Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[JennS]

Fiery was like that near the end. She could see a little but couldn't hear. She'd just follow me around slowly and went where ever she felt the need. We started having a few issues in the house as she was getting forgetful sometimes.

The two we have now are on grain free. Found out very early on when Athena was a puppy that she can't do wheat. I guess GSDs have that issue a lot. They get the Kirkland stuff usually since it's a good food, or if I can get a really good sale, Taste of the Wild. Normally they poop once a day. I only give them grain free treats as well. Just have to yell at them to keep out of the chicken food.

Our last greyhound is 14 and their average lifespan is 12-14 years. I have no idea when she's going to pass on. She's like the Energizer bunny, she just keeps going and going. She had a stroke a few months ago and we were ready to put her down, but she was not ready to go and has mostly recovered. She has her good days and bad days, and we can't tell if she's senile or incontinent or both. She wants to go out 6-8 times a day, sometimes right after she gets back in. Maybe she feels the urge to go again, or maybe she forgot that she already did? Who knows. She's always been given a treat after doing her business, but now she'll eat it and then come stare at me again as if she forgot she already had it. She can hold it through a regular night, but if we sleep in sometimes she has accidents (sleeping in is much rarer these days with a toddler). She's been on Proin for bladder control ever since she was put on Phenobarbitol for seizures (greyhounds are freaking expensive!), so we can't do much more if she starts leaving puddles in the house.

I am so jealous of dogs that only poop once a day. All of mine always did 2+, and we feed Kirkland as well. The front yard is a minefield, and I have a hard time finding the motivation to scoop it in the cold rain.

Jennifer

 

[JennS]

Quote:
Seconded! I love the one with the orange face. Congrats on the new babies!

Jennifer

 

[JennS]

Thank you all for your input on this! I've been researching more so I can get it into my brain. That takes time. lol
I've had a hard time finding them locally. Farmland and Cenex don't carry them. Dell has Eprinex for $43. Wilco has it for $47, and Permectrin II for $12. And of course tax on top of those. Expensive buggers! And there's enough Eprinex to last the rest of my life!

Where do you guys get this stuff? I found it mail order at ValleyVet .com for less, but it's still around $50 for both.


I tried to sort out the details (below). Did I get it right?

Vermifuge: A new word for me: A less often used word for antihelminthic. It refers to a treatment used to expel parasitic worms from the intestinal tract.

Eprinex: For internal and external parasite control, applied topically. Active ingredient: eprinomectin
7 days of control for mites & lice, 21 days for internal worms
1ml to 22 lb of body weight in cattle
Usually by syringe 0.5cc for large fowl, 0.25cc for bantams
Repeat after 14 days
Cost: about $46 and will last about 25 years!

Permectrin II: Insecticide spray with 30 day residual effect. Active ingredient: 10% Permithrin
0.3 oz. per gallon of water to spray the chickens
1.3 oz. per gallon of water to treat the coop (4x stronger)
Reapply after 14 days
Cost: about $14 for 8 oz. and will last about 3 years.

Thank you for posting your research results here! I have a folder in my email box for chicken stuff, and I've been copying posts with useful information and emailing them to myself so I can reference it later.

I do have a question - at what age do you typically start treating chickens for parasites? If pullets have lice or mites, how old do they need to be before using these pesticides?

Jennifer

 

[Farmin Momma]

Quote:

Gotta tell ya though, sometimes I wonder about people. Ever since a neighbor told my kids to stop bouncing a basketball in the cul-de-sac because it was too noisy, I've been on edge. I hate that feeling of walking on eggshells in your own neighborhood just to keep peace. Of course, I was just spiteful enough to have spent the next two weeks playing basketball WITH my kids in the cul-de-sac for a couple of hours each evening after that happened. As far as I know they haven't sent my kids back into the yard since. As far as I'm concerned if people want to live in a quiet 55+ environment, they need to move to a 55+ environment, because kids need to be allowed to be kids.

My husband said some of our neighbors are the type of people whose houses he would have egged when he was a teen. It made me laugh, especially thinking they'd better watch out - our kids will be teens in a few years, and we have a steady supply of eggs. LOL!

