The Old Folks Home

[Alaskan]

Happy Sunday everyone!
Like Mr Bama I have been very busy as well.  Well,except for yesterday.  I spent a wonderful day at a juried art/craft fair held on the courthouse green of a small town to our north.  The weather was perfect, warm bright sun with temps in the 60's and a nice cool breeze.  I chatted with folks, looked at all the pretty things and checked out the bargains in the flea market area.The shops around the square were having their last hurrah for the season and I picked up a great addition to my antique canning jar collection and other little goodies in the antique/junk shops.  I sat down at a sidewalk table in front of a real, honest to goodness, little Bistro (a true rarity in our part of the country) and enjoyed a truly yummy mocha latte to go along with my vegetarian panini loaded with portabello mushrooms on artisan whole grain bread.(notice how healthy Deb?   )  What an absolutely perfect end to a crazy hectic week of doctor appointments in between frantically harvesting the last of the pumpkins, tomatoes, etc. in really crappy weather before our first true killing frost.  The best blessing  was I did it all, including the full morning of exploring the shops and craft fair, with not even a cane!!!    Ok, so I am kind of just sitting here this morning with my legs up propped up my recliner and everything is a bit sore, BUT, I did it!!!

@Alaskan - I'm coming to this party late (sorry) but I totally understand how you feel.  My gardens are certified organic and I really hate using any chemicals, that is one reason I love using Oxine around my animals, in the house, etc.  It is a great safe disinfectant for the coop by the way.  That said, I have tried all of the "natural" remedies for parasites and have almost zero success.  Pyrethrim works great as a preventative in the coop once you have it cleaned out but is not effective (in MHO) as a "cure".  I have resorted to using Sevin as well when I discovered a really horid infestation on my girls.  After doing the "shake and bake" and using liquid Sevin in the coop I have not had a problem since.  What I do do tho, is when I do the big clean out in the spring and fall, I sprinkle Sevin under the nesting material in the boxes, on the catch board before I put down fresh wood shavings and on the floor before I put down the new shavings in spring and the heavy hay layer in the fall.  Have had no problem since.

I am so glad you had such a good day! it is nice to be able to have a good outing!


Thanks for the input on the chemicals.

I just wouldn't be able to use Sevin under the bedding and ever let my kids back in the coops.

I did... After much pulling of hair... Dump a bunch more of the Permethrin into the two dust baths..... (The chemical version, Permethrin, is supposed to be lots more toxic than the natural Pyrethrum)

I am tossing out all eggs that are laid.. And no children may touch any chickens from the contaminated coops.

I DID pick up one of my older, more heavily infected hens, and look her all over today... I could not find a single living critter on her skin.

I am hoping that if I have the heavy load of Permethrin in the dust baths, so they can hopefully re-medicate themselves every day... That everything hatching from the eggs will immediately die before laying MORE eggs!

My plan is that at the end of two weeks, I will dust every single hen quite thoroughly, and then wait two days, then try to get all of the toxic horror out of my coops (take dust bath material to the dump, and all bedding to the dump, NOTHING stays on my property).

And hopefully that will be that.

It is interesting... The lice did not make it over to my bantam pens.

 

[Alaskan]

Chicken question!

Our welsummer hen Chicken Little passed away today.  DH and I are in a quandry (well, conflicting opinions) as to what to do next, bury or dispose?

What do you all normally do?  

TIA....


r.i.p.  Chicken Little, so named because you announced EVERYTHING.  Other hens would bawk-bawk-BAWK their eggs;  you sounded like the poultry circus hit the nest.  

Sorry for your loss!

If I do not know how it died... Or it was clearly sick.... I take it to e dump.

If it falls into "edible" category, then we eat it.

My sainted grandmother with her chickens... If it died oddly, she would slaughter it, do a very basic necropsy, and then cook it well, pick every shard of meat from the carcass and feed the meat to the dogs. Dang... I don't remember what she did with the potentially diseased bones....

That woman was FRUGAL. Almost nothing went to waste, the waste that did occur was composted, or burned and only a very tiny amount taken to the dump.

