California - Northern

[debs_flock]

I figure we should have our first eggs in the next 10 or so weeks.

Those first eggs are always the most exciting. Like Christmas morning every time you look into the nestbox.

I swear, when I first got back into chickens a few years ago, I must have checked for eggs a couple of times per hour!

And now, I get 4-5 dozen eggs per day, but still love finding every egg.

 

[Ali707]

Those first eggs are always the most exciting. Like Christmas morning every time you look into the nestbox.

I swear, when I first got back into chickens a few years ago, I must have checked for eggs a couple of times per hour!

And now, I get 4-5 dozen eggs per day, but still love finding every egg.

I almost can't wait anymore and they are only 9 weeks old this weekend. I may not get any eggs if they keep turning in to boys as the weeks go by.

 

[ronott1]

I almost can't wait anymore and they are only 9 weeks old this weekend. I may not get any eggs if they keep turning in to boys as the weeks go by.

I have 2 Crele Penedesencas, 5 Blue Egg Layers from the UofArkansas and 7 Bresse at Point of Lay!

Actually, one of the Bresse may have laid one yesterday. I found a small egg under the edge of the coop.

 

[ronott1]

Those first eggs are always the most exciting. Like Christmas morning every time you look into the nestbox.

I swear, when I first got back into chickens a few years ago, I must have checked for eggs a couple of times per hour!

And now, I get 4-5 dozen eggs per day, but still love finding every egg.

My record so far is 22 eggs in one day. Of course I only have 6 hens.....

Chicken math you Know!

 

[Ali707]

I have 2 Crele Penedesencas, 5 Blue Egg Layers from the UofArkansas and 7 Bresse at Point of Lay!

Actually, one of the Bresse may have laid one yesterday. I found a small egg under the edge of the coop.

When the Uof A lay will you post a picture? I would like to see how blue....

 

[Happy Chooks]

OK chicken geneticists....Since a NH or an RIR over a barred rock makes a black sex link...do you think that a NH over my little chocolate barred rock will produce a brown sex link?

The choc rock is feather sexable if that makes a difference.

It should, it's the barring in the mother that is the key. The coloring of the barring I wouldn't think would make a difference.

Della seems 100%. Would you keep her isolated until she lays an egg? She hasn't since Thurs or Fri. She complains loudly about being cooped up. Her poops are normal she is eating her comb is back up where it ought to be and her crop feels normal.

Thanks for all of the help healing her. I hope the internal laying thing is not an issue with her but at least now I know what to watch out for.

I would put her back with the flock, but keep an eye on her. Glad she's doing better!

For some reason my DH can't (or won't) remember the names of the breeds, so most of them have names he can remember.

"So dark red they look black chickens" = HRIR
"P2's" = Lakenvelder (he knows lots of them by their pen number - Poultry Palace, run 2)
"Presley chickens" = BCM - the rooster's name
"Archie chickens" = New Hampshires - the