We got a good rain yesterday night, not enough to turn the streets to washes and I think it was most on the west side of town, but the soil at my place is still a bit moist this morning, so not too bad!
Wow, thank you so much for this and all the links too: so informative!! I appreciate it A LOT!! <3
Good point about the watering cups allowing them to wet their wattles, I'll do that. And same for having emergency cages on hands to get them inside - thank you, that's an easy thing to plan for...
Good suggestion! I definitely planned to use a "poop board" but had not thought of making it a full tray with sand - thanks for the nudge! I'm sure that will make it all easier.
Thank you everyone for suggestions about the niche too! I am not too concerned about storage (the whole adjacent shed...
That's awesome, thanks so much Emma (and for letting us all in on the FB secret code too! That's hilarious!!)
Whenever I am done prepping the coop and I am ready to get chicks, I thought I'd use the heated blanket method (something like this) but is it even necessary in AZ, outside of the dead...
Thank you guys!
So there's actually a tarp on that right side, that I can roll up or down: great to know this is likely enough, then!
For the litter, and cleaning below the roosts, that's a good idea. I had thought I might leave half of it in place with sand and ash as a dust bath for them, but...
Ohh, thank you for telling me about those - they are striking! Is the person still selling them? The most recent posts/comments seem a bit dated by now. Let me know if you find a place that has them, I'd be excited to try a breed created locally <3
I don't have a super long chicken experience, but unfortunately one was sick and I have had to research that question early on: short answer is swift decapitation. If that's a chick, probably a large chef knife would work...
Hi everyone!
Just moved to Tucson last year and prepping to get some chickens next spring (right now I am just revamping a former catio into what will be my coop/run).
A few friends and I collectively had 5 hens in central Texas before I moved, and I built their coop back then, but I left soon...
Right, I should have included pictures! Apologies.
Ok, so this is me standing in the middle of my coop/run/ex-catio and looking at the back - I'll unpave it, and get rid of what I assume was the cats litter box at the end there. Then I'm thinking of making a ladder roost in the corner (sketched...
Hi all, I'm hoping you can give me ideas on how to use a little pre-existing feature in my run/coop.
I have recently moved and I am updating what I believe was a large catio into a coop/run. The catio shares a wall with an adjacent small shed, so the previous owner cut a little window in that...
Agreed. I already made my case above but, to sum up, if going for a kill cone method, just decapitate - the severing of the spinal cord renders the bird unconscious in seconds, while bleeding out will take 3-4 minutes of pain before reaching unconsciousness, for a chicken.
I actually asked them and the poultry lab of my State's vet lab is closed for the long weekend (they just processed the swab test I sent them in time, but the necropsy wouldn't have made it un time).
If we are not able to get the other symptomatic pullet through and she also dies, we will send...
I think that's where we're headed.
The vet from the state lab said that he wouldn't expect frequent relapses. He also told me that MG strains from poultry are mostly different than those found in wild birds, and while some crossing over does happen, it is not overly frequent and is usually...
Omg, one is just cold and stiff dead in the coop this morning. She was the wheezing and sneezing one, and the one that tested positive out of the 2 samples I sent.
She was lively and eating well and even laying up till yesterday, I did not see that coming!
I thought I'd see signs that they...
Ok... so I guess now I just need to make a decision, culling or treating, hoping they survive the simultaneous sicknesses with some help and antibiotics.
I feel exhausted, what a mess.
My family had chickens for decades, just free ranging in the country side, without problems other than the...
This place had 100% outstanding reviews, nothing below 5 stars on Google, praise here on BYC dating just from last May... I don't know, they seemed legit. That's why I kept thinking maybe it's my place because how am I the only one having an outbreak after a move? It's been confusing, to dsay...
I tried to check that again when I was swabbing her and honestly her mouth just smelled like she was an animal to me. I mean stronger, you know, but that's it. Would canker be real awful, makes-you-jerk-back-or-gag kinda thing? If yes then it wasn't like that.
What are the dosages for oral...
So the test results came back today - I sent samples from two pullets and one came back positive for MG. I am assuming that if one is testing positive, them really all are.
What do I do now?
I am talking with the state vet tomorrow morning but I would appreciate your opinions:
1) do I treat...
Me again - tests came back positive and I would be very interested in hearing whether, once the flock recover, to expect relapses often (like every month or so) or less so. My other questions have been answered but I would really like to have an idea of what to expect, were I to keep the flock...
What about one from the concurrence, like the Nest from Google? (I don't think they keep full 24H of recording - they have a notification system + record a certain amount of hours for those detected events... I believe! I don't have one, so wait for first hand experience maybe :)