Arizona Chickens

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
Like the Ecoglow it "works" in temps colder than 50 degrees, but may not produce enough heat on its own to adequately heat the chicks. That's why I augmented the SweeterHeater with an infrared heat lamp. My outside brooder is 4' x 4', and 2-2.5' high. The SweeterHeater was in one corner of the brooder. I had the heat lamp next to the Sweeter Heater, aimed slightly away from it. That created a warm, open area (under the heat lamp) and a warm covered area (under the SweeterHeater). It graded off to a colder area on the opposite side of the brooder. When the chicks were cold they would hang out under the heat lamp or huddle under the SweeterHeater. Usually they were bouncing all over the place.

If you are using a SweeterHeater or Ecoglow it is important to not have drafts in the heated area, especially if the brooder is in a colder space.

I started with a 125 watt heat bulb and gradually worked down to a 60 watt bulb as the chicks grew. The heat lamp was on a thermostat, and the thermostat was on the opposite side of the brooder from the SweeterHeater and heat lamp. When the cold side of the brooder got above a certain temperature the heat lamp would shut off. (Edited to add: the SweeterHeater was not on a thermostat and was always on.) Chicks need a way to cool off as much as they need a way to stay warm. My brooder can get pretty warm in the spring when the sun is out. That's why I'm trying to finish hatching by early February. The chicks need to be out of the brooder before it gets too hot.

Chicks are pretty hardy. Mine arrived in mid-January last year, having traveled through a big freeze as day-old chicks in a small box with no heater. They were fine. Their moms would have them out in the cold learning how to forage by the time they're a couple of days old. As long as they have a way to get warm and a way to cool off, they will be fine.

 

[Timskins]

Does anyone want 2 light brahma roosters?

 

[kacklinkelly]

One other thing, look in the trees for a predator.? Or surrounding trees.. Use your binocular's.. We saw one way,way up soaring above the
ther day.. Our flock saw it before we did.. We just happen to be outside.. We plan on getting the netting for a trellis & hanging it from roof-roof top.
still allowing the in sun but not the hawks..

Awesome insight. Thank you. I will be checking for them

 

[Dianna Sue]

I ordered 3 chicks from hatchbawks, they were supposed to be roosters and I got 3 hens instead,, driving to phoenix from Globe and paying double the rate of anyplace else because I have a flock of black australorps and needed roosters it made for a very expensive 3 hens that I didnt want dint need and I sure wouldnt reccommend hatchbawks to anyone, it is a fly by the seat of your pants place that buys from other people and sells from a private residence hard to tell where the birds came from but they sure are not what was advertised!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I had a shells ground egg! Sylvia (NN) is 19-20 weeks, and quite large. Tina (leghorn) is the smallest, and at the bottom of the picking order. My barred Rock I got from the feed store is 1/2 the size of the one I got from Desertmarcy. Infact everyone dose not look grown up yet. At lest another month.

It has to be Sylvia, her head and comb has been bright red most of the time.

 

[chicksurreal]

I ordered 3 chicks from hatchbawks, they were supposed to be roosters and I got 3 hens instead,, driving to phoenix from Globe and paying double the rate of anyplace else because I have a flock of black australorps and needed roosters it made for a very expensive 3 hens that I didnt want dint need and I sure wouldnt reccommend hatchbawks to anyone, it is a fly by the seat of your pants place that buys from other people and sells from a private residence hard to tell where the birds came from but they sure are not what was advertised!

Thanks for sharing. Sorry that your experience wasn't what you needed it to be.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Does anyone in Tucson have a "chicken vet"? Something in the $80 range would be worth it to me, but I wonder if they would charge me to become an "established patient" etc etc?

I have a message in to the University of Arizona's Veterinary Diagnostic Lab (as suggested earlier) and I located a more recent website for them that has prices for the necropsies http://cals.arizona.edu/vdl/website_content/UserGuide_2013.pdf which does confirm $265.50 for "small animal" necropsy (specifically calling out avian), or $155.50 for "domestic livestock, under 100 lbs" - so I'm hoping my pullet would fall under the latter. I have inquired and will let you know what I find out.

I've been doing tons of research on Marek's Disease (since she became sick and is not just bouncing back, like I would expect if it were a simple injury) and I'm to the point that I think I do want to know FOR SURE if I have it in my flock. If I do, I'm not sure what my next step will be.... the majority of my flock was not vaccinated against Marek's since I'm trying to do the no-antibiotic, natural, organically fed thing.

Virtually all chickens that are not bred and raised in laboratory sterile conditions carry mareks. In the vast majority, it never develops into outright disease, but it can, especially if the brid is under stress or its immunity is compromised. Some strains of mareks are more virulent than others. Since you have only one bird who has become ill, I doubt that is the case. http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/neoplasms/mareks_disease_in_poultry.html?qt=mareks&alt=sh

Other than not bouncing back as you would expect from an injury, what are the symptoms?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: that is a lot cheaper. The drop cam need a computer to record. The need thing is you can view it live viea smart phone. And voice application.

NECROPSY: I used to live near the Minnesota University Veterinary School. They did them free as class projects. I had to wait on one because there was not a class that could use it. They must have kept it on ice for a month. It was looked at as a donation. I left with the bird a stamped envelope. I always got a name and sent it to that person. Getting results was more of a curtsey by the teacher. Did you speak to a teacher at the school, or to the management staff? Try getting a name of one of the teaching vets, that might make a difference. You may still be paying shipping or taking it there to insure arriving in good condition.

They may be getting all they need ealse ware, that would explain the high price. My contact at the U of M was a teacher. The school was not interested the first time I called.



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To the best of my knowledge, Arizona's Diagnostic Vet lab has no teaching staff or students; necropsies are provided free of charge only when they believe that there is a possible threat to humans or agriculture. Most states that have large economic interests in poultry at least partially pay for the actual costs of testing and necropsy; not in Arizona. For mareks, any vet with a knowledge of chickens should be able to do an adequate necropsy. No cultures or lab tests are needed; the cancer lesions are visually evident.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

WHAT.THE.HELLO.IS.THAT.

Quote:
Chickens bred to be naked, I think it was done in Israel

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Mareks does not need diagnostic tests. It is visually apparent. Coryza would require tets, although the odor is pretty diagnostic in and of itself. My vet will do a basic necropsy, but that does not include any lab tests. His fee a few years ago was about I think about $100. Dor diagnostic lab tests, he would have to send it to the Vet Diag Lab, which as has been discussed, is expensive. Mold and fungus is very toxic to chickens.