her fantastic article:

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/fermented-feed.html

So standard feeders, the gravity type, probably won't work with this feed?

Nope, you're right. It's a cryin' shame, too. I use glass bread pans (you'd only need one) because I'm trying to stay away from all plastics where food is concerned. I put them out in the morning, then bring them in at night to thaw, so when I put them back out again at least the food is in room temp containers so might take a little longer to freeze. I'm going to build a wooden case lined with insulation to set the pans in so they stay warmer a little longer, but Thanksgiving is sneaking up on me. Gotta get my house a little less disastrous as my parents are coming! After that, I'll perfect the chicken feeding.

Good luck with your lice/mites. Let us know what you ended up doing, and how it worked. I give my dog monthly Ivermectin in the form of Heartgard, and also daily when she had Demodex mites. I've wondered about using Frontline on chickens (probably the spray), but luckily haven't had to face that dilemma yet...

When my daughter got head lice, what worked really well was shampooing her hair every night, and while conditioner was sitting on it, I combed small sections with a nit comb all over her head. The conditioner seemed to immobilize the lice. It took a couple of hours (patient girl! - we played tic tac toe and hangman on the wall with bath crayons), but after only 3 nights, no more lice or nits. I still did it two more nights to be sure. No nasty pesticides, just whatever's in conditioner (maybe I should worry more about that now...). Doesn't really apply to chickens, I'm just doing a little free association here.

BEST!!!! Yep your birds know it is turkey day.....

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05/11/egreetings/image/01.swf

Oh, that was awesome!! I just sent the link to several people on my e-mail list.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Raccoon have opposable thumbs so they are pretty good at figuring out latches etc.

I'm not sure if I am picturing your set up correctly but is there a way of attaching something to the main structure of the boxes in between the doors that you could slide a board or pole through in a fashion that it would hold the doors down? Preferably a tight fit or to large for a raccoon to remove.

Did that make sense? Lol

It makes sense to me. My first idea was something along those lines ... a "loop" between each box that a pole or board could be slid through to secure the whole string of boxes at once ... it would have been a simple enough solution had we been thinking ahead. But the lid of each box is at it's own peculiar angle, each box is at it's own peculiar height, and so on. Think Picasso painting.

If only raccoons weren't so clever and persistent. If only humans weren't so stubborn.

 

[lalaland]

sorry for everyone's predator troubles - its a tough time of year.

went to let the girls out under supervision. Booster, the junior roo, was sounding the hawk call every few minutes. He has a really good eye, although he did freak out over a big leaf falling from the sky. I finally gave up and shooed the girls in. I swear, the sulmtalers are going to be easy pickings, so big, so visible, and so slow to react to warnings.

Still no eggs! Aoxa, I tried for comb pics but the sunlight is just so harsh this time of year, it washes everything out.