The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

[Leahs Mom]

Gnarly Bunch Update: As mentioned above, removed possible allergen from the coop and will wait and see if Katy AKA Monkey Butt gets herself straightened up. No eggs today...nada! The girls continue to look smooth and glossy as they travel through the land of molt...some look a little rag tag but Raggedy Ann, Bertha and Ruby Crockett are looking the most lovely of all.

Pics taken today yesterday:








GOOD: Stumpy's feet look great and she is smoothing out and moving better. Ruby, as you can see above, is looking great and her vent is looking better each day.

BAD: The NuStock only works on Jake's fleas as long as it is on his body...he keeps licking it off and the fleas repopulate.

Will make a spray of pine tar solution tomorrow to see if THAT works and if he will lick it off. Will place a little hot pepper juice in the mix to try and see if he will leave it alone. Desparate times calls for desparate measures. Today he got dusted with ashes but it only provided temporary relief and then I saw him out there digging again. Where will it all end????

No pictures...at least I cant see them?

ETA: NEVER MIND...THEY JUST CAME

 

[Mrshollywood]

That packed down, bare earth cannot breath, it cannot absorb water well and filter impurities out and it usually has no beneficial bug or worm life in it.  That kind of ground is where only bad things can thrive.  To recondition it you need to look to nature for that model.  When you have a barren spot in your yard and want to fix it, what do you do?  You probably lightly till, fertilize and reseed it to grass. 

Since you can't do that in a chicken run as the birds will just deplete that again, you'd have to find other ways to loosen and return the soil to good health.  A forest floor has a great soil culture, though it grows little grass.  Bugs and worms thrive in the leaf pack and decaying debris of a forest floor.  If you cannot have grass cover for your soil, the next best thing is to create a faux forest floor.  If you live in a dry climate, use more moist composting materials.  If you live in a moist climate, use the drier stuff.  Layer it in, let the birds pack it down, poop on it, let the rain soak it, layer some more.  I'd create a dry side and leave one side uncovered.  The birds will toss material back and forth between these two sides.  I'd do whatever it took to cover that soil and bring earthworms back into the soil. 

A good layer of hay at the bottom is conducive to worm life in drier climes, leaves in wetter areas.  Do an experiment...leave a hay bale sitting in one corner of the run for a couple of months...then lift it up.  You should see earthworms living directly under it, feeding off the hay.  They like the dark and they like it moist..and they will loosen the earth for you when they move in to feed on the composting material.  As the worms and other bugs loosen the soil, you get your great sponge and filtration system back.  That healthy soil will revitalize itself and also provide a place for beneficial bugs and bacteria to live and feed off of any bad bugs and bacteria.

It may take time and tweaking to get it right but a forest floor doesn't get created in one season...it takes years of leaf fall, moisture, decay, fresh air, etc.  It's worth working on it, though, if you want a healthier flock and if you plan on keeping chickens in that area for years.   

I haven't but it's great information! 

I would.  Variety of material, I would think, would be key to a good compost.  I'd mix in some hay or other grasses with all that so the worms have something to feed on. 

Oh my gosh I finally understand what you mean by good soil vs. bad! I've been reading all the posts and learning so much but was stumped on that!
I LOVE the way you give visuals when you explain things!

So after understanding that I went out and examined my run.... There is one area that is hard ans a rock and smooth and that is the area that stinks and gets slimy and slick :-(
Then I moved the galvanized container that I had upside down for the water to sit on top of and the soil under it was actually fluffy like I tilled it and was full of bugs! If only it was easy to post pics I could show you LOL

That just proves you can learn something everyday, thank you!

 

[Beekissed]

YW! I'm so glad that others can use this thread. I'm learning every day as I go along as well, so this is a good place to ping ideas off the wall and see if they ring true. So far, most of the interventions have panned out and the flock looks 100% better than it did when it arrived but I think we won't see their full strength and vitality return until they are done molting.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Of course, it's probably because I cull all the overeaters like Wyandottes, Buff Orps, etc. that I do not have these issues.

Please expound... do wyandottes overeat as a matter of course? Do they have other negative issues?

 

[Beekissed]

IME, they do indeed eat more than other breeds their build, thus are not real feed thrifty. Not only that, each Wyandotte that I've had were nasty birds...so much so that I culled them mainly for their character/disposition. They were cranky towards their flock mates, pushy at the feeder and pecked me when I had to handle them....and every bird in my flock should know never to peck me. That's just a big ol' no-no here...no one bites the hand that buys the feed. Death sentence.

Yeah, you can argue that it is a dumb animal and doesn't know who buys the food but, if I have 6 other breeds out of flocks of 30 that never peck me, no matter what I do to them, and one breed that consistently pecks me when I attempt to work with them, this is a breed that doesn't last long here. I think I've tried the Wyandottes on three separate occasions and the last time it was given to me, so not a bird that I picked out voluntarily...I learned the first two times to not repeat the mistake. That third hen was the first cull of that particular flock.

 

[aaggjg]

[COLOR=006400]ETA:[/COLOR]  [COLOR=800000]NOTE:  Three days ago I had placed lavendar cuttings in the nest boxes and in the coop....it may be coincidence that this bird, one of the few that is laying almost daily, should experience allergy symptoms, but I removed them tonight and will see if this is indeed a factor in her symptoms. [/COLOR]
[/quote]


Omg I just put lavender in my coop a few days ago. I wonder if that could be causing my hens congestion .... Oooh out it goes tomorrow!!!

 

[Noncentzter]

Got a question...

We've got some pasteurized apple cider with what looks like 'mother' in it. Can we add ACV, with mother, to it to make ACV?

 

[Beekissed]

If it is, it may be a little bit before the allergy symptoms subside, so just watch and notice if there is at least a lessening as time goes on after removing the lavender.

 

[Beekissed]

Got a question...

We've got some pasteurized apple cider with what looks like 'mother' in it. Can we add ACV, with mother, to it to make ACV?

Sure can...just leave the top off, place it in a dark place and wait a little while...maybe a week or so. Should be able to see a good mother in it by then if stored at room temp.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

The only way is to take them off the roost at night and do a rectal exam to palpate the next day's egg...the ones in which you cannot feel the hard shell of the egg through the intestinal wall are your culprits. Do you really wanna know that bad?

I don't know, BK. I'm a nurse, too so it takes a lot for me to get yucked-out. Anyway...I could think of it more like a chicken gyne exam...since the vent is both. 18 hens. Guess I know what I'd be dreamin' about all night.