A Bielefelder Thread !

[UGLYFOOT]

 My Bielefelder hen, Jessica, who has been having the hardest time with the heat, was sneezing this morning. She has not been laying for at least 2 weeks, but is not broody. I just need confirmation that I should start antibiotics immediately.

Except for her mouth breathing/panting, she has been behaving normally.

Any advice would be great. Our flock went through the respiratory infection thing two months ago, and we have just started eating the eggs again! It would be easy to treat Jessica and simply avoid her eggs when she decides to lay them.

Thanks!

If you choose to go the antibiotic route with this hen, Denegard is good for respiratory illness and has no withdrawl for eggs. I bought mine on Amazon.

 

[Coop de Grass]

This is a matter of personal preference. I personally never use antibiotics or any other pharmaceuticals with the exception of a baby aspirin when trying to break a particularly persistent broody. That said, I too have seen sneezing among some of my hens as a result of the heat, and so far all of them have been recovering normally. I give them electrolytes, vitamins and probiotics in several of the communal water containers, and if one of them seems particularly distressed I will put her in an isolation pen where I can be sure she's ingesting the supplied extra nutrients. I'm a firm believer in natural hardiness. The furthest I will go is to bring a bird that's struggling too hard into the house in a cage where I can keep a closer eye on it and have more control over the environment. No matter how much I love my birds, they have to be able to adapt as naturally as possible to this harsh environment with minimal intervention on my part....not that providing cool air, misters, a stream of constantly running cool water, fermented feed, organically grown produce, etc. feels "minimal".

Thanks, Christine! I haven't given her any antibiotics yet. She seems to be ok except for the heat and the sneezing which seems to have slowed down. The temperature inside the coop has dropped 20 degrees in the last hour due to the thunderstorms that we were expecting. Outside it is even cooler! Jessica is hiding under the base of the brooder coop which they think is an umbrella built specially for them. It is 4 x 4 and 2 feet off the ground, so they think it is perfect.

I guess I am worried because we lost birds to the respiratory infection earlier in the spring. Don't want to lose any more! One was a Biel pullet, the other was a light Brahma and part of our original flock, not to mention my husbands favorite hen. He saved her from a hawk when she was 3 months old!

I know what you mean about "minimal." I picked up a small ice maker at Home depot last week. Our icemaker in the fridge doesn't produce much because the fridge is one of those new fangled french door fridges which is great EXCEPT for the ice maker! I've been taking the ice from the little ice maker and putting it into the fridge ice bin so that I can crush it. Works great! I have been getting my "steps" done because of running back and forth between house and coop with cool treats! I have also been giving them electrolites, but I"m not sure how much they are drinking of that because of the wading pool!

I may try making ice cubes from the electrolite water in ice cube trays and then crushing them with a hammer. I'll let you know how that works out if it ever stops raining!

 

[Coop de Grass]

@DesertChic how does baby aspirin help in breaking a broody?

 

[DesertChic]

@DesertChic how does baby aspirin help in breaking a broody?

It lowers their body temperature. When they go broody, their body temperature increases to about 105º, just like running a fever. The aspirin breaks the fever. At least, that's the theory. I did manage to use it successfully once on my most persistent broody without any ill effects.

 

[Faraday40]

Has anyone had luck bathing a broody? It seems like it should work.

In the past I simply kept kicking the hen out of the nest into the sunshine & kept the nests free from all eggs. If not particularly broody, that works. In the winter it's easier to break a broody. If persistent & sitting on imaginary eggs for several days, I just let her go for it. .... but I'm sure there will come a time when I must say NO.

 

[UGLYFOOT]

Has anyone had luck bathing a broody? It seems like it should work.

In the past I simply kept kicking the hen out of the nest into the sunshine & kept the nests free from all eggs. If not particularly broody, that works. In the winter it's easier to break a broody. If persistent & sitting on imaginary eggs for several days, I just let her go for it. .... but I'm sure there will come a time when I must say NO.

I have a friend that just tried the dunking the hen in the cold water trick. She also moved it to another pen and that seemed to work. I will try the cold bath trick on my next one.

 

[CrowHollowFarm]

So I set my first 10 bielefelder eggs and hatched 7 pullets and 2 stags. Hopefully this percentage will continue.:yiipchick

 

[Coop de Grass]

So I set my first 10 bielefelder eggs and hatched 7 pullets and 2 stags. Hopefully this percentage will continue.

Wow! Congratulations!!! Were the eggs from your flock? Pictures, please!

 

[Turkeytruff]

It lowers their body temperature. When they go broody, their body temperature increases to about 105º, just like running a fever. The aspirin breaks the fever. At least, that's the theory. I did manage to use it successfully once on my most persistent broody without any ill effects. 

interesting! How much baby aspirin would you give to a bantam?

 

[DesertChic]

interesting! How much baby aspirin would you give to a bantam?

I was never given specific advice on dosage beyond 1-2 per day in their water for LF, so maybe half that dosage for a bantam????