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

[MyGardenHelper]

Thank you so much for your words of kindness and I am so glad you find this thread helpful...I was hoping it would be such. I hope you participate here as much as possible.

1. Ashes that get wet may have caustic runoff from the rain..not sure about that. All the soils and grasses around our ash piles don't seem to be affected at all. But the point is, they run off and are absorbed into the soils. They do not hold the water and/or the resulting caustic lye in a dried form. Our ash pile gets wet, it gets dry, it gets used and the cycle happens every time it rains.

If it was caustic to the chicken's skin they would not willingly bathe in it, believe me. They pretty much know what to eat, where to dust, and what to do to stay healthy if left alone.

2. I don't see why not. Be the first to try it and let us know how it comes out. Some are fermenting alfalfa meal and cubes on the FF thread and are quite pleased with the results.

I'm thinking of wood ash in a half wine-barrel (rethinking that...since barrels need to stay wet to keep from falling apart) and some soil/sand/wood ash in a protected area...although not rain-proof. I would like a rain-proof overhead off the large coop. DH refuses to teach me to use the wood saw. Will have my brother teach me instead. I work at a 40 acre farm and we live on a 5 acre farm. DH likes to fish (from Sept. thru Mar.) so the 'honey do' list is over for this year.

We throw ashes around acidic plants/trees near the house to nuturealize the soil (blueberries, pine trees, oaks) that we want to add some plants around the following year. Mainly drought resistant medicinal herbs. DH insists on having a lawn around the house. Not a fan of lawns that needs watering....but fine with me as long as weeds/herbs are allowed to sprout and grow and no spraying. Our teenagers are let out from their run to explore. I do this before DH gets home and then give them their sprouts to get them back to their run before DH gets home. Works like a charm Shhhhhhhh

 

[Prettyhorse32]

You explained that well.. Question ?, in my coops I have built, to protect the floor I have very heavy rubber mats. They are about inch thick, is it ok to start the deep litter over that? I am thinking of trying this, I can only learn from my mistakes and truly thought that cleaning and changing shavings weeekly was a good thing.. SO I move forward and learn more..Thanks so much and I will keep you up to date !! Thanks Again Kim

 

[Miss Lydia]

You explained that well.. Question ?, in my coops I have built, to protect the floor I have very heavy rubber mats. They are about inch thick, is it ok to start the deep litter over that? I am thinking of trying this, I can only learn from my mistakes and truly thought that cleaning and changing shavings weeekly was a good thing.. SO I move forward and learn more..Thanks so much and I will keep you up to date !! Thanks Again Kim

I've been doing deep litter for close to 9yrs and in my coops I have old cheap vinyl flooring over the wood, I don't see why rubber mats would matter at all. I only take out a small part of my shaving once a year and put them around my blueberry bushes makes great fertilizer and mulch too.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I really want to let my birds free range, we have had a rough 2 yrs. rewind 2 yrs ago life was great for me, my husband and our flock of 12. I was pregnant with our first, our chickens had a large backyard to forage in and a garden. Dec 2010 our house burnt Down, everyone was safe, but this lead to a chicken massacre.
While we were trying to figure out our housing situation, (we lived across the road with my sis. This lasted a yr and a half, as we built a beautiful post fame house.) a couple month after the fire we lost all of our chickens in one night, something dug under the run and killed them all. I felt so bad, There was nothing to protect them. Creatures weren't scared off by my dogs.
So this past spring we ordered 20chicks, I was so excited to have chickens again, we raised them only lost 1, me moved them to the coop, my plan was to leave them in the coop for a week so they were comfortable with the big house. We also were moving in to our house. It wasn't 5 days they were in there something,maybe a coon, chewed a hole through the chicken wire covering the window. Killed all 19 chickens. I cried for those girls, they probably watched in fear as that thing slowly chewed through.
So we moved the coop behind the house probably 50-75 ft. My dogs are close by, which also make me nervous since they are coon hounds, but I'm still nervous about letting them out of their run. My old birds loved to wander down to the spring. I want that for my new flock, What do you think. We also have no grass yet but just behind the coop is over grown wooded area and the spring is o so close.

Along w/the other things folks have said...

When I began this spring w/chickens, I set out a trap every night. In 3 weeks time I caught:

11 Adult Raccons
3 Raccoon Children
3 Opossums

In the fall: 1 Raccoon Adult

Now I know that more will just move into the area. However, I figure that if I keep a trap ready I might be able to thin down the population some! (And if all those guys had been left there, I'm sure I would have had a mess on my hands...)

Anyway, you might try trapping to thin down the population of critters in your area.

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is Little Red waiting on the nest today.....you can't see the walker in this pic, as she had accidentally dropped it in her struggles to get up to the nest

but the old gal was in a hurry to drop that egg! Her feathers have become glossy and richer in color and texture since her arrival. She wasn't in as bad of shape as Raggedy, so the changes are subtle...but she's laying a little now and starting to put on weight. All good in the neighborhood.

I love this picture, I can't believe I am on page 50, ya'll need to stop posting so I can catch up. lol I have never enjoyed reading so much before and laughing too. Now I am wanting to make Nu stock so hoping to get exacts soon from Bee unless she has already posted it and I just haven't found it yet.

Gosh didn't realize how close I was to where I came in, whew now I am caught up. So have you made your version of Nu stock yet? Mine will be here tomorrow

 

[galanie]

Bee, I notice you're using Bag Balm to make the NuStock stick. When you make your own, why not mix in some bag balm as part of the mineral oil component? Wouldn't you then have a mix that would stick and stay in place? So far as I can tell, the mineral oil is "inert" more or less so substituting something else, even petroleum jelly, shouldn't matter to the effectiveness of the mix.

