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

[Mtn Laurel]

Okay. I have to tell you. My mother in law who is 94 years old swears by ACV which she drinks daily. She gets up at 4 am every day and volunteers all day at her church school AND she is about to get married!!
What more can say?

Love it! She's getting married at 94? That's fantastic!

My grandfather got remarried at 83. On our side of the aisle, we had a section for children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They married in the nursing home where they met and they more hollered their vows than said them to each other as Granddaddy was deaf as a post. A great day that I remember with total joy.

Congrats to the Bride and Groom. Maybe they should toast their marriage with a Colonial-era raspberry shrub drink. They're made with . . . Apple Cider Vinegar!

 

[Bulldogma]

Heads up, folks!! I just found ACV with The Mother at WalMart! It's not a fancy brand or anything - it's one of the big name brands that has recently started selling the unpasteurized, whole version of its ACV. I bought some, because the nearest specialty (organics) store is about an hour away.

Hooray for The Mother... now bottled for your convenience (and so she can't scream at you to pick up your socks).

 

[Eowyn2]

So after getting through all 34 pages of this thread, I went out and really *looked* at my 5 chickens. I started to realize that my two original GLW's had reasonably glossy plumage and decently red combs(though possibly less so over the last few weeks) but my replacement hens that mostly came from rescue or near rescue conditions didn't. Their feathers were dull and their combs were dustier red. (They are a red star, a black star, and an olive egger.) The red star is a feather-eater and has the dullest plumage. The black star has a lot of feathers missing from rooster overuse (roosters are gone once I rescued them) and is a mean nasty thing. I think she probably also eats feathers. The olive egger has a bare back and shoulders and is the bottom of the totem pole now. Those two have hensavers on to protect from the feather-eaters, but still have bare shoulders. The red star gives a nice 2oz egg that has become a little less frequent lately. The black star gives a 2.5oz egg with a weak shell and frequently misshapen, but is also fairly regular. The olive egger gives a bigger egg now than when I first got her, but is less regular than the other two. One of my Wyandottes doesn't lay regularly anymore and one gave me a small misshapen egg a few days ago. I've also noted the coop being a little smellier than usual - which I attributed to recent rain (rare in this semi-desert) but once things dried out they still stink. I started free-choice oyster shell about a month ago and started mixing it in with their feed a few weeks ago because I was getting intermittent results with the free-choice.

Overall, I think my flock isn't as healthy as I thought it was.

So yesterday I started fermenting feed thanks to the nutters on BYC. I took about 1.5 scoops of layer mash, mixed in two handfuls of oyster shell, and a couple of glugs of unpasteurized unfiltered ACV. I then mixed and covered it with warm water (to jumpstart fermentation) added another glug of ACV for good measure, and put the bucket in a warm part of the garage.

This morning the mix had soaked up all the water and smelled slightly vinegary. No bubbles. I took two handfuls of it, put it in a pie tin, and served it to the girls. Holy cow did they scoop it up! I also tossed in some sunflower seeds while they ate, and the olive egger who got crowded out of a good part of the feeding frenzy snatched a bunch of those. I don't know if they are BOSS, but they are from the giant sunflowers I planted this spring and they are black.

To be fair, they hadn't had mash available since mid-afternoon yesterday because I was cleaning their feeder and they were free-ranging all afternoon and evening (with garden and kitchen scraps besides). But there was no trouble with turning up noses at FF in my house... Then I let them out to free range earlier than usual to get more bugs.

I added more warm water, stirred it around, and put it back in a warm area. Tomorrow I'll feed 4 handfuls in two separate pie tins to give the lower hens a chance. I'd expect the fermentation to be chugging along well by then. I may need to add more feed tomorrow or the next day to the mix.

Pumpkins are on sale this time of year - maybe I'll get one or two. And I need to make some yogurt again;will probably give some to the girls too.

I'll go *look* at them again in a week and see if I notice a difference.

Edited for a few spelling errors and some style.

 

[Beekissed]

Okay. I have to tell you. My mother in law who is 94 years old swears by ACV which she drinks daily. She gets up at 4 am every day and volunteers all day at her church school AND she is about to get married!!
What more can say?

I LOVE this!!! So funny and so inspiring at the same time!

 

[aaggjg]

Ok I do not know what is going on..... I started using FF right after this thread started .....my bantam Cochin got sour crop which I posted about a few pages back.... I cured her with red wine !! And I gave her a little olive leaf extract after B posted about it..... She seems back to normal.... Yeah all is good or so I thought. Today my other bantam Cochin didn't come out of the coop at breakfast ... Yesterday she laid an egg early in the morning so i figured that was where she was...... Well 2 hours lateri. Went to check and she was on the roost.... So I grabbed her down and she was all puffed up and has a balloon of a crop! I have never had this problem before until I started the FF and now2 chickens in 3 days.... Seems odd. Could I be doing something wrong with me FF ?? Ithasthat nice sour smell.... Or so some think and it gets the white/ tan foam scum on the. Top...... My hens are really spoiled as I feel guilty that I have to keep them locked up in a run when I am not out with them..... I am a city dweller and my house goes down to a dry creek bed where coyotes like to hang out as well as every other predator known to chickens!! So they get sprouted grains, organic feed, ACV In their water, yogurt,buttermilk, greens from the farmers market... Fruit etc etc ....yep spoiled..... Why would my chickens seemingly have such a bad reaction to the FF?? Should I stop it for a few days ?? Or entirely??? Or just carry on and see if they regulate themselves to the new diet??

Anybody have any thoughts??

Thanks!!

 

[bobbi-j]

Oh, no! Another convert prepared to drink the ACV and FF Kool-Aid....

