What did you do with your flock today?

[pennyJo1960]

I do so love the photos of the peeps 60 here is not cold if your peeps have feathers they can handle it .. The cats are treated well they are content

 

[TropicalBabies]

I do so love the photos of the peeps 60 here is not cold if your peeps have feathers they can handle it .. The cats are treated well they are content

Thanks @penny1960 . I did worry the first few nights and waited and listened for any peeping telling me they were cold as they are in the mini coop and that coop is barely covered. But they all huddled together on the roost, the littles mixed in with the more feathered in near teens and they seem to love it once they finally settled. A whole nuther world dealing with cool temps for sure. I have walled up the mini a bit more for drafts since it seems to be a late summer up there and still cool and breezy.
Just picked up the rest of my hatch. 54 total. Oh what fun.
Have a gal coming this eve to buy some and then I will take the rest up the mountain.

 

[FrankieDoodle]

My birds got some strawberries and blueberries today. Since Room has been out of town for a few days, they’ve all been getting extra live mealworms.
I’m always allowed to give them the mealworms, but it’s much more fun on special occasions, lol.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I keep Mealworms always .. Seems rarely I put them out right now .. Not sure why not
Just have not it is so hot no rain 35 days here.
I do not extra weight on them having a hard enough time
Did take out a bag of oatmeal

 

[ronott1]

On Saturday I gave my hens pear peelings and cores!

I dehydrated a bag of pears. They are very tasty too.

 

[TropicalBabies]

On Saturday I gave my hens pear peelings and cores!

I dehydrated a bag of pears. They are very tasty too.

Oh yum that sounds good.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Aloha gang!
Came down from the mountain last eve and brought my Littles with me. I have the nice neighbor boy doing check-ins on the Bigs and I will drive up to check in on them tomorrow. It is nice to be home except I have a lot of deeper cleaning to do- bedding, laundry, floors etc. and it is warm. It is fun to see the bigger littles more contained in their play. Koke'e can get pretty big sometimes and even though we have no predators except dogs pretty much I know it only takes a second for a disaster to happen. So, containment is nice today,, did not realize how I worried in the back of my head.

I am battling a mild mite infestation in one of my mealworm bins. I have separated and am containing the #'s till my worms get big enough to sift and rinse. But grain mites have been an on going issue that I have not been able to completely rid myself of. Any body got any tricks to share?

I finally took the time to adjust the camera setting on my phone. Maybe a little better...

 

[ronott1]

Aloha gang!
Came down from the mountain last eve and brought my Littles with me. I have the nice neighbor boy doing check-ins on the Bigs and I will drive up to check in on them tomorrow. It is nice to be home except I have a lot of deeper cleaning to do- bedding, laundry, floors etc. and it is warm. It is fun to see the bigger littles more contained in their play. Koke'e can get pretty big sometimes and even though we have no predators except dogs pretty much I know it only takes a second for a disaster to happen. So, containment is nice today,, did not realize how I worried in the back of my head.

I am battling a mild mite infestation in one of my mealworm bins. I have separated and am containing the #'s till my worms get big enough to sift and rinse. But grain mites have been an on going issue that I have not been able to completely rid myself of. Any body got any tricks to share?

I finally took the time to adjust the camera setting on my phone. Maybe a little better... View attachment 2766221View attachment 2766222View attachment 2766223View attachment 2766224

Can you stop growing meal worms, freeze the ones you have for two weeks and treat the bins with spinosad or pyrethrum?

Freezing will kill the mites in the meal worms and then you can start fresh.

I have to freeze grain products here due to meal worm moths.

Once they are all gone in the house, I will need to freeze all grains that come here for two weeks before putting them on the shelf. Some of the grain products I bring home from the store seem to be contaminated with them LOL!

 

[TropicalBabies]

@ronott1 I freeze my bran 3 weeks b4 use and/or microwave then freeze pre use. I have my bins far away from each other in literally separate rooms and separate corners so if one gets- and it is usually a few weeks after I separate the beetles out so they are small. Only 1 bin has it now and that is outside lol. i was really hoping I could control it away...
Guess starting over is the answer because ever since I got the mites I have never been able to completely rid myself of them. Meal worms are not easy to come by here but I guess I could order from Amazon...

 

[TropicalBabies]

Some of the grain products I bring home from the store seem to be contaminated with them LOL!

Yeah, this is pretty much how I feel. Like i should freeze everything! Then i think chicken feed and gm's getting on me and me being the carrier. i know plenty people here who have given up on their farms but I really enjoy raising them and want to find my happy place.