Love the chickens!!!! SOOOO cute!Not that I'm scared of my chickens, I love them dearly. But this year has been the hardest years thus far in my chicken keeping and breeding journey. I've learned a lot about bio security, the hard way, I might add, and at this point I think I may be going a little insane.
There are a few breeds that I've wanted for quite some time but honestly just couldn't find the funds to purchase quality stock. Then came Mother's day this year. And I was gifted a few chicks in each breed I've wanted from quality breeding lines. We got day olds but those little chirps came at a pretty penny! 2 true Ameraucana bantams in self blue, 2 mottled Houdans, 3 Serama's, about 6 crested cream legbars, and I got about 30 silkies in chocolate, chocolate mottled, mauve, mauve mottled, chocolate paint, lavender, and black mottled. As well as white, black, and blue. And 4 showgirls chocolate mottled, chocolate, mauve, and black satin. I was thrilled.
Then came the nightmare coccidiosis that seemed to defeat me no matter what I did. Everything under the sun I tried and they just kept dying. Not even sure I'm out of the woods yet, but they aren't dying in such large numbers anymore. Two days with one death instead of a day of 12+ deaths. It mostly ripped through the silkie and bantam Cochin brooder, but the showgirls and silkies seemed to take the hardest hit. It hasn't gotten to my brooder of mothers day chicks. And I'm trying my hardest to keep that from happening.
But now I feel super paranoid. And terrified to touch or interact with them at all. And that is normally something I thoroughly enjoy doing. I like having chickens as pets And I feel sad that I am too scared to involve myself with them for fear they will die too. Not to mention they were so expensive who knows when or if I would be able to replace them? Does anyone else feel completely neurotic about biosecurity? I mean down to teeny tiny little detail? And scared to touch their baby chicks? Am I the only one who does this?
I never was this way prior to coccidiosis 2024. But I'm certain this will leave a lasting scar for the remainder of my chicken raising and will forever alter my management practices. Has anyone else had to learn a terrible lesson the hard way like this? I'd love to hear about it. How did it change you and your farm and management practices? Do you find yourself thinking things through in ways you never imagined prior? Like issues of tracking and cross contamination?
Anyways....hope I'm not alone. And anyone that can throw a prayer this direction for my little babies here, it would be greatly appreciated!
Also would love to hear tips on how you prevent sickness in your chicks/adults and things you used to do but wouldn't dare to now
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I breed my own so i know whats in my line i started from in 2012 my line goes two directions one is my project tolbunts and the other is my easter eggers none of my males are aggressive as id process ones that looked at mw wrong lol i noticed without a rooster my hens are friendlier where as if a roo is present they are more skittish. I stopped buying birds when someone gave me an orp roo in a box that had mg and someone sold me old wyandottes as pullets that also had mg. My birds are friendly because I handle them daily even males. My males see me as a hen bringer as I can give hens and take them away just as fast lol i can literally take a hen and my roo will breed her then i can take her and put her back. Unlike some roos where you touch a hen and they flog you lolCocci certainly is treatable especially if you happen to get a simple strain that amprolium works for. If you are unlucky like me, and also aren't aware that corrid doesn't work for every strain, so you don't have other things in hand, then yes it's treatable but if you don't have the medication and have to order it online then birds die during shipping times. Hard facts to face. I won't ever be in this position again. And previous to this yr I would of thought someone freaking out about coccidiosis was silly. I had never experienced Coccidiosis like this. And contrary to popular belief all Coccidiosis is not the same, unfortunately.
Anyways...where do you buy birds from now then? And what are your goals with your flock? For me buying hatchery stock is out of the question for my breeders. They simply do not select for the qualities I find important. Things like SOP, temperament, friendliness, vigor, disease resistance, production, egg color, etc. most hatcheries don't care what their birds look like as long as they produce and they don't care if they are meaner then snakes. I do. I also want birds that are well balanced within a larger flock, that aren't bullys, and roosters that have vigor without aggression. I look for roosters that also do well with chicks and aren't hard on the hens. The birds especially the cockerels I've gotten from hatcheries have left a lot to be desired in friendliness and have also been mean from very young ages. So what do you do in that situation?
