Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[SilkieChickStar]

Just loading photos now, they are doing very well. The poor things were being cuddled by the granddaughters this afternoon now they are sleeping. Names so far are Dusty, Rustie, Rainbow, Blackie,Rainy it was raining when that one hatched and Mia was there. The girls (3yrs and 7 yrs) did the naming. Haha Rusty is the one I helped hatch and its doing great.

omg sooooo cute!

 

[MyHaven]

Well the ' Dutchman ' has finally arrived, a little worse for travel but glad to be in his stall chewing hay. Of course I won't sleep tonight worrying about travel tetany, but hopefully he has a good night.

By now you've had that sleepless night. I hope it wasn't too bad.

How did he go.

 

[satay]

Just loading photos now, they are doing very well. The poor things were being cuddled by the granddaughters this afternoon now they are sleeping. Names so far are Dusty, Rustie, Rainbow, Blackie,Rainy it was raining when that one hatched and Mia was there. The girls (3yrs and 7 yrs) did the naming. Haha Rusty is the one I helped hatch and its doing great.

Yay Gratz they are little cuties

 

[Fancychooklady]

By now you've had that sleepless night. I hope it wasn't too bad.

How did he go.

He's fine. I'm sure he's probably wondering about the climate change 2 degrees and can't see the end of his nose through the fog atm.
The trucks just left with hubby and 2 horses bound for SJ clinic, once they get home we will have a good play with dutchy.

 

[Teila]

Good morning friends

SilkieChickStar your new arrivals are beautiful … I do hope that the little Pekin is cleared as OK.

Fancy great news that Dutchy arrived safe and sound.

LuckysMum your little ones are adorable! I love the names. As you know, we have a Dusty and if your little Dusty grows up anything like ours, she will be an asset to the flock.

If you remember, Dusty is the one who put an end to our Crow problem by bashing a couple of them

Yesterday evening, Crystal, Blondie and LuLu had gone to bed and Dusty and Cilla were hanging around the run door, getting a last minute feed etc.

One of the reasons free range is always supervised; a large, fluffy, ginger Tom Cat came from around the side of the house and nonchalantly strolled across our back garden. Dusty and Cilla could see him through the run, but the run was between them and him.

Cilla bolted into the run but Dusty took off, around the run, in the direction of the Cat, feathers up, full on meaning business! I called out “Dusty!” because I wanted her heading away from him, not to him and as I do not think he had actually seen me or Dusty, my voice spooked him and he picked up the pace and cleared the fence into next door.

We may not have a rooster in the flock but we have the next best thing with Dusty, she is loving, protective and one brave little bantam!

 

[LuckysMum]

SilkieChickStar I hope your new birds are better today.

Fancy It's great that Dutchy is here safe. I hope he doesn't mind the cold.

Teila I will have to see what our Dusty is, hopefully she is like yours. Yours Dusty sounds great. I love an animal with a bit of spunk.

 

[Anniebee]

Good morning friends

SilkieChickStar your new arrivals are beautiful … I do hope that the little Pekin is cleared as OK.

Fancy great news that Dutchy arrived safe and sound.

LuckysMum your little ones are adorable! I love the names. As you know, we have a Dusty and if your little Dusty grows up anything like ours, she will be an asset to the flock.

If you remember, Dusty is the one who put an end to our Crow problem by bashing a couple of them

Yesterday evening, Crystal, Blondie and LuLu had gone to bed and Dusty and Cilla were hanging around the run door, getting a last minute feed etc.

One of the reasons free range is always supervised; a large, fluffy, ginger Tom Cat came from around the side of the house and nonchalantly strolled across our back garden. Dusty and Cilla could see him through the run, but the run was between them and him.

Cilla bolted into the run but Dusty took off, around the run, in the direction of the Cat, feathers up, full on meaning business! I called out “Dusty!” because I wanted her heading away from him, not to him and as I do not think he had actually seen me or Dusty, my voice spooked him and he picked up the pace and cleared the fence into next door.

We may not have a rooster in the flock but we have the next best thing with Dusty, she is loving, protective and one brave little bantam!

Oh my .... Dusty the ringside wrestler !! ..... that is quite remarkable, that she was prepared to up the ante from crows to a cat !! Brave little girl.

Don't ever let her near horses - they'd be spooked for months.

Cheers ......

 

[MyHaven]

Thanks I have chatted to the breeder she said she had checked them but that we will keep a close eye on them for a while. My other chickens aren't even out of the house yet. They get handled first then the outdoor chicks do. We have shoes that only go into that outdoor pen and never anywhere else.

If they have a respiratory disease what will I need to do? I checked on her again before sundown and she wasn't making that noise anymore so maybe she was stressed out. I was planning on keeping them separately for a month.

I don't know what the breeder means by she "checked them". If she knows poultry she would know that you can't "check them" for being carriers. If a chicken has had a respiratory illness it may or may not have symptoms, it may or may not have a range of permanent damage including uterine and kidney, it may or may not become a carrier. Because birds mask illness you may not see signs they are sick.

