Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed - Page 249

Well it's official, my flock is moulting! Today it looks like a feather bomb has gone off in the coop and runs. I did a head count just to make sure I didn't loose any birds to a predator (the piles of feathers were that bad). I watched as one hen shook and feathers landed in a puddle around her, LOL. I expect that in the next week or so I'll have a bunch of ugly, nearly naked and grumpy hens.

Trisha

PS I wonder if there will be a new BYC Worst Moult 2012/2013 contest? I'm sure I'll be able to take some embarrassing pics like this one from Fall 2010.

Does anyone have bantam barnevelders?  I am very interested in getting some bantams.  I would really love to find blue double laced bantams, but have not been able to find them in blue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herducks 

Does anyone have bantam barnevelders?  I am very interested in getting some bantams.  I would really love to find blue double laced bantams, but have not been able to find them in blue.

You probably won't find any blue Bantam Barnies here in the US yet. I haven't heard of anyone working on them yet. Several of us do have some decent large fowl blue project lines going. Maybe someone could start a bantam project by outcrossing to a small sized blue project bird or bantam BLR dotte???

Trisha

I started my fall worming this morning since most of my flock is moulting, to young to lay and the weather is cooling off a bit. I only got 1/2 the birds done and will do the other half tomorrow. It's tough working with them by myself, but it gives me time to look each one over from head to foot. 

I also banded the juveniles with numbered bands so that I can start trying to decide who goes and who stays. I still have 35 young chicks growing out and my main coop is already way too full. I'll have to really thin the flock before the rains set in this fall. That is going to be hard because the little ones won't be old enough to fully evaluate before I'll have to start making decisions on who to re-home. And I have several older hens (taking up space) who I still want to keep despite the fact they probably won't be very productive next year. Decisions....Decisions!!!

Trisha

Quote:

Originally Posted by tls_ranch 

Wow Trisha, even though she looks "funny" her lacing still looks so pretty   When you worm, do you give shots or oral meds?

Yes, My question too.  How do you worm??  Aya

Quote:

Originally Posted by AyaBlodgett 

Yes, My question too.  How do you worm??  Aya

Pumpkin and pumpkin seeds are a natural dewormer 

I've tried several wormers such as Safeguard, ivermectin (two types) and valbazen. All are "off label" usage for chickens, but very common in other livestock used for meat (follow withdrawl times). Some are safe and commonly used for humans/pets. Last year, I was having problems keeping weight on my chickens. After trying different kinds of wormers, I finally found out that the flock had ended up with tapeworms (which are said to be more rare) due to free ranging. Chickens get them from eating bugs, earthworms, slugs, ants, etc  and not directly from other chickens. 

Valbazen is said  to kill tape worms, but it didn't in my case ( I tried several doses). I guess tapes are harder to kill than other worms. So I broke down and bought Zimectrin Gold with Praziquantel which is a paste /horse wormer. I used a pea sized amount for standard birds (very easy to give). It WILL KILL tape worms and the first time I used it I saw results later that day One dose and the worms were gone. But, I still free range and as long as my chickens eat bugs....I'll have to keep up a worming program. So my plan is Fall and Spring worming and maybe individual treatments for new young stock if they get big enough between the "regular" wormings.

Now not all flocks will have issues with worms. Unless you know your birds have worms, you can take a fecal samples to a vet for testing. That way you don't have to toss eggs or dose your birds with chemicals unless they need to be wormed. Pumpkin, DE, natural wormers etc are supposed to help control worms, but won't get rid of them. I even feed lots of pumpkins in the fall, ACV and chili peppers (the birds love them)....I just got sick and tired of "feeding worms", so I went the chemical route to be sure.

Here's some helpful links:

http://healthybirds.umd.edu/Disease/Deworming%20Birds.pdf

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/675271/what-can-i-do-for-deworming-when-valbazen-doesnt-work

For anyone interested, I wrote a fairly detailed paper on Worming that is posted on The Chicken Group on Facebook.

God Bless,

I would love to get a bantam barnvelder and try to get the blue double laced in a bantam.  Hmm.  I may have a project to start now  Anybody have bantam banvelder eggs for sale?