I decided this year that I would no longer buy in birds that I would hatch my own, BUT I still have to obtain all the breeder stock I need to make that happen. After they are obtained and grown out, I will not be purchasing in anymore except for when and if I ever decide to expand again. Which being no stranger to chicken math......lol
Yeah, I find myself thinking about these things as well. I shower if I have to do something with the new chicks after I've fed the older flock and I don't touch other people's birds if I don't need to. And shower and change clothes if I do. I have lots of birds so it's becoming quite a burden. And I also have been buying new totes for new groups of chicks.
But you had to start somewhere. I would love to only be dealing with my own lines of birds but I still have to buy in the breeding stock. Personally I have to buy from breeders because they are the only ones with stock good enough. I guess you could do hatching eggs but I feel like eggs are a huge gamble especially when they are shipped and the breeds I'm interested in are ridiculously priced for hatching eggs without a guarantee that any of them will even hatch.... So there is that...lol
I like the cardboard box idea. How do keep them dry? Or do you just change it if it gets wet? I'm putting my water up on platforms now which seems to keep them from throwing bedding in it, but I'm considering trying to do some kind of nipple or cup automatic waterer in with the chicks. Once they are about a wk or two old
Oxine
Hi, I faced a similar issue, but then I learned about something called the immune system and how adaptable it is.Not that I'm scared of my chickens, I love them dearly. But this year has been the hardest years thus far in my chicken keeping and breeding journey. I've learned a lot about bio security, the hard way, I might add, and at this point I think I may be going a little insane.
There are a few breeds that I've wanted for quite some time but honestly just couldn't find the funds to purchase quality stock. Then came Mother's day this year. And I was gifted a few chicks in each breed I've wanted from quality breeding lines. We got day olds but those little chirps came at a pretty penny! 2 true Ameraucana bantams in self blue, 2 mottled Houdans, 3 Serama's, about 6 crested cream legbars, and I got about 30 silkies in chocolate, chocolate mottled, mauve, mauve mottled, chocolate paint, lavender, and black mottled. As well as white, black, and blue. And 4 showgirls chocolate mottled, chocolate, mauve, and black satin. I was thrilled.
Then came the nightmare coccidiosis that seemed to defeat me no matter what I did. Everything under the sun I tried and they just kept dying. Not even sure I'm out of the woods yet, but they aren't dying in such large numbers anymore. Two days with one death instead of a day of 12+ deaths. It mostly ripped through the silkie and bantam Cochin brooder, but the showgirls and silkies seemed to take the hardest hit. It hasn't gotten to my brooder of mothers day chicks. And I'm trying my hardest to keep that from happening.
But now I feel super paranoid. And terrified to touch or interact with them at all. And that is normally something I thoroughly enjoy doing. I like having chickens as pets And I feel sad that I am too scared to involve myself with them for fear they will die too. Not to mention they were so expensive who knows when or if I would be able to replace them? Does anyone else feel completely neurotic about biosecurity? I mean down to teeny tiny little detail? And scared to touch their baby chicks? Am I the only one who does this?
I never was this way prior to coccidiosis 2024. But I'm certain this will leave a lasting scar for the remainder of my chicken raising and will forever alter my management practices. Has anyone else had to learn a terrible lesson the hard way like this? I'd love to hear about it. How did it change you and your farm and management practices? Do you find yourself thinking things through in ways you never imagined prior? Like issues of tracking and cross contamination?
Anyways....hope I'm not alone. And anyone that can throw a prayer this direction for my little babies here, it would be greatly appreciated!
Also would love to hear tips on how you prevent sickness in your chicks/adults and things you used to do but wouldn't dare to now
Photo for attention
I tend to agree with you on all of this. But I think I am going to wait until my shipment of toltrazuril comes in. Should be here before Friday... hopefully. As much as I want to interact and love on them I just can't in good conscience do it without having medicine on hand that will effective for this strain. I've just had too many die. I think it has been a combination of things actually. A strain of Coccidiosis - that I'm certain was sent straight from the depths of h*ll!
And vitamin deficiency in the silkies in particular either from the corrid or somehow linked to my use of it? Not really sure. I stopped the corrid and started giving some vitamin/mineral supplements and in five days I've only had one loss (two days ago) which is a stark contrast to the amount of birds I lost the day before I wrote this post originally. When I was still very much reeling from all the deaths one after another and horrified that nothing I did seemed to help at all. 
