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

[LOVEIGEE]

The Gnarly Bunch are out in the pouring, cold rain foraging for clover....gotta love a geriatric flock that shows the youngsters how it's done.

Who's this Sandy and what does she know?

Good morning, folks! I hope everyone is tucked into warm places and are ready to sit out this storm. If it gets bad we will lose power, so those who will still be on the forum, keep it rolling and true for us, OK?

Those with deep litter systems, let us know how your runs and such reacted to the increased rains, how the fermented feed is doing in colder temps, how the recovery from molting is going, etc. Need to keep this thread going with outcomes of treatment options and methods described here~good or bad outcomes. Keep those before and after pics coming along, if you can.

Bee and all those in the path of Sandy.......Please take care of yourselves and let us know you are okay when you can.....God Bless

 

[bobbieschicks]

We are getting steady heavy rain and gusts. Some around 22mph. So far power holding and coop good. I haven't gone out to check on them. They are restricting access on the Nice Bridge to regular vehicles only.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you all for your concern and prayers...I am praying for all those in the storms as well. In WV we have a lot of protection from high winds due to the mountains but we still get 50-70 mph winds in the winter at times. They are predicting lots of heavy, wet snow which is more damaging here because of all of our trees and old electric grids.

That last storm we had this past spring that uprooted and broke off trees all over the state actually bent over big electric towers and broke them off, cell towers too. We were out of power for 10 days that time but it was worse because it was very hot weather and people couldn't stay cool...we had some who died from dehydration and the heat.

The Bat and I are very blessed because we are used to homesteading, I was raised homesteading and living off-grid and so very much go on with life as usual when these power outtages and such happen. We don't have a generator or anything but we have never really needed one. We have all the necessaries and even plenty of board games, decks of cards, hundreds of books and we even save inside chores for rainy days so that we can stay occupied(I have a room to clean, storage bins to sort, pics to place in albums, silverware that needs soaking and a yearly de-crudding, etc.)

Worse for the folks who live without food canned up or without wood heat, gas cook stoves, etc. Many poor people who live from paycheck to paycheck have a hard time during these events and the children suffer. The churches usually pull together(we have lots of churches) and help one another and these people, so things like this have a way of showing the love of God in many ways. This give people the chance to show love, actually DO love instead of talking about it, and it brings people together for a brief while and takes their heads out of the technology that smothers most families.

Many people view events such as this as a curse and a punishment but they can truly be a gift if one looks deeper than the temporary discomfort or danger and see the courage, love and selflessness that shows up in the face of disaster. Then is when we truly get to see what our neighbors have living inside of them, good or bad, and this is a clarifying time~it even tests oneself and what one has living inside your spine and your heart. You get to sort the wheat from the chaff of what is important, who is important and how trivial all the rest of it all these material things are.

My prayers are with all who live in the path of the storm surges and along the coastlines, may they see many things that clarify their vision on life so they may live a truer existence in the wake of this storm.

 

[loanwizard]

Very well said!

 

[maryhysong]

Well firefox had a problem right in the middle of my extra long post. Lets see if I can remember what I was saying....

First, thanks so much Beekissed for starting this thread and many others, for sharing your philosophy of life & chicken raising, you are so kind to share with all of us and I appreciate greatly all the time you take answering questions and showing us a better way. I just wish I had found some of your info a lot sooner!

I hope that you and yours are safe and snug during the hurricane and will be back online with us soon.

My chicken story; (I've had chickens before, typical buy chicks every year or two, feed commercial feed, static coop and run; kitchen scraps, weed and garden waste; also earthworms which I raised in rabbit manure, but never breeding and hatching and such like I"m beginning to do now)

My current flock:
March of this year I picked up 1 Buff Orpington roo and POL pullet, with 3 barred rock banties, not sure of their ages, but not that old. The BO hen I lost after a couple months; always snotty and congested and runny poop. I wasn't sure what was wrong with her but since nobody else was sick figured it was just something with her. Now I'm wondering if maybe it was gleet. I don't know.

April I bought 4 BO pullet chicks, at least two are beginning to lay, the other two shouldn't be too far behind.

