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

[Miss Lydia]

The other thing you can do is put a drop or two of Shakle's soap or something like it, into their waterer.

Beekissed offered that advice, the garlic & the pumpkin seed info when I asked about worms before.

.

Never mind

I am not going to look at poop again.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh, no! Another convert to the lighter side of chicken husbandry....

Count me in too.

 

[Beekissed]

Dawn dish washing liquid works the same if you want to go that route. Actually, any soap works the same...my grandma used lye soap in her dishwater and gave that to the hogs and chickens.

A drop or two of dish detergent never killed anybody....I used to use it to swipe on my boys' tongues when they said words they were not supposed to say. They all tower over me now and are healthy as horses.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'd say not unless you really put a good amount in the deep litter mix, like folks seem to be doing with the DE. As long as it's localized to right around your dusting pan, I wouldn't worry too much. If you put too much it may change the pH of the whole deep litter and might take awhile to correct that situation by the application of the nitrogen and carbonaceous materials. As with anything, one can have too much of a good thing sometimes.

I've never actually placed ashes in my deep litter but I've been known to place some in the nest boxes when I had scale mites one time from "free" chickens I took in.

It was one of those "unintended consequences" of having a dust pan inside. Never really thought about it but a good amount of the ash ends up in the bedding as a result.

 

[Beekissed]

there are quite a lot of us!
I have always preferred the stay-healthy method to the medicate method, and fortunately for me, my ladies have always been healthy. Of course, they do get plenty of forage time and have adequate room and ventilation in their coop. I have read as much of the byc info as anyone, but always seem to come back to the advice of OTs, both on here and in real life.
I enjoy reading the ideas of many, and then deciding what I choose to do. Knowledge is power and I appreciate the "experts". However, 99 times out of 100 I choose the way the Grandmothers did it.

Yep, me too. Good ol' country logic tends to prove out time and again in life. Back then they couldn't really afford to lose stock to illness or poor husbandry, so they passed along the tried and true so that they could keep enough food for the family. Back then, chickens weren't hobbies or pets, they were a staple part of the protein source that could be kept fresh on the foot until you went out to grab one to stew. Can't really keep the hogs standing around until you need some food and then go kill one in a hurry and you couldn't afford to feed them out all winter until you needed the food. Chickens were a low cost source of protein that were usually managed by the woman of the house...which meant it was done right.

In my family history, the menfolks weren't too reliable on keeping the children fed(except for my dad...that was one thing he did different than his father before him) and would more often than not drink up any money they made...leaving the wife of many hungry kids having to grow enough to feed the livestock and the family. It was a hardscrabble life here in these mountains.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Dawn dish washing liquid works the same if you want to go that route. Actually, any soap works the same...my grandma used lye soap in her dishwater and gave that to the hogs and chickens.

A drop or two of dish detergent never killed anybody....I used to use it to swipe on my boys' tongues when they said words they were not supposed to say. They all tower over me now and are healthy as horses.

THAT'S a stealthy way to take care of those worms.....And all this time they though you were "washing their mouths out with soap"....

 

[stonykill]

WOW ....... You are really re-training me on everything that I am doing and thinking of doing. I am slowly wrapping my head around it. I've only had chickens since May of this year and have been making every newbie mistake there is. I'm so glad I've discovered this thread ........ Thank you Beekissed! I'm all done surfing all the discussion threads trying to educate myself. Everything I need to know is right here in this thread.

this thread and Bee's other thread. The OT thread. Between those 2 threads there isn't anything that hasn't been or can't be answered. For me, I thought I was the oddball letting my chickens be chickens and not pampering them. Until I discovered the OT thread. Then I reallized I was the normal one

 

[Beekissed]

this thread and Bee's other thread. The OT thread. Between those 2 threads there isn't anything that hasn't been or can't be answered. For me, I thought I was the oddball letting my chickens be chickens and not pampering them. Until I discovered the OT thread. Then I reallized I was the normal one

Ain't it true? Normal is getting more scarce by the day...

 

[stonykill]

Ain't it true? Normal is getting more scarce by the day...

my age group absolutely. My 19 year old sons age group, practically nonexistent.

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Ain't it true? Normal is getting more scarce by the day...

The new normal is abnormal.
Sad, really.