If a breeder has ever - at any time in the past - had any sick birds with upper respiratory infections, and they did not quarantine and or cull appropriately and practice good biosecurity, they could be perpetuating a sick flock and any bird they breed could be carriers.

Carriers do not look sick. Although stress, including that caused by relocation, may bring it on and then they may show sickness.

I know it may sound harsh but the safest thing to do would be to send them back to the breeder, clean down with the appropriate disinfectant and do not let your chicks near them or on the same ground and in the same enclosure for 3weeks.

Testing them is a relatively expensive exercise that not all vets do. I just spent more than $1k treating and testing my flock. I lost three birds and had to cull 5 roos that I could no longer re-home. And I may have to cull more.

If you keep them:
* you should quarantine for as long as possible. Some people say as little as 2 weeks but I think 6 weeks.
* consider the possibility that regardless of quarantine, now that you have seen a symptom, they could infect your current flock and any further additions.
* if infected your birds can die
* responsibly if they are infected you will need to keep a closed flock.

Good luck.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I don't know what the breeder means by she "checked them". If she knows poultry she would know that you can't "check them" for being carriers. If a chicken has had a respiratory illness it may or may not have symptoms, it may or may not have a range of permanent damage including uterine and kidney, it may or may not become a carrier. Because birds mask illness you may not see signs they are sick.

If a breeder has ever - at any time in the past - had any sick birds with upper respiratory infections, and they did not quarantine and or cull appropriately and practice good biosecurity, they could be perpetuating a sick flock and any bird they breed could be carriers.

Carriers do not look sick. Although stress, including that caused by relocation, may bring it on and then they may show sickness.

I know it may sound harsh but the safest thing to do would be to send them back to the breeder, clean down with the appropriate disinfectant and do not let your chicks near them or on the same ground and in the same enclosure for 3weeks.

Testing them is a relatively expensive exercise that not all vets do. I just spent more than $1k treating and testing my flock. I lost three birds and had to cull 5 roos that I could no longer re-home. And I may have to cull more.

If you keep them:
* you should quarantine for as long as possible. Some people say as little as 2 weeks but I think 6 weeks.
* consider the possibility that regardless of quarantine, now that you have seen a symptom, they could infect your current flock and any further additions.
* if infected your birds can die
* responsibly if they are infected you will need to keep a closed flock.

Good luck.

I quarantine for a minimum of 6 weeks, on the rare occasion that I bring birds into my flock. The sad thing is that there are hundreds of stories on this site about people loosing their entire flock as a result of one little weakness, not being vigilant. I know of people that sell birds even though they have had disease run through their flock and then plead ignorance. The safest way to add to your flock is by hatching them yourself.
It's a hard lesson to learn and I can only imagine how devastated you are about culling your birds, but keep warning people of the possible consequences of disease and you might just prevent it happening to others.

 

[SilkieChickStar]

I quarantine for a minimum of 6 weeks, on the rare occasion that I bring birds into my flock. The sad thing is that there are hundreds of stories on this site about people loosing their entire flock as a result of one little weakness, not being vigilant. I know of people that sell birds even though they have had disease run through their flock and then plead ignorance. The safest way to add to your flock is by hatching them yourself.
It's a hard lesson to learn and I can only imagine how devastated you are about culling your birds, but keep warning people of the possible consequences of disease and you might just prevent it happening to others.

I don't know what the breeder means by she "checked them". If she knows poultry she would know that you can't "check them" for being carriers. If a chicken has had a respiratory illness it may or may not have symptoms, it may or may not have a range of permanent damage including uterine and kidney, it may or may not become a carrier. Because birds mask illness you may not see signs they are sick.

If a breeder has ever - at any time in the past - had any sick birds with upper respiratory infections, and they did not quarantine and or cull appropriately and practice good biosecurity, they could be perpetuating a sick flock and any bird they breed could be carriers.

Carriers do not look sick. Although stress, including that caused by relocation, may bring it on and then they may show sickness.

I know it may sound harsh but the safest thing to do would be to send them back to the breeder, clean down with the appropriate disinfectant and do not let your chicks near them or on the same ground and in the same enclosure for 3weeks.

Testing them is a relatively expensive exercise that not all vets do. I just spent more than $1k treating and testing my flock. I lost three birds and had to cull 5 roos that I could no longer re-home. And I may have to cull more.

If you keep them:
* you should quarantine for as long as possible. Some people say as little as 2 weeks but I think 6 weeks.
* consider the possibility that regardless of quarantine, now that you have seen a symptom, they could infect your current flock and any further additions.
* if infected your birds can die
* responsibly if they are infected you will need to keep a closed flock.

Good luck.

Thanks guys, I know that testing is expensive. We take our parrots to Deborah Monks at Brisbane Bird and Exotics Veterinary Service and I'm fairly sure she would do this testing for us if we asked. I would say that she only made that noise for maybe half an hour yesterday. But the fact that she made it all indicates possible illness is that right?