Neighbour making formal noise complaint.

[redfrock]

Ok. The girls are here and happy as anything in their pink eglu. Becks kindly gave me a whole host of tins, pots and bottles of things (thanks Becks!) However a lot of the labels aren't all that readable anymore so I need to check some things and just go over the basics so that I know once and for all what I am doing:

 

1: poultrycide - when to use and how much to dilute it by?

2: garlic powder - how much to use? And is horse garlic powder the same as the stuff for chickens?

3:diatom: again how much to use and where to put it! I have put it on the ends of the bars, but now I have read they eat it as well????

4: layers pellets - happily mine are already munching their way through the pellets I bought, but I just want to check approx how many grams per bird per day so that I don't under feed them.

5: poultry spice again what, when and how much

6: grit: bought some fine oyster shell - i sprinkled it on the floor of the run but would I be better putting it in a dish

7: mixed corn or wheat? I bought corn and shared a couple of handfuls between the girls this afternoon (along with the cucumber and boiled spud peelings - that will be a sunday special! tends to be the only day we eat spuds - )

8: aubiose - I've got this and I have placed it in the poop tray and their nesting box, but not bothered in the run as they are on the grass at the mo.

 

I get the impression that I mix the spice, diatom and garlic powder all in with their pellets

 

Is there anything else I should get. I have read about verma-x and citricidal, but could do with a bit more info.

 

Finally I feel awful leaving them withoout water at night - but I think we did the same when I was a child.

 

Sorry to ask so many questions but I thought it might be an idea for me to have all the answers in one place. I am lucky in that I can source pretty much everything locally. I just want to make sure I am doing it all correctly

 

Claire x

[geb0205]

I'll attempt to answer a couple, but not all!

 

Diatom: put it anywhere that little nasty passengers of chickens may get. I put it on my girl's legs the other day to help scaley leg mite, it seems to have helped! I put it on the bars of the eglu and in the wood shavings I use in the nesting box, just in case. I also dust my girls with it to help stave off passengers. They can eat it, yes. Its microscopic algae that causes fatal cuts to passengers... Coat your pellets in a small amount of olive oil and dust some diatom onto them and mix well!

 

Poultry grit: I would have thought you can spread it about or put it in a small flower pot, they will help themselves if they feel they need it!

 

Corn or wheat: Well, corn tends to get them fat quickly (probably why my girls love it!) I dont think it matters either way which you use. Mixed corn is fine in the evening as a treat before bed (says she who's chooks only eat corn!)

 

Verm-X is a wormer that is made of a combination of herbs, and is totally natural, but if your feeding diatom, that should do the job.

 

Citricidal is an extract of grapefruit seed, and has antibiotic and antifungal properties. Used like Poultry spice, as a general health tonic occasionally (put in drinking water) or used to clean and disinfect the eglu with!

[Christian]

Hello Redfrock!

 

I will answer a couple more

 

Poultry Spice I sprinkle a quarter-ish tea spoon in each side of the grub feeders when i fill it. Its a general tonic good for their well being and also helps when they are moulting.

 

feeding The average chicken eats about 125g of pellets a day. Just fill up the grub feeder and they will eat as much as they need.

 

Garlic powder I also use the horse garlic powder. I keep my pellets in a plastic bin with a lid and when i top it up with pellets i put in about 2 -3 tables spoons of garlic powder in and give it a good shake up.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Edited to add -

 

water Try leaving the eglu door open a bit and they will learn to let themselves into the run in the morning. I work away from home 2-3 nights a week, so in the summer the eglu door is open all the time.

[Olly]

Congratulations, bet you are thrilled with your chooks!

 

I mix up pellets, garlic powder and grit all at once - I use approx 1 teaspoon garlic powder and a small handful of grit, to a grub-full of pellets. Sorry that's not more exact - I just fill the grub up to about 2/3, not totally full, and my girls eat as much as they want. As my girls don't free-range much, they mostly eat pellets and get through quite a bit.

 

I also sprinkle grit in the run for them to peck up, I tried putting a little dish in there and they just kicked it over anyway!

 

I leave water in all night, and food, and I leave the Eglu door open (not the run door) - they let themselves out and seem absolutely fine.

 

Can't tell you about the other items, but someone else will know, I'm sure!

[Egluntyne]

Poultrycide ....sounds like a crime along with homicide, patricide, matricide, pesticide( the murder of spouse!) etc

[redfrock]

Poultrycide ....sounds like a crime along with homicide, patricide, matricide, pesticide( the murder of spouse!) etc

 

I meant poultry shield

my poor chooks would have a fit if they knew what I had written

[Egluntyne]

Just kidding...I knew you didn't mean poultrycide!! Couldn't resist...sorry!!

[Kathy C]

Poultry shield is diluted 1 part to 10 of water and sprayed on eglu, bars, etc. to kill of red mites and their eggs. (It’s also effective against bacteria, viruses, fungus or moulds apparently.) It can also be used at 1:20 for general disinfection of eglu. Just dilute & spray. It is totally safe, and there’s no need to discard eggs. You can allow the girls back in almost immediately.

 

For more information visit www.sprcentre.co.uk, they stock lots of specialist poutry items.

[chelsea]

Poultry spice - we use this religiously and sprinkle over the food in the grub and use this all the time. This helps keeps hens healthy, and touch wood *knock knock* no illness here yet.

 

Aubiose/hemcore - another thing we couldnt do without, you can put this in your run when your grass has gone. We dont have any grass in our run and have a layer of aubiose/hemcore and works a treat.

 

As a preventative measure we also use Barrier Red mite powder in the eglu to ward off the evil red mite, it smells lovely and fresh too.

[JohnP]

Diatomaceous earth is ground up rock (limestone). It is formed from the fossils of microscopic sea creatures called diatoms, which have silicon shells (like glass). The reason it's claimed to work (I've no experience yet!) is that it dehydrates the mites, drawing out water from anything it comes into contact with. This kills them!

 

Now, this makes it seem to me like feeding it to chickens won't do much good. I doubt it works by abrasion (cutting up the mites) because it's much too fine to do that. Plus, anything that abrasive would shred your chickens' innards if they ate it!