Arizona Chickens

[leanna1017]

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Ummm....I don't even know how to respond to that.

Pippa - the kitten I found in Oct, is now obsessed with the video. She won't leave my netbook alone.

 

[Fuzzybird]

How can I get a picture under my name like so many of you have?

 

[Mahonri]

Barred Rock pullet laid her first egg today. She's been squatting for the Splash Wheaten Ameraucana roo. I'm going to incubate some of her eggs for the Easter Hatch... the offspring will be green laying and Blue Barred!

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

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Ummm....I don't even know how to respond to that.

Wow.

 

[Mahonri]

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Go up to the top and click "Profile"

Then click on "Personality"

Then Upload Avitar.

The pic you upload can NOT be larger than 100 X 100 pixels.

Good luck

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Hey, y'all! I'm back, after a scaling-down hiatus. "Only" 25 chickens, 8 ducks, 7 turkeys, and 10 rabbits currently.

I'd like to get the chickens down to 10-12 or so, if anyone's interested. Available are 5 point-of-lay pullets (mixed Australorp/Delaware and Australorp/Barred Rock), and some two-year-old Australorps.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Smiles-N-Sunshine, Good to see you back!

I have one Delaware and one Del X BA cross that I kept from the hatch of the eggs I got from you. They are the only two that are laying right now. The Del X BA is absolutely adorable and one of my favorite birds.

leanna1017, captivating video, isn't it?

My daughter came running in to see when she heard it this morning. She thought it was so cute. I guess it's interesting to all sorts of small creatures.

mclevinson, another great egg song!

TT!,

What the heck was that?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

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Good for you on getting the automatic waterer set up! You'll like it for all sorts of reasons, even beyond the biosecurity issues. It's entirely likely that the dead birds you're finding succumbed to trichomoniasis. It's the leading cause of death in nestling Cooper's hawks in Tucson, with 41% of all nestlings dying from it! Mortality might be somewhat lower in doves because of the high frequency with which they carry the disease. The numbers are chilling; just look out at a dove in the yard and there's a very good chance it's carrying the parasite: it's seen in 98% of white wing doves, 52% of Inca doves and 16% of mourning doves in Tucson (http://www.jwildlifedis.org/content/34/3/590.full.pdf). These numbers are hard to assess because it's unclear if the numbers represent all birds, or just those that survive to be tested (I suspect the latter). Add that to the fact that younger birds are more likely to succumb to the illness and you're probably right. I found two sparrows and a dove last year that were either dead or dying in the back yard and I looked carefully at them--I suspected they were exhibiting the disease. For shear morbid curiosity, it looks like it might be relatively easy to swab a bird's mouth with a q-tip, swirl it in some saline on a slide and look for them under a microscope. Here's an interesting you-tube video I found on identifying Trichomonas:

 

[GrannysRoost]

We have a lot of doves here, so the chicken run is covered with netting and the dogs going in and out kind of keep the birds scattered in the back, and yes the sparrows can get in and have, but have gone back out. I have a bird feeder in the front separated from them and seriously considering not feeding the birds anymore...I would rather have my chickens healthy.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

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Sounds like you've done well to keep them out of the run.

I still have sparrows that move easily in an out of mine. Not as many as before I installed the treadle feeder, but some still come in nonetheless.

We used to love feeding the wild birds but stopped when we got chickens. We fed them in the back yard where the chickens would eat the food dropped out the the bird feeder by the wild birds. Then I read that another way that trichomoniasis is spread is through food--an infected animal can have difficulties swallowing the food because of the cheesy build-up in their throats. They try to eat but the food comes back out and onto the ground--contaminated with Trichomonas. You shouldn't have that problem with your feeding them in the separated area. I also don't think that route of infection is all that common here in the desert because I don't think the parasite can live that long out in the world without a host. However, with wet conditions like we've had the past three days, anything could happen.