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

[Beekissed]

I feel bad about it too. I've never had overly fat flocks and I, of all people, know how uncomfortable fat can be. Toby looks like a sumo wrestler when he runs and he is much too old a gent to be carrying that much weight.

I'm going to stop feeling bad about what I let happen to my good birds and get on with good management as per usual. The chickens forgot their bad experience as soon as it happened...it's only us humans who carry bad memories around.

Time to get this flock back to business and see if they have one more season of laying inside their bodies. Sure would love to have some chicks out of my four old girls and Toby.

 

[delisha]

I feel bad about it too. I've never had overly fat flocks and I, of all people, know how uncomfortable fat can be. Toby looks like a sumo wrestler when he runs and he is much too old a gent to be carrying that much weight.

I'm going to stop feeling bad about what I let happen to my good birds and get on with good management as per usual. The chickens forgot their bad experience as soon as it happened...it's only us humans who carry bad memories around.

Time to get this flock back to business and see if they have one more season of laying inside their bodies. Sure would love to have some chicks out of my four old girls and Toby.

Those would be some pretty nice birds. Late layer chicks are awsome!

 

[Kacey's Krazee's]

Whew! I have been reading and reading trying to catch up. I soooo love this thread. I haven't even started yet on the OT thread. This one is doing just fine on education so far. I have had chickens since '09. I found BYC and started in "learning" all the "right" things to do. I was going to be the best chicken person around, and stocked up my first aid kit with Ivermectin, wazine,infant vitamins, DE, Blue Kote.... etc. I have wormed, dusted with DE, Sevin, used vasoline on their legs for mites.I even found a way to be able to bandage my chickens feet when I was treating them for bumblefoot. ( I did find a great antibacterial to soak their feet in, that is used for Koi, worked wonders!)
I used the DLM, and it was working pretty good. I have a dirt floor in my coop. I had a 40 lb bag of the DE, and used it up this spring, and purchased another 40 lb bag. I have had some problems with mites, and also used more DE, and was spraying the coops and runs with permythrn ( I don't think the spelling is correct) I began having more and more issues with feather picking and stinky coops. More flies.... so of course, more DE and more spraying. I had found a feed store that carried a layer crumble/pellet that had 20% protein, and I started feeding them that, thinking they were suffering from not having enough protein. Purina only has 17%. It helped, but not completely. I was thinking about getting rid of the chickens, but still really enjoyed having them around, and working with them, and enjoying the sounds that they make. Well, about 2 weeks ago, I found this thread, by accident. I had even stopped really reading BYC. I had a couple of threads that I had subscribed to, and I found one of Bees' early postings, and my curosity started me reading. Wow, a whole NEW way of raising chickens. This stuff made sense! I finally made it to town today, and purchased some items to be able to make the FF, (needed buckets!) I also bought dehydrated alfalfa dust to add to the mash to give more greens, as they can't free range. I also bought the sulfur, bag balm, and ordered the pine tar on line today. I made up the first of my mash, and it's in the bathtub... cooking. I have waited until I was able to catch up before I posted. I actually have to go back to 184-381 and connect the first half and the last....someday....
I have so much to tell everyone! I feel like I know all of you, after reading all of these pages. I so look forward to continue reading and enjoying the companionship of this group. And a huge big THANK YOU to all who contribute!
Now, I do have a question...... what the heck do I do with an open 40 lb bag of DE?????

 

[Beekissed]

I don't know....keep it in case you get roaches? You could always sell it at a discount price to other chicken owners...I'm sure you'd get plenty of takers out there.

I can't say how glad I am that you found this thread and that you find it useful. Does my heart good! Some folks will, some won't, I'm thinking. Sometimes it's hard to change what you thought was right all along and take a different path to see where it ends up. I'm glad you are brave enough to take that different path and keep on with your chickens. I don't think you will be sorry.

This thread has a extraordinary number of really nice people...the most I've ever met in my 4 years on BYC and every day I thank God for the chance to know them and talk with them. As one ages, it seems harder and harder to make good girl friends but this thread is like having a big ol' sleep over...even has a few good pillow fights!

But I notice one thing...everyone seems to really, really like everyone else. It may be my imagination but I think it's nothing short of a miracle to have this many nice folks in one place.

Now we have one more!

Please feel free to chart the progress here on how your flock takes to the changes you may make so that others can learn about it all. Before and after pics are the most interesting thing on this thread so if you get a chance to do any, we really like those as you have probably seen. Someone can question the methods and even voice doubts but those pics seem to speak volumes and do more to show the efficacy of these methods than any words we can say.

 

[KPenley]

hmmmm...that's a lot of DE Welcome to the most helpful thread I've found on BYC so far!

