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

[aussie pete]

I signed up & bookmarked -doing a great job ,u should be a ghost writer for Bee's book

 

[aussie pete]

Definitely! I know how frustrating it must have been. I have been confronted so many times by people at work, by family and even by people at church about eating my chickens and other livestock. And this is smack dab in the middle of farm country and most of these folks either run broiler houses and egg batteries or their families do....go figure!

It's so hard to understand folks who condone commercial livestock operations but feel real good about trying to guilt you about eating your own animals that "you raised from a baby!!!!".....<insert the unspoken "and how could you?????" here>.

thanks for yr post back at # 3042-
IMO- u r just showing ,great respect for yourself ,life & the animal with yr prospective, i commend u on yr honesty

too many ppl now grow up thinking all food comes from a market, nicely packaged & far removed from "those horrid dirty farms -guess that's why there is so many kids now having allergic reactions to certain foods after being processed so much to make them "safe" - off my soap box now

 

[galanie]

As I grew in my life I came to understand that the world view had shifted in some crazy way about the meaning of "compassion" and it somehow had gotten skewed.  The same people who left their mother in a nursing home and rarely ever visited, even when they lived nearby, were the same people who bragged about how many animals they "rescued". 

Right on! The whole post, not just this! But I wanted to add that Compassion is also the calm and humane killing of your own well cared for animal. That animal just replaced a poorly treated inhumanely raised and killed animal on your plate.

 

[Miss Lydia]

OK, caught up some of the chickens today for a look see and to goop them up with NuStock. A couple of crossbred Wellies had a couple of bugs on them but no nits that I could see; put a little NS around their vents and let them go. The old Wellie girl with the impacted foot gland, well it was packed full of crud again so cleaned it out and packed full of NS. She had some lice/mites so smeared more NS around her butt. Also rubbed it into her legs; the scales were looking a little rough. I'm not sure what scale mites would look like but figured the NS wouldn't hurt anything.

Poor ol Vinnie, the old Wellie roo. When I looked at him last time it seemed every feather shaft was covered with nits over his entire body, even all over his neck. I also discovered some rough skin on his keel and both of his legs are raw like this. I'm not sure what's causing it but I slathered on some NS.


This time I didn't see as many live bugs, so maybe the DE did something afterall. But still tons of nits, especially around the vent.

So I worked in a bunch of NS all around here and the base of his tail feathers. Also a lot of his neck feathers. Didn't see much of anything under his legs or wings. He's a sweet old boy and while he wasn't very happy about all this he didn't fight too hard.

Then I checked a couple of the old banties in the other pen; one had a couple bugs but I didn't see any nits; Smeared some NS on her anyway. Her feet looked good. Then I caught up the smallest one; She is laying and lays nearly every day. I thought it odd tho that it looked like she had a poopy butt. There was one small lump of poo stuck in her feathers, She has never seemed as fluffy as the rest and now I know why;

That's her keel there; whole parts of her with no feathers; doesn't even look like pin feathers coming in, just smooth skin. Also the feathers she does have seem very thin and brittle.

This is just below her vent after I cut away the lump of poo and washed her a bit. There was a whole herd of nasty bugs right around her vent and all the skin is red and tender looking. So she practically got a bath in NS, not just this area but all of the bare skin areas I saw. So hoping this will help these guys out and get them going again.

I have high hopes the Nu stock will get them going again.. check them again in 10 days you may have to treat one more time.

 

[flappinhappy]

Not sure if this goes here or in the FF thread but I live in central Florida and the Publix grocery chain has started carrying Braggs. Hope the info helps and can save some shipping costs for first time feeders.

 

[delisha]

One of the great things about FF is saving money. When you feed dry it ends up on the ground and eaten by other birds and becomes rodent attractors. Feeding the FF severely reduces that. You will have less rodents and waste. The biggest asset is the health of the flock. Not only does it help to get them healthy, it keeps them healthy and they need less. Last year i was catching n average of two mice a day this time of year. This year with the FF I have caught two.

 

[just me]

Bulldogma, I am having issues with publishing. I publish under anonymous because I have no idea what the selections are. Those little tests are hard to read. I usually have to do it a few times.

I publish under anonymous too. Those little tests are hard to read!! I'm wondering if publishing under anonymous would have any impact on the decision of a potential sonsor.

 

[aoxa]

Where does everyone store their eggs? Fridge, counter? And for how long on the counter?

I always store mine on the counter or pantry. Never the fridge. They lose flavour IMO in the fridge. I am usually out of eggs by the end of the week. I really need my RSLs to start laying so I can fill my orders

Now...on a more chicken based thought.  Today is very windy....VERY.  I was up to the coop earlier and was gratified to not feel a single breeze...but to still note the air being fresh and not stale.  I think this coop is now winterized to my satisfaction!  It is pretty snug and has lots of natural light..this makes me very happy. 

My birds have been in the coop for the past few hours doing who knows what in there, then it started to rain and they came out and started foraging.  Crazy birds!  The wind is practically blowing them across the yard and they are out in it. 

 

I think they go out in the rain because the worms come up to keep from drowning. That is what I've heard, and what I've seen when they are out. They get a lot more worms when it rains.

