Troubles of a Farm Girl - Free Range Homestead Ep 81
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- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- Tales of woe this week as I have to jump in an ice cold water tank, deal with an explosion of bird mites in the chicken coup and care for some goats in poor health.
#coldplunge #chickens #homesteading
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Mites - maybe Troy's new project - a whole new chicken coup with new laying boxes all epoxy smooth, burn the old one to the ground, they will be under everything! Great episode, good to catch up. Very brave Pascale diving in such a confined freezing place, I would have tried a very strong magnet first, then maybe empty the top half of the tank... The farm is looking good too.
Yea, mites will always be hiding UNDER the structure. it's infested ! Has to be Tented & Gassed ! for even a fighting chance !
Better to Build New out of Plastic , Resin wood etc.
Put it on a Foundation or raised off ground to lessen bug / Ground contact.
a Little Ramp for chickens to Use for access.
Make it a Washable Structure inside & out - Plastic , Fibreglass etc for a Healthy coop. Can be Hosed out every so often.
I would agree with the above about mites. They are an absolute nightmare to get rid of. I was using a blow torch in the coop along with cleaning. We just couldn’t get rid. I would also advise using plastic or similar smooth materials which can be easily cleaned.
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Another project! 😬
We tried the magnets from a microwave magneto and even they wouldn't lift it.
@@FreeRangeLiving well give yourself a tick Pascale ….Troy what were you thinking?… consider yourself well and truly told off! … I’ll apologise if necessary.
The mites love the cracks and corners. Use the boatbuilding skills and give yourself smooth, filleted corners and filled cracks. Epoxy is pricey, but makes treatment and cleaning so much easier. Big yes to DT earth and Sulphur. We also use red stop in the chooks water.
I'm itching with you 😮
Good use of the "bits" for good eats too. Reminds me of my childhood and Nannas cooking.
Congrats on the rings, happy family life to you all
Wow. That ice water plunge at the start… Wonder Woman!
Every year my relatives would herd all the chickens out of the hen house, wash the whole thing out with a strong bleach water, even the dirt. Let it dry out all day with sunshine and fans, then paint it the next day with at least 2 coats of lye white wash. let that dry and on the third day the chickens would go back in. Redo the hen house every fall and of course they would sweep it all out every few weeks and laid down straw all over the floor. hope that helps. Pascale deserves a medal for going in that dark, cold tank, YIKES!!!!! Love the look of your place, you two work so hard! 💞💞
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you guys have like, the most amazing lab. To explore, to remember...to help humans remember how to live healthy again.
The itchiest episodes I’ve watched so far😂. I’m going to take a shower 🧼 Love 💕 you guys!
Oh PASCAL! My heart is heavy for you. You are taking care of your baby, the wedding preparations is/was a lot. Taking care of animals on top of all that is a lot. I know you have help with Troy thank goodness and Troy does a lot also, but it's hard being a new mom and being a mom to livestock especially when they have health issues and I know you want the best for them. And then going into that dark tank. Also prepping lovely stock and meals. And just life in general has challenges. I know you can feel my empathy for you sweet mama. Take care of yourself. ❤
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Glad to hear you’d want to make more cooking videos in the future! So excited for it! ❤
a little butane flame torch is great for gettinging the mites in cracks of timber
You can add rosemary branches in the boxes and wormwood
you can also ahs from your fire place for the chickens to bath in
Really valued the info shared on managing mites, how your pastures are coming along, and the use of every bit of pig in the kitchen. Learned so much.
Make a dust bath with DE and sand in a tote or old tire, the chickens will do the rest.
Very proud of you Pascale ❤.... Those agapanthas around the tank are sensational. You have so many!
Winter diving - memories of abalone divivng in Tassie some year ago when you had Mirrool.
I’ve heard that painting the chicken coop with white chalk is supposed to help with mites. When we had a wooden chicken coop we also steamed all the cracks were they could be hiding. Now we have a smaller chicken house made of plastic, we bought it from Nestera. It’s pretty pricey but worth it in my opinion. You can wash the whole coop out with a pressure washer which is perfect to clean it when we have mites. Good luck!
What about the undersides and neighboring areas? Steam clean/torch burn. Replacing and redesigning the hatchery. Clean, treat, leave empty for a few days. Recheck and repeat as necessary. You conquered your fears.
First off let me just say you are one brave girl getting in that cold water. I would not have gone in it for anything. I would have left that cover and had Troy with his talents find another way to retrieve it or just leave it there and make a new cover. I do think a wet suit might have made the task less chilling, but that's just me. A definition of farm life might be .........constantly dealing with new challenges that keep popping up in the course of raising crops and animals on an almost daily basis. I love that you two never let these things deter you from steadily moving forward in that endeavor. Keep it up. You're doing great.
