Dam Kids Ranch

11/24/2024

I can't post comments on almost anything as my farm page. I'm not ignoring you, just blocked from posting for an unknown reason. 🤷

11/24/2024

Chinese Skullcap is back in stock! 200g and 500g sizes, and 100 Critical Care capsules. We ship by next day.

200g Chinese Skullcap Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract (Baicalin 85%) Baicalin is derived from the roots of the Scutellaria baicalensis plant, which is a herb that has been used for centuries in traditional medicine. Numerous studies have shown that baicalin efficiently treats and prevents various av...

11/23/2024

SCARY DISCUSSION: What would make you feel safe purchasing a bird from someone who you know has had an outbreak of Marek's or ALV (or MG/MS)? Disclosure? Time? Blood tests (which ones)? Your own quarantine procedures? Would nothing be enough once you knew?

I don't have a fully formed answer for myself. I'm hoping we can brainstorm, especially because with Marek's and MG we can assume EVERY breeder we purchase from has it in some form in some birds. As a practice, breeders do NOT disclose this information. Anyone whose been breeding any length of time has had disease, especially if they show. So... how do we get comfortable?

11/21/2024

Paints UFD! NMB - We placed all our paints early this year, and some of them and their offspring are now looking for a new coop due to impending military service and move. They're in San Diego, and if anyone needs shipping we'll help the owners with that. PM for details!

Adult hens, both great mom:
- Silkie paint (CLAIMED)
- White/Paint Satin Showgirl (CLAIMED)

5 months old:**
- Paint Silkie pullet 1 (CLAIMED)
- Paint Silkie pullet 2 (CLAIMED)
- Paint Silkie cockerel 1
- Paint Silkie cockerel 2

7 weeks old:**
- White Satin pullet (CLAIMED)
- White Satin Showgirl cockerel (CLAIMED)
- Paint Silkie 1 - likely cockerel
- Paint Silkie 2 - likely pullet (CLAIMED)
- Paint Silkie 3 - likely pullet (CLAIMED)
- Paint Silkie 4 - likely cockerel
- Paint Silkie 5 - likely pullet

**Babies are split to recessive white, so take that into account if using for breeding. All parents are breeder quality. None are our breeding, but the adults came from us and we know these birds well. These birds are not on our property.

11/21/2024

Now available for poultry suppliments - Subscriptions! Save 5% on any subscription period, or on 2 or more items for one-time purchase. Cancel or pause any time. A great way to save some money and never run out.

If there are other subscription periods you would like available, just reach out and we'll make it happen.

11/20/2024

This is a great post about heritage versus hybrid, and Frank Reese's work at Good Shepherd Conservancy

Sharing another great article on choosing heritage breeds over hybrids. If you don't know Frank Reese Jr or follow the Good Shepherd Conservancy , you should. He has made an amazing living off his passion for standard bred birds.

If you think you can't market heritage breeds as meat, this man will prove you wrong. He's made a life of preservation & demands a high point sale for the hard work & effort.

I love the "weirdos" , the ones who choose proper ethics first, over profit or find a way to balance both. You can't call yourself a sustainable farm or homestead, if you raise unsustainable birds owned by Tyson or Butterball.

This article, and being intrigued by a man who spoke in the documentary "Eating Animals" , led me to another group of farmers all striving to say no to Cornish Cross hybrids and broad breasted turkeys. He made me truly understand the detriment these breeds cause to small farmers especially. When we support that system, we are a part of the problem.

I encourage everyone to read more about Frank's Conservancy or research heritage breeds through The Livestock Conservancy as well. Both great, informational programs to help preserve breeds in need of a comeback. It's what led me to raising Delaware & Holland Whites.

Here are a few highlights, I'll share full article below 👇 & be sure to watch for a blind tasting video I came across that I'll share later this week.

Slow food is real food. This is the way

“Even if you buy a turkey that’s supposedly organic and free-range and all that stuff, the parents of those turkeys are still in horrible conditions. In fact, in the production of turkeys today, a male turkey never sees a female turkey in its entire life. All turkeys sold at grocery stores are manmade, dead-end animals. They cannot reproduce themselves. They’re only here because of a factory farm and man’s intervention. It makes no difference if they’re organic, free-range, all-natural, or whatever you want to call it. So even if you’re buying from a local farmer who says the bird runs around in a pasture, 90 percent of those farmers are still buying them from the same place Butterball does. They’re still artificial turkeys made through artificial insemination. They have been genetically engineered to grow faster. We’ve gotten terribly far from the natural, normal animal.”

