The Old Folks Home

[Amberjem]

I am up till around three AM... most nights.... but my coop is about fifty feet from my bedroom door. And I ususally sleep with a window open.

I had Three roos at the time Waylin Willie and Bubba.... Waylin was the boss... Willie was a lookout and Bubba... well he was just special....

Waylin had a foreceful crow belted them out so the whole valley could hear.... Willie Crowed but ended his crow with a softer version and dipped his head and neck down to the side.... Bubba.... Well he was just special....

In a free range flock roosters are essential as predator alarms they will give themselves up to save the flock if necessary.... and having several is a non issue because the lead roo will be the boss... I rarely had altercations with them. They were all good with the broody hens and chicks and knew better than mess with them.... Beware the ire of a hen whos chick is threatened....

One day when I was flat out with Asthma it was about 90 out with a coolish breeze so I was laying on my bed.... at the time a matress on the floor... I tend to wait till I can afford what I want. any way I was dozing off and on Greeted occasionally by a hen checking out my bedroom.....

Awwk Awk ... awk... would open my eyes and little red hen would be rubbernecking just inside the door... Awk would come the black hen... I would flip a blanket and Off the would scurry. Always gave me a chuckle and a coughing fit....

Now I have California quail here the kind with the little bobing feather ontop of their heads... I would lay and watch as they would come out of the scrub to dine on chicken feed.... They are soo much like chickens.... Only on crak.... always moving running about scratching up in Zoomy skritchies... and fussing and mumbling. But they too have a call to tell everyone where they are...

So I am laying there and I hear a Blood curtling scream and here goes Willie with Waylin in HOT persuit a few teeny feathers in his beak..... While I am laughing and coughing I heard a quail sing the most loveliest Doodle doo I had ever heard. Wait.... that wasnt a quail.... that got me out of bed....

I step to the door and there standing in the shade as usual with a Bubba look on Bubbas face was Bubba.... Totally ignoring the commotion on the other side of the yard... Waylin wasnt finished with chasing Willie..... there stood Bubba still no tail feathers like a rooster should have.... he flaps his wings and emitts the most Beautiful doodle doo... it sounded like soft bells and Quail calls... bubba had been doodle do-ing all along.... but for him it was singing...

Roosters are beautiful

deb

wow feeling the chicken love

and I am back from the coop and installing a couple latches n such, and happy to see dotty n betty pecking round n touching the water new chicken keeper panic over at them not eating n drinking, all that reading this chicken sickness and that and mother hen worry kicks in

over drive lol

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's the biggest post I have ever made! Good lord I'm tired now!!

Type faster.

@ChickenCanoe
Long story shortened on the apple thief: I was working on the coop and espied out in the orchard a man stripping my (not streetside) apple tree into a 45-gallon sack. Turns out he was the handyman from up the hill. In court he was a no-show. Neighborhood not too happy about it all as this guy drives past our homes LOTS. Who knows what else he has coveted?

For those of us that spend the time planning and nurturing our growing things, crop theft is akin to cattle rustling and not to be taken lightly. Corrales prides itself on its agricultural heritage, past and present.

Anyway, the last of the crop came off the tree today. Haven't decided if they're cider or apple butter yet...possibly neither as DH is supplying his coworkers with them. (Many requests for them, it seems. They're Cortland apples, a sweet dessert relative of the McIntosh, whose claim to fame is they don't brown after cutting... Silly that I have to put dibs on my own fruit!)
...

Thanks for the apple thief refresher.
When I lived in Costa Rica there was a huge water apple tree (manzana de agua) in the front yard that not only shaded the whole yard but covered half the house. My room was the front room of the second floor. The roof was tin and during the night some animals, possibly monkeys would throw them at the roof and keep me up half the night.

http://recetasdecostarica.blogspot.com/2009/04/manzana-de-agua.html
They didn't taste exactly the same as apple but were close and very juicy. There were millions of them. Every couple days, some neighbors would come over and ask permission to pick up those that had fallen in the yard and driveway. There was so much fruit that several neighbors, our household and countless wildlife got sustenance from that one tree.

Thailand and the Philippines probably have more varieties of fruit but the immense variety is one of the things I miss most about CR. Most people will have pineapple, banana, mango, tamarindo, papaya and countless things we've never seen here growing in their yards. The climate is such that roses, hibiscus, palm and pine trees, banana, coco and coffee can grow in the same back yard.