Like bed sheets..... When they started to wear out... She would slice them in half and then sew them back together, to the still good edges, that had been tucked under the mattress were now the parts that you slept on... And the thread bare area was now hidden under the mattress. When the twice used sheet would no longer hold together, she then cut it into kitchen towels. Tiny edge bits became kindling when added to candle stubs.

 

[chickadoodles]

Come to the dark side Chicka! We enable each other's quilting addiction as well as the chicken addiction ;-)

I see! I have been trying hard to resist. :/

Quote: Scg I like it very nice country picture.

I asked the teacher at the last class, she claims it's a bush. So you're a winner.

I hatched out 9 guineas this weekend. Everything was well and good until I tried to hold them. Now they're all freaked out and, at 2 days old or less, are making a giant racket.

So... whatcha sewing, Chicka? And welcome to the dark side.

I don't know anything about guineas. Are they friendly or skidish?

I bought some fabric I don't know yet. lol I am thinking of a Mickey Mouse quilt for the new great-grandson.

 

[chickadoodles]

Peep I am sorry for the loss of your hen.

I have some hens that are getting up there and I fear we may start losing some.

I told DH that we need to let the hens raise more chicks next year to keep up the egg count.

 

[chickadoodles]

Hey Chickisoup nice to hear from you. I'm with you I wish we had some nice Bistro here.

I believe we will start seeing some great craft shows around here soon.

Alaskan your mother was a frugal lady and that was a blessing back in the day. We should all have learned some lessons on how to be frugal.

My DH is a farmer and he is very frugal to the point sometimes he drives me crazy with the junk he won't let go of.
But he has also taught me how to be frugal and I have been trying to tell my kids to start being more frugal.

I saw a post on Face Book last night that caught my attention. It is a farm act that I hope get's passed. I contacted my State Rep. by email last night to ask her to please vote it in.
I am seriously hoping that it will, I hope it will bring back local processing plants and put more people back to work and give us all meats from local farmers that should also help lower prices and bring up quality of our food.
Here is the link please check it out.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/...E-Act.html?soid=1101894121878&aid=t8Mzt2zzbm0

 

[Wisher1000]

SCG - don't give up on those keets. I agree that they are never going to be lap birds, but mine became quite domesticated. They came in to the coop to roost, but there were a few times I had to coax them out of the trees at bedtime. They would come when called, expecting treats, of course. They stayed underfoot when I was working around the coop area, expecting treats, of course. They would eat out of my hand and even jump up on my arm or leg for treats. But they never, ever, tolerated being touched or held without a major fight and/or ear splitting cacophony. WARNING - Do not catch and hold a guinea by the legs. Their legs are not as strong as chickens' legs, and they will be damaged. Simply catching hold of a leg and then pinning the body to the ground usually results in a limping guinea, sometimes permanently.

Also, if you can brood them in a cardboard box, it will be much easier to move them to the coop. They get imprinted on the place where they are raised and often refuse to accept other accommodations. I brooded mine in the garage until they are big enough to take outside. I would take box and all out to the tractor for warm days and then they would go back in their box at night. Eventually, I moved the box to the coop and they slept in the box until they would not all fit. Then they slept on top of it until they broke it down. Finally, they slept in the rafters over the box and went back there at night to roost. They are funny and fun and LOUD and interesting, but they are definitely NOT chickens.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

r.i.p. Chicken Little, so named because you announced EVERYTHING. Other hens would bawk-bawk-BAWK their eggs; you sounded like the poultry circus hit the nest.

Dump here, too. Multiple reasons but the biggest being there's simply no where to bury them that would be deep enough. There's barely topsoil in many places around here. I had a heck of a time trying to even plant apple trees, kept hitting slate and granite.

Thats Guinea Fowl... handling them is not on the list... they are not chicks... they are wild screaming jack booting fuzzballs that live in terror... As they get older they settle some but be aware they can fly very very soon. So keep a lid on that brooder. Soon they will look like they are carrying little folded up umbrellas under their wings... when they look like that they can fly UP about six feet. Not too good at turning and landing though.