 

[off-grid hen]

Bee, you now how you asked about how people feel about all the conflicting information here on BYC? I feel I need to say something and tell my story. The vast differences of opinions and advice make my head spin.

The only pets I had growing up were cats, dogs, and birds. Our family did not have livestock. I grew up in the woods a lumberjack's daughter. We did a lot of hiking, gardening, and canning. But no cows pigs or chickens.

I was talked into chickens over a year ago now by a coworker who owns a small farm where they raise pastured meat, eggs, and honey. So I took the chicken plunge and am having the time of my life. (Yeah, I don't get out much! )

Because I have no knowledge of livestock, I figured I'd better learn how to raise chickens. I placed the chick order and started reading. The first problem was, I now live off the grid and had to find electrically efficient way to do things. Which is pretty difficult when you have so many people telling you that you 1: need a heat lamp for the chicks. 2: Heat the water in the winter with 100W or higher heaters or bulbs. 3: Heat the UNINSULATED COOP with a heat lamp. (This one makes my watt-police senses short-circuit!). 3a): No, heavily insulate your coop but leave the windows open! (What?!) You have no idea how many places I read that I have to keep the coop above freezing. 4: I also read that I NEED a run. I read lots of official-sounding square footage numbers. use hardware cloth, not chicken wire. 5: I need medicate feed or my chicks will probably die.

The list went on, and still does. I nearly canceled the chick order because I thought I would not be able to properly provide for my chickens. But, I kept plugging away at it because I really wanted to have eggs. I found an advertisement for the brinsea ecoglow brooder. Ok, one down. Then I was finally able to talk to the coworker who talked me into this in the first place. I asked her about heating the coop and she LAUGHED. Se doesn't use medicated feed. Se doesn't have a run. So I did some more reading. I found out about fresh-air poultry houses book from a post here on BYC and talked hubby into building one. THIS coop made sense to me. Then I found the "think its too cold for your chickens?" Thread here. I began to relax a bit. I figured out what will work for me and my situation.

Ok, coop down... Learning about feeding the chickens and chicken healthcare to go...

OMG. I read the forums here about feeding, and emergencies and pests. I would see heated discussions about poly vi-sol, wormers, egg eating, DE, cocci treatments, etc.

So, Bee, you'll have to forgive me if I don't automatically jump on the FF and ACV bandwagon without a HIGH amount of skepticism. I'm sure you won't take it personally.

I get the whole probiotics thing, I make my own yogurt for a reason. I avoid antibiotics for myself and my chickens for that reason. I don't wash my hands after everything. I know the value of wood ashes and pine pitch, weeds, and herbs.

But, I am the type of person who needs clear instructions for something new. (As you may remember from the prior 'glug' discussion.haha) I can stumble through it, but I have never been embarrassed about asking questions. And when we are talking about living breathing creatures, I feel I have the responsibility to NOT stumble through it or proceed by trial and error.

You know me a little bit. I have one foot in the past and one in the future. I love some things the old way, but embrace new science too. Old timers have done some pretty stupid things from sheer lack of knowledge, and so have scientists. Both have used and discovered wonderful things. Me personally, I need BOTH common sense AND replicable scientific results in order for something to Be adopted as behavior for me.

So please, if you happen to run across multiple sources other than because "grandma did it that way", it would be great if you could post it. It's not about how MUCH book reading one does, it's about finding the right books. .

All this conflicting information is extremely frustrating.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom and ways for us to ponder.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Bee, I notice you're using Bag Balm to make the NuStock stick. When you make your own, why not mix in some bag balm as part of the mineral oil component? Wouldn't you then have a mix that would stick and stay in place? So far as I can tell, the mineral oil is "inert" more or less so substituting something else, even petroleum jelly, shouldn't matter to the effectiveness of the mix.

One thing I hate about using mineral oil is that it cannot be assimilated by our bodies (it's not digestible). Oil soluble vitamins (A,D,E,K) are drawn into it (the mineral oil becomes a "carrier" - making them undigestible as well ) and they are carried out of our bodies with in the mineral oil.

I assume that's the same for chickens and other animals. (After I understood this, I made a point of never using "baby oil" on my children and always reading labels on hand lotions, etc. and avoiding any that have mineral oil as an ingredient.)

That being said, however, hopefully none of us will need to use Nu Stock or mineral oil in any appreciable quantity that it will be harmful!

Edited to try to make this more clear!

 

[loanwizard]

Quote: Amen Bee!

I have done er both ways and nearly lost my entire flock in run/jail.

I have my birds in an open barn, 86 or so plus juveniles. I covered the stalls for emergency situations, but for everyday they roost where they want. Due to a wee bit of overcrowding, I have a few that roost on the nest boxes that I haven't put a sloped top on, a few that sleep on the saggy chicken wire top, and a few juveniles that sleep outside near the hogs.

The biggest danger to their lives is when they are raiding the hog feeder and a feeder steps on their feet.

Since I moved them to the barn, trimmed trees, trapped this spring, electrified a fence to the pond for the hogs, I haven't seen a predator, although I do have a good dog, which incidentally ran a jail break hog back to where she was supposed to be.

Off Grid Hen- Let go, fall into the abyss.... Bee won't steer you wrong. I am as jaded as the next person, but her advice has been sage, and has worked 100% for me.

 

[loanwizard]

Ooops! Not sage.... ACV

Sometimes I crack myself up....