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

[7L Farm]

Ok!! I found that in three weeks I've used 50lbs of hen scratch & 50 lbs of laying crumbles to feed 44 chickens. That Is using the ff method. I've never really kept up with how much their eating but I think FF has cut my feed bill in half. I have large fowl chickens. They are, well seems to me healthier & feathers are coming back on most of them where they peck each others vent. I have feathers missing on one flock because there are hens mounting hens. Crazy chickens. Egg production progress, the shells seem thicker & I'm not finding broken eggs in the boxes like I was in the past. Its all good. I think my next FF mission will be with my Bob Whites. I'd love to cut that bill in half & have healthier quail to boot. Quail feed is big bucks. I've been a member here for awhile & honestly have to say I've learned more truly helpful info from this thread then any other. Thanks 7L Farm.

 

[Beekissed]

That's a very nice compliment and I thank you! I can only hope that others find it just as helpful as that was my intention for starting the thread. This all natural approach is so easy and effective that I've often wondered why more folks didn't employ it but it seems it was just because it all gets lost in the giant forum machine and chewed up and spit out.

A couple of years back, if you mentioned all natural and preventative health care for chickens, you were roundly trounced off the thread in a barrage of scientific jargon and quotes from the so-called experts that write the Storey line of books. I would just shrug my shoulders and saunter back to my healthy flock and not try to educate the already "smart" masses. Too bad, so sad for them if they can't listen to reason.

Times have changed and folks are looking for cheaper, more solid solutions to flock health now, I'm thinking, and it's time. I'm willing to bet that there are some of those former bouncers from the old threads lurking and learning here as well.

 

[7L Farm]

I'm always looking for a better mouse trap.But your right times are tough & feed is out of sight. Upon reading this thread well you might remember my chickens had & probably still have trematodes & I almost used poison to rid them of the flukes. But I just couldn't do it. I was at TSC had the medicine in my hand & returned it back to the shelf. I found this thread & said yes this is what I need to do. I can't see giving chemicals to my birds. They have a smaller system than mine & I was scared to give them medicine. I don't do chemicals on my farm. I'm seeing results & its really not that hard to make FF. Its ideal for where I live because it rarely gets cold & when it does its for a couple of hours then heats back up.
My birds seem fine & I might take another fecal sample to be examined. I don't see how my chickens wouldn't have some worms after all they free range & eat worms dailey I guess. Thanks Again> I'm headed to a friends farm to pick up bags of leaves to add to all my runs. Every winter I add leaves to their runs. It gives them something to do if I can't let them out. I hunt in my back pasture this time of the year & keep them locked up till I return from hunting. Viva FF.

 

[cbuffy]

Hey 7L - glad to hear your report! I'm getting ready to start my FF (on Tuesday - I have to go out of town for the next 4 days...) and would LOVE to hear about your set up. I'm in Florida, so we have similar weather. Do you ferment inside or outside? Cover your bucket or leave it open? Notice a problem with increased vermin? (rodents, flies, etc...) Feed in a trough or one of those TSC galvanized hanging bucket thingies?

THANKS for your help!

 

[Beekissed]

Funny report on the Gnarly Bunch and the Extra Rooster: I got to see the first encounter this morning between Ol' Tobe and Extra Roo and it was quite comical. As Toby has no spurs, no roosters were injured in the filming of this movie. It was a complicated dance in the coop floor that sent hens scattering for the great outdoors and left me the sole witness to the stitching of the britches on the new guy.

A brief time of hopping and posturing, followed by Toby grabbing the upstart by the neck and throwing him like a WWF wrestler across the coop floor. Extra Roo decided to find the door or make one all by himself at that point and, after pinging off the walls a bit, found freedom and daylight....lots of it. He pouted over by the brush pile for awhile and crowed his "you crusty old fart!!!!" comeback to Toby from a safe distance.

A little while later, ER decides to sneak in and grab a hen by the head...through the mesh of the coop. Now, picture this...hen inside the coop, being held by the head by a rooster outside the coop. Hen is screaming and Toby comes thundering across the yard to save his damsel in distress! Oh, how I love to watch the social interactions in a flock...such entertainment!

Toby kicks the ER and then the big dog steps in....Jake breaks up any further fighting and stands between the two roosters. Later we see the same action as the ER approaches the flock and Toby gets ready to rumble, Jake deliberately gets up from his usual resting spot and intervenes. Jake doesn't like flock discord any more than do I, so he is just keeping the peace. He's such a great dog!!!

Poor ER doesn't know whether he is coming or going and is now standing lonely outside the coop. Life is all about learning and adapting, isn't it?

 

[Cochaura]

Thank you for this thread - I'm way behind, only on page 16 or something, but looking forward to trying to catch up! One question I have, and I'm sorry if anyone else has asked this already, is is there a difference nutritionally in giving green tomatoes vs. red tomatoes? Just curious because I read you were giving them green tomatoes. I have a table-full of green tomatoes and plenty to spare for my chickens!

 

[Beekissed]

Not that I am aware of unless it is sugar content, as they ripen the sugar is more evident. Good Vit. C, potassium and fiber to be had there.

 

[Tivona]

Thank you for this thread - I'm way behind, only on page 16 or something, but looking forward to trying to catch up! One question I have, and I'm sorry if anyone else has asked this already, is is there a difference nutritionally in giving green tomatoes vs. red tomatoes? Just curious because I read you were giving them green tomatoes. I have a table-full of green tomatoes and plenty to spare for my chickens!

Tomatoes, green, raw

Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw

Admittedly garden grown, tomato variety, location, and how they are grown are going to have an effect on the vitamin content but these two pages gives a general idea of how they compare overall.

 

[galanie]

  Extra Roo decided to find the door or make one all by himself at that point

 

[7L Farm]

Hey 7L - glad to hear your report! I'm getting ready to start my FF (on Tuesday - I have to go out of town for the next 4 days...) and would LOVE to hear about your set up. I'm in Florida, so we have similar weather. Do you ferment inside or outside? Cover your bucket or leave it open? Notice a problem with increased vermin? (rodents, flies, etc...) Feed in a trough or one of those TSC galvanized hanging bucket thingies?

THANKS for your help!

I do FF just like B taught me. The method I followed was in the meat section right at the start. I do it inside a metal building. I'm feeding in a trough every morning. I wouldn't use metal because your using ACV. I believe it becomes toxic in conjunction with metal so I've read. B hopefully will chime in on the above statement. Most of my coops are three sided I think people call them open aired coops. I have roost in the coop part & another roost in the run. I'm sold on FF its totally the way to feed birds IMO. You will definately save money on feed.