The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[GreatBreeder]

Cool!

 

[AB Gamebird Farmer]

I started just adding fresh herbs on a lark a while back and when I have them rose pedals or other edible flower petals to hopefully help relax the birds, give them something to peck at, and be a sort of bug preventative and they smell nice. I will probably fumigate the coop next cleaning with herbs that have oils in the smoke that are cleansing as well. Thinking on what I want in the herb tea wash besides Camilla maybe a natural insecticide herb too for next wash down of coop.

Im not sure about natural insecticides but I remember reading this article in the journal of applied animal research about using oil of oregano as a pre-incubation egg disinfectant. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09712119.2010.9707173

If oil of oregano kills bacteria on egg shells i'm sure it will work well to disinfect your coop.

 

[JaeG]

Just have a couple of articles you guys might be interested in - more about dosing the birds using natural products rather than the coop, but I found them interesting:

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/the-benefits-of-garlic-cayenne-and.html

http://www.essentialbird.com/using-neem.html

I apologise if they've already been covered, but that's a lot of pages you guys have clocked up!

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Im not sure about natural insecticides but I remember reading this article in the journal of applied animal research about using oil of oregano as a pre-incubation egg disinfectant. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09712119.2010.9707173

If oil of oregano kills bacteria on egg shells i'm sure it will work well to disinfect your coop.

Thank you

Just have a couple of articles you guys might be interested in - more about dosing the birds using natural products rather than the coop, but I found them interesting:

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/the-benefits-of-garlic-cayenne-and.html

http://www.essentialbird.com/using-neem.html

I apologise if they've already been covered, but that's a lot of pages you guys have clocked up!

Thank you

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Found this study on chicken egg disinfectant options looks like Thyme is a good choice to replace formaldehyde fumigation along with another natural substance from bees. Big study scroll down to end to see raw data results and they seem to match up with quail study above on the Thyme but gives different concentrations... the difference in concentration is probably type of oil being used Thyme essential versus Thymol.

http://www.epsaegypt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/13-1489.pdf

 

[Leahs Mom]

For my curiosity sake...
What is the purpose of disinfecting eggs for incubation? If a mother hen sets on eggs there is no disinfection but, of course, that is a live incubator so nothing is static. Is there a need to disinfect an egg when incubating with an incubator?

 

[moomoodiddy]

For my curiosity sake...
What is the purpose of disinfecting eggs for incubation? If a mother hen sets on eggs there is no disinfection but, of course, that is a live incubator so nothing is static. Is there a need to disinfect an egg when incubating with an incubator?

The only thing that needs to be cleaned is if there is any poop, eggs are very vulnerable to bacteria even with the bloom.

 

[moomoodiddy]

If I am wanting to just plant a few herbs to help with the general health of my flock, where should I start?
Any that help with smells?

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Seems to be so. In the stuff I just started reading up on the little microbes are quick to multiply once the egg is laid and if they get into it the egg can increase mortality rates, hatch out low weight and sick chicks even. Now we have to keep big ag conditions in mind that work to increase microbe infection rates, but even a small backyard operation could have poor hygiene. And once you use an incubator you want clean clean as clean can be becuase the incubator creates conditions perfect for microbes. So any thing to improve on not killing your hatching eggs or producing sick chicks is good small or large scale. Example one study showed you can lose up to 20% of your chicks before they even hatch by simply not using good hygiene concerning the eggs first. These studies are also good as the look at usually other variables too some which are easy to improve success for chicks. Basically you can improve hatch rates, improve hatched chick weight and health at hatching by good practices. Some are simple, no soiled eggs, use eggs only so old, keep eggs stored at dorminate temperature range, find a simple way to disinfect eggs asap after laying, keep nest boxes clean, coop clean and so.

Also just a thought purchased or selling hatching eggs, we all know how hard those mailed eggs can be to get to hatch for tons of reasons... packaging, damage to package, temperatures exposed to in transit, cracked and scrambled eggs, and so on. It just seems if you sell you might up the customer success rate with a disinfection process at time of collection. I would test out the solutions first before using on eggs selling to others.

Just my thoughts on it... I was just looking for ideas for washing my coop lol but I now know more about egg hygiene.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

If I am wanting to just plant a few herbs to help with the general health of my flock, where should I start?
Any that help with smells?

Well garlic is a popular herb, I have a huge rosemary plant by my coop, lavender smells good, mints such as lemon balm smell good, I plan on replanting mugwort and a wormwood for medicinal reasons, sages would be good too I would think.

I need to replace my Thyme, oregano and lots of other herbs. Some things the chickens will eat others not so much. They like to dig up freshly planted plants so you will need to cage your plants to protect them. Big things once established are okay without a cage like rosemary. Some plants they will eat to the ground like it is candy to them if they can get to it.