Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Leigti]

Tonight was the first time the babies were in with all the rest. No major incidents and only a couple little pecks. They didn't really seem to pay any attention to the babies.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Tonight was the first time the babies were in with all the rest. No major incidents and only a couple little pecks. They didn't really seem to pay any attention to the babies.

Good glad to hear that when I brought the new pullets in
and moved them into the main coop in my large wire crate
they got to see the hens but not interact after about 4 days I
opened the door leaving them to come out at will no issue.

 

[vasher]

Go camping for a week and find that your chickies have switched from peeping to bawking.

Is it a good idea to pre-emptively deworm chickens on a schedule like other livestock?

 

[Chickielady]

Go camping for a week and find that your chickies have switched from peeping to bawking.

Is it a good idea to pre-emptively deworm chickens on a schedule like other livestock?

I do, especially spring & fall, as we do what we can to have the birds as healthy as possible before they go into winter...and a heavy parasite load can seriously weaken the birds.
That and Spring, we worm as we get the birds ready for lay, which includes "plumping" up their health, for best lay & fertility, and heavy parasite loads can make for less fertility & vigor on the males part, but also chicks hatched from parasitic laden hens can have nutritional issues as well.

Ascarids are previlent...as earth worms (Nightcrawlers) and other insects can be intermediary hosts to larval stages of intestinal worms like Ascarids (Round Worms)
And the chickens love earth worms....it is impossible to eliminate them.
Unless you raise your fowl on wire cages, never to see the outside world.

The best worming regimen is to rotate the product you use so the worms do not build up an immunity to it.

And when you do worm, do it twice, with 10 days in between so to kill the worms that were in eggs at the first worming.
So we worm 2 x......in ALL our animals.

A cat or dog is the same, worm them (kills the adult worms), and wait 10 days, and worm them again, otherwise they will be reinfested by the eggs.

It is a great idea to feed pumpkin and/or squash seeds.

I raise spaghetti, acorn, sweet meats squash in excess just for the purpose of feeding to the birds, and it works !
After eating the squash (and seeds) the poop trays will have dead worms on them.
Here is a picture I took of poop the morning after we fed sweet meats squash to the birds.
Don't open this picture & look at it if you are squeemish.
It works !



So we worm spring & fall, and feed squash & pumpkin seeds in between.
I also dust their feed with DE every so often, just to make the worms lives difficult.

 

[Chickielady]

More funnies..........................

A turkey vulture with two dead squirrels was unable to board the airplane. "I'm sorry," said the stewardess, "We only allow one carrion per passenger."

 

[pennyJo1960]

More funnies..........................

A turkey vulture with two dead squirrels was unable to board the airplane. "I'm sorry," said the stewardess, "We only allow one carrion per passenger."

thank you for the giggle... wonder if the cantaloupe seeds count

 

[vasher]

Woah that photo! It looks like the goat dewormer seems to be the easiest to find/use? Will check in at feed stores and see what they have. Hopefully chickens are easier to deworm than horses are. That was always an event.

Also, how was the big chicken show last week? I wanted to go badly but not badly enough to push back our Denali trip.

 

[Gatewayto]

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

Hi Ashley, you can update your profile location if you are interested.

Are the funny chicken silkie chicken by any chance? Our silkie crack us up so much.

 

[Gatewayto]

Hens eating their own eggs:

So we just rehome two more hens because the owner was dishearted to see that their chickens are egging their own eggs.
We quarantine each by themselves and enclosed them so no other chicken can see them. After a couple of days watching them, it seems that they are not interested in their food and scratches at all! Wife start cooking for them (rice/noddle/beef/fish etc..), they ate it like their were starving.
One of them laid almost everyday and we noticed that she like to play with her egg as if she wants to sit on them (maybe coming broody). She haven't broke nor eat her egg at all.
The second one haven't lay yet so we can't tell what she is going to do. We placed 4 plastic Easter eggs in her cage and notice she started to peck at it at first but after a little awhile shows no interest in them. We are increasing her proteins and calcium. Also mixing cooked food in her normal pellets. Maybe after a week, if she doesn't lay, we will place a couple of normal eggs in her cage to see what she does (we rehome hens to lives out their day, so we do not end them if they are not laying).

Am I going in the right direction?
Separate them so other chickens doesn't learn from them.
Increase protein and calcium.
Change their food so they are eating and getting full
Give them toys (golf balls, plastic eggs, some bells)

Anything else I should do?

After quarantine period I will release the normal one to the flow... hoping to release both of them at the same time if second ones proves she can handle eggs as normal.

 

[junebuggena]

Hens eating their own eggs:

So we just rehome two more hens because the owner was dishearted to see that their chickens are egging their own eggs.
We quarantine each by themselves and enclosed them so no other chicken can see them. After a couple of days watching them, it seems that they are not interested in their food and scratches at all! Wife start cooking for them (rice/noddle/beef/fish etc..), they ate it like their were starving.
One of them laid almost everyday and we noticed that she like to play with her egg as if she wants to sit on them (maybe coming broody). She haven't broke nor eat her egg at all.
The second one haven't lay yet so we can't tell what she is going to do. We placed 4 plastic Easter eggs in her cage and notice she started to peck at it at first but after a little awhile shows no interest in them. We are increasing her proteins and calcium. Also mixing cooked food in her normal pellets. Maybe after a week, if she doesn't lay, we will place a couple of normal eggs in her cage to see what she does (we rehome hens to lives out their day, so we do not end them if they are not laying).

Am I going in the right direction?
Separate them so other chickens doesn't learn from them.
Increase protein and calcium.
Change their food so they are eating and getting full
Give them toys (golf balls, plastic eggs, some bells)

Anything else I should do?

After quarantine period I will release the normal one to the flow... hoping to release both of them at the same time if second ones proves she can handle eggs as normal.

Egg eating is almost always an indication of protein deficiency. Most people do not realize that by feeding treat in addition to layer feed, that they are setting themselves up for egg eating issues. They think they are spoiling their 'pets'. By offering treats in addition to layer feed, the overall protein content of their daily diet becomes insufficient and the birds turn to eating their own eggs to get back the protein they need. A higher protein feed like grower or game bird feed, combined with fewer treats, is usually the best option for both curing and preventing egg eating.