[COLOR=4B0082]LMAO... ummm where do you hang the TP out there Bee???[/COLOR]
[COLOR=4B0082]Oh wait, that's right... Silkies! [/COLOR]

- You could not pee in your yard in my last place. My neighbour - though incredibly sweet and very nice - must have Aspergers or something similar. She is honest to the point of weirdness. Once she complimented me on my 'new nightgown'. Weird? Yep.. I really miss Susie though. She had called me when someone went and stole some chairs off my deck. She knows everyone in that area, so it was really easy to track down who did it!

Bee, I greatly appreciate your frank thoughts on killing your chickens.

I spent a pivotal part of my childhood living at a hatchery. My Father hatched 5,000 eggs at a time, and did not share the old timer view of husbandry. He was a broiler-house, hens in cages kind of guy. I witnessed chicken killing in varying forms, from culling new chicks to processing food. Butchering was part of life, as were all the chores required to keep them all. 

I didn't live with chickens again until my 40's. I discovered I truly wanted to have them in my life, and that there were amazing benefits to be had of keeping your own flock for both eggs and meat.
I knew going in that I was going to be doing any butchering that needed doing, and that by creating life (beneath my broody hen) required a lifelong commitment to these birds. 
In  over 2 years, I have butchered 6 roosters. 5 that I raised from either eggs or day-olds, and one for a neighbor, who can't do it. 

Each and every time I have to do it I am filled with dread. It has not yet become ordinary to me to kill these birds. I do not enjoy it, even remotely. I take no pride or joy in it. I merely focus on giving them the same respect in death as I have in their lives. I shake when I cut their throats, and I have to literally "talk myself off the ledge", as they flap around, with the phrase "their head is off, they are dead; their head is off, they are dead" until their bodies stop and I get ahold of myself.

Once they are dead, it is pretty easy. It becomes produce.
But taking their life is still a huge moment to me. I would never allow anyone else to do my birds. However much of a mess I make of the job (and I'm not gonna lie, I have, before. Learning to do it alone is very hard), the responsibilty rests on my shoulders, alone.
I save a wishbone from every bird I have ever killed, as a reminder that food is not free. 

I don't judge people who "can't", or as you said, "won't" kill their own food, or mercifully end the life of their friend to end its suffering. But I can't imagine putting myself in their place. It is my job. I accept it for what it is.

This is great. I really enjoyed your post.

bee it is not a woman thing. it is a human thing. i don't like to kill the birds either. we raise them from day olds. we watch them grow . we care for and nurture them. then we have to kill them. it is not easy but it is part of the process in farming. the only real benefit of this is we get to eat a healthy animal that has been loved and cared for.

I think women are a little more sensitive then men (for the most part) when it comes to ending the life of an animal. It may be stereotyping, but I'm thinking for the majority of cases it is the truth. Of course there are men out there that find it very difficult, but even more women find it that way. I think that no gender would 'enjoy' doing it, but I do think it bothers men a little less.

 

[just me]

If you absolutely can't cull him- invest about $200-$500 and take him to the Vets to have the toe removed. He can't live like that. Infections will invade and the poor fella will suffer. If he does not die from infection now, he will eventually. The toe needs to come off. If you cull him now you can have a nice meal. If you wait, infection will prevent you from that. He will have suffered in vain. It will be a continuing battle. High stress on you and the flock. You have choices. I would cull.

I let a perfectly good pullett go to waist. She was the victim of a predator attack. When I found her, it was near dark, and she wasn't moving. There were no outside wounds. I put her in the coop, and took note that whe went straight for the next boxes, and didn't roost. I figured it was stress from the recent attack.

The next day, she was eating and drinking, a little. Moving real gingerly and slowly. I figured I'd give her 4 or 5 days and if she didn't improve, I'd cull and put her in the pot!!

Day three, I came home and she had passed. I didn't know how long she had been laying in the run dead, so I didn't process her.

Should've put her out of her misery on day one!!

 

[aoxa]

I think ACV would..it's remarkable the list of things it is supposed to help and I have found it beneficial for many things...it immediately soothes bee stings and itchy rashes caused by the unknown plants out there I contact in the woods.  I don't know that the NS would be good for acne(I'd be worried about clogging the pores with the oil) or uticaria(hives or rash caused by an allergen) but it definitely soothed Jake's blanket~yes, the entire area of his belly was covered!~ of flea bites that were on his stomach and the redness and itching from them were completely gone the next day.  It would be worth it to try, don't you think?  It certainly couldn't hurt! 

 

Know what really helps with acne? Emu Oil. It also clears up those little bumps on your arms.. They look like ingrown hairs, and I have them quite bad. It really helped. It's 100% natural emu oil.

Emu oil is an oil rendered from the fat of the emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae, a bird indigenous to Australia.[1][2] Emu oil and eucalyptus oil have been used historically in Australian aboriginal traditional medicine for fevers, coughs, minor pain, arthritic joints, bruises, cuts and sores.[3][4]
Unadulterated emu oil can vary widely in color and viscosity, but, assuming the emu has enjoyed a natural diet, is generally a yellow liquid.[5] It is composed of approximately 70% unsaturated fatty acids. The largest component is oleic acid, a mono-unsaturated omega-9 fatty acid. Emu oil also contains roughly 20% linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid) and 1-2% linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid).
A handful of animal studies have suggested that emu oil, applied topically, may have anti-inflammatory properties or promote wound healing in various rodent models.[6][7][8] Emu oil is marketed and promoted as a dietary supplement with a wide variety of claimed health benefits.[9]