Washingtonians

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
I had heard (again, what do I know??? LOL) that you should only provide oyster shell or egg shells once they're going to start laying, or after you see first egg. Since Scarlett and a couple others (my Buff Orps) seem really ready to start laying, I put it out today since they're still on grower feed and aren't getting it in the feed.

 

[itsren]

Well, good night all. Busy day tomorrow.

 

[chickenjane82]

Good to know! I had heard as much, but don't know that I'll be as bold as you and test the theory; don't want to take chances having to cull a bird because I "accidentally" trained one to eat eggs!

Ive heard many many many times not to feed eggs back to the chickens but I do it anyway.
I just crack the shell and toss it into the grass.
I havent ever noticed an egg eater eating eggs that I didnt give them.

If you have your birds for eggs as their main purpose, you may as well not risk it though!!

 

[lisaheath1]

Watch outside low temperatures. They drop by 5° each week. At 4 weeks, they should be safe at a 75° (F) low temperature. But, if a night drops below that temp, bring them back inside or put them under a red light that is raised to the temp they're supposed to be at.

When I was going through this, I put a reminder on my calendar of what temp they were supposed to be each week. That helped me a lot.

Hatch: 95°
1 Week Old: 90°
2 Weeks Old: 85°
3 Weeks Old: 80°
4 Weeks Old: 75°
5 Weeks Old: 70°
6 Weeks Old: 65°
7 Weeks Old: 60°
8 Weeks Old... should be fully feathered.

As for grit... make sure you use "chick grit". It is smaller sized grit.

Thank you. I will note the temps on my calendar. And i didn't know there was chick grit, my package says 8wks and up. So I will check into that and get the correct grit.

Our coop is coming along nicely. We have about half of the walls up now. I will post pics later on. I think it's going to be awesome

 

[lisaheath1]

Saw you still have rocks in the water's for them, you can take them out now they wont get hurt they are big kids now

I did that just today thank you

 

[JNB]

OK I thought id share this and see if anyone here is or has done this.. I have been reading older threads here on BYC... came across this post and info.. in the feeding forum I peeked my interest for further research So i hijacked it and thought Id post here to see what folks think of it

Quote:
Do you know the Latin name of that plant? I'm wondering if it's the same thing as the Azolla species of water ferns (I believe that it and similar floating plants are often confused, and I've heard them all called "duckweed" by different people). Anyway, I grow some of the Azolla genus plants (not sure the species name), in water basins next to the chicken coop (with a scoop of compost and a few minnows) and use it to feed to the chickens. I got the idea from this article: http://www.agriculturesnetwork.org/magazines/global/small-animals-in-focus/azolla-livestock-feed. Mine definitely do enjoy eating it (it's often the first thing they'll go for if given choices). Right now the only obstacle I seem to have is growing enough of it to meet the demand!

I've also tried eating it myself--it has a sort of pleasant, nutty taste.

One caveat I would add is that because of it's rampant growth habit, Azolla can be a REALLY invasive pest if it gets loose into waterways, so depending on your location be careful about that. I have an acquaintance who operates a water garden nursery, and considers it a most noxious weed. Ironically enough, my original plants I got from him, after he succeeded at irradicating it from his property...

 

[Imp]

Quote: Yeah, You are absolutely right.

I no longer have many needs for compost. Yard is too shady, so no garden. I converted over to fruit trees and shrubs. And Waste Management says no waste in recycling. I also have something very fiberous growing in the compost. So when the compost bin rots it's gone, mostly. Some newsprint goes into the compost pile, but I try to limit it. Right now it's more of a place to dump yard waste.
Imp

 

[lisaheath1]

Chicks will let you know if they are hot or cold. One time my friends heat lamp burnt out at night, and their chirps woke her up. If they are panting, and away from the heatlamp, pull your heatlamp farther away. I turn off my lamp all day as long as it's warm, and my chicks are three weeks, and one week old. According to the #s, my chicks aren't at 75 degrees, but they are out running in the grass right now. If you don't keep them hot, they will feather earlier

My chicks loved it outside today. And I thought it was very cute that they let me know it was time to go inside. The sun was going down and they all stood in a little line by the door of the run and chirped their little hearts out, lol. It was like they were saying "mommy, mommy, we are supposed to be inside, take us back inside, we want to be in our brooder" , haha. So of course, I scooped them up and took them inside to their brooder.

The neighbors asked what I was building today, lol. I was hauling lumber in my mustang with the top down. <--- that HAS to be mustang abuse, lol. So I told him I was building a castle for my chicks and he asked if he could bring his kids over to see them this week. I said sure

 

[justbugged]

Quote: If you wait until you notice a worm problem, the first warning often will be a dead chicken. Chickens like most prey animals tend to hide the fact that they are sick. I personally lost at least 1 or more hens because of worms in the first year. I bought into the DE solution for natural worming. It doesn't work.

At this point, I wouldn't trust the health of my flock to a alternative treatment for worming. I now use Epirnex to worm my flock. I am planning on alternating the Eprinex with Ivermectin. With the Ivermectin you have to toss the eggs for 2 weeks after treatment. But I am a rather frugal person, and I simply feed the eggs back to the flock during the withdrawal period.

The Eprinex is very easy to use, you simply put a half a cc of Eprinex on the lower part of the neck or upper back area.I use a syringe to measure the dosage. The Eprinex also will kill mites and lice on the birds also. You can buy both Eprinex and Ivermectin at nearly any feed store.

Since I have treated flock, I haven't had any deaths that can be linked to worms. Just letting the worms do their thing in the bird, can cause permanent damage to a bird. I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to worming my flock.
JB- Can I ask why you are going to alternate between Ivermectin and Eprinex? Just curious.

The chickens can develop an immunity to a single type wormer. So by changing the types of wormers it reduces the chances of the chickens forming an immunity to a wormer.

 

[justbugged]

Quote: I will say that my run, and coop are very separate from my yard, so I don't have traveling gravel. I completely understand about having gravel near the house. The north side of our house was driveway gravel for years. I was the worst when there was snow on the ground. My dear Puppy would pick up rocks and ice on his feet when he came back into the house. Puppy had long hair on his feet. The rocks in the house often made me rather cranky. Two years ago we replaced the gravel with concrete. I am much happier with it. The dogs still drag a lot of dirt in on their feet, but at least it's not rocks.

I am fairly sure that not all runs are suited to pea gravel, but it seems to work the best for my set up.