Yes to DT. Used it for flea infestation & helped alot. Looking forward to your garden produce & lovely cooking as it will be 25F with feet of snow here soon. Be well.
Pascal the brave and caring, love to see the care you bring to your animals lives. Please wear a respirator at least a dust mask when messing with chicken bedding or applying DE. DE is Not good for your lungs, even in small quantities.
Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Free Range Livin'!
"Soon you won't be able to feel your head and everything will be good!" - Troy 😂
Such a compassionate husband 😝
Hurry up, we're running out of battery....lol
Exzolt has changed the game when it comes to red mites. It is a new antiparasitic treatment for chickens. Is close to 100% effective. It is far more effective than any pesticides for spraying the coop. It is licensed for use in hens, so no issues with egg withholding times. I presume it's available in Australia. You will likely need a prescription in Aus, but if the vet can dispense a small volume to you, (possibly without having to see through hens) it could be quite cost effective. The treatment will last you for the summer. You can then rely on DE etc. for prevention, and you may not need any next season. Any questions, feel free to send me a message.
When I was a kid, we used fire to get rid of mites. I used to roll up newspaper into a fairly tight bundle to make a "torch", light it and pass it over places where mites might congregate. Troy's flamethrower would be far more effective. If your chooks roost at night you will probably find mites under the perches, so I primarily concentrated on flaming the underside of the perches. Dad and I did this regularly as a preventive measure. Personally I think it has now gone too far in your situation, and agree with other comments to burn the present coop and laying boxes and rebuild, away from the present site.
Ya silly girl, ya should have told Troy to get in the tank and let the cold water shrink a thing or two 😂😂
Don't know if Au has this but you should try making some goetta when you process your pigs. It's made with pork scraps and oats cooked into a gelatinous goo that when cooled it solidifies into a cake. Slice it up and pan fry till slightly crisp, through in some fried eggs and you have one fantastic brecky.
Troy's a smart brave Man , just have the Wife do it 😂
Her interest in Wim Hoff's cold treatments came in handy!
Grate video. Interesting farm stories.
Give your chickens a dry dust bath area and add wood ash for wood stove works great to help prevent mites.
A Garden rake might be a good option to retrieve that hatch cover next time.Or perhaps a strong magnet if the thing is magnetic.CHEERS from here!!!
Tried both first:(
Hey Pascale, just a hint. We had about 12 chooks from memory during our farm days, and I just sprayed fly spray on the actual perches. Mites are insects, and fly spray is an insecticide, and bingo success. Use spray 100%. Spray gets into every nook and cranny. Dont brush. The other thing is we had a patch of bush, and with that came wasps. So used carbaryl powder on the wasp nest entrances at night. Light goes on, and so made up a carbaryl spray for the chooks nest boxes. Job done. If all else fails, rebuild a free standing chook house, away from any existing buildings, using treated timber and start fresh. Treatment of the perches is important though. Btw, I've suddenly started scratching myself, after seeing those Mites. How can that happen.?😂 Thank-you for the upload guys. Great editing too. Atb from across the ditch. Take care.
Hi Troy & Pascale, you’re so brave diving down in the water tank. Seeing the mites made me feel itchy, and I’m at the other side of the world. Best wishes to you all, from the UK.
Thanks guys!
Great video as always what a troop Pascal diving in that cold water, it's been a while since I watched you and Troy dive,good luck with the mites, when I had chicken I used powder I got from the feed store, don't remember what it was but it worked.
DE is a wonderful product. I eat it and feed it to my animals and use it on the vegetable garden to control pests. High in silica with trace minerals.
it is ALWAYS Great to see you as always....It is Winter here now in Oregon SO I can Wear my Freerange Hoodies now!!!! WOOOooo HOOooo
hello P & T 🌺🐝🐉🍄🐸love your inspirational approach to all things and what a wonderful world it will be when we can all have this approach.. thank you for sharing your journey..
appreciation from Gold Coast Australia 🇦🇺
My brother uses Diatomaceous earth to treat mites. He says you get them when weather is particularly wet and they can’t have a dust bath.
A product in the uk called Smite red mite disinfectant is good to spray on problem areas like the t&g nest box etc
Exzolt is amazing stuff, add to water and kills all the mites
When mine got a bad lice infestation from the wild birds I used sulphur in one of those pressure sprayers and sprayed down their whole run and house. For the birds themselves I gave them a bath in the diluted Fido's Fre-Itch Concentrate every 3 days. I also diluted some Fido's into a spray bottle and sprayed it all over my body whenever I went in their yard - keeps them from crawling up your arms and legs. DE goes in their nest box every time it gets fresh bedding.
Good stuff. Fantastic job 😊😊😊
I'm freezing just watching!!
