The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Has anyone on the thread used the SWEETER HEATER for brooding chicks? I'm wanting a review but so far don't know anyone that's used one.

http://sweeterheater.com/

 

[lalaland]

That's a hard one. From the outside... (not having to deal with it myself) I think I'd let the strongest survive. But I also don't see an issue with using items like ACV. I'm with you - I don't think it's good to have the ACV constantly. Perhaps like you said - couple days on and the rest without unless you're treating for something more aggressively.

Plus, I don't know if you ferment feed. If you lacto-ferment, the feed will have an acid content that should preclude the need for ACV. And I am hesitant to offer ACV AND lacto-fermented feed that is truly acid at the same time. I think that moderation needs to be used in that arena. If you don't lacto-ferment, then the ACV wouldn't hurt anything!


You might consider contacting Susan Burek to see if she has anything for your situation. She will make tinctures to order and I'll bet she'd have some ideas for you. This page lists what she has "ready made" http://www.moonlightmileherbs.com/poultryherbcart2014.html but it also states that she can make to order. I notice she has the new worm balancer tonic. I wonder how that would affect cocci? May be worth asking.

I stopped ff for last winter, and started in the spring again and then couldn't keep it going with care for aged parents. I will try to get going again next spring - I have a very cold house and a hard freezing winter.

lalaland, I would increase the amount of yogurt you give to your flock... either more often or more of it. It will help.

yeah, thats a good idea.

I got the written report back this afternoon, and they described my sweet little legbar rooster, who had the leg paralysis as "bright and alert" and he was. Nothing new in the written report, but it was impressive how thorough it was on him. So he was diagnosed with mareks, but the second rooster had no signs of it, and the hen is a maybe because they are waiting on the eye reports. yuck.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@lalaland
The only reason I mentioned the ff is to say that I wouldn't use ACV in conjunction with it for long term. So that's good!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Check this out!!!! One of the folks on the IN thread is using this for their profile photo. I want a roller coaster chicken!!!!!!

 

[Lacy Blues]

I haven't used a sweeter heater but I have used a heating pad set up on top of some kind of wire rack so the chicks could get under it if they wanted to.

Here is a YouTube video someone put together to show how she did it. It's pretty cool!

 

[armorfirelady]

Leah's mom love the pics.

Funny happening today. I had 2 drumsticks for the hens. I threw them in the yard for the hens. Edie took off with one & Stella with the other. Imagine my surprise when one of the peepers snuck up on her & stole it from her. Stella stood there for a minute or two before taking off to find the other one. I think if hens could be speechless she certainly was. She torments those peepers around food so they normally stay away from her. Guess chicken legs are to tempting. I was happy to see it happen. Stella is the meanie of the yard

 

[delisha]

Quote: undernourishment can happen with FF when birds are ill..or the FF does not contain proper nutrition.

update on necropsies of mareks hen and asymptomatic rooster:
"The eyes are still being examined because the processing is different from other organs. Both birds have coccidiosis and I recommend treatment with Amprol. No evidence of Marek's disease in the internal organs. Keep in mind that the eye histology has not been completed and will be the last segment of the report."

from what I've learned, mareks (which was diagnosed in an earlier chicken two weeks ago in my flock) is a debilitating disease and chickens that survive often succumb to underlying issues, such as cocci.

Trying to decide whether to let flock alone and see who survives, or whether to treat with corid. I did some research and found that ACV is really a good preventative for cocci, it was mentioned in a couple of ag dept bulletins. Mine have ACV in one waterer and fresh water in the other. Might switch so they are getting ACV for at least half the week and a choice the other half....or ACV all the time.

I have seen a few more intestinal lining shedding droppings lately but thought it might be that I am soooo paranoid about the flock right now that I am watching everything carefully. I haven't seen any really bloody droppings.

What do you think?

garlic in water containers..just drop in a clove for cocci
I concure with LM's suggestion. I would skip the ACV if you ferment. ACV will help shrink tissues if they have mucus and you do not FF.

Has anyone on the thread used the SWEETER HEATER for brooding chicks? I'm wanting a review but so far don't know anyone that's used one.

http://sweeterheater.com/

I love mine. I have two sweet heaters and one Brinsea. The Brinsea can't be used outdoors, but the sweetheaters can

Leah's mom love the pics.

Funny happening today. I had 2 drumsticks for the hens. I threw them in the yard for the hens. Edie took off with one & Stella with the other. Imagine my surprise when one of the peepers snuck up on her & stole it from her. Stella stood there for a minute or two before taking off to find the other one. I think if hens could be speechless she certainly was. She torments those peepers around food so they normally stay away from her. Guess chicken legs are to tempting. I was happy to see it happen. Stella is the meanie of the yard

Mine love Chicken..

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Thank you! You're the first person I've know that has one!

How cold can it be outside and still be able to use them?

 

[lalaland]

I've had garlic in the waterers most of the summer. And as I said, ACV half time.
I'm learning that mareks really beats down the immune systems and frequently hens die of underlying issues they would have survived if their immune system was ok - like the 5 year old hen with cocci.....

the only good thing I've learned is that freezing kills cocci cysts, but moist conditions promote, so we had that terribly wet and long spring here where most of my neighboring farmers were not able to get anything planted at all in their fields this year. Possibly mareks was brought in by the legbar chicks, or by wild birds, and I just had the perfect storm.

or birds without much resistance. So far, the broody raised pullets are all fine. And it has been a week since I added the turkey litter. I am going to treat for cocci, because of the weakened immune systems, and clearly in this instance with the mareks, the garlic/acv is insufficient. I don't want to lose more of the flock. I won't breed any of these, and have no roosters now.

Next spring I will bring in vaccinated chicks althrough I really wanted legbars and sfh and......
I'll be very diligent about garlic and acv this winter

I need to find out what sort of vitamins I need to be giving the flock in a few days to off set the corid - 5 days on corid and then a couple of days with lots of probiotics and vitamins to help them come back. I wonder if labs would be the right thing? I could make that rice wash thing..will have to search it out and see what kind of time frame that takes.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@lalaland

Rather than the LABs I would recommend you get some AVI Culture 2. It is made for avian use and goes a long way....lasts long if refrigerated. You can put it in waterers or put it in the feed. It's the only avian probiotic on the market that is not grown on GMO substrate. Their website is pretty poor, but the product is good. http://www.avi-culture-2.com/shop.html I can send you a cc of the product insert if you would like to read it.

On the vitamins, the thiamin and other b's will be essential since the amprol blocks thiamin. The synthetic vitamins would be the ones you can get at tractor supply (can't remember the name....too early in the morning) and the poly-vi-sol children's with no iron.

If you want to to go the more natural route (or maybe use some of both), some finely chopped raw liver is good. Also, brewers yeast is great for the b vitamins...you can mix it in the feed too. On the brewers yeast, the Lewis Labs is the only one that certifies that it is not grown on GMO substrate and is the only one I use. You can usually get it at local health type stores. They have a couple different products but the PLAIN...NOTHING ELSE ADDED one is the right one. It states that right on the label.

(I did check with several manufacturers on both the probiotics and the brewers yeast on the GMO issue. There were NO OTHERS that grow on non-gmo substrates and one of the Brewers yeast manufacturers actually said that there substrate IS GMO right up front.)