Washingtonians

[Hinotori]

I hope everyone survived the heat.

I'm finally enjoying the AC for a few minutes. Had to kick my wuss of a german shepherd off the bed in front of it. She's "But mom! I like the cold air!" She just waiting for me to quit watching.

 

[chickenjane82]

What feed were you using? Scratch & Peck? That's basically our only organic choice and *I* loved it, but the birds didn't thrive. Bummer. I'd get Eprinex Pour On for your birds; then you just treat them like you're putting Advantage on a cat or dog; 1/4cc for bantams, 1/2cc for LF birds on the back of their neck on the skin.

I feed organic. Its from a place in Canada. In Season Farms, in Abbotsford BC
I tried the scratch & peck and was not impressed. My chickens werent really all that into either.

My chickens dont seem boney, but they are thin. BUT they also free range and forage. I would be concerned if they were confined and not keeping weight on, not if they are active roaming.

I cant remember the name, but there is an organic feed that is NOT whole grains, its crumble or pellets, like layena/nutrena/excel
Its available through www.azurestandard.com It might be worth looking for a local drop if you want to try something else organic.

 

[SadieSue]

I havent forgotten Robin! I came home from vacation and left 2 days later and am currently in Portland OR. I'll be back for one day before I leave for Pullman to take Lily back to school and then I'm home for a good while! I'll get in touch with you so we can meet and I'll take a sweet baby or two off your hands!

No worries, when you have time.  They've been going outside for some play time. Here is a pic of your new kiddos...the porcelain really likes the little buff, so they should stay together.

Oh my gosh - they are SO cute! As soon as my schedule is my own again, we will connect.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Excited to get to work in the chicken run tomorrow. I just got back from Walmart where I got some things to add to it, like baskets for nest boxes (I want to put one in the rabbit hutch and two under it), plant pots (small) for grit and oyster shells, and I will finally put the "ingredients" into the dust bath I bought (which is actually just a plastic concrete mixing pan). Yay for more improvements! If DH would actually bring the darned armoire downstairs and out to the run as well, I'd be finished!

 

[Nikki99]

As for wing clipping... two things I read (book-learned, not actual experience)... only the 10 flight feathers closest to the tip of the wings get clipped. And, if you have a fencing system where the birds can't see beyond, they won't try to fly over.

So far, so good with mine. We have a solid wood fence, and they have yet to try to escape. My RIR and EE love to fly around the yard (Drama thinks she's flying, but she's just hopping). They could fly over our fence, but they have never tried. The only time we worry about it is when they fly on top of their coop - because they can see right over the fence when they do that. So if we see them on top of the coop, we get them down right away.

Until I have need to, I won't be clipping wings.

Great info, thanks! I was wondering how many feathers needed to be cut.

Renee - the coffee creamer is Sweet Italian Cream

Basically it's like pouring out cream and sugar from a single bottle

That sounds so good! I'm always looking for new creamer flavors to try!

How old are they? I think worming should be done routinely but that's just my opinion. I will do it in the spring and fall for all my girls. Also, my birds were not growing well or thriving at all until I switched them OFF the organic non-GMO feed we were using to Purina instead. I never wanted to use that but as my last attempt to get the girls something they'd grow well on, it worked! Within 4 days of the switch they all started in on a major growth spurt and now they're seemingly healthy and the right size for their age.

I've been wondering about worming as well. The response you get depends on who you ask. I haven't wormed my chickens yet, not sure if I'm going to do it as a preventative or wait and do it as needed. I looked into it on this forum and wow, a bit overwhelming and confusing! There's so many different worming meds to choose from, some wrk for these worms some work for others, some people like this one, some people say it doesn't work, OMG.....
What do you use? And how do you apply it? I know some are in the water, some you actually hand medicate each individual bird and some you dust.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Ok and one more thing: I read that birds who are laying will have wider more "open" vents and they'll be juicy and moist. I know, gross. But today Scarlett my RIR squatted for me so many times I thought "I have to check and see!" and, well, she was huge, open, and very moist. Could she have already laid an egg or is her body just priming up? I searched EVERYWHERE on the 1/2 acre but I guess that doesn't mean she didn't hide it really well. WDYT?

 

[FirewifeJess]

What do you use? And how do you apply it? I know some are in the water, some you actually hand medicate each individual bird and some you dust.

Eprinex Pour On worked well for us. It's topical and easy to use, as long as you have a good measuring device. You apply to the neck skin, just like Advantage for cats or dogs. 1/4cc for banties and 1/2cc for LF. It's very broad spectrum and works on almost all internal and external parasites. I think there's an egg withdrawl, but don't remember since mine weren't laying yet. It's also fairly pricy but well worth it.

 

[Nikki99]

Eprinex Pour On worked well for us. It's topical and easy to use, as long as you have a good measuring device. You apply to the neck skin, just like Advantage for cats or dogs. 1/4cc for banties and 1/2cc for LF. It's very broad spectrum and works on almost all internal and external parasites. I think there's an egg withdrawl, but don't remember since mine weren't laying yet. It's also fairly pricy but well worth it.

Ok thanks, I'll definitely look into this type.

Oh one more thing, what's LF stand for?

 

[Nikki99]

Oh wait...LF....large fowl?

 

[FirewifeJess]

Oh wait...LF....large fowl?