The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Ms Jellybean]

Does anyone have an all natural remedy for mites? I did read at the start of the thread someone used Neem oil mixed with alcohol. Just want to get some info together on the best remedies. Knowledge is power!

Have a look see here.

 

[armorfirelady]

Does anyone have an all natural remedy for mites? I did read at the start of the thread someone used Neem oil mixed with alcohol. Just want to get some info together on the best remedies. Knowledge is power!

When I had them I used neem oil on anything wood. Beware It has a very strong smell. You have to remove all the bedding and either burn it or bag it and throw it out. Then I dust bathed my girls in wood ash for 5 days in a row then 10 days later. I haven't had a problem since.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'm a complete book rebel....I'm a truck driver so I download audio books to my phone from the library and listen while I work.....it's like old time radio!

Have you tried Podiobooks? Some of them are free at Podiobooks.com and provide so many hours of entertainment! Some are read by the authors, but some are like modern radio dramas with actors and sound effects. Some are pretty terrible, but some are a lot of fun.

I can also get all kinds of audiobooks through the library, though the wait for the ones I want can be a drag ... and then they aren't always available when I want them.

More and more of this stuff is available as time passes.

 

[Shan30]

"unless you're selling..."   Sounds like one of those things you do in a secluded place where no one can see

And...my dad is blind and gets books on tape (now on memory stick).  I have access to the whole federal blind library list if I want.  Just never got around to doing it that way.  I like to have something on paper to leave to my kids should the electronic way become obsolete or inaccessible.

But if I was driving you bet I'd take advantage of that! 

Hahaha! I have one customer who works opposite shifts from me so her two dozen a week I stash in her carport. Now and then I see a neighbour peek through the blinds and wonder when they are just going to get it over with and call the cops on me

 

[suncatcher]

Does anyone have an all natural remedy for mites? I did read at the start of the thread someone used Neem oil mixed with alcohol. Just want to get some info together on the best remedies. Knowledge is power!

When I had them I used neem oil on anything wood. Beware  It has a very strong smell. You have to remove all the bedding and either burn it or bag it and throw it out. Then I dust bathed my girls in wood ash for 5 days in a row then 10 days later.  I haven't had a problem since. 

Thanks for the info!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Speaking of Weston A Price, I like that foundation a lot for a lot of reasons, but it's been causing me some distress.

I was listening to an interview with Sally Fallon the other day and of course the topic of eggs came up. She had a lot of frustrated but negative stuff to say about commercial chicken feed ... which is expected, so do I. But ... the group recommends "100%" pasture fed everything, and this seems to include omnivores like poultry and pork. She said she uses prepared poultry feeds but wants to stop. She is working in a solution by experimenting with her own flock. I have been trying to get more info, but haven't found it yet.

Customers have been coming to me with the suggestion that birds shouldn't be fed ... they should only free range. Some seem to expect the words free range or pastured to mean "not fed." I'm sure groups like this are why. I've heard Paleo diet advisors suggest the same ... I don't exactly disagree ...

It's a predicament.

I love the idea of 100% forage fed animals ... but I really don't see how that is always possible for poultry ... I know less about pigs except they used to herd pigs like sheep or goats in Spain through some very long oak grove trails up and down mountains with the seasons ... the pigs eat acorns, but I don't know what else ... probably not prepared feeds as those are hard to take with you on very long walks.

 

[RedRidge]

Leslie. .. You are in the right thread for the type of feed program you want. I am an active member of wapf and feed only non-gmo, home ground and fermented feed to my chickens during about 4 months each winter and they free range/rotationally graze with poultry ejection being the remainder of the year. Can be done quite easily.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Leslie. .. You are in the right thread for the type of feed program you want. I am an active member of wapf and feed only non-gmo, home ground and fermented feed to my chickens during about 4 months each winter and they free range/rotationally graze with poultry ejection being the remainder of the year. Can be done quite easily.

We don't have a lot of snow, but grass goes dormant in both summer and winter. We can't irrigate -- no water to spare in the irrigation pond, and there is a legal limit to how much "garden" water you can pull out of a domestic well.

Our biggest challenge is that we have too many birds to think they could all find enough forage in the area. I think we could do better with better forage, a lot better and we are working on that, but there is a limit to how many birds can thrive even in "green seasons" in this specific spot without balanced rations available to them at all times. I think we exceed that limit by a LOT of birds ...

Then there are turkeys, which are harder to feed at first. I could NOT get any non soy, non GMO turkey starter ... even sources I trust and who run GMO-free and organic mills said it isn't possible ... I have raised a few turkeys without proper starter, but the feed experts (organic and traditional) were unanimous that I use proper turkey starter *and* supplement it with chicken eggs as it is so essential turkeys get enough protein those first weeks.

We do grow wheat here, but it isn't organic as battling the weeds is an issue on this property. The feed experts I've spoken with (traditional and organic) are very skeptical about the validity of any products claiming to contain GMO-free corn or soy ... Corn can be avoided if you balance for it. But soy is harder to avoid for those higher-protein feeds.

I've really been doing a lot of looking into the situation lately. I do wish it were "easy" for everyone to have ideal conditions that eleminate the need for feed ....

What kind of grinder do you use? How many pounds of feed do you go through in a day? Do you really think it is necessary to grind the feed? If so, why? What is "poultry ejection being"?

 

[ChickensRDinos]

I like reading paper books or electronic. But for driving, I LOVE podcasts! Planet Money, Fresh Air, RadioLab, How Stuff Works, On Being. Like you said...it feels like old time radio--documentaries.

Yes! I recently started listening to the This American Life podcasts on show work days and I am completely addicted.

 

[SavageDestiny]

We don't have a lot of snow, but grass goes dormant in both summer and winter. We can't irrigate -- no water to spare in the irrigation pond, and there is a legal limit to how much "garden" water you can pull out of a domestic well.

Our biggest challenge is that we have too many birds to think they could all find enough forage in the area. I think we could do better with better forage, a lot better and we are working on that, but there is a limit to how many birds can thrive even in "green seasons" in this specific spot without balanced rations available to them at all times. I think we exceed that limit by a LOT of birds ...

Then there are turkeys, which are harder to feed at first. I could NOT get any non soy, non GMO turkey starter ... even sources I trust and who run GMO-free and organic mills said it isn't possible ... I have raised a few turkeys without proper starter, but the feed experts (organic and traditional) were unanimous that I use proper turkey starter *and* supplement it with chicken eggs as it is so essential turkeys get enough protein those first weeks.

We do grow wheat here, but it isn't organic as battling the weeds is an issue on this property. The feed experts I've spoken with (traditional and organic) are very skeptical about the validity of any products claiming to contain GMO-free corn or soy ... Corn can be avoided if you balance for it. But soy is harder to avoid for those higher-protein feeds.

I've really been doing a lot of looking into the situation lately. I do wish it were "easy" for everyone to have ideal conditions that eleminate the need for feed ....

What kind of grinder do you use? How many pounds of feed do you go through in a day? Do you really think it is necessary to grind the feed? If so, why? What is "poultry ejection being"?

Have you thought about growing and feeding fodder? I plan on doing that when I get my chickens since there is not much greenery to forage on out here in the desert (Central Oregon). Barley fodder, for instance, has roughly 20% protein in it. I still plan on doing some fermented grain mixes (that I make myself), scraps, fresh veg, and meat/organs, but fodder will be a big part of their diet.