Washingtonians

[Chickielady]

I have poultry dust and 50 pounds of DE mixed in.

for some birds i can catch i now put flea/tick dog drops on my birds and it REALLY WORKS. i added an extra dose a few days after the first kill and for 3 months now those specific birds are still lice free and not miserable compared to their buddies.

I went to costco and bought a pack of large dog and put 3 "drops" on the bird. one under the belly near the vent, one on the back of the neck and one on the saddle.
Warning! after the first drop the lice start running and will get on you as they try to escape. this stuff killed the eggs too.

I gave up on the "natural" options and just apply to the new birds i get and to chicks that are moved out of the brooder to keep them lice free. i just have too many birds to actually do this to them all but i snag a few every now and then and apply some. i always dose the broodys a lot because they sit in different nest boxes and spread the lice around.

all birds i applied this stuff to is alive and doing well. just make sure to buy the dog one, the cat one is formulated a lot differently.

As I recall, that stuff from WalMart is permethrin/permectin.

 

[Chickielady]

i have never wormed my flock and the one time i had a sick bird taken to the vet the fecal tests were clean

in the fall the birds get the rotten pumpkin and squash. i cut them in half with a shoval and the seeds have a natural worming agent in them

i figure all my birds are clean right now because i gave them a few lugs of cherries every few days (when they eat all the previous cherries)
birds get the runs just like humans from too many cherries, course i wasn't expecting the black poo.... but pretty sure they are spoiled birds and have clean guts now.

this is probably the only flock given cherries to their hearts content.

I lost 1 Blue Copper Marans hen to a crop plugged by cherries.
They go only so far down & get stuck good.
Lost another hen to grapes, same thing happened.

 

[Chickielady]

I have all new girls since the last of my "old" girls passed on. So I may have to try the pumkin again. My old girls turned their beaks up at it.
And I will say that fruit makes my girls have the runs too. Mine get it from watermelon.
How do you serve the cherries? Cut up or whole?

Grow "Sweet Meats" winter squash, it has more sweetness than pumpkin & the birds gobble it up !

I gave RainWolf a whole squash...hopefully she planted seeds.
They store well, and we humans absolutely love it !
My Dad likes it best baked & mashed like smashed-a-taters.
I like it baked open face with butter & cinnemon...man is it ever delish !

I grew 18 plants last year, and stored over 40 of the big squash.....and once a week I cracked one open with an ax & the birds got some after we had a few hunks...the birds devour seeds & all.



Sweet meats are the big grey ones, yellow is spaghetti squash and oh goodness the birdies LOVE spaghetti squash !


Anyone want seeds for next year PM me !
Both are growing like weeds here !



Notice the bottle of spray solution ?
We use it (my old dad too!) to spray the ends of the squash before winter storage to prevent rot on stem ends.

 

[Chickielady]

I can't believe I have that many birds.

I can remember when you first got the first birds !

 

[Chickielady]

Reminds me that I should take a bowl of mealworms out to everyone. they love their mealworms.

And I wanted to say that I have zuchinni, sweet meats and spaghetti squash coming out of my right ear, and lettuce, radishes, snow peas and cress coming out of my left ear.
No flies or mealworms, though.

 

[Chickielady]

As in an earthworm? they can get in the eggs? ick.

No, as in round worms

 

[Chickielady]

I always been told that WAZINE and others. have an egg withdrawl of about 2 weeks!!

Not Eprinex

 

[Chickielady]

Mine aren't laying yet, good thing! I still don't know if I will worm now...I just scooped poop from everywhere, lots was fresh and nothing had worms :-/

Worms cannot be seen usually by the naked eye.
The worms are far up in the body & do not get poo'd out unless they are dead, and usually if dead they are dugested by the bird's intestines.
Worms have been known to get into the ovaduct, and have a calcium/shell form around them.
Adult parasitic worms lay microscopic eggs that are passed off in the feces.
To tell for sure if the birds (or any animal) has worms, you need a fecal exam from a vet.
They supply a small tube, you scoop fresh poo in it, and they send it to a lab for exam under a microscope to see if there are any, and exactly what they are.

 

[itsren]

OOOp's sorry to itsren ! hope this helps.


I have been told "Dawn, Baby shampoo, Adams flea shampoo very DILUTE ! "

Baby Shampoo? Like Johnson's Baby Shampoo? I have that! That would save a trip and expense. If that's right, let me know...

Ugh. The run is almost done. It's very, very cute, but it keeps getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller. What started out as a 60 sq. foot run is now down to 39.5 sq. feet. Hubby's ensuring no chicken math for me.

Maybe my son and I need to take on a Cub Scout project and build a silkie coop over the summer...

Edited because I can't spell!

 

[Chickielady]

the cherries are the culls from sorting from the fruitstand

whole and then they peck it apart and by the end of the day it looks like my chickens killed someone and are covered in "blood" (cherry juice)

my birds are so spoiled that they can tell the difference between cherry varities. they KNOW Rainiers are sweeter and go crazy for those first.

my ( adult) birds go through about 40 pounds of cherries every day. i love this time of year, it cuts down on chicken feed for me.

as for chicken math..... i have hatitus... i quit counting... i know i have over 40 cayuga ducklings of one day old to 5 week

i have over 25 icelandic chicks
5 lavendar orp
5 BLRW
over 20 Light sussex/coronation chicks

over 30 "mutts" chicks

my brooder is full....... i need more chicken tractors built.... i made a new one last week for 11 ducklings and the Swedish Flower Hens to stay in.... which are going to have 5 more ducks joining them very soon.........

so yeah..... i know i have over 50 adult birds now....... but in baby birds i am sure i am above 120...... with my sportsman having 30 more hatching right now and 60 more eggs in it waiting for the next week.....

i just cant stop hatching cuteness.....
i now need to sell as fast as i am increasing my chicken math.... i know i am keeping many because i need to replace old layers and increase the pure flocks......

Be careful with the cherries, and it is good to see you are HOME and having so much fun with your birds finally !!
Did BF move out ?