Simulated Natural Nest Incubation~Experiment #1 So it begins....

[Tomtommom]

If you're inclined you might take a stool sample to the vet and see if they can test it for pathogens...don't know how much that costs but it would be cheaper than a necropsy, I'm thinking.

Right after getting a stool sample I'd kill him and dispose of the body real well...what he has doesn't sound good.

I agree, it looks real bad. He's about dead as we speak, laying in the carrier, eyes shut and breathing heavy. I need to just suck it up and help him out of his misery.

He's super emaciated looking.. you can feel his entire skeleton through his feathers. I look at my birds daily and I sure had not noticed him being so scrawny, ofcourse his feathers are fluffy so it covers things up... I'm thinking he's really dehydrated. Maybe he ate something stupid. He's pooping several times an hour, nothing but yellow water. He's covered all over with pin feathers, like he's going through explosive molt. You don't suppose that could have affected him this severely? I know it makes them more prone to disease.... I just wonder if it could have caused him to become so scrawny, since feather growth does require a LOT of protein....

 

[Tomtommom]

He just died. Poor thing. I mean, he was destined for the dinner table anyway, but that's usually swift, not horrible and agonizing like this.

I should autopsy, but I really don't want to. I may just toss him as-is. If I don't get any other birds with the same issue, there's no real solace in knowing what did him in. If I do get another, then well, it'll be time to investigate. I don't use antibiotics anyway, so it wouldn't really matter. End results is the same: I'd cull (or they die on their own).

 

[Beekissed]

I agree, it looks real bad. He's about dead as we speak, laying in the carrier, eyes shut and breathing heavy. I need to just suck it up and help him out of his misery.

He's super emaciated looking.. you can feel his entire skeleton through his feathers. I look at my birds daily and I sure had not noticed him being so scrawny, ofcourse his feathers are fluffy so it covers things up... I'm thinking he's really dehydrated. Maybe he ate something stupid. He's pooping several times an hour, nothing but yellow water. He's covered all over with pin feathers, like he's going through explosive molt. You don't suppose that could have affected him this severely? I know it makes them more prone to disease.... I just wonder if it could have caused him to become so scrawny, since feather growth does require a LOT of protein....

Nah...likely the other way around...he may have lost feathers due to illness and you are seeing the grow back. I've never seen a molt cause illness.

He just died. Poor thing. I mean, he was destined for the dinner table anyway, but that's usually swift, not horrible and agonizing like this.

I should autopsy, but I really don't want to. I may just toss him as-is. If I don't get any other birds with the same issue, there's no real solace in knowing what did him in. If I do get another, then well, it'll be time to investigate. I don't use antibiotics anyway, so it wouldn't really matter. End results is the same: I'd cull (or they die on their own).

That's my philosophy too....why try to analyze it until you need to? Nature has a way of weeding out the weak and that's a good thing when you look at it from the right angle. Bad that you lost a bird but good that you lost a bad bird.

 

[Tomtommom]

I just hate feeding them for 9 weeks and not get a meal out of it... And he was a little pig too. I suppose he may have been sick all along.. if he just ate and ate and ate. Little poop machines.

I think this was the one (the WR). Not sure they look alike.

 

[LindaB220]

Nah...likely the other way around...he may have lost feathers due to illness and you are seeing the grow back. I've never seen a molt cause illness.

That's my philosophy too....why try to analyze it until you need to? Nature has a way of weeding out the weak and that's a good thing when you look at it from the right angle. Bad that you lost a bird but good that you lost a bad bird.

Yeah my one remaining Delaware male is puny as all get out. He's gimpy and stays out of everybody's way. Half the size of all the 15 girls. All are healthy and active. I am torn on this. He's not in much pain I don't think. Not a pet. Just a scrungy looking little bird. Cull? Or let him alone?

 

[Beekissed]

I'd cull. You can't use him for breeding, he likely won't be or get big enough to eat, he's already an outcast which is a hard life for a social, flocking type animal, and the weaker birds are usually those that carry the heavy parasite loads in a flock, so why let them poop oocysts all over the soils if you can eliminate a carrier?

Cull hard....breed the best and cull the rest. Stronger flocks don't have to worry so much about disease and parasites.

 

[LindaB220]

I'd cull. You can't use him for breeding, he likely won't be or get big enough to eat, he's already an outcast which is a hard life for a social, flocking type animal, and the weaker birds are usually those that carry the heavy parasite loads in a flock, so why let them poop oocysts all over the soils if you can eliminate a carrier?

Cull hard....breed the best and cull the rest. Stronger flocks don't have to worry so much about disease and parasites.

That's what I thought you would say. I suggested it to my daughter in Austin. Stupid me. Forgot who I was talking to. Came across as a murderer.

I think he'll just turn up missing one day and no one will notice.

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah....I get that too from some of my relatives.

Wonder who murders their food for them?

As usual, I'm amazed at this nest's ability to hold a steady temp in the face of fluctuating room temps...I think it's the mass provided by the soil in the box. I think it has the ability to hold heat or coolness and radiate both when needed, much like the Earth does. Other than turning the eggs and worrying about if the electric was to go off, this is the most easy care incubation method I've heard of! I'm sticking with it.

The only thing that could improve it would be a way to turn the eggs easier or automatically and also a way of resetting the heating pad automatically if the electric goes off and then back on again.

 

[fisherlady]

He just died. Poor thing. I mean, he was destined for the dinner table anyway, but that's usually swift, not horrible and agonizing like this.

I should autopsy, but I really don't want to. I may just toss him as-is. If I don't get any other birds with the same issue, there's no real solace in knowing what did him in. If I do get another, then well, it'll be time to investigate. I don't use antibiotics anyway, so it wouldn't really matter. End results is the same: I'd cull (or they die on their own).

So sorry you lost one

... hoping it isn't something that the others can catch...

 

[LindaB220]

I'd cull. You can't use him for breeding, he likely won't be or get big enough to eat, he's already an outcast which is a hard life for a social, flocking type animal, and the weaker birds are usually those that carry the heavy parasite loads in a flock, so why let them poop oocysts all over the soils if you can eliminate a carrier?

Cull hard....breed the best and cull the rest. Stronger flocks don't have to worry so much about disease and parasites.

So today I go out and find a white bird legs up. I think well I didn't even have time to cull him. Then I see "him" limping over. The dead bird was one of my white rock pullets. Throat torn out. So!!! My Fort Knox is not as secure as I'd hoped. I'd noticed that the door hinge was extra wide so I measured 2". Plenty of room for several things to get in. I wonder why it didn't kill more. Feathers were around so whatever it was came in and only killed one. I'll make arrangements to have a wooden door made and installed.