Madeleine Innocent

Donna Lynn wrote:

R Scott wrote:Calcium deficiency isn’t the only cause for shell less eggs.

Well, don't just leave us hanging like that!

I've only heard about it being a calcium deficiency.  One of my layer hens did that in her third year, so I started keeping and pulverizing their egg shells and feeding it back to them.  No more issues.  

Madeleine, this may seem silly and you may have already checked, but could there be a simpler reason your ducks stopped eating much of the shell?  Is it solidified into a block?  Jammed in the container?  blocked by insects or something?  have an off smell?  Pieces too big?  Did you move the container?  Just trying to think of things that could turn them off the shell even tho they may need the nutrients...

All easily available. I think they're getting all they need from the snails. They're very good foragers and have lots of space to forage. They have been known to cross the road to my neighbours, although that doesn't seem to happen now. Luckily it's a quiet cul-de-sac. I used to have armies of snails, so it seems to be a good area for them.

Nina Surya wrote:Hello Madeleine,

What kind of ducks do you have? I'm thinking of maybe getting a tiny flock of runner ducks ( 1 drake, 2 females ) to keep the slug invasion in check. What is your experience, do they gobble up slugs?

Shell-less eggs are caused by a calcium deficiency. I find my chicken use the oystershell grit to help their digestion, but they still crave their calcium on the side.
I also had a chicken laying 'leather eggs' until I started to feed some of the eggshells back to the chicken. They would also dumpster dive in the compost heap for eggshells.
I'm not sure salt is good for the birds... You might do a little test as to what they want? Offer the mineral salt free choice and crushed egg shells free choice, let the ducks decide :)

As for the pause in laying, as you've remarked, they lay less or not at all when it's very hot or, like here now, very cold.

Enjoy the peak of summer!

My ducks are a mixed lot as people give me their ducks they no longer want. The snail and slug issue was why I got them and they did a great job.

The great thing about the tissue salts is they are half making up for deficiencies and half curing why there should be a deficiency, when they have all they need.

Jordan Czeczuga wrote:This is my first time posting on this forum, and unfortunately it is under a sad topic.

Me and my wife have two dogs a German Shepard and a Staffordshire Terrier.  We have had them for almost 5 years.  It was through our dogs that we meet at the dog park.  They actually introduced us, and we have been married now for almost two years.  We both wanted to start our own homestead and two years ago bought a few acres with a home to create our own little homestead.  Obviously the dogs came with.  About 9 month back we added to our property 2 baby goats that we were going to start our herd from.  We installed an in ground electric fence to separate the dogs from the area the goats and chickens had.  We knew that they would not get along, and we needed to keep the separate.  The goats and chickens have their own fenced in acre. Everything seemed to be ok until last week we were on vacation and got a call from our friend who was watching the animals for us that she came home to find the dogs in the fenced in area for the goats, and the goats were dead.  We are both heartbroken that the dogs would do that, and we are at a loss of what to do.  We want to continue to follow our passion and keep goats on the property but don't know if that is possible with the dogs at this point.

I guess I am reaching out to see if anyone else has gone through this or if anyone has any advice or tips or what to do.

Thanks in advance

Jordan

Since it happened in your absence, one wonders if the sitter did something and didn't own up to it. I had a boxer who killed a drake. For about 30 mins a day, I tied her up where the ducks were foraging, just going about my business. She lost interest, although I did keep them separated for a good few months after that. Then, for some reason, I let her out and she never touched another one.
Dogs need to appreciate that the other animals are family. Once they do, in my experience, all is well.

My ducks are free range during the day, topped up with bio-dynamic feed as required. They have free access to sea shell grit, which hardly goes down now, although it used to.  One duck consistently laid her eggs without a shell. And usually in the late afternoon.

I added Calc phos tissue salt (also called cell salt, mineral salt or Schuessler salt) to a bucket of water and over a few weeks, she has not only started to lay eggs with shells (started with delicate shells, now good ones), she lays them in the morning. And is the only one laying in the hot summer.