“Industrial turkeys can get up to 40 pounds in 19 weeks. They’ve literally destroyed the pituitary gland in the brain that tells the animal, “You’re full, quit eating.” So the industrial turkey never stops eating. My turkeys don’t suffer from the morbid obesity gene mutation. My tom turkeys will get up to 24 pounds live weight in 24 weeks. It takes longer for them to grow."

" The closer you get to its original ancestry, the better the meat is going to be in flavor, texture, and aroma. If you have a factory turkey that can barely walk and is growing faster than normal, many of the nutritional things that happen in the muscle don’t happen. They’re not getting oxygen, they’re not getting mobility, they’re struggling to stay alive."

11/18/2024

Our little gaggle of red babies are getting big! Love watching these babies grow. And our black cockbird Magic and his ladies made a batch of really pretty kiddos. Have some pretty whites and a couple black in there from Michaela Johnson as well. 🧡 Love watching them grow!

11/18/2024

I'm so happy with how these Bielefelder/Delaware s*x link crosses are growing! These guys are just 5 weeks old! They are solid, chunky little babies, and have that wonderful calm, curious temperment we love. The crosses are significantly larger than the pure Bielefelder. I'll take some weights and pics soon. About to move out to their big kid run.

11/18/2024

We now have a 500g size available for the Chinese Skullcap (Baicalin 85%) suppliment. This covers 94 50lb bags of feed!

NUMEROUS clinical studies show Baicalin suppresses viral replication for the most common and devestating poultry viruses:
- puts Marek's virus in a dormant state; even sick birds CAN recover fully
- kills Avian Leukosis Virus and Newcastle
- prevents new infections of Marek's, ALV, Newcastle, and Avian Influenza

Having your chicken, turkey, duck, quail and other poultry flocks on Baicalin in their daily feed stops viral spread of any existing carriers and prevents new infection. While Avian Influenza works faster than the herb once a bird is infected, it can prevent infection if it's already in their system.

There are MANY other benefits of Baicalin, and no known toxicity. (See the link on our listing for more information and links to clinical studies.) Anti-viral, anti-tumor, anti-inflamatory, healthy gut support, treats fatty liver disease, supports liver function, lowers blood sugar, etc.

200g Chinese Skullcap Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract (Baicalin 85%) Baicalin is derived from the roots of the Scutellaria baicalensis plant, which is a herb that has been used for centuries in traditional medicine. Numerous studies have shown that baicalin efficiently treats and prevents various av...

11/17/2024

Ok so I infodumped last night about herbal products for immune systems and parasites, etc. Short story is a LOT of the natural suppliments we spend our money on don't help our flocks much. Not because the ingredients are wrong, but because they're in the wrong form. Good news - there are products that DO work.

Disease resistence is part breeding, part nutrition, part environment. I think it's safe to say MOST of us prefer natural suppliments over synthetic medications, and preventatives over treatments. There are some seriously powerful and helpful natural suppliments out there that fight the most common diseases we face. And unfortunately, a lot of fluff with good marketing. A lot of us promote and even make or sell these products thinking they work as promised, but the clinical data doesn't support it. It's called a placebo - it makes us feel better but doesn't actually do much of anything. There's no shame in it. I just know for ME I want to know which is which.

I'd love to see the Disease Resistent Silkie Flocks group be a tool for all of us to find and share suppliments with proven efficacy to REALLY bolster our flocks immune systems and health in meaningful ways. This knowledge is all out there and lots of experienced poultry owners have it, too. It's a matter of raising our social awareness as breeders and flock tenders.

Another cool thing? A whole lot of these things work great in humans, too.

11/17/2024

Let's talk about it - NOT ALL HERBS ARE EQUAL

A vast majority of us give some kind of herbs or another to our flocks in their feed, in treats, etc. I want to share some really important learning with you all. Earlier this week I had an enlightening conversation with Mary Mason, and here is what she said:

-----
"The hype about herbs is almost all true. Where people go wrong is the form.

"Think of it this way. A teaspoon of plain dried cannabis will do nothing if you eat it. If you smoke it, you will get high for a bit. If you properly age it, carbonized it and consume it, it converts to a different compound in your system and absorbs into your bloodstream effecting more systems and has a long lasting full body effect.

"Now, if you consume a teaspoon of properly prepared cannabis oil ...well, don't do that... but the effect is far more notable, lasts and ungodly period of time and levels drop slowly in your bloodstream.

"Most herbs work like that. So 500mg of Lemon Balm or Oregano is pretty much adding flavor and expecting medical results."
-----

Let's take oregano as an example. This is one of the most studied herbs, and it has very real benefits for poulty in antimicrobial, antiviral and antifungal properties. Read any of the clinical studies and pay attention to the form - they ALL use Essential Oil of Oregano (EOO). (This is VERY different from Essential Oregano Oil, which is very concentrated and caustic. Dropping an essential oil in a chicken's throat is likey to burn.)

