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

[off-grid hen]

Well, I'm back after a few days, and WOW was there a lot added to this thread! So sorry if this was asked already.

When talking about leaves and deep, litter, im going to asume its like regular garden composting rules? Oak leaves too woody and take a long time to break down? Because that's what I have a ton of. I have other leaves, but the coop is under a stand of oaks for shade in summer and sunlight in winter.

Rather than dragging the run dirt out, I want to drag leaves IN. But I live where the ground is frozen for many months at a time. Will this still work or create a huge mess? Has anyone used mixes with high percentage of oak leaves with any success?

Glad to hear the swollen feet issue is doing better! I was wondering about that. I am going to inspect my hens feet to check out this gland.

Edit-typos abound.

 

[Sally8]

For the post about wanting to know what NS was (and in case it wasn't already addressed), I must have blinked and the post is way back.(I can't find your post or mine) NS stands for NuStock. Further back than post 813, it's talked about. I've never used it but people are talking about it's many uses. Just read through this thread. Sue

 

[normanack]

When talking about leaves and deep, litter, im going to asume its like regular garden composting rules? Oak leaves too woody and take a long time to break down? Because that's what I have a ton of. I have other leaves, but the coop is under a stand of oaks for shade in summer and sunlight in winter.

Not an OT, but I do have oak leaves in my coop -- that's what we have in our yard, too. When we started out in May, we didn't have enough leaves for really deep litter. During the summer we scrounged around the property and found some abandoned small piles of leaves from last year (yes, we are trashy people) and added them as we ran across them. Now that it's fall, we added the freshly fallen leaves and it is Deep Litter indeed.

The chickens love it. On rainy days I throw some scratch in the leaves (though not directly under the roosts) and it's a treasure hunt all day.

The litter is very dry and I'm thinking it may take a long time to compost, unless moisture builds up in the coop during winter.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

I agree with ve. #4-6 appear to be Sicilian Buttercups. Mind you it's been awhile since mine were that young and the photos I have of mine at that age are fuzzy. But they do look like Sicilians. Don't worry about my saying they're a big mistake. You're in WV so you should be fine. I live in Western NY, near Buffalo. We get some nasty winters and the Sicilians don't fair well with the cold. That was my main


concern. Didn't think it through for the area I live in. We'll see how it goes this winter. Second: great foragers, but don't do well with confinement.(although I haven't witnessed this for myself) This problem will resolve once I start free ranging. Third: not friendly. No longer a concern since Bee taught me to think of them as chickens and not pets. Although after 4 months of working with them, they will eat out of my hand, but still aren't very trusting. Run like they've seen the devil with anyone else, including my DH. And boy can they fly! Overall, a smaller bird and absolutely beautiful. I get compliments all the time. Wait until they're older you'll see what I mean. They get along well with my other birds. But then all my birds get along well. ( I hope I don't jinx myself) I don't know yet about their laying. Mine aren't old enough yet. But they are supposed to be good layers of smaller, white eggs. I think you'll be happy with them.

Sure lookin' forward to seein' a few of mine look like yours, and they were amongst the first to require quail netting between the front interior glass panel and the underside of the brooder's top lid -- they fly up to the edges, in anticipation of another refill ~'-)

 

[lalaland]

The litter is very dry and I'm thinking it may take a long time to compost, unless moisture builds up in the coop during winter.

that has been my experience for the last dozen years - that it never ever composts, and I also think it is because it is too dry, not enough "green" material.

Now, I have never had more than 20 hens at a time, and normally closer to a dozen - so compared to the amount of hay on the coop floor, the chicken poop factor isn't enough. On the other hand, every 6 months I have emptied out the coop and started with fresh hay, so perhaps I wasn't allowing enough time.

This fall, I'm taking Bee's advice and leaving the summer's accumulation of poop and adding leaves (oak as that is what I have), and I think I will actually take a pail of dirt and add that to the mix. It will be interesting, especially since the hens are molting and there are feathers everywhere.

I like the idea of Bee's that you would get beneficial nematodes or good bugs - but don't think it has happened yet in my coops. Bee uses pine shavings, perhaps they break down easier than hay?

 

[Sally8]

Is there such a thing as too much poop to litter (whatever anyone uses) ratio? I continue to ask my mother of how things were back when....and she said that they only cleaned the coop out once or twice a year but never used anything on the floor. As I said earlier, I only remember 1 chicken (rooster) ever dying and he got hit by a car.