Many years back, I wanted to cook a traditional goose for the German festival of St. Martin's day.

Well, the traditional recipe asks for a bunch of wormwood stuck into the cavity of the goose. Used in this way, it imparts some flavor, but does NOT act as hallucinagin.


Anyway..... Spouse was doing the shopping, gave my spouse the list of what I needed, wormwood was on it. Spouse went to the local healthfood store that stocked all kinds of herbs and asked for wormwood. The clerk ran off and got the owner, the owner explained "uh, thats an illegal substance" probably with a wink wink, since this is Homer, Alaska......

Anyway, spouse was peeved, and I did NOT get to cook with wormwood, so I have NEVER had a proper, traditional German St. Martin's day goose!!!

I read today that wormwood works as an aphrodisiac. Stimulates nervous system.

Thought I'd add my $0.02 even though I only have one brahma - she is not cold hardy at all. She spends her winters languishing in the coop, hates going out of doors, and is generally puffed up and miserable looking for most of the winter (kinda like her mommy). However, my "small" birds - showgirl, banties, leghorns, etc, all pop right out of the coop in the morning - even at 20 below - and come out for breakfast and pecking around.

I wonder if it's the hairy hobbit feet they have getting icy and getting uncomfortable?

She is a pretty good sitter, though. As if I needed more of those.

Unless I lived in a dry climate or caged/housed my birds, I wouldn't keep feather footed birds. I did have Cochins for a while.
Wet, snowy winters are brutal for feathered feet.

To continue with our feed discussions on the thread, what do you guys think of garlic? How often do you feed it, have you noticed any adverse effects?

I don't put it in the feed. I crush a few cloves and put them in the water for a couple days.
The herbal wormer I occasionally use contains garlic.

Im not in jail yet. I went to a 4h chicken show last night. Got to see some breeds ive only read about. I had no idea how big jersey giants and orpingtons really are. Or how flashy seabrights look.

I love JGs.
I went to the Heartland Classic Poultry Show with the coop fairy and a few other people from our chicken group.
One of the winners was a big Brahma rooster. One of the judges took it for a photograph. We were standing by that table when they returned it to the cage. When they set the big boy in the cage, it sounded like someone dropped a 50# bag of feed on the table.

wow thats a big loss is there a basic sort of medicated thing the chicks need besides medicated feed

Not really. Breed for resistance. Most places don't need medicated feed either. Med feed is only for coccidia. It's a management thing. Oz may have many more bugs to be concerned about than we do.

I'd rather my chickens mate and the slugs provide fodder for the chickies

Slugs are secondary hosts of parasitic worms.

.. No I don't know if they have worms but they have never ever been wormed and my oldest bird is five...
...

I wanted to add that if chickens forage, they're likely to have consumed some type of parasitic worm. But healthy chickens can handle some parasitic load with no ill effects.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

...
I got a jar of peanut butter for my bucket trap. It was the store brand, and the oil was floating on top, which was not visible behind the label when I got it, so I stirred it good. No matter how much I stirred, it remained very runny. It was all I had, so I smeared some on the can. When I went back to check it, I got nothing. All the peanut butter slid off the can, down into the water. The other thing was that the coffee can, instead of being painted, as I thought, had a plastic outer sleeve, which came loose. After removing the outer sleeve, I smeared a little more peanut butter. Today I will get a different brand of peanut butter that is the right consistency. If this doesn't work, Friday I will go to the do it yourself pest control place, and get some baits that I know will work. I am tired of being tormented, and seeing my chickens tormented by stupid mice. I spoke to a couple of the neighbors yesterday too. They've both had trouble with the mice as well. Both of them got mice inside their homes, but used traditional rat traps, so they wouldn't have dead mice inside their walls stinking up their homes.

...

Put the peanut butter jar upside down in your refrigerator. The oil will rise (to the bottom) of the jar.
Since you're only using it for bait, you can just pour off all the oil.

I have heard of feeding the horses garlic to keep the flys at bay. I dont supplement so havent tested that theory.... Same goes for DE.... The DE discussion for me goes back more than fourteen years.

deb

I first heard of DE about 20 years ago to kill slugs in the garden.

...but remember that a lot of things on BYC are myths perpetuated. Research them.