There are several commercial Oil of Oregano products specifically for poultry. But the most common way I have heard and been told to suppliment with oregano is simply to sprinkle the dried herb in their food. There are lots of products with just the dried herb that claim all the clinical benefits of oregano.

Not only is the FORM important, but the SPECIES. There are more than 40 different species of Oregano, all with different combinations of the chemical consituents that give the herb its medicinal properties. Using a species without the element you need, even in the right form, is a waste of time.

Take a look at the article below. In it, there is a graphic with the different types of compounds found in Oregano, followed by a table of Oregano species, where they are from, and which compounds exist in each. The products commercial growers use are made from carefully selected varieties from specific parts of the world, and prepared in the concentrations needed to produce the clinical results.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6152729/ -molecules-22-00989

So what I have learned today is this: throwing dried oregano in our chicken feed makes it smell good and the chickens seem to like it, but that's about it.

-- posted in our Disease Resistent Silkie Flocks group

11/15/2024

As I go about cleaning brooders and feeding babies, my thoughts are running along these lines:

It's not hard to not be an as***le.

Really that simple. I don't like everyone, in fact there are very few folks I'm close with on a personal level and that's fine. Lots of folks don't like us, our family, our points of view. I don't agree with lots of things I hear coming from people's mouths, and I sure don't like a lot of things people do.

AND - it's super easy to just not be an as***le. We can walk off that playing field. We don't have to "agree to disagree" either - simply not engaging and leaving people to their process by themselves is a valid response, especially in these hectic times. And man, is it less stressfull.

Tupac's words have felt real relevant. "Just because you lost me as a friend, doesn't mean you gained me as an enemy. I'm bigger than that, I still wanna see you eat, just not at my table."

We don't have to like folks to not be their enemy.

11/15/2024

Cute handmade gifts that support fellow chicken peeps! Buy local, buy small. 🧡

11/14/2024

When one must mix copious amounts of chicken feed and suppliments weekly, this new member of the farm is already my best friend! We mixed 100lbs of feed and suppliments evenly and perfectly in under 5 minutes. Found one in GREAT condition on Marektplace. 🧡

11/13/2024

🤣 Dead on

11/13/2024

It's migratory season and reports of Avian Influenza outbreaks are appearing in multiple places.

Chinese Skullcap/Baicalin can prevent birds from contracting the virus (it inhibits viral replication). It cannot fix it after a bird is infected - the virus works faster than the herb.

If you're in an area affected, getting your birds on the daily prophylactic dose ASAP can protect them. It MUST already be in their system if they are exposed. It reaches efficacy within 96 hours (4 days).

Currecnt CDC status if AI: https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html

One of many articles on Baicalin in treating avian species as a protective: https://www.thewaterfowlsanctuary.co.uk/articles/ai.htm

NIH article on Baicalin successfully treating AI secondary gut issues:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7691011/

Link to purchase: https://damkidsranch.com/products/baicalin-poultry-suppliment

H5 bird flu is causing outbreaks in wild birds and poultry, other animals and sporadic human cases.

11/13/2024

We were joking we should have taken a pic of us measuring and packaging up 200g bags of herbal poultry supplements in our bras with rolls of cash on the table. 🤣

11/10/2024

Wanted to share some pics of our turkey tom who was affected particularly badly by wet fowl pox and what it looks like.

Our flock got hit with wet fowl pox for the first time in 15 years of having chickens. We've had dry fowl pox every year, and it's been a mild annoyance at most. This time, it was different. Our 2 young turkey toms got hit the worst. They had HUGE lesions, many larger than dimes. One of the toms got a very large one on his eyelid, and even long after the virus had run its course and everyone else was recovered, his eyelid wasn't healing. He started loosing his sight, losing weight, and just generally looking awful. We made the decision to humanely cull him.

For those of you who never process your birds - it's an incredible learning experience to see what things look like on the inside. We'd never seen fowl pox do anything other than make some scabs on their combs. This poor guy had large lesions in various states if healing ALL OVER his body. He had lesions on his intestines as well, large raised lumps on the intestinal walls. No wonder he looked like he felt like s**t, he must have been in a lot of pain. His heart, liver, kidneys, gizzard, lungs, and muscles were all normal looking.

The first picture below is him when it started several months ago, you can see some of the lumps on his neck. The bottom photo is his skin after processing and the large number of lesions visible. 😞