July I was given 4 month old poults from the following Welsummer hens, daddy, who knows? Ameraucana, Welsummer, Buttercup? Waiting for them to finish growing up and lay an egg, might at least narrow the field a bit.

Also given some ducklings which turned out to be a beautiful full blood Welsh Harlequin drake (getting him a girlfriend!) and 3 runner WH crosses that all look to be drakes. I also bought 11 Muscovys which turned out to be 6 drakes and 5 ducks. I'll be keeping all the ducks and two drakes at least through this first breeding season.

Late Aug I was given 3 hens and a roo; Welsummers, 4=5 yrs old. Tho opinion on the Welsummer thread is that they've been crossed with Brown Leghorns; Haven't decided where I'm going to go with them yet. The roo was a pet and is a perfect gentleman; not show quality but still fertile.

Sep I borrowed an incubator and set 7 Welsummer and 13 bantyXBO eggs. All the banties hatched, got 4 Welsummer chicks; I think more would have hatched, but I think I opened the 'bator too much/too soon. Lesson learned. Sold the banty chicks, kept the Welsummers. they are 3 girls and a boy. Waiting to see what they look like before I make decisions on what to do with the Wellie flock.

I can't free range and right now they are in static pens because of predation issues; 6ft fence + two strands of electric. By spring I should have another charger and some electric netting. Pen 1 is a bit overcrowded with the ducks, but all excess drakes are going to freezer camp next month so that should ease that up. The pen areas will be garden space next year and have become my compost piles; lots of rock, gravel and caliche clay, so adding every bit of organic matter that I can.

Pen 1 has the Welsummer cross poults, the older Welsummers, and most of the ducks. Pen 2 has the BO's, banties and a trio of Muscovy.

Now for some of the mistakes I"ve made!
I was feeding free choice and was over run with sparrows and doves; went to feeding twice a day and most of the wild birds have quit coming. Currently feeding sprouted grains and FF. Was doing just whole grain FF but it seemed like they are taking forever to feather out so adding some chick starter to the mix to up the protein. Trying to stay away from corn and soy because of GMO issues, organic is not available here, but feeling like they need more protein; was using earthworms but with the increase in flock numbers the worm boxes couldn't keep pace with appetites. I'm working on more but it will probably be spring before there is enough to keep up with the birds.

In Sep I was out just hanging out with the birds and noticed a fresh poo with little white dots that looked like they were moving. Closer look, yep, moving! Discovered BYC and that they were tapeworms. Well you know what I did next! Yep got some wormer and dosed all the birds I could get my hands on; It was a big poop so thinking it was from the old Welsummers and I did get a dose down all of them, the BOs and the banties; couldn't nab the poults, but they looked pretty good so thinking they weren't too bad any way. Dosed again a couple weeks later. Noticed a few pale dried up combs beginning to redden up a bit afterwards. Haven't seen another wormy poop since.

But in the meantime the Welsummer that was laying when I got them quit. Haven't had any Wellie eggs since mid Sep. Of course I don't really expect the old girls to lay like crazy.

Discovered the FF thread and began fermenting their feed recently. Forgot to mention I also pick up produce spoils from the grocery once or twice a week and they love it, especally the lettuce and cabbage trimmings, tomatoes and fruit; you wouldn't believe how many pounds of this stuff is tossed out every week! I just wish I didn't have to go to work so I could get it every day, I could probably raise a couple pigs just on what this one store throws in the trash!

Last week I discovered this thread and began reading from the beginning. Made me really go out and start really looking at those birds, especially the old Welsummers; they've been in a terrible molt and just not looking too great. Well, discovered some kind of mite/lice running around on them. Well I wasn't too far into this thread at the time so of course I went right out and bought 50 pounds of DE, covered the chickens and the coops and the ground in the run. Then I finished reading the thread and discovered wood ashes would have been a much better choice. Oh well. I won't have fresh clean ashes for a bit yet, as it's just now getting cool and I might not need a fire for another week or two. I don't use ashes in the garden because our soil is already super alkaline (pH 9+) but don't know, that DE might be really alkaline too. Live and learn.