 

[Suzierd]

Do you think NS would be ok to use on a Canary? I have a old Canary with some narly looking legs I would love to see if it would help but I know their much more sensitive then a chicken.

 

[Beekissed]

Well, I'm back after a few days, and WOW was there a lot added to this thread! So sorry if this was asked already.
When talking about leaves and deep, litter, im going to asume its like regular garden composting rules? Oak leaves too woody and take a long time to break down? Because that's what I have a ton of. I have other leaves, but the coop is under a stand of oaks for shade in summer and sunlight in winter.
Rather than dragging the run dirt out, I want to drag leaves IN. But I live where the ground is frozen for many months at a time. Will this still work or create a huge mess? Has anyone used mixes with high percentage of oak leaves with any success?
Glad to hear the swollen feet issue is doing better! I was wondering about that. I am going to inspect my hens feet to check out this gland.
Edit-typos abound.

I don't think it really matters. This isn't a typical compost pile and it will eventually break down if you leave it long enough. Some of the OTs haven't cleaned out their deep litter in 3 years, just scoop some of the really broken down material from the bottom for the garden and leave a goodly amount behind to sort of backslop the new litter. In the bigger poultry houses they have something they call "new litter disease" wherein they have cleaned out their litter once a year and have put down new shavings and the new chicks on the new bedding all got cocci and other gut disease.
Quote:

The litter is very dry and I'm thinking it may take a long time to compost, unless moisture builds up in the coop during winter.

that has been my experience for the last dozen years - that it never ever composts, and I also think it is because it is too dry, not enough "green" material.

Now, I have never had more than 20 hens at a time, and normally closer to a dozen - so compared to the amount of hay on the coop floor, the chicken poop factor isn't enough. On the other hand, every 6 months I have emptied out the coop and started with fresh hay, so perhaps I wasn't allowing enough time.

This fall, I'm taking Bee's advice and leaving the summer's accumulation of poop and adding leaves (oak as that is what I have), and I think I will actually take a pail of dirt and add that to the mix. It will be interesting, especially since the hens are molting and there are feathers everywhere.

I like the idea of Bee's that you would get beneficial nematodes or good bugs - but don't think it has happened yet in my coops. Bee uses pine shavings, perhaps they break down easier than hay?

In a drier climate, I don't think 6 mo. is long enough. Even in my humid climate, 6 mo. in a compost pile outside isn't enough to break down wood shavings, hay, etc. If I had an arid climate, I'd be looking at ways to incorporate a little moisture in the bedding with hay, fresh grass clippings, woody weeds, etc.

Is there such a thing as too much poop to litter (whatever anyone uses) ratio? I continue to ask my mother of how things were back when....and she said that they only cleaned the coop out once or twice a year but never used anything on the floor. As I said earlier, I only remember 1 chicken (rooster) ever dying and he got hit by a car.

Yeah...that would be called time to add bedding when there is too much poop...but if it don't stink, don't fix it. A few of the OTs do not use bedding at all but just let the dry manure break down by itself and they scoop it out to put it on their compost pile and such. I'd be betting these OTs live in a dry climate all year round. I live in the mountains and the ventilation in my coop is such(lots of open air flowing through) that the dry poop draws moisture from the air and starts to smell after a bit if I don't start the composting process with some type of carbonaceous material.

Do you think NS would be ok to use on a Canary? I have a old Canary with some narly looking legs I would love to see if it would help but I know their much more sensitive then a chicken.

The only way you will find out is to try it. I've never owned a canary but if I did, it would definitely get a coat of NS if its legs were looking mite-y.

 

[aggiemae]

Try running to lawn mower over leaves a couple of time. We don't use deep litter however we do use 4-5" of fallen leaves (mostly from fruit trees) in the run. We rake the poopy leaves out once in a while into plastic barrels (you can use bags). In a few months. after they grow molds and mostly decompose, we dig them in to the garden beds or use them to mulch as they return nitrogen to the soil.

 

[Turkeytruff]

can't imagine why...nothing poisonous about cooked potato skins that I know of. Same way with feeding grapes to dogs....someone should have informed my dogs because they stripped my grape vines each year. Garlic for dogs is supposed to be toxic...but I've been feeding it to my dogs for years. No dead dogs in my yard yet that weren't there due to a .22 lead injection.

I had a border collie I fed a clove of garlic to in liver pate once a month for a natural 'dewormer'. He loved it and I never saw any worms!