Consolidated Kansas

[SternRose]

That's so cute both

 

[friendshipstar]

Question
How long do you keep birds in quarantine?. I've heard 2 wks min 30 days max. Is that right??

If I know where they've come from and Have total faith that they are healthy two weeks. If I'm not sure, at least three weeks.

 

[zigzag45]

Here are some pics of my newest "Danz" birds. I'm thinking the first pic is male, second one not, third and fourth (same bird) are roos as well. But,@chicken danz , if you remember there are two that are white orps, and the third one was either a lavendar orp or coronation sussex. So, it's also possible that the two that I'm thinking are male are actually the white orps and the third is the sussex. It doesn't matter yet, I know it will become more obvious down the road. Just curious.

I also threw in a pic of "Trouble" and then Zenia, the legbar. I didn't realize cream legbars got that huge crown.

 

[zigzag45]

Cont'd from previous....
Can't imagine with the male legbar crowns would look like. They are trying to get a few drops of water from the spigot, because walking back to the coop would be way too hard....

 

[SternRose]

Worst birthday ever!! Forgot to ask my crush out, didn't get asked to dance( all just looked and was like should it?) forgot to do some homework. And the list goes on.

I'm ready for bed!

 

[chicken danz]

Question
How long do you keep birds in quarantine?. I've heard 2 wks min 30 days max. Is that right??

I recommend at least 3 weeks. Some sickness doesn't show up for a while.

I've got a couple of funny stories that I think ya'll will enjoy!

My injured goose seems to be doing better, though she may still have a bit of a limp.... she's back to her clumsy old self as is evidenced by what she did the other day. I walked up to the flock and was getting ready to herd them to their pen for the evening. The goose got up and turned to head towards the pen and promptly tripped over my drake.

There was a branch in the way that the birds tripped over as well. It was quite entertaining to see them tripping over themselves to get back to their pen!

This morning, I went out and played with my project horse for a few minutes before letting both horses out to pasture. I've been trying to teach him to ask permission before going through a gate. So, this morning, I opened the gate and then gave him permission to go through. When he was through the gate, he came to me, and I took the halter off of him. I began coiling the rope as I walked away from him...until I hit the end of the rope, that is... I turned around to see what the rope was caught on and discovered him standing squarely on my rope, looking at me.

Typically, he runs off as soon as I take the halter off of him. He decided to play a trick on me today instead. Silly, silly horse! He didn't run off until after I asked him to step off of my rope.

That's what I love about geese. They are so clumsy! They remind me of myself!
ZIgZag that last one looks white orp as well. I have been having some hatch with lots of lavender on them and then they feather in white. They confuse me too. The second picture is definitely female.The others I'd have to see the hackle feathers and feathers near the tail to know. I had some 6 months old and they were still questionable. Orps can be a mess to sex. I have tons of Lavenders right now. If I get up that way or if my son comes down this way maybe I could send your sweet little girls some chicks as a gift.
Sternrose sorry your birthday stunk. Better luck next time.

 

[friendshipstar]

I need opinions.
I've always incubated my eggs before. But I have several broody cochin hens who are not going to take no for an answer, so I let them set.
One started on the 15th. The other on the 28th.
My husband has already started building the hoop coops. But at the moment I have these two hens in a 6x8 secure and covered pen. They are now switching back and forth between the nest boxes. Today I noticed that the hen who has been setting the longest is on the new nest.
Think I will have problems when these earlier chicks start hatching in a few days, or can I assume that my cochin hens will just play nice?

 

[chicken danz]

They will probably both try to claim chicks when they hatch. Have your incubator warm and ready if one of them doesn't continue to sit on the rest of the eggs after the first group hatches. You may have to finish them yourself. The hens can co-parent the chicks. It happens quite a bit

 

[HEChicken]

How long do you keep birds in quarantine?. I've heard 2 wks min 30 days max. Is that right??

Several years ago I read a discussion between two poultry judges who between them had been raising poultry over 100 years. It was interesting the difference in opinions between two people, both of who had a ton of experience. One would never bring another bird onto his property. Period. He had been burned in the early days by birds bringing in disease and despite strict quarantine, he'd lost a lot of his own birds. So he had formed a policy of never bringing in new birds. He would hatch eggs as a way to add to his flock instead.

