A couple weeks ago, we lost around 20 hens and a rooster to what we assume is neighbor dogs or possibly coyotes (thus the new LGD pup!). We were devastated! We love our healthy, free-range birds and really enjoyed the variety that we had and all the eggs we were finally getting and selling. We are now working on trying to re-build our happy flock.
We picked up 12 hens from a local farmer today. We found once we were catching them that they were not very healthy, crowded conditions and being fed only cracked corn. We got them anyway and now I am playing vet. We have them house separately from our healthy flock and are feeding them medicated layer feed mixed with Diatamaceous Earth (for worms) and I gave them all .25cc Ivomectin orally also. We have to feed their eggs to the dogs for the next few weeks due to the Ivomectin, but hopefully by that time they will be much happier and healthier and we will be getting more eggs from them.
We are also picking up a few roosters (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) and a couple hens from freecycle.
In May, we are getting 5 Americauna chicks ("easter eggers") for fun. This should round out our flock well.
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