Jane Mulberry wrote:The only thing that worked when one of our cats started spraying -- and we tried everything! -- was homeopathy. Hubby has a book written by a vet who recommended Staphysagria for this. It took a couple of weeks the first time we treated him with it, he'd been spraying all over the house for months by that stage and the behaviour was seriously entrenched. After that, if he ever relapsed and sprayed again then a dose or two would fix things.

I am sceptical about many of the claims made for homeopathy, but it really worked for this cat.

I believe this remedy is especially helpful in cases of bullying from another cat triggering the spraying, and will also help if given to the bully.

A brilliant British vet George MacLeod completely transformed his practise to homeopathy after it helped his health. When I first read his book, his opinion, quite radical then as now, was that cats are angry having their breeding potential removed without permission. But the anger is suppressed and usually only comes out in later life, usually as spraying, but can be eczema. Can't say I blame them for the anger. Most people would be too. So now I talk to them about why and what weeks before the surgery.

This is rarely an issue on its own. Dogs tend to manage their lives to the best of their ability and it is usually our lifestyles or our demands on them that is opposite to how a pack would behave. Every situation is different, but I recommend getting and reading The Dog Listener - https://janfennellthedoglistener.com/
. She has a unique way of understanding dogs - from the dogs point of view. It has helped me with my dogs and is completely gentle and non-violent. The book has a chapter on this very subject.

Madeleine Innocent wrote:

James Bridger wrote:I do some beaver trapping. They're neat critters, so I mostly leave them alone if they're not bothering anyone. People get mad when they're chewing down $1000 ornamental trees or building (and rebuilding on a nightly basis) dams that flood their only road to their field that needs to be harvested.

I'm well aware that there many effective ways to deal with beavers other than trapping them and killing them, but by the time they're causing problems, people want them gone like right now, and I can get them out in a night or two.

Most of the time, people don't know they're there until they start causing problems. They move in during the spring dispersal, but don't starting doing a bunch of chewing until the fall, and by the time they start chewing, it's time for immediate action.

I'm sure you get some people to change their minds after you sent them John's video.

Here is a great youtube link with how the British resolve issues with the newly imported beavers webpage

As I understand it from the human diet, nitrates that are in veggies especially greens, are converted to nitrites by the action of chewing in herbivores. The saliva contains the necessary enzyme. Once in the stomach the acid converts it to nitric oxide, which is the nutrient needed.
Problems occur when the enzyme is not present or the stomach acid is not healthy. This website explains it better then I can - webpage

James Bridger wrote:I do some beaver trapping. They're neat critters, so I mostly leave them alone if they're not bothering anyone. People get mad when they're chewing down $1000 ornamental trees or building (and rebuilding on a nightly basis) dams that flood their only road to their field that needs to be harvested.

I'm well aware that there many effective ways to deal with beavers other than trapping them and killing them, but by the time they're causing problems, people want them gone like right now, and I can get them out in a night or two.

Most of the time, people don't know they're there until they start causing problems. They move in during the spring dispersal, but don't starting doing a bunch of chewing until the fall, and by the time they start chewing, it's time for immediate action.

And here's a video showing how to manage when beaver activity threatens homes -  

James Bridger wrote:I do some beaver trapping. They're neat critters, so I mostly leave them alone if they're not bothering anyone. People get mad when they're chewing down $1000 ornamental trees or building (and rebuilding on a nightly basis) dams that flood their only road to their field that needs to be harvested.

I'm well aware that there many effective ways to deal with beavers other than trapping them and killing them, but by the time they're causing problems, people want them gone like right now, and I can get them out in a night or two.

Most of the time, people don't know they're there until they start causing problems. They move in during the spring dispersal, but don't starting doing a bunch of chewing until the fall, and by the time they start chewing, it's time for immediate action.

I'm sure you get some people to change their minds after you sent them John's video.