The other did not quarantine and brought in new birds on a regular basis. He said he'd never quarantined and never had an issue.

With my set up, quarantine is not easy. I don't have separate areas to effectively keep birds for even a few days, let alone several weeks. So I have never quarantined and have never had an issue. That said, I increasingly am not bringing in new birds either. Last year I got a few turkeys from Danz and in the fall was asked to take 7 older hens from an acquaintance who had fallen on hard times and was unable to buy feed for them. Both times I put the new birds in a small 5x5 pen within the chicken yard for a few days until they knew this was their new home, then let them out with the flock and they integrated just fine. This year I've not added any new birds and have no plans to.

If you have an easy way to quarantine, it can't hurt anything to do it though.

Sternrose, sorry you had such an awful birthday. Did you really "forget" to ask your crush or did you just lose your nerve? Maybe without the stress of the dance, it will be easier to ask him out. Perhaps you can go and get a soda together and it will be more casual and relaxed.

Adamsheather, glad you had a great birthday. Time and materials when you need them are priceless.

Danz, sorry about your dental issues. I know Tweety said she gets on her kids about brushing but over the years I've developed a theory about dental care, which is that it is largely genetics. When I was a kid, I was terrible about brushing and would only do it when nagged by our mother. Meanwhile my sister was religious about brushing morning and night. I have yet to have a single cavity, while she needed at least one new filling every time we had a checkup. Skip forward a few years and with my own kids I also have one of each. And the one who brushes without being reminded is the only one to have ever needed a filling. So its not that I don't think dental hygiene is important - I've been bowled over by halitosis on more than one occasion and wanted to scream to the person to consider brushing more often - and now that I'm an adult, I religiously brush at least twice a day because I never want to BE that person. But how strong our teeth are I think is largely pre-determined, so needing to have dental work is not a sign that you are not trying to take good care of your teeth, but that your parents did not pass on good genetics to you.

So the last frost date for my area this year was May 1st. I guess Mother Nature has a sense of humor because she waited until May 2nd to give me a frost. I could cry. I lost my zucchini that were planted outside and doing beautifully, and my potatoes, which had sprouted and were looking fantastic, are now looking sad and wilty and black. I can only hope that since the actual potatoes are below the surface, the greenery above struggling doesn't affect them too much. Fortunately, the rest of my seedlings survived the freeze okay so my losses were minimal but it was a bit disheartening after all the other setbacks I've already experienced this year.

Sharol - too cute about those chicks. I am having to get my mother hens to bring their chicks to the coop much earlier than usual this year. One hen in particular was very insistent about leaving her pen during the day by the time her chicks were 4 days old. I was a little concerned about her ability to keep them safe in the chicken yard but I shouldn't have worried. She took great care of them. At night I opened the door of the pen and she called them back in for the night. But on day 6 I was out late and couldn't let her back in at dusk, so I went out with a flashlight to look for her and found that she had solved her problem herself. She taught them how to go through the pop door of the chicken coop, and though the roosts were out of reach of the chicks at only 6 days of age, she somehow got them up into one of the nest boxes, and was snuggled up in there with both chicks under her. Since then she has slept in the coop with her chicks every night. I am really glad to have her integrated to the coop so early, and last night booted out another mama hen with her 7 day old chick, to become part of the clock as well. Hopefully tonight she will get the chick to go in, but I will be there to oversee and make sure.

 

[HEChicken]

Think I will have problems when these earlier chicks start hatching in a few days, or can I assume that my cochin hens will just play nice?

You do run the risk of them fighting over the chicks and possibly injuring them. If I were you, I would try to put a partition in their pen so that each hen has her own private space. In this instance I would make it solid rather than wire, so that the hen still brooding doesn't see the chicks and respond by trying to to them through the wire. When the first set of chicks hatch, they need a few days to bond to the mother hen and know which hen is their mother. Once both hens have bonded to their chicks, you may be able to remove he partition and allow them to co-parent all the chicks. I currently have 1 hen raising 2 chicks and another raising 1. Both hens will allow any of the chicks to run under them to warm up or take a nap, even though they are each more bonded to their own chicks.