Diatomacous Earth

Sometimes dust baths aren't enough

Diatomacous Earth has so many applications it is almost a panacea.  Anyone with various critters needs to know about this product--the more critters you have, the more necessary DE is for you.  Even though I am going to preach to you the gospel of DE, I have somehow never actually had to use it myself.  I have, however, recommended DE to several different customers and it has saved their critters, so I know for a fact that this works.

Worms can be a serious problem and DE is a great, cheap wormer.  Worm medicine cannot target all kinds of worms, and you are not supposed to use more than one wormer at a time due to drug interactions.  You can use DE at the same time you use a wormer though and increase your chances of killing the right worms.  Worms can spread quickly and thankfully DE works quickly.  One customer came in talking about a rooster that had several worms and she was worried about the worms spreading to all her other critters.  DE solved that problem quickly.  I told her to put DE in the feed and also rub it into the feathers (like a dust bath) and place it in the bedding.  I could bore you to death with other examples.

DE also works on mites, fleas, and other nasty bugs.  All you have to do is spread the DE on the floor, ground, bedding, whatever, or rub into fur, feathers, whatever, and you are good to go.  It really is that simple.  I cannot say enough good things about DE.

The Old Rabbit Trick

Corporate has decided that we need to sell more rabbits so we have been stocking more and longer than usual.  At first they were selling pretty well, but after a while certain ones were left alone, just waiting around for a customer to take them home.  Apparently customers prefer smaller rabbits--the smaller the cuter.  Ones with floppy ears too.  Someone was tired of taking care of the rabbits and wanted to sell the rejects so he decided to feed the rabbits a treat every time he walked by the cages.  This trained the rejects to be less rejectable by running over towards humans and standing on their hind lends "greeting" whomever walked by.  The trick worked most of the time.

Spring Hiss in the Air

It has been getting more difficult to lock up the critters at night because spring is here and the geese are getting territorial.  The chickens do not have a problem going in at night, but the geese hang around the door and keep the ducks out, which means herding the ducks around the coop and into the human entrance, and then shutting the critter door as goose beaks snap and hiss at my hand.  I doubt it would even be possible for the geese to hatch anything, since there are too many other beasts about, and they do not want to use the coop to nest.

Defective Birds

It is our policy to replace "defective birds" so long as we actually see the critter corpses.  A certain sick fiend placed his defectives in a sandwich bag, and brought that sweaty thing in.

Some of the experiences I have had with customers have been quite strange, almost as if they think Farmville is real--even the Amish and Mennonites.  I could spend all day telling you stories, but a few stick out.

One guy called and cried about how all his chicks died, and after spending a few minutes narrowing down causes it was determined that he placed chick grit in the feed container instead of actual feed.  He was informed to his great horror that all the chicks starved to death.

There are several people who think they can get by with feeding their birds scratch grain or corn, which is at least better than giving them stones--although the grit helps them digest food--but my favorite story is the guy who fed his birds potato chips.  At least they survived.

One time an Amish guy came in and complained that all his Cornish Rocks died, somewhere around 50 of them.  We kept scratching our heads because it sounded like he did everything right.  We replaced all the birds, and as he was about to walk out the door he turned around and asked whether he should raise these birds in the same spot as last year since the last batch died from some disease.  Yeah, dude, pretty sure there's a verse in Deuteronomy about removing diseased soil from the camp...

Another Amish guy wanted to replace his birds because they all died from the cold.  The weather was fairly warm but there was a cold snap, and this particular sect doesn't believe in heat lamps.  They placed one of those old warm water bottles in the brood box.  Obviously it didn't work.

Easter Critters

Easter is a time when people purchase random critters for their children even though they usually have no idea how to take care of them.  I still have no idea what the purpose is--pictures, fun, who knows?  If you are interested in getting various critters for cheap, if not free, now is the time to search CL or board posts.  I was able to get some free ducks this way a few years ago.  Unfortunately, the ducks were housed in a dog crate with a newspaper floor, and some of the ducks had messed up legs; they were Pekins, though, so they were nice jerky.

Chick Days

Chick days are upon us, and my favorite part is transferring the critters from the post box to the brood box.  I love seeing the different reactions.  Some sit there dazed for a second, others seem quite precocious, then all of them are running around like children on a playground.

Even at this early age, it can be dangerous introducing different birds.  In the picture below you can see a Rouen that appears to be leaning against the stock tank wall, but it was actually pushed down by a naughty Freedom Ranger who did not take kindly to all the duck immigrants.  In fact, he had to be watched closely because he kept running around latching onto duck flippers with his beak and dragging ducklings through the shavings as if he were Achilles.

The other day there was a certain El Pollo Diablo that just kept pecking at everyone.  He was placed in a stock tank by himself and peeped mournfully, refusing to eat and drink.  We took pity on him and returned him to his tank--he drank lots and lots of water then resumed his pecking.

With adult birds you can introduce immigrants at night then see what happens at daylight, but with chicks, it can be a bit more tricky since they have the light on all the time and just run around whenever they want.  I have never had many problems, even with overcrowding; you are more likely to see problems in stores where 1,000 birds arrive at the same time and customers are frantically called.

Strength in Numbers

The first ducks I got were Rouens and Pekins, two of each.  Sadly, I can't find any pictures of them.  They used to sleep in a row, amusingly enough, Rouen, Pekin, Rouen, Pekin, and vice versa many times.  I noticed two interesting things: some seemed to sleep with one eye open, and they had a great alarm system.  I tried many times to sneak up on them, but never could.  Getting too close would cause some to cry out in alarm, but they were alerted long before then.  Sleeping together so close, meant they did not even have to utter a noise in order to alert the others--simply breathing faster was enough.  The closer I'd sneak up, the ducks on the ends of the row would breathe faster and awaken the ones middle.

I'm Lick James, Bitch

I work at a farm store and there has been a weird trend in which customers bring in their little filth hounds to visit with the baby chicks.  There is usually licking involved and sometimes the filth hound either likes or dislikes a certain chick too much and is reprimanded sternly by the owner for snapping at the poor little chicks.