Make that two... A friend of mine has started buying ground feed from a neighbor for her chickens at half the price of a bag of layer feed from the feed store. Apparently he grinds feed for a "chicken farmer" and is willing to sell to my friend, too. So, I'm going to call him, find out if I can buy from him and ask what he puts in the feed.(I asked my friend, and she said, "Oh, all the additives and grain" I have no idea what that means) I have started reading the FF thread several times, but it's too much for me to grasp at night when I have the time to read it. I guess my main question is, do you use whole grains, coarsely or finely ground feed? Is it better to start incorporating the feed in with their regular food, or just make the switch all at once? I'll go back and start reading the FF thread to see if I can comprehend it better. Bee, how is the Raggedy, Gnarly Bunch today?

 

[Beekissed]

They are doing their chickeny best to enjoy the Lord's day, bobbi-j.

Foraging, dusting, solarizing their skin by stretching out on their sides to the sunshine, grooming...the usual. They are starting to look more smoothly feathered and healthier each day.

Usually, I mix layer mash and whole grains like barley and oats at a 50/50 , which makes for a great fermented mix but normally needs drained off more to feed it than does just using the more processed and finely ground grains. For my FF, I use a 5 gal. bucket drilled all over with small holes, which is sitting down inside another 5 gal. bucket...this leaves a space in the very bottom where the fermented fluid lies but moves into the grain above when fresh water is added. The fluid at the bottom has fine flour-like sediment but not any of the actual grains in it and will have a milky look.




Right now I'm feeding about 99% layer mash with a few whole grains like BOSS, pumpkin and flax seeds mixed in...makes for a thicker, mortar consistency mix that doesn't really require draining as the moisture is pretty absorbed into the particles. I'll be switching to the mix pictured above with my next trip to town, just haven't made it in there yet.




I just switched these chickens right over to fermented feeds as soon as they arrived...no slow introduction. They seem to really like them and there is no flicking or wasting of the feed. I drilled small holes in the bottom of my trough feeder to allow for excess fluid to drain out. If they leave any residue, I just don't feed again until it is all cleaned up.

Here's a run down of percentages in different feed sources and grains, to help you decide what to buy...around here the barley is the cheapest grain besides corn:


Quote:

 

[rrrmamma]

Quick question re ACV. I have a bottle of Braggs that got put in the barn refrigerator for about 3 months when I was out of town. The mother is in pieces in the bottom. Will it still be good? I have a different brand that I bought to replace it and I just keep it in the pantry. I would like to add some of the Braggs mother to more ACV, but I am not sure it will still work. Thanks. This thread has taught me so much and I have become much more aware of my girls conditions. I have some work to do; I am starting fermented feed tomorrow and have cleaned out my husband's woodburner for wood ash. Bee, keep teaching us. Your experience and wisdom of natural ways is greatly appreciated.

 

[Eowyn2]

aaggjg - From what you describe it certainly seems like the fermented feed (FF) is the only thing that changed and now you have sour crop. I have a hard time believing it's the FF, however, since most resources I can find say that ACV is one of the treatments. I read up on what causes sour crop, and it looks like impaction, moldy food, or a viral illness that somehow leads to incomplete emptying of the crop. If the crop doesn't empty fully, the food rots in the crop (not ferments).

So, did anything else change? Too much bread? Too long of pieces of grass/greenery that clogged up the crop? Something moldy that they got into? Is there perhaps a viral illness going through the henhouse causing the crop problems? Are you feeding them right before bedtime (seems that if the crop isn't empty before bed can be more prone to sour crop, per some resources I read)?

Did you start your FF with ACV or did you just soak it in water and let whatever was on the grain ferment it? It will work without ACV it seems, but maybe if you're concerned, start over with inoculating the mix with a bunch of mother.

Interested to hear how your flock continues to fare.

 

[Beekissed]

Ok I do not know what is going on..... I started using FF right after this thread started .....my bantam Cochin got sour crop which I posted about a few pages back.... I cured her with red wine !! And I gave her a little olive leaf extract after B posted about it..... She seems back to normal.... Yeah all is good or so I thought. Today my other bantam Cochin didn't come out of the coop at breakfast ... Yesterday she laid an egg early in the morning so i figured that was where she was...... Well 2 hours lateri. Went to check and she was on the roost.... So I grabbed her down and she was all puffed up and has a balloon of a crop! I have never had this problem before until I started the FF and now2 chickens in 3 days.... Seems odd. Could I be doing something wrong with me FF ?? Ithasthat nice sour smell.... Or so some think

and it gets the white/ tan foam scum on the. Top...... My hens are really spoiled as I feel guilty that I have to keep them locked up in a run when I am not out with them..... I am a city dweller and my house goes down to a dry creek bed where coyotes like to hang out as well as every other predator known to chickens!! So they get sprouted grains, organic feed, ACV In their water, yogurt,buttermilk, greens from the farmers market... Fruit etc etc ....yep spoiled..... Why would my chickens seemingly have such a bad reaction to the FF?? Should I stop it for a few days ?? Or entirely??? Or just carry on and see if they regulate themselves to the new diet??
Anybody have any thoughts??
Thanks!!

I'm wondering if they are not overfeeding on it and it continues to ferment while in the crop and the gases from that ferment may cause some of the distention and pressure? A balloon of a crop....is that a full crop or is it as if it has air in it? Are they acting sick from this or are their crops merely distended?

Maybe this is something you need to introduce slowly or even mix with your dry feed until they get the hang of not eating too much? Not sure at all....none of mine ever had this problem and few folks on the FF thread have reported this either. I'd suggest traveling over to that thread and seeing if anyone else had similar outcomes to feeding the FF.