But please don't waste nice fresh eggs. let the eggs set out and get good and ripe first !!
I once had a neighbor here complain to another about the "noise" I make. Like saws, grinders, tractor etc. She soon learned what noisy really is. The shop stereo came on at 6:00. I need to hear music where ever I am on the front of 13 acres. Then I turned on the big work lights which just happened to need to be pointed toward her windows so I could see to safely run the chainsaw and log splitter. 8:00 I got quiet for a bit then at it again at 2:00 when I knew she liked to take a nap. And back at it about 8:00pm until 10:00pm. I do have some courtesy see from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am is quiet time to me. well it only took a few days and she was ready to call a truce!

That is way to funny!

We have had to do stuff like that before. Back in April when I had that tubel pregnancy that had to be removed, I was trying to sleep away the pain and my emotions. About 9am our neighbors turned on their "mexican" music, which normaly we don't mind even when it is REALLY loud. It was keeping me awake and in pain. DH went over and kind of explained what was going on and that I really needed rest and asked if just for the next few days they would keep the music down. The neighbor said sorry and DH came home. 5 min later they turned the music up louder! I did not want to deal with police or fights so I just told DH to leave them be and we would deal with it a different day. A few days later I was feeling good enough to hang out out side with DH and friends and the neighbors just happen to be having a b-day party with loud music. So we turned on the shop stereo which is right on the street, turned on the house stereo to the same "rap" station (more annoying to bump rap than country) opened all the windows. It was as loud as a concert. We started up the race car, and our friends diesel trucks, (which all have big systems in them) and took to the street for smoke shows. The neighbor, his wife and their guests all came out to the street to complain. I was the only one not in a car, so I went and talked to them. I told the wife why we were doing it and that it was because her DH could not be respectful just for a day or two and that we treat people the way they treat us. Not only did I get him back by having DH do all of this, but the wife did not know about him being an A** to us and he got in big trouble from her and we kept up threw the whole party.

LOL My DS's grandma just came by to pick up my DS to go to his Dads this weekend. She has a lot of chickens and has the same prob that we all do...Chicken math. When ever she comes to get DS I get to talk chicken. Just now when she picked him up she was looking in my coop and saw the two gold laced wyandotes that I got from Jennifer the other day and she flipped, she begged me for them. So I figured I would be nice and give them to her. After all she does a lot for my DS and she is a great lady with an awsome set up for her chickens. They will be in a good home.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: I think they say around 6 months. But if younger ones have mites or lice then use a powder and dust them.
Silkies are known for getting mites and lice pretty easily. But the rest of my chickens just get wormed with Eprinex or Ivomec twice a year. I use alot of DE too.
Jennifer I am going to PM you with that list of stuff you might want to pick up for keeping silkies.

 

[Slinglings]

Some times if my kids are stressing me out a bit, I do the opposite of most people. Instead of having my kids all go somewhere, I let them all have friends over so it gets really loud and crazy around here. That way when all the extra kids leave, my 5 seam quiet and calm! LOL

I do the same thing not 15 kids, but sometimes 5 or 6 instead of just my 2. My kids are easier to take care of when they have someone to play with! It's getting hard to feed their friends though, almost teenage boys eat a LOT and they're picky.

 

[JennS]

I think they say around 6 months. But if younger ones have mites or lice then use a powder and dust them.
Silkies are known for getting mites and lice pretty easily. But the rest of my chickens just get wormed with Eprinex or Ivomec twice a year. I use alot of DE too.
Jennifer I am going to PM you with that list of stuff you might want to pick up for keeping silkies.

Thanks, I had forgotten about that! I'm not having any problems with the silkies right now, other than the one that has the issue with her feet (she's still doing fine and has discovered the joy of eating roaches from my feeder bins). But I like to plan ahead.

Jennifer

 

[JennS]

That is way to funny!