...

X2

I love BYC but my least favorite part is the breed selection area. In reality, it is written by people that love their chickens but only have experience with 2 or 3 breeds.
Dozens of wonderful worthy breeds get ignored for those that are carried by the local feed store.

Poultry is as bad as crack. After further research i now want turkeys, ducks, and a few geese

I was so planning on a few turkeys each year but the new ordinance nixed that. I'm still thinking of quail, pheasant and partridge hatching for release.

 

[Amberjem]

Not really. Breed for resistance. Most places don't need medicated feed either. Med feed is only for coccidia. It's a management thing. Oz may have many more bugs to be concerned about than we do.

Slugs are secondary hosts of parasitic worms.

I wanted to add that if chickens forage, they're likely to have consumed some type of parasitic worm. But healthy chickens can handle some parasitic load with no ill effects.

 

[ozexpat]

Oregano oil may be the next DE

Oregano leaf is LIKELY SAFE when taken in the amounts found in food andPOSSIBLY SAFE when taken by mouth or applied to the skin in medicinal amounts. Mild side effects include stomach upset. Oregano might also cause an allergic reaction in people who have an allergy to plants in the Lamiaceae family.

Not enough is known about the safety of using oregano oil in medicinal amounts.
Special Precautions & Warnings:

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Oregano is POSSIBLY UNSAFE when taken by mouth in medicinal amounts during pregnancy. There is concern that oregano in amounts larger than food amounts might cause miscarriage. Not enough is known about the safety of oregano when used in medicinal amounts while nursing.

Bleeding disorders: Oregano might increase the risk of bleeding in people with bleeding disorders.

Allergies: Oregano can cause reactions in people allergic to Lamiaceae family plants, including basil, hyssop, lavender, marjoram, mint, and sage.

Diabetes: Oregano might lower blood sugar levels. People with diabetes should use oregano cautiously.

Surgery: Oregano might increase the risk of bleeding. People who use oregano should stop 2 weeks before surgery.


Anything that claims to treat both varicose veins and ring worms sounds like a snake oil.

 

[hennible]

CC, it's extremely likely have parasite, yes. They eat mice, are exposed to cat and dog crap in the yard, and graze on compost some of the time... It's not obvious any one has worms but highly likely.... My vet really didn't have any knowledge. For some reason the clinic is H bent on selling me piprazine.... Which is for round worms, I read it in their order book myself... Agh I'll see what I can get online, or research alternative wormers listed early in the thread.

 

[Alaskan]

I am not against worms..... I guess that shows my age.


Worms are not a problem, it is the KIND of worms, and the NUMBER of worms that can be a problem.

 

[hennible]

Oregano oil may be the next DE Oregano leaf is LIKELY SAFE when taken in the amounts found in food andPOSSIBLY SAFE when taken by mouth or applied to the skin in medicinal amounts. Mild side effects include stomach upset. Oregano might also cause an allergic reaction in people who have an allergy to plants in the Lamiaceae family. [COLOR=FF0000]Not enough is known about the safety of using oregano oil in medicinal amounts.[/COLOR] [COLOR=000000]
Special Precautions & Warnings:

[/COLOR] Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Oregano is POSSIBLY UNSAFE when taken by mouth in medicinal amounts during pregnancy. There is concern that oregano in amounts larger than food amounts might cause miscarriage. Not enough is known about the safety of oregano when used in medicinal amounts while nursing. Bleeding disorders: Oregano might increase the risk of bleeding in people with bleeding disorders. Allergies: Oregano can cause reactions in people allergic to Lamiaceae family plants, including basil, hyssop, lavender, marjoram, mint, and sage. Diabetes: Oregano might lower blood sugar levels. People with diabetes should use oregano cautiously. Surgery: Oregano might increase the risk of bleeding. People who use oregano should stop 2 weeks before surgery. Anything that claims to treat both varicose veins and ring worms sounds like a snake oil.

The product I have doesn't claim either of those, it just claims immune support.

 

[ozexpat]

I have not had cocci

I have had Coryza, Newcastle Disease and a couple of unknown viruses.

i do add amprolium at a very low dose - 1 tbsp / 26kg to my chick recipe for the first 6 weeks to make medicated chick feed

 

[ozexpat]

The product I have doesn't claim either of those, it just claims immune support.

that was from webMD