Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[SeattleSelkie]

Just a few more days to get the lower rate for the Sustainable Poultry Networks "Slow Poultry" workshop!
This is the only time this year that this workshop will be offered in Washington State.

This eight hour seminar provides an overview and strategy for developing sustainable poultry production. Learn how to start effectively breeding, growing and marketing poultry products that are both sustainable and profitable. The Sustainable Poultry Network is all about creating local and regional food movements, specifically with standard bred, heritage poultry for meat and eggs. SPN believes that the very best poultry for the kitchen tables of American families are the traditional, heirloom breeds that are recognized by the American Poultry Association. We also believe that if we are going to preserve the heritage breeds of chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, we must get them back to their production qualities.

Hope to see some of you there!




http://www.spnusa.com/slowpoultry.html

 

[LeannS]

Quote:

 

[Chickielady]

My chickens have eaten asparagus and no one died.

I had a flock of 25 Icelandics, who LOVED my potatoes...no other breed touched the potatoe greens growing, but the Icelandics LOVED them and ate them and were after the potatoe greens so bad it was hard for me to prevent them..............................I have it in my mind that that breed is used to the effects of a growing potato plant...................no other breed has ever had the slightest interest in a potatoe green...but the Icelandics ATTACKED the potatoe greens as if it was the last thing on earth to eat.

Asparagus is a fern..............and is non lethal to any consumer...however...it is said to be extremely important and helpful in the fight against cancer.

 

[Chickielady]

your post makes it look like I am saying what you are saying...which is not true.

 

[Chickielady]

.LeannS.........................................................................................................................................................................A few years ago I had that nightmare too. With all our evergreen trees close to the house, Bird mites that the starlings left in their nests, crawled in our house through window sill`s and anywhere else they could get through. Some mites are harder to get rid of then others. Morgellon red mite is the hardest. I did research and found :Talstar P ( Talstar One) through ' ePest Solutions' on line from Texas. It is safe for eating establishment too ,no order and pets can go on it after it is dry. I buy it by the gallon and a little goes along ways.I have since used it in my duck pen, after I had bought two new ducks that had lived with chickens in their chicken coop. I had looked for Talstar locally, but there was un successful. It works for 3 months I also use Feed Grade ' Diatomaceous Earth' is safe and nay bug that has legs, will no longer have legs once it goes on the DE. But it at any live stock feed store. Be sure it is food grade..


There ya go....there is your post eliminated from mine.

 

[Chickielady]

Hi from Sequim!

Mama to 6 funny chickees (as my toddler calls them). I am a new chicken mom so I am sure I'll have plenty of questions.

Ashley

HELLOOOOO!!!
Welcome to BYC !....

 

[Chickielady]

.LeannS.........................................................................................................................................................................A few years ago I had that nightmare too. With all our evergreen trees close to the house, Bird mites that the starlings left in their nests, crawled in our house through window sill`s and anywhere else they could get through. Some mites are harder to get rid of then others. Morgellon red mite is the hardest. I did research and found :Talstar P ( Talstar One) through ' ePest Solutions' on line from Texas. It is safe for eating establishment too ,no order and pets can go on it after it is dry. I buy it by the gallon and a little goes along ways.I have since used it in my duck pen, after I had bought two new ducks that had lived with chickens in their chicken coop. I had looked for Talstar locally, but there was un successful. It works for 3 months I also use Feed Grade ' Diatomaceous Earth' is safe and nay bug that has legs, will no longer have legs once it goes on the DE. But it at any live stock feed store. Be sure it is food grade..


There ya go....there is your post eliminated from mine.

Absolutely a nightmare to go through ! absolutely awful!!!

 

[Scram85]

I have kept chickens my entire life, a long long time...and never had mites until I realized what they were...actually SAW them.......then I was onto their presence..

Be aware of the bird's behaviours....for example, if you notice your birds are all digging at their skin, like preening, their tails, their 'crotch' area...all the time, so it seems non-stop...you may have bugs.
Also watch for dirty cushions...the fluffy pof under the vent and the area around the vent...if it is dirty, it well may be louse and mite eggs laid on the feather shafts there.....
Ig it is depluming mites, the birds will go crazy trying to get at the annoying biters and rip the feathers out...leaving bare bums and other areas.
Louse usually feast on feather shafts, and I have not seen any biting lice here.
I have seen some jumbo biting lice on water fowl, though....some BIG lice on geese & ducks.
Wild waterfowl usually swim & dip in salt water to get rid of these pests, and I guess those lice prefer water fowl over chickens.

I do not waste time bathing the birds...not to mention it is traumatic chasing them down and also I have so many it would be impossible to do...so no insecticidal bathes here.
What I do is go in at night, spray & grab the birds one at a time , get them on the floor and dust the daylights out of them.
Ivermectin works, too, and alot of people routinely rotate their anti-worm/parasite regimen so as to not get the bugs immune to its usage.
Saladin has said long ago, that if you meet a poultry person who insists their birds have never had mites, you have met yourself a liar.

You new people WILL encounter these hateful bugs sooner or later. Best be prepared.
One of the best things to do is have a dust bath available year round, with DE, sand & ashes (and a can of Sevin dust helps, too!) in the tub, and it has to be kept dry and fluffed up, and sifted, not full off poop. Birds can bathe daily & keep the bugs numbers down.
We get our tubs at Home Depot, they have 3 sizes, the largest is great for a duck bath:

Good Advice most of the time here:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html

We had this last Summer to Fall but we never knew the what the heck it was. We bleached everything and moved them into a fresh coop, sprayed and dusted them nightly and changed coops weekly. I finally got them cleaned and the neighbor dog and coyotes took half of my flock. A week later we had the huge windstorm and it literally blew over the empty but cleaned coop. I hope to never experience it again.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I have been fortunate.. but see with my birds in a run and food only in the coop
I know of a robin nest farther out in a tree but not close to my run....
I wouldn't wish that nightmare on anyone...
that is why I say knock on wood again.....

 

[Duck Drover]

We use ivermectin pour-on as a preventative for mites but it only works on the feeding adults so you have to use it before you see any mites to keep them clean. We put it on the skin between the vent and the tail since mites feed most near the vent.

I had brought in some NPIP hens that came with mites in between our preventative treatments and the mites laid their eggs everywhere, including on our treated birds, before we realized we had a problem. I figured I would wait and treat all the birds on schedule but because the ivermectin only works on adults, the eggs hatched and we had a huge mite problem in a short time. When we treated the flock we were able to catch the biters before they laid more eggs but we had to go through a month long period of treating every two weeks (three treatments total) before we caught up with the newly hatched mites.

We treat our birds for mites without ever seeing mites because once you see them they are difficult and more costly to treat. We now use permectrin as well to saturate the painted wood in the coop in case we get the mites that live in wood and only feed on the chickens at night because they can go for such long periods without a blood meal and the permectrin kills more stages than just the adults. We check for mites routinely but under the right circumstances the mite population can explode and become a nightmare so we treat for mites even though we don't see mites on our birds.