My kids started raising chicks through the 4H, and we’ve been keeping them for years now.
We’ve had a bout of intestinal issues that antibiotics or dewormers just couldn’t knock out. Then someone dumped a rooster in to our yard and he had severe scaly leg mites, which went through the whole flock.
Soooo... 2 drops white thyme essential oil into one gallon of water has worked WONDERS. I use NOW FOODS brand and I made sure it was their only water source. Now that the diarrhea has cleared up I’m just using 1 drop per gallon.
For the scaly leg mites: I took cheap vegetable oil and put it in to a tall plastic container, about a quart size. I mixed in 1 drop of the white thyme oil and stuck each leg into the oil up to the feather line and rubbed it in pretty well. I also tried it with 2 drops thyme oil on the really bad rooster legs and no one died. It’s been 2 weeks and the thick raised scales have fallen off and fresh new skin is emerging.
You can use thyme oil in water in a spray bottle in the coop too, esp on the perches.
Keep your coops clean!
It's about damn thyme!
Spicy!
Yep. Saw that one cumin.
Have you tried using mint oil in the coops, too? Mint oil is used as a natural insect/pest repellent.
The MOST common ailment in chicken coops is by far intestinal parasite disease called coccidiosis. You should know what this is and how to treat it before you ever own any chickens. The first sign is birds with diarrhea and possibly even light bleeding which can be seen under the roosting area. If you miss these first signs the next thing is lethargy and seeing a hen or two staying in the coop on the ground even after all the other birds are out getting scratch or free-ranging. These birds will also lose their fear of you and let you get unusually close to them without being alarmed.
Once any of these symptoms has occurred the entire flock needs to be treated via their primary water source with Amprolium (coccidiostat) it comes in a 20% powder, my brand is Corid. The only water sources should be treated for at least 5 and up to 21 days or until symptom wain. Eggs are OK to collect and eat during this flock treatment per the instructions and everything else I have found on the internet.
We just had 2 of 40 laying hens displaying these symptoms and even saw a few spots under the roost with a little blood. 5 days Amprolium in the water and mommas are all happy again.
And another great tip for anyone dealing with avian predation especially red-tailed hawks, we stopped free ranging the flock and keep them under a 40x40 netted enclosure until 3 hours before sunset when an automatic Omelet timer door lets them out. Apparently most of the hawks have found other food sources and are pretty much done hunting by then. We used to have quite a few issues with free ranging all day but most of the attacks occurred by 2-3PM. Haven’t lost a bird to hawks in over 6 months now by waiting for evening free ranging.
I heard that raccoon meat taste like turkey.
Sounds like a fox. Raccoons usually just take 1.
We had 15 chickens killed in 3 days. Some chickens just had their heads chewed off. We saw the racoons around the chicken coop. I thought I had every hole closed up, but they climbed up the side of the coop and found a corner of the coup with a hole about 3" in diameter.
That sounds consistent with a mink or weasel. The mink will just drink their blood.
Opossums will chew their heads off to get to the eggs.
Sue
Oh we do that, too, but it was ineffective for these 2 problems
Great info!
Who "dumped" the rooster in your yard? Did you kick their ass after that? LOL
No idea! We’ve had dogs and even puppies dumped inside our fence. Part of rural living
Not a bad problem, they could be dumped way away from civilization to fend for themselves or even killed 😢
I am the dumping grounds for cats and kittens. The worst is people won't fix their animal, because they think its mean, but then drop off their pregnant cat on someone else.
God provides. We all need to learn about what our natural world has for us.
Oil of Oregano (not oregano oil, must be imported from Italy... same stuff Pharos used).
Just sayin'
Interesting story.
The one thing I don't like is they don't understand God. They expect healing from God to be like the movies. They don't grasp that God works through people and things.
And they make a cheap joke.
Silly people.
But still, great article. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for that.
This is good to know thanks.
We are wanting to build a coop this year. This is getting saved thanks!
We did it last year. I highly recommend not waiting with all the avian flu BS talk going on right now. They are going to shutdown the poultry industry soon to help with the food crisis I believe. Get the chicks ordered, mostly pullets but get a few roosters too and then cull later based on aggressiveness which 1-2 to keep. An incubator to be able to replenish chicks and be able to sell to those who didn’t get them in time is another great idea.
During Covid and not being able to buy eggs for 3 weeks we had enough and ordered about 80 pullets and 6 little roosters. They needed a few months in brooders so this basically forced us to build the 10x20 henhouse with roosting space for 100 birds and 16 egg laying boxes. We added a 40x40 outside enclosure and then had to put up avian netting above for hawks. Buying the chicks put us on a clock and made the coop building our priority to have done when they were ready to come out of the brooders. I wouldn’t wait on these plans much longer friend.
for the mites, any oily liquid should work. insects breathe through their legs, and the oil clogs their breather holes.
got a rather bad flea infestation back when I lived with my parents, during my NEET period. spent the whole summer slathering my ankles with sunscreen, because it kept them from biting the hell out of me.
I use oregano oil for mine
Very helpful. Thanks. I hope I never need it.
I've got thyme planted near their run and they were surely pecking what they could. Good to know it's not bad for them.
Great tips! Thanks so much!
Sounds about right. One of my favorite chemicals is Decon30, which is a botanical derived from thyme.