[LadyPluck]

You'll be fed up of me by the time I get my hens lol

I want to make sure I am as prepared as I can be before I collect my hens, but I'm getting rather confused with all the dusting of this, and the painting of that. The various tonics to be given and when.

What would you say are the most important things I should ensure I have for my ladies?
(other than a hen house obviously)

What should I do to prevent things such as sour/impacted crop. Or any other common illnesses/mites

Does everyone have a dust bath, what is in it?

Is there anything I shouldn't do?

[nzdunn]

Personally for me the essentials are Diatom for the coup and the girls.   Everytime you clean out the coup dust everything with diatom, bedding, nestboxes, perches, nooks and crannys.    Then another one i have is poultry sheild i reckon also a must for spraying in the coup aswell.    I dust my girls with diatom every 6wks.      For the girls themselves abit of Apple cider vinegar in the water is very good for them, get the stuff from farm shop suppliers or equestian stores, its the stuff for horses which is better, i put abit in there water 3-4 times a week.     When i first got my girlies i provided a dust bath, just a large basin with sand in but they didnt go near it, my girlies made there own you might find your will do that to.      Hope thats some help, the more experienced owners on here might add some more aswell.    Looking forward to seeing piccys of your new girlies.  nickyx

[poultrygeist]

As I understand it, crop impaction is caused by food (often long grass) becoming tangled and compacted in the crop. The best way to prevent it is to make sure you don't give them long stringy grass or similar. ALso, they need poultry grit to act as their 'teeth' to grind up their food. Layers pellets contain a small amount of grit but corn, grass, greens, etc need extra which you should provide constantly so they can help themselves.
Sour crop will occurr when the crop doesn't empty fully and the conents ferment and become acidic, causing fungal infections. This causes the crop to produce large amounts of fluid and causes the 'water balloon' effect. Again, the correct food with grit should reduce the likelihood of this.
SO basically, supply poultry grit, with oyster shell in, plus a supplement like poultry spice and apple cider vinegar and they should be fine.

ROb

ps. We only get fed up when the questions stop and we're out of a job 

[LadyPluck]

Thanks Nicky & Rob

ps. We only get fed up when the questions stop and we're out of a job 

That's a relief, cos I'm certain I have a lot more lol
I have 2 dogs, and a snake. I have also kept mice and rats (fancy) and this keeping chickens lark seems much more scary.

We don't seem to 'yet' have any problems with vermin other than squirrels (they are a REAL pain). Are they likely to affect my ladies?

[woodside farm]

Hi LadyPluck,
Chicken keeping is not scary  it's great fun and very rewarding.
The main thing is to buy good healthy chickens in the first place.
I keep and breed a lot of chickens, I don't use Diatom or Poultry Sheild, or anything like that.
You need to clean the chickens out thourougly once a week then you can check for redmite, the only thing I have ever had a problem with  I have kept chickens for at least 7 years my chickens have never had Lice or sour crop.
I do use apple cider vinegar but only every 2 months for 7 days, and grit and oyster shell is always available for them. As nzdunn said they make their own dustbath.
You just need to keep your eye on your birds and deal with problems if they arrive, not worry about things before they happen
Good Luck and enjoy your girls 
Michelle xx

[janet12000]

There is a particular rule when keeping chickens and being part of this forum..........
PHOTO'S!!!!!!

[LadyPluck]

LOL thanks everyone. I can be such a worry wart. Fortunately though, most of my Q's have been answered recently, I'm spending a lot of time on here reading up on this and that.
Once I have my ladies, I promise I'll post some photo's. I'm still looking for them though. It's harder than I thought to actually find them lol