The old concrete water tanks are pretty dreadful, well done for sorting that out. Mine had conical roofs on them, and the top cap would get a bonk from a gum tree and invert and drop into the tank. I drained mine down to about 2 feet of water and waited until the sun was overhead before I went in - then I saw the drowned rats, 6 or 7 of them. They had climbed from the stable along the gutter, across the roof and in through the hole where the cap used to be, then shimmied down the central pole to get a drink. I guess they couldn't get back up with wet feet, or were a bit optimistic. Anyway, I had to scoop out their jellified little corpses as best I could, drained the rest of the water and the left over bits, scrubbed it with a broom and detergent and dried it out for a week. Grim work, but it had to be done. I fixed the cap and riveted it on, and put a cable on the hatch cover, so it was good then and I reckon my cup of tea tasted better after that, but could just be my imagination.
Here in nz herbal house has a product called osmoslay for mites does a great job on plant with no with holding, guessing it would be great to spray hen house with as well as de in nest boxes also treat perches
Think we used old sump oil mixed with kerosene and painted all the wood in the coop with it .
For some strange reason, I’ve a hankering to take a plunge in a large vat of cold water….Not
You’re a brave soul, Pascale. Good on ya.
Troy really seemed to like breaking out the big torch.
I sprayed the cracks of my roost boxes with WD-40 using the little red straw.
Another use for WD40!
I found the best way to successfully hatch eggs is to isolate the broody hen with no other option for her to swap nesting boxes. Good luck
Could have used a strong magnet on a rope to fish for that cover...I'd hate pascal to end her days in that tank.
I kept poultry for many years and stopped getting mite infestations using just diatomaceous earth spread liberally throughout the coup walls, nest boxes and perches I also added to the dust bath so the chickens would get it in between their feathers
Regards
Joseph Williams
Ps
Felt roofing is a haven for mites
Pascale is a gun 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Maybe try a lime wash on the wooden surfaces. I’ve heard the mites don’t like it
I am not a farmer. I read recently that the ash from a woodburning is stove is effective in treating the areas that chickens use.
Classic! Send the wife! 😂Love you both.😅
It was the right choice. Who'd want tp drink that water after Troy had been in there? lol.
Hi Pascale, as regards a natural remedy for the mites, look online for info on nicotine spray. We used to use this about 60 years sgo for controling mites in our coups.
The mites will even hide in the hollow stems of the straw bedding …you’ve got a real problem ! Also, could you just tie a line to the lid and the roof?
USE NEEM OIL FOR THE HENS!
I wonder what’s UV light would do at close range to the mites? I fully agree with the idea of keeping poisons out of the coop. Maybe a second coop could be used to fallow the first when these sorts of outbreaks happen?
Mites: bought an old home in East Freo and the old lady owner grew a couple of marijuana plants, telling us that it keeps mites at bay for chooks. Enjoy, Elaine (sewing machine in Freo) 🥰
dang troy what the heck...poor baby
Australia is a hard place to be trying this type of lifestyle, I know it can be done but it's so much less hassle here in Europe !
When I saw the issues you were having with mites my first thought wast to 'torch' them but I'm wondering if there might be a natural predator you can use.
I have recently used nematodes to control a different type of bug in very different circumstances but there must be a creature that will eat the mites, pests always have a nemesis.
Troy,
Mites, a never ending story 😖🤬
I would burn the old chicken house and build a new one, using epoxy resin (I know, epoxy resin is not cheap)
Pascale,
pffff, getting into the water tank at 10°C is a VERY big achievement....
my best regards from austria
❤❤❤
Gosh, this the same girl who was free diving in the open ocean! I must say, though, that going under in the darkness would have been unsettling.
Downright irresponsible and dangerous to let Pascale in that tank... for the sake of some footage. How much safer to simply make a new cover ??
Have you tried whitewash, it discourages the mite from settling where it is applied. Good luck.
Omg 50° is so cold😮
yes, that takes your breath away. about that cold🤏😅
I have no experience or advice to share with mites and chickens. Other than, I think the fire might do the trick and be cautious not to infest your home by transferring them inside. Yikes!
Pasquale, you're amazing being able to retrieve the piece from 50° water. 🥶
Thanks for sharing.
Mites - We painted all surfaces of our coup with latex paint dosed with permethrin. When dry, the paint seals in the permethrin so none affects the birds. Mites bore into the painted surfaces and will die, not to return to any bird. It worked for us for many years.
As very clever and resourceful as I have observed Troy and Pascale are over several years, I’m wondering about the inspection hatch part. Why did Pascale need to be subjected to a couple dunks in the extremely cold water? It seems like the hatch could have just been left at the bottom and replaced. Replaced with something that could never fall in again.
Try adding sulfur to their water. Also let them "bath" in the DT earth.
