What did you do with your flock today?

[PopoMyers]

Well, in this case, the rooster's intervention seemed to help because Ruby and Bianca are getting along again.

Other than a few pecks for food or a space to dig/dust bathe, I haven't seen Ruby being aggressive with Bianca again.

View attachment 3679954

But it's all about the size. If you have little roos, it is understandable that they do not want to intervene.

I have a rooster that's larger than my torso so I figured he could intervene if he wanted, lol. Glad he finally did. View attachment 3679957

Oh, my goodness! What a huge, buff guy! How much does he weigh?

 

[PopoMyers]

We had a couple fire ant hills in the forest when we bought this place. We used plenty of Amdro on the hills themselves and have never seen them since. Our neighbor had a couple hills and we treated theirs too. No more ants here.

May have to be careful using that inside her run, though, especially if the chooks can get to it. Glad you got rid of them.

 

[Smokerbill]

Awww, such a sweet roo. I was going to take a video for Ferdy, then this happened. Lots of watery poop again. I wonder if her body is trying to wash out the meds? I hope this gets better, soon. She is definitely not too hot.
Picked up Vitamin C, so she had 500 mg last night along with the E. B complex in the morning, which has 100 mg. C. She a medium sized girl that probably weighs about 2 kg.

She was picking out the corn bits from her feed, so I offered her just cracked corn, and she got excited and ate quite a bit, with water to follow. At least I hope this means she is hydrated, and not getting dehydrated.. Now if we can get her digestive tract to slow down.

I'm glad she's improving! Just curious, are you giving her any grit while she's recuperating?

 

[ValerieJ]

May have to be careful using that inside her run, though, especially if the chooks can get to it. Glad you got rid of them.

Good heavens! I didn't even think about that! I just assumed the ant hills were not in the run, but the ants were coming in to feast on egg and unfortunately live chicken. Yes, I would definitely not spread Amdro in my chicken run.

 

[kurby22]

I had a hen brooding and an egg got broken in the nest. The fire ants came for the egg and attacked the hen too I think. Not sure how long she tried to stay in the nest box...but when I found her she was covered in bites and ants and trying to get away but couldn't because they were all over her. She died from it shortly after I found her.

I'm so upset. Never had anything like this happen before. Not sure why the fire ants are so bad this year... we haven't had them bad here before this year.

Any ant killing tips and tricks? I've never tried to completely rid my property of them but that's my goal now.

Oh I’m soooo sorry!! Was it an OD? I can’t believe they were so awful and she died so quickly. I’m no good with ant solutions though, I wish I had ideas

 

[Maddcatter]

Today I sprayed down my broody hen with garlic vinegar water... Cause she has mites. Pretty sure its NFM. Turns out garlic water is a pretty decent vermin killer.

... Tbf, it's not comfy if you get it in an open wound either.

I took the leftover garlic that was strained out of the vinegar into the coop, because most bugs don't like the smell. Given my average humidity is maybe 20%, I figured it'd dry out in a day and maybe slightly deter a pest or 2.

.... The chickens ate it. Apparently they're happy to eat vinegar garlic?

Otherwise I mostly gave the birds hard boiled eggs and spiffed up their water a bit because we went from 90⁰ to 32⁰ again.

 

[PopoMyers]

I'm glad she's improving! Just curious, are you giving her any grit while she's recuperating?

Haven't yet, as she just started eating corn today, good idea.

 

[PopoMyers]

Learned something today. I went to get piddle pads for Ginger, as I'm running out of newspaper that a friend has given me. As I'm standing in the pet aisle talking to another customer, she gave me a tip. Instead of spending nearly $14 , I could go get the same thing, bedliners in the adult department for $6.50. What a racket the pet supplies are! @kurby22 What do you get?

 

[ChicksnMore]

Oh, no, @ChicksnMore so sorry for your girl, and your loss. Fire ant bites are one of the worst I have ever felt. I cannot imagine.
One way I got rid of some hills was pouring about 2+ gallons of boiling water down the nest entrance, being sure to saturate deep down. Night time may be best when they are all inside. Fire ant soup!

That sounds effective! I'll give it a try.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Well, in this case, the rooster's intervention seemed to help because Ruby and Bianca are getting along again.

Other than a few pecks for food or a space to dig/dust bathe, I haven't seen Ruby being aggressive with Bianca again.

View attachment 3679954

But it's all about the size. If you have little roos, it is understandable that they do not want to intervene.

I have a rooster that's larger than my torso so I figured he could intervene if he wanted, lol. Glad he finally did. View attachment 3679957

What a stunner of a boy!