In the meantime I'm stirring up the packed down areas of soil in the coop and will be collecting leaves and anything else I can get hold of to add to the pens for better soil health.

I know my mistakes now and can only go forward from here. I am making mobile coops and plan to get electric netting so I can move the birds around more. Like I said next month all the excess drakes will be going to freezer camp. Probably will not cull old hens until laying picks up in spring, then I'll decide. In the meantime I"m at least hoping the DE and the deworming will take the parasite load down enough that with the FF and a higher protein level the birds can get to a bit better state of health. Since I have ducks I don't do ACV in the water because I have to dump it daily because they are so messy. I started my FF with ACV and yogurt whey.

My chicks are getting FF chick starter, dark leafy greens and have a small dish of buttermilk on the side. The 4 of them drink about 4 ounces of buttermilk a day. When milk is on sale again I might get some extra and make some for the other birds too. I live by myself and only use a small amount of milk. Irks me that there are times when a gallon of milk that I can't finish before it's bad costs less than the half gallon.... so usually ferment some buttermilk or yogurt for the birds anyway just so it doesn't go to waste.

Bee thanks again for this thread and for taking so much of your time to share your knowledge!

 

[Beekissed]

Mary, thank you for finally joining us and for telling us your story....I am simply loving the new participation in the thread and am hoping that everyone reports the effectiveness of any changes they make and takes before and after pics. I've found that many really don't believe what you write but they really can't deny the pics...they are living proof if good changes in a flock or environment.

Anyone else out there reading but not posting, if you implement any of these changes in your flocks, please take note or take pics so that you can post any signs of improvements that derived from the changes in husbandry methods. It really helps us all to learn. If you have any other great all natural tips or things we can use, please post those as well. I am still learning too, after all these years with chickens....I don't think a good flock master ever stops trying to do things better than they have.

 

[Nomibear]

PHOTOS BELOW!

Here are some photos.  Like I said originally, not sure if the mechanism will keep from freezing with the bird bath heater or not - that remains to be seen when the weather goes below 25 degrees.

They have 2 different cups.  I originally bought 1 of each to compare them.



Here's what the bucket looks like.  BE SURE NOT TO PUT A TIGHT FITTING LID ON TOP.  Same for nipple waterers.  If a lid is closed, it creates a vacuum and no water will be let down.  KEEP YOUR LID AJAR.


You can see a strange chain up there.  The only reason I have it is to keep the birds from jumping on top of the bucket and roosting.  I was concerned that they'd jump up there and end up IN the bucket of water since the lid is always ajar.


Cup type A.  (So far I like this one best.  It is the less expensive at $1.70 ea.)

Cup type B ($3.00 ea.  Mechanism is replaceable inside when the internal sealing ring goes bad.)


On both of these:  As the chicken puts their beak in, it moves the nipple and releases more water down.  The cups stay mostly empty - it's tripped when they beak in the cup.

Easy to clean out.  When stuff gets in the bottom of the cups from their beaks, I either take a wadded up paper towel or an absorbent rag and sop up any water and wipe out the cup.  You can also just turn them upside down to dump the water then wipe out.  I don't do that because
mine is inside the hen house and I don't want any water on the floor.

Thank you for sharing these! I want to try the type A style out. Did you order and use the $1.00 fitting for PVC pipe? Can I ask what they were like to install? Is it just a matter of drilling a hole the right sz?

Sorry I was so far behind. Thank you for your reply

 

[jlynnet]

Thanks for starting this thread! I have learned so much! This is so much better than any book. Tomorrow I'm going to give my girls a thorough look over. I work today and don't have enough time.
When I feed pumpkin seeds, are fresh just as good as dried? I've fed some fresh pumpkin to them and they loved it.

 

[FireTigeris]

Watching and sending good thoughts.

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks for starting this thread! I have learned so much! This is so much better than any book. Tomorrow I'm going to give my girls a thorough look over. I work today and don't have enough time.
When I feed pumpkin seeds, are fresh just as good as dried? I've fed some fresh pumpkin to them and they loved it.

Fresh is always better! Glad you could join us!!