That was a totally illegal and dangerous, That water tank and the access hole is classed as a "Confined Space". Look at the OH&S requirements for accessing a Confined Space
Private individuals working on their own private property, such as maintaining their home or yard, are not subject to OH&S regulations and enforcement. So there's that. In addition, as a former marine engineer, I'm very familiar with those regulations. A trained surf rescue swimmer who can free dive to 15m going into a body of water she can stand in with her head clear of the surface, while a professional diver stands by makes for a pretty easy risk assessment. Pull your head out of your arse.
it is fascinating how you guys are going back in time to rediscover how family farms made it work without modern methods, meds, chemicals, and all forms of nasty shit that in the now we are finding is causing so much disease.
I love that you are trying to stay away from poisons. However, it may be more through to just remove and rebuild the nesting box. Possibly adding the epoxy in all crevices to make future cleaning and preventing a reinfestation of Mites. Burn the current box to prevent any future generations of mites. Sorry about the loss of the chicks but Mother Nature knows best. You have been diligent but the life as a Farmer never ends..... I Love your persistence and diligence with your approach to animal husbandry..
Good video ! Your crazy going in that tank with such a small access hole. Use a Fishing magnet 🧲 in the Future & a Dive mask. also that access Hole is a Very small. i'd Make it a Bit Bigger. those sharp edges too close for comfort.
mite infestation - Build a New Chicken Coop off the Ground. Paint the New Coop With Laminating resin , specially the Bottom underside Wood floor before putting it down , Floor, Walls, roof, everything , It will make it Rot resistant & won't leave any place for bugs to hide.
if you really don't want to build a new coop -
1) Call some Bug tenting service and Tent ⛺️ & Gas the structure.
2) You could try Bug Bombs 💣 - that u buy in the store. ( spray cans that you set off in a structure & leave for 4 hrs.) also known as Foggers.
Greetings from Germany
my lord how much did you guys read when you were sailing?
How did you end up going in the tank? Lose a bet?
Didn't you two guys dive for abalone mollusk in freezing Tasmanian waters? Just some yrs ago? What happened?
It was nice of Troy not to mention the water tank crocodiles. Otherwise, you maybe wouldn’t have done it.
Replacing the laying box lid?
First 2 minutes watching this and it looks like they are doing something incredibly dangerous I am shocked
Great channel! 2 intrepid stars have become an enviable family with a cast of dozens.
Sorry to offer no solution to the mites problem. Diatomaceous earth (DE) is very effective in numerous applications. It is used in foods, paints, plastics, medicines and pet litter. It is excellent for swimming pool water filtration. Farmers use it liberally to control many types of pests in the same way its sharp edges kill mites. It’s effective against bedbugs. Some people eat it in “food grade” form as silica to improve the health of nails, bones, skin, hair, and teeth. On the other hand, it’s a bit like asbestos in that it is a persistent material which becomes airborne repeatedly when dry and damages human (and animal) lungs. It can cause incurable pneumoconiosis and lung cancer. Using it regularly or excessively is not advised. A single application is unlikely to cause harm, but there must be safer, non-toxic methods for controlling pests than regular use of DE.
😀😀👍👍❤❤
Where are there women that can cook cope and endure even half as well as Pascale does. ?????
That dive into a very cold covered tank was unnecessarily risky IMHO.
I absolutely agree, and why was Troy behind the camera instead of being the one in that freezing water ? The expressions on Pascal's face said it all. Anyway, she's safe now and the task's accomplished.
I recently learned ( on RUclips ) that street sanitation covers, or man hole cover, are round for one very good reason. It is the only shape that cannot fall into the hole it covers.
A magnet would have saved a bit of pain🥵
Made for good video though.
The magnets from a microwave magneto failed to lift it
Ummm ever hear of a magnet on a rope?
If your goats have foot rot they need antibiotics from your vet
Wow, the boobs are be on high beam with a cold water Anyway keep up the good work guys.
Give the goats feet a kerosene bath.
1) Lovely
2) Don't you people read the news?
Seems like a simple task but simple tasks have a habit of becoming very un-simple, very fast , with tragic consequences.
3) It worked out fine but you coulda just got another cover.
Be f**king careful folks.
Pascal, with all due respect, I can’t hear you under the music. ❤
Troy, WHAT were you thinking, letting / making Pascal get in that freezing water to retrieve the lid, rather than get in yourself.? I watch your utubes, and enjoy them, but I'm actually horrified that your loved one, wife, young mother had to endure freezing maybe contaminated water . Why did you not do this yourself ?? I don't understand, nor why
Pascal agreed to do this.
Maybe, but why wasn't SHE behind the camera , and YOU in the freezing questionable water ? That was torturous ! She was so brave with her smiles and positivity. A beautiful person.
Equal rights
I am puzzled why your hsband asked you to do this.....insead of doing it himself.
Is this normal, all the diseases, mites, foot rot, goats going unhealthy???? Nice to try to farm naturally but if this is the result I would say use some modern methods and "poison". Modern science was developed for a reason. It's not all bad. Why have the animals suffer?