The Old Folks Home

[chickisoup]

Wonder if this means great things for our flocks????

 

[pennyJo1960]

@chickisoup Thank you same to you and good morning

 

[microchick]

No problem, Wickedchicken11, glad I could pass on the information. We got the data from our local home extension office when we were trying to run sheep on our property and they were dropping like flies from parasite load. Our property was bought from a young Amish couple and they had grazed the forage down to the ground. He was running sheep with our flock and didn't want to do a worming program. End of that. We gave him our sheep and set about letting the land heal and repair itself. 3 years ago, after 5 years of no livestock at all on our property, we had the conservation officer for our area come in and look things over. He said we were on the right path, our timber and pastures were repairing themselves. The only livestock we have are our chickens and I plan to free range the extra roosters starting this year so I will have to be more aggressive with my worming program with them. Every time I look at our short mowed grass I mentally see all the parasites that are in those first two inches of grass above ground.

 

[Latestarter]

We were at zero about a week or so ago. I was in the bathroom yesterday and was bitten 3 times by a mosquito. Where did she come from?

Indeed! Really! I find mosquitoes flying around inside despite having had multiple freezing days/nights back to back! Where are they breeding at? a non used sink trap? the unused bathtub drain? I'm baffled!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Yep.... year round thankfully we have very few biting flies.... It was 81 today and right now its 43...

The flies will huddle up under any over hang till it warms up enough


every environment has its trade offs...

Meanwhile the snow just started to fly here and the forecast is (and this is a direct quote): 4 to 21 inches of snow, maybe some sleet or rain and heavy wind.

Yeah, they can't narrow it down any more than that?

 

[drumstick diva]

4-21 inches, my friend would say "close enough for government work."

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I work for the government and I can tell you in some cases that's terrifyingly true, and in others thankfully very, very wrong.

 

[Alaskan]

 

[Wickedchicken6]

@Wickedchicken6 check this thread www.dw.com/en/a-glimpse-inside-johannesburgs-diepsloot-slum/a-17720678

The garbage is randomly collected, rats abound, no toilets on and on. Its not just there either, even in the 'burbs' we have the same problem of the garbage. The Government in their wisdom thought releasing billions of flies would break down the 'garbage' and waste. However this is not official, but there are a heck of a lot of flies,and there is a massive fly 'farm' near us, to test their theory.

That can't be very nice at all. Thank you for the link! I really appreciate that. I can't say I agree with your government's way of dealing with those issues. To me the flies are just adding more complicated issues. Truly frustrating. Off topic...but once upon a time I supplied our lovely doctor and his wife with lamb. She grew up on a farm in South Africa and explained to me how they used to butcher lamb and hang it at a certain height in the air. Apparently the specific height would keep the carcass above the fly level? That was the first I'd ever heard of that. Here when I was a kid, we butchered late in the fall when it was cold enough that there was no flies to deal with. We used the front end loader and hung the carcass high so no animals could reach it. I remember my fingers would get cold when I was skinning the hog.

Wonder if this means great things for our flocks????

I hope so!

Happy New Year to you too!

No problem, Wickedchicken11, glad I could pass on the information. We got the data from our local home extension office when we were trying to run sheep on our property and they were dropping like flies from parasite load. Our property was bought from a young Amish couple and they had grazed the forage down to the ground. He was running sheep with our flock and didn't want to do a worming program. End of that. We gave him our sheep and set about letting the land heal and repair itself. 3 years ago, after 5 years of no livestock at all on our property, we had the conservation officer for our area come in and look things over. He said we were on the right path, our timber and pastures were repairing themselves. The only livestock we have are our chickens and I plan to free range the extra roosters starting this year so I will have to be more aggressive with my worming program with them. Every time I look at our short mowed grass I mentally see all the parasites that are in those first two inches of grass above ground.

After I wrote earlier, I realized I know about the short grazing with livestock...but I had an "A HA" moment when you explained it in context of the chickens. I hadn't thought about the short grass in relation to the parasite load in the birds. I do tend to spread feed on the dirt through summer, and I know that's not the best. The grass I hadn't considered. It'll be something I'll be thinking about.

I don't understand the idea the Amish fellow had with grazing the grass so close...even with taking parasite load out of the equation. Sheep can be so hard on grasses and sometimes on specific spots of the grass that they like the most...a person's really shooting themselves in the foot letting any pasture be grazed less than 6 inches. (at least the grasses we have here) Grazing grasses below that height cuts the yield drastically and the grasses become so damaged and drained of growing resources that you're basically killing your pasture. Which is what happened in your case. That's really unfortunate that you had to deal with them. I'm sure that was extremely disheartening.

Katahdins are supposed to be somewhat parasite resistant. Just think if they weren't...lol. I wormed with ivermectin prior to lambing to catch the periparturient worm rise, prior to releasing the flock to graze, the lambs a couple of months in because it was a night and day difference after worming...the lambs seemed more susceptible to slow growth with the worms...and I dewormed with safeguard or valbazen when they came in.
It sounds like you are well on the right track with everything now. That's pretty good what you're doing with your land. A lot of people wouldn't give it time to repair itself.

Quote: I always considered that with fruit flies...but never with mosquitoes. Interesting thought!

x2 That's just too ironic that Diva commented about government employees...and you just happen to be one. A

and

moment for sure!
(At least for me)

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Quote: We're supposed to get more snow too...with wind. We're hoping it'll miss us. Hope the snow/rain/sleet misses you too!