5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[chickengirl1193]

They build resistance to Cocci after about 16 weeks. You could feed them medicated fee until then and switch all of them to non medicated. Watch them for several weeks after moving off of the medicated feed to make sure they do not get sick.

okay and also I noticed my feed store has corrid, is that a treatment just in case?

My favorite chicken book and a must have for any chicken keepers library is "The Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow. Published in 1994, it is indispensable for health related issues in plain speak. It also has lots of good info on management, feeding and housing.
I just learned there is a new edition coming out in January. The '94 edition can be had on half.com or amazon for very little.

Everyone has coccidia. It is everywhere. There are different strains. Most people choose to use medicated. The medication is a thiamine blocker and does nothing for anything but coccidiosis. I have rarely used it. A little coccidia exposure will make them resistant. The best defense is to keep the bedding bone dry and the feeders at least half full and you won't have to worry about it. It is a protozoa that has a multi stage life cycle. It can't live in a dry environment. If the bedding is wet, the coccidia will prosper. Then if the birds need to search the bedding for food, they'll ingest too much and be overwhelmed.
Another defense is probiotics. Either from a probiotic in the water/feed or fermented feed.

Vaccination is normally for Marek's disease- a virus completely unrelated to the protozoa coccidia. Vaccination for coccidia is relatively new and very few hatcheries do it.

Feeding a grower for a mixed flock of layers and non-layers is the best bet.
Never feed layer (4% calcium) to birds that aren't actively laying.

thank you! I read storeys guide to raising chickens and learned so much! I think I will look into that book! Thanks

 

[Cynthia12]

I only have 1 hen who lays pure white. She is a black sumatra. Her babies will likely lay very pale blue or green. The largest cream colored eggs are from mt tetra tint, which is a leghorn cross. My head roo is an ameraucana/white leghorn (a super blue) so there will be lots of blue genes being passed on. The other 2 roos are an olive egger & a cream legbar.

Still no eggs today..

What's up with the mail? You would think it's a busy time of year. Now I'll cry. Got the angry part out.

Tomorrow! Better be here by tomorrow!

 

[ronott1]

okay and also I noticed my feed store has corrid, is that a treatment just in case?

Yes, Corrid is a miracle medicine too. It will save a chick with cocci very quickly. Buy the powder.

Dosage is tricky to figure and many will give you the wrong dosage. The good news is that Ampurline?(spelling) the active ingredient is not very toxic do dosage is not too critical.

Put this into your chicken Health notes:

Corid Dosage:
If you suspect Cocci, all chicks should be treated there is 9 species of this disease and ONLY 2 that have blood in the stool. Critical time is when chicks are between 4-16wks. of age.
chicks need to be treated when they are 3-4wks of age. CORID POWDER....1.5TSP. PER GALLON FOR 5 DAYS and then another 5 days at 1/2 tps per gallon.
and to repeat it every 3wks if they have symptoms until they reach 9mos. of age. After this its a good idea to put it once a week in their water.

 

[gander007]

I started way to early as I had a 24 hatch this morning out of 27 Orloffs chickes
Ill be ready next year .....

 

[ronott1]

I think that is a brilliant idea. Ron is cool enough that I know he'd love to do it (wink wink).

I set up a Survey for us to fill out. If you want to be part of the Chicks for local pickup thing from this hatch, fill out the Survey.

NYD Survey

The Form is also on the first page of this thread so if you forget where it is, go ahead and fill it out there.

 

[roostereggs]

BRAHMA...as requested...here is my top layer in the Brinsea 20, with 7 in the carton. There is room for 5 more small to med eggs on top as well as 3-4 more in the lower right corner if needed. And more if I used a smaller therm... I could get 40+ in there...however come hatching time there would be little space I think...so I would never pack it that full unless I had a second bator for hatching. Note that the white eggs are

small...I'm hoping from a newer layer and not banties.

I have the larger eggs in the bottom. My two greens are in the lower left and upper right corners.

So after I cull, hopefully everybody will fit in the bottom. I may leave the tray out and put in shelf liner that keeps dishes from sliding around-the kind with holes in it, for hatching.

Loving this Brinsea and it appears to be easy to clean. I want to candle again but just had an epidural injection today and would probably drop eggs with the lovely meds they put in my IV.

If there are definite clears with no veining...can I cull some tomorrow night (day 8) or is that too soon?

 

[gander007]

Thank you .....

 

[ronott1]

Thank you .....

The Survey works! Thanks for filling it out.

Survey for members:Click to take survey

 

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

All I know is I took the survey but still can not post any pics,,,, PEACE Oh we added a few egg to our hatch. We have ours all sold after hatch,,buahahh<><><>< I told the wife it would work,, You peeps are suckers for fluffy wittle chicks,,,HETEETETEThhh I hope everyone has great hatch rate,,,,,

 

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

All I know is I took the survey but still can not post any pics,,,, PEACE Oh we added a few egg to our hatch. We have ours all sold after hatch,,buahahh<><><>< I told the wife it would work,, You peeps are suckers for fluffy wittle chicks,,,HETEETETEThhh I hope everyone has great hatch rate,,,,,