We have had to do stuff like that before. Back in April when I had that tubel pregnancy that had to be removed, I was trying to sleep away the pain and my emotions. About 9am our neighbors turned on their "mexican" music, which normaly we don't mind even when it is REALLY loud. It was keeping me awake and in pain. DH went over and kind of explained what was going on and that I really needed rest and asked if just for the next few days they would keep the music down. The neighbor said sorry and DH came home. 5 min later they turned the music up louder! I did not want to deal with police or fights so I just told DH to leave them be and we would deal with it a different day. A few days later I was feeling good enough to hang out out side with DH and friends and the neighbors just happen to be having a b-day party with loud music. So we turned on the shop stereo which is right on the street, turned on the house stereo to the same "rap" station (more annoying to bump rap than country) opened all the windows. It was as loud as a concert. We started up the race car, and our friends diesel trucks, (which all have big systems in them) and took to the street for smoke shows. The neighbor, his wife and their guests all came out to the street to complain. I was the only one not in a car, so I went and talked to them. I told the wife why we were doing it and that it was because her DH could not be respectful just for a day or two and that we treat people the way they treat us. Not only did I get him back by having DH do all of this, but the wife did not know about him being an A** to us and he got in big trouble from her and we kept up threw the whole party.

LOL My DS's grandma just came by to pick up my DS to go to his Dads this weekend. She has a lot of chickens and has the same prob that we all do...Chicken math. When ever she comes to get DS I get to talk chicken. Just now when she picked him up she was looking in my coop and saw the two gold laced wyandotes that I got from Jennifer the other day and she flipped, she begged me for them. So I figured I would be nice and give them to her. After all she does a lot for my DS and she is a great lady with an awsome set up for her chickens. They will be in a good home.

Oh, how I love it when Karma comes back to bite someone on the butt! That was really rude of the neighbor to be like that. I need to come up with a loud outdoor project for next summer to repay our neighbor for running their backhoe next to my living room window.

Sounds like the GLW are going to be well traveled chickens, lol. I'm glad that they are going to someone who loves chickens so much.

I'd love to see how they look as adults, if you get the chance to take pics in the future!

Jennifer

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote: I think they say around 6 months. But if younger ones have mites or lice then use a powder and dust them.
Silkies are known for getting mites and lice pretty easily. But the rest of my chickens just get wormed with Eprinex or Ivomec twice a year. I use alot of DE too.
Jennifer I am going to PM you with that list of stuff you might want to pick up for keeping silkies.

KMHunter, could you PM me the stuff about silkies too. I would really appreciate it.

 

[JennS]

I let my four hatchery chicks out for a bit this morning to free range. They free ranged a max of about 10 feet from the pen, lol. But they didn't have a lot of time to explore, since I had my son with me and he decided he wanted to go inside and get an apple. But it was nice to see them get to behave like real chickens. Butter was the only one who ventured around the side of the pen, and as soon as she realized she couldn't see the door she sprinted back around to the front. I used mealworms to lure them out and then to get them back in, although they are skittish enough about the new experience that they were going back inside on their own a lot. I think I'm going to enjoy working in the yard next spring with them, although I won't be able to kneel in the dirt anymore.

10 minutes out of the pen, and there was chicken poop all over the patio! It seems like whenever they get excited about something, the first thing they all do is poop.

I'm also working with the new birds in the garage. I've let the Polish and the blue silkie out of their cages a couple of times. The Polish has pecked the silkie a couple of times, but hasn't been too mean. She mostly wants the silkie to get out of her cage so the Polish can look for any missed treats on the floor. I don't know if she will always be so food motivated, but she is molting so maybe she's extra hungry? She'd sell her little soul for mealworms, and a pinch of scratch will get her to go almost anywhere. On the other hand, the silkie doesn't seem to care much for worms or scratch, but she seems fascinated by the Polish hen. She must be lonely, so I hope the Polish will get along with her. I let both of them out along with the two biggest white silkies last night. The Polish came right out and started pecking at food on the garage floor. It took the blue silkie a long time, but she finally got the guts to step out of her cage and stand there watching the Polish. The two white silkies stood in place like lumps for even longer, to the point where the Polish came up to them and pecked each one. Just one peck, not even enough to get a real squawk, and then she moved on. After that the silkies kind of shuffled around a bit, pooped, and started pecking, too. My hope is that by the time the coop is done, the silkies will be pals, and maybe even the Polish, and they will have more confidence when all the chickens are put together in the new coop. I haven't seen any pecking or chest bumping in the hatchery chicks since 4 of them went away, but I haven't been out there all the time. I think the worst offenders were rehomed.

Jennifer