To everyone with plump chickens...would adding some gravel to the mix be harmful? I wonder if the chickens would feel like they're eating more....but well wouldn't be, you know?
My 3 month old pair were abnormally large when I got home from a week long trip at Thanksgiving. They had a big feeder of dry food and friends checked on them every day with fresh and wormy treats too. I don't know how much in cups or pounds the feeder held, but they hold 1 gallon of water. It was empty. They had thrown the dry food around and even made a pile out of it to nest on top of.

Above all else they ate...ate so much they couldn't go up the ramp anymore to sleep, and now sleep on a lower roost on the first level of their grow out pen. When we got home they went right back on their fermented feed (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup a day). A couple weeks later and they're flying around, playing, scratching, etc again. Still can't get them to go upstairs at night, though they do nap there at midday, but oh well, at least they're not sleeping in their droppings.

 

[delisha]

Whew! I have been reading and reading trying to catch up. I soooo love this thread. I haven't even started yet on the OT thread. This one is doing just fine on education so far. I have had chickens since '09. I found BYC and started in "learning" all the "right" things to do. I was going to be the best chicken person around, and stocked up my first aid kit with Ivermectin, wazine,infant vitamins, DE, Blue Kote.... etc. I have wormed, dusted with DE, Sevin, used vasoline on their legs for mites.I even found a way to be able to bandage my chickens feet when I was treating them for bumblefoot. ( I did find a great antibacterial to soak their feet in, that is used for Koi, worked wonders!)
I used the DLM, and it was working pretty good. I have a dirt floor in my coop. I had a 40 lb bag of the DE, and used it up this spring, and purchased another 40 lb bag. I have had some problems with mites, and also used more DE, and was spraying the coops and runs with permythrn ( I don't think the spelling is correct) I began having more and more issues with feather picking and stinky coops. More flies.... so of course, more DE and more spraying. I had found a feed store that carried a layer crumble/pellet that had 20% protein, and I started feeding them that, thinking they were suffering from not having enough protein. Purina only has 17%. It helped, but not completely. I was thinking about getting rid of the chickens, but still really enjoyed having them around, and working with them, and enjoying the sounds that they make. Well, about 2 weeks ago, I found this thread, by accident. I had even stopped really reading BYC. I had a couple of threads that I had subscribed to, and I found one of Bees' early postings, and my curosity started me reading. Wow, a whole NEW way of raising chickens. This stuff made sense! I finally made it to town today, and purchased some items to be able to make the FF, (needed buckets!) I also bought dehydrated alfalfa dust to add to the mash to give more greens, as they can't free range. I also bought the sulfur, bag balm, and ordered the pine tar on line today. I made up the first of my mash, and it's in the bathtub... cooking. I have waited until I was able to catch up before I posted. I actually have to go back to 184-381 and connect the first half and the last....someday....
I have so much to tell everyone! I feel like I know all of you, after reading all of these pages. I so look forward to continue reading and enjoying the companionship of this group. And a huge big THANK YOU to all who contribute!
Now, I do have a question...... what the heck do I do with an open 40 lb bag of DE?????

That is so cute and funny! Guess you will have that bag for a while. At least you know from experience that it simply does not work the way they say it does.
Welcome to the group!

 

[delisha]

hmmmm...that's a lot of DE Welcome to the most helpful thread I've found on BYC so far!

To everyone with plump chickens...would adding some gravel to the mix be harmful? I wonder if the chickens would feel like they're eating more....but well wouldn't be, you know?
My 3 month old pair were abnormally large when I got home from a week long trip at Thanksgiving. They had a big feeder of dry food and friends checked on them every day with fresh and wormy treats too. I don't know how much in cups or pounds the feeder held, but they hold 1 gallon of water. It was empty. They had thrown the dry food around and even made a pile out of it to nest on top of.

Above all else they ate...ate so much they couldn't go up the ramp anymore to sleep, and now sleep on a lower roost on the first level of their grow out pen. When we got home they went right back on their fermented feed (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup a day). A couple weeks later and they're flying around, playing, scratching, etc again. Still can't get them to go upstairs at night, though they do nap there at midday, but oh well, at least they're not sleeping in their droppings.

I would not put gravel in the feed. They know if they need it. As long as you have it available you are all good.

 

[Melabella]

As one ages, it seems harder and harder to make good girl friends but this thread is like having a big ol' sleep over...even has a few good pillow fights!

Us????? Pillow fights

Naaaahhhhhhhh,,


What ya talkin about Bee?? (he he)

 

[Beekissed]

I like a good pillow fight...as long as it's with feather pillows.


I wouldn't feed them gravel but you can keep some in the corner of the run or range area if you think they can't find enough. My chooks have the choice of wonderful grit they find naturally and when I check gizzards upon processing they have plenty. I even found a pile of smoothly worn, tiny white quartz stones and some gizzard lining slough in a pile of poop on the roosts the other day. Guess those were too smooth and were no longer doing the job...had to go!

 

[KPenley]

Got it! Hmmmm...would a salad diet help with reduced FF dressing then?