Oh and if you have a spare put a mirror in the brooder seems to quiet them down a bit... Admiring themselves. Safety in numbers you know. Even the adults love mirrors.

Once they get to the age where they are eating big bird food introduce them to white millet... Meal worms.... etc. they will eventually eat it out of your hand... thats as close to tame as you will get. Without having a broodie raise em up.

deb

I'll try to stop in the next few days and get them some meal worms. They're super cute (although I know how the story ends in very not-cute adults). I turned the lights out last night after the Touching Terrors and all was well, and continues to be well this morning. I won't make that mistake again.

SCG - don't give up on those keets. I agree that they are never going to be lap birds, but mine became quite domesticated. They came in to the coop to roost, but there were a few times I had to coax them out of the trees at bedtime. They would come when called, expecting treats, of course. They stayed underfoot when I was working around the coop area, expecting treats, of course. They would eat out of my hand and even jump up on my arm or leg for treats. But they never, ever, tolerated being touched or held without a major fight and/or ear splitting cacophony. WARNING - Do not catch and hold a guinea by the legs. Their legs are not as strong as chickens' legs, and they will be damaged. Simply catching hold of a leg and then pinning the body to the ground usually results in a limping guinea, sometimes permanently.

Also, if you can brood them in a cardboard box, it will be much easier to move them to the coop. They get imprinted on the place where they are raised and often refuse to accept other accommodations. I brooded mine in the garage until they are big enough to take outside. I would take box and all out to the tractor for warm days and then they would go back in their box at night. Eventually, I moved the box to the coop and they slept in the box until they would not all fit. Then they slept on top of it until they broke it down. Finally, they slept in the rafters over the box and went back there at night to roost. They are funny and fun and LOUD and interesting, but they are definitely NOT chickens.

Great advice, thank you. I admit these were more of a spur of the moment purchase (after the Summer of Lyme) and I didn't research them a lot. I currently have them in a wooden brooder that BF built in the kitchen area. We try to do that for at least a week with each hatch so they get used to humans. I hope they don't expect this brooder to be theirs for the rest of their life, it's only 2x4 but it's my nicest brooder. They cannot have it.

 

[drumstick diva]

Chickadoodles my eyes are playing tricks on me again. I thought you wrote "I'm have been trying to 'sell' my kids to start being more frugal." Oops

 

[chickisoup]

Morning everyone

Hi Chickadoodles!!!

Peep Show - We bury but then we have 65 acres so we are able to put them deep down in the "back forty" literally, which is not an option, I am aware, many folks have. Since we still have open ground landfills here I worry about the remains being eventually accessed by wild birds, etc. if I just send them to the dump if I don't know why they died.

Alaskan - I forgot to stress that I sprinkle the Sevin VERY lightly under the bedding because I don't want the girls to be able to stir it up and potentially breathe it. Also, unlike your situation, I am generally the only one in my coop.

I went to lock the girls up just as the moon was breaking above the trees Saturday night and WOW! I am not easily spooked by our wildlife and especially by coyotes but this was insane! I could hear a large group howling from the neighbor's woods a few acres to our south and they were being answered by what sounded like a pack of juveniles barking and howling just inside the edge of our woods to the north!!! To make things worse I could hear a random howl(s) coming from the woods on the other side of the house

Yotes howling (preferably in the distance) generally doesn't bother me (or the pup) but for some reason this was very different and standing there in the twilight I was honestly spooked and the puppers was freaking out. Thinking back I wonder if I wasn't missing the voice of a wolf in all the "noise"????

 

[Peep_Show]

I love the sound of nearby coyotes....it means they're contemplating accessing a nice rabbit dinner from our lawn. The only time their song was disconcerting was when they were by the back wall (probably about 12-foot from bedroom window on the other side). The calamity they made was SO loud it sounded like sirens.

Saw a large coyote in the orchard at dusk day before last, good size, weight and healthy pelt. Nice that they're circling back through as they had been gone for a bit (and the rabbits flourished). They and the crows seem to come back to the neighborhood about the same time.