Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi to One & All

Not had my chooks long, 1 week [already had our 1st eggs]
I would like to gather some remedies/first aid items for my chooks, preferably natural, read loads but cannot decide what is best

The non-chemical mite powder I have is suitable 'for use in organic and intensive farming systems.' It lasts for 'up to 6 weeks' too, and can be used on the birds and around the coop. It also states that it 'does not taint eggs and will not metabolise via cuts (etc)'
It's called 'barrier red mite power' (barrier being the brand) and the ingredients are listed as 'australian tea tree oil 1.5% and 'lavandin oil 1.5%'.

I also have 'barrier v1 spray disinfectant' which 'destroys bacteria,fungi,mould,yeast and viruses; neutralises odours' which contains 'high grade herbal concentrates- no nasty chemicals, no bleach, no detergent.'
They wre recommended by theplace I bought the henss from, and I can vouch for the spray's odour-destoying properties- I'm sitting right by the coop now, and never a whiff!

The wormer is 'verm-x' and is 'triple green apple award winner 2004-2008 for best environmental practice in farming and agriculture. 250 ml of the liquid form was lasts 10 birds 6 months, and the poultry lady assured me that it doesn't go off if it takes you ages to get through it all. It's entirely herbal,and contains garlic, menthol, cinnamon and thyme, as wel las a couple of things I can't work out from the latin names given.

Flubenvet wormer
Poultry Spice tonic
Garlic powder for the food (helps deodorise poo and may protect against intestinal parasites)
Jar of vaseline - useful for all sorts... frozen combs, manky bums....

I think I need to get in a few bits and pieces too - the only thing I have at the moment is some Citricidal grapefruit seed extract, as recommended on the Omlet website, as one of mine seemed to have the sneezes - it's done the trick. (But I didn't buy it from the Omlet site, as it was twice the price of my local health food shop!)

Armadillo - I have this amazing picture of you sitting in an orchard with the laptop on your knee! (I know, such an old romantic me, thinking of hens roaming amidst the apple blossom in Spring....)

Oh if only! Just a scruffy bit of ground in the back garden, unfortunately!
Does one tiny mildewy apple tree plus 2 small pear trees count as an orchard?

Surgical spirit and barrier cream for scaley leg mites, louse powder - now both replaced by Frontline Spray (for cats and dogs) - kills both lice and mites and recently been removed from the Prescription Only list
Poultry spice, marmite (I mix with milk and bread for a vitamin-boosting treat), Dettol, Verm-X worming pellets.

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Dwell simply ~ love richly

Cheers to all of you

Birdie Wife, is it OK to feed the hens bread? I like the idea of giving them marmite as I know its full of vitamins, have to hold my nose though as I hate the stuff!!

I've also heard of putting either cider venegar or cod liver oil [ugh! retch!!!] in the water; so far I have the Barrier Mite powder, vaseline & surgical spirit.

Mine aren't dead yet! I've heard of a few people who give their hens some toast with marmite on, they really love it, just make sure there's lots f clean water around. I don't like breaking up sticky bits of toast so I thought I would soak bread in milk and marmite instead, which means the bread isn't so dry and they get a double hit of vitamins from the milk and marmite (I don't think bread has many).

The cider vinegar you use is not the one from the shops but ACV which I believe you can get from horsey shops, it's a tonic for all sorts of livestock. You could put garlic granules or a clove of garlic in their water supply instead. I don't think cod liver oil in the water would work very well because it would float and not disperse, so the best case scenario is that one of your girls would get a big mouthful of the stuff at some point and the others would get none!!

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Dwell simply ~ love richly

I thought bread gave chooks the pooos glad it's ok for them as they love it, promise I won't go mad and keep it for treats.

Saturday is 'D' day; we are going to give the chook's legs a dip/clean with surgical spirit and then coat with vaseline and also spray with mite/louse spray. My first chance to give them a once over since I've had them [2 weeks], they'll probably never come near me again

Oh! forgot to ask; how often would you worm the girls, with pellets do you give them to the chook or put it into water??

Hi All,
Did the deed to day, I felt awful, I could feel their little hearts going 10 to the dozen as I held them, my OH did the surgical spirit, vaseline mite spray bit.
They were all happy for some sweetcorn when it was all over though, wondering if they will stop laying now.

Poultry spice which can be mixed in their layers mash to give them a boost especially when they are moulting or for newly released ex bat hens. Lifeguard in their water. garlic to stop the poop smell, red mite powder to protect them from these nasties. Put this in their nesting box, dust bath and monthly under wings, chest and vent. Flebenvet to prevent gapeworm. Diatom earth...does the same. Add to food, and can be used for external parasites in nest box. Eucalyputus oil and citranella oil to prevent flies. I put a little on their bedding in the run and wipe it around the wood on their run. Bokashi bran added to the layers mash to stop runny poohs and cut down the smell. Thanks Birdie wife for the info about surgical spirit for scaly legs...must get some. !.....um not for me you understand..for the hens!