The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[flyladyrocks]

We had to reinstall our browser and I lost all my bookmarks. I remember posts awhiel back, for someone who sells herbal remedies - is this it:
http://fiascofarm.com/herbs/wormer.htm

Thanks

 

[EastNashChick]

You answered a question I had b4 I asked! I keep reading that the life cycle is 7-10 days. But my thought was you don't know when those eggs were layed, so I can kill lice today and more hatch tomorrow so waiting a whole week to change the bedding, which is what I keep reading, does not seem right. Three days makes more sense. Of course most of what is online is also talking about full grown chickens and a coop not a brooder.
Thanks for your help. Each week with these guys has brought a new problem i hope we don't have a new one this week.

I know we are trying to be natural here, but as you were already using flea bath (I think)? Try bathing them in dawn every 3 days and getting them completely dry afterwards. Or you can put some dawn with water in your hands and rub on them then rinse off. Blue Dawn only. It kills fleas, lice, ticks etc.... It's what they use on marine life in oil spills as well. Very safe and effective. It was recommended to me by my vet for 2 week old kittens we found in our basement covered in fleas and lice. Every 3 days for 2 weeks. By the time they were old enough for their 1st shots they were flea and lice free.

 

[flyladyrocks]

I know we are trying to be natural here, but as you were already using flea bath (I think)? Try bathing them in dawn every 3 days and getting them completely dry afterwards. Or you can put some dawn with water in your hands and rub on them then rinse off. Blue Dawn only. It kills fleas, lice, ticks etc.... It's what they use on marine life in oil spills as well. Very safe and effective. It was recommended to me by my vet for 2 week old kittens we found in our basement covered in fleas and lice. Every 3 days for 2 weeks. By the time they were old enough for their 1st shots they were flea and lice free.

 

[potagergirl]

Potagergirl. If it were me I would infuse garlic for 3 days into oil so it's not as strong, shaking it 2 times a day, then remove the garlic from oil and you can apply by hand or spray it on, along with keeping a small amount of garlic in their food occasionally. it gives of an odor not as noticeble to us but works well on my other animals to keep mites, ticks and fleas away

haven't tried this on my animals ,but I make a healing salve at home that helps people a lot and doesn't have anything that would hurt an animal in it, but takes about a week to infuse the oil.

1 tablespoon candula
1 tablespoon plaintain
1 tablespoon self heal
4 ounces olive oil

optional lavander either added for the 7 days with the others or 10 drops essential oil added when prepping the salve

put in oil and herbs in jar with lid and mix well at least 1 time a day on day 7 put through something to strain the herbs out and melt 3-4 ounces of beeswax slowly and adding in the infused oil , put in a coverable container and apply to affected area after cleaning
it will harden and you can add it back into more melting beeswax if it isn't your liking for consistency

only use this healing salve externally, and a little of this goes quite a ways

Sorry I have many questions about this. I am extremely thrilled to see it posted thank you so much.
First the garlic oil. I have been using 5-6 cloves of garlic in a quart of olive oil. It sets on the counter where I move it around when I need space so I don't forget to shake it. I've been putting about 1/4 cup of it in aprox. 20 pounds of mash for all 75 birds including mom's. I feed mash 2-3 times per week depending on the amount of left overs and greens I can find. Is this too much garlic or not enough? I've been doing this a bit more then 2 months now with my chickens since the cocci scare with the farm supply store chicks we purchased. (that was awful). I have been giving mom's chickens the same since we moved them over here last week. Would you also be putting the garlic infused oil on as a spray even though I am feeding it to them like this? I'm always worried I'm not giving enough.

The cream recipe sounds awesome. I'm new to herbal remedies and trying to learn. I don't have self heal/prunella that I am aware of. Is this a plant I can find in a local garden store or greenhouse? I've ordered heirloom seeds and will plant but it will take time to grow obviously.
Secondly, If I understand correctly you are talking about using the flowers/petals to infuse the oil and not the seeds of the plants? I do have all the other items including bees wax. This sounds like a wonderful cream to apply monthly and being one of those stay-at-home people I've the time to work this into my chicken keeping schedule which is a daily affair =) or if you ask my husband it is a 24/7 affair. lol.

thank you for all your help.

 

[SherrieC]

I was going through my bathroom cupboard and found head lice shampoo and spray made from wormwood, it's a few years old as my daughter hasn't needed it since homeschooling. Do you think it would be safe on chickens? I can't remember if it worked, I think I liked tea tree oil better on my daughter.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

@flyladyrocks for lice I would use chemicals but for worms I add dish soap to the water. Just plain cheap dish soap nothing with lotion added. I use about the same amount I would to wash a sink of dirty dishes for each gallon of water. Sometimes a bit more. We get ours from Sams so the bottle squirts out fast.

 

[flyladyrocks]

@flyladyrocks for lice I would use chemicals but for worms I add dish soap to the water. Just plain cheap dish soap nothing with lotion added. I use about the same amount I would to wash a sink of dirty dishes for each gallon of water. Sometimes a bit more. We get ours from Sams so the bottle squirts out fast.

 

[slordaz]

potagergirl

That should be plenty internally, externally is to help sooth and keep infection away, it also will have a mild numbing effect if there is pain, we use it for ear infections, toothaches etc too.

You can do the flower parts either fresh or dried for the healing salve, the lavander is calming also for people and animals. for use on humans depending on who I am making it for, my brother in law and sister have a dislike for lavender smell so I use tea tree oil, if you want some extra umff in yours you could use both

 

[Treegod]

This looks like the thread for me! I don't use chemicals for my chicken, and try to use natural remedies where possible.

Some things I've been doing:
- spraying garlic water around the coop to keep the mites at bay (works a treat)
- throwing the ashes from the fire place in so they have an extra ingredient for dust baths
- dipping legs in vegetable/olive oil against leg mite
- putting a tiny bit of vinegar in their water to keep bacteria at bay

Anyone tried these? Got another perspective on them?

I don't cull and just let nature take its course. Most live to a good old age (most are over three years old, and one is nine!).

 

[mlowen]

This looks like the thread for me! I don't use chemicals for my chicken, and try to use natural remedies where possible.

Some things I've been doing:
- spraying garlic water around the coop to keep the mites at bay (works a treat)
- throwing the ashes from the fire place in so they have an extra ingredient for dust baths
- dipping legs in vegetable/olive oil against leg mite
- putting a tiny bit of vinegar in their water to keep bacteria at bay

Anyone tried these? Got another perspective on them?

I don't cull and just let nature take its course. Most live to a good old age (most are over three years old, and one is nine!).

Welcome!! This is a wonderful thread--full of wisdom and support and plenty of different opinions, so you can mix & match to suit yourself & your flock.