 Wild birds are so fun to watch. We have several species that visit our feeders and we love to identify and watch them. But what about those in our barn or with our chickens? Now that's another story! Birds of course can leave waste in feeders and spread diseases to poultry as they hop around going after stray feed. Birds can as hop on coccidia and then hop in your animal feeders and place their coccidia, e coli , etcetera onto their eating areas. So it's better if they do not mix with your animal feeding areas.
There are a few things one can do to minimize or avoid these things. First is if you like to feed birds as we do, is to keep their feeding stations far from poultry and livestock feeding areas. Another thing is to only feed your poultry and stock what they can consume at that feeding and to feed it in containers that avoid waste. Feeders that can be picked up and moved after feeding should be removed and put in a feed room or other place not accessible to them. Also, most birds will enter your barns or sheds from higher. Closing off gaps between eves and other openings with one inch poultry wire or woven hardware cloth so that fresh air movement is still allowed over head but birds aren't allowed to land and hop in will reduce the amount of birds entering your barn areas. Even old screening can often be obtained for free and be upcycled this way. Keeping barn doors closed when possible also helps. Also keeping a barn cat (keep it healthy & chlamydia free!) in the barn can also reduce wild bird populations. I personally don't do this because of problems with cats using hay for their bathroom. For poultry's safety from wild birds (as well as weasels!) it is best to use a one inch poultry netting for their pens, housing, chicken tractor and supplemental feeding areas. Two inch netting, while cheaper, allows birds and small predators in. It also deteriorates faster allowing foxes and raccoons a greater likelihood of getting to your birds. Another way to combat this is to be sure your animals and poultry are the healthiest they can possibly be! We achieve this by supplementing poultry with LayNLayer herb mix or BetterDaze herb mix as well as decrease their parasite challenges with DWormA and GI Soother for coccidial challenges and MMune herb mix for any that need that additional support for their immune systems such as weak, old, recovering or senior creatures. For livestock we offer the same products (of course they don't need the LayNLayer!). BLESSINGS TO ALL OF YOU- YOU, YOUR HUMAN FAMILY AND YOUR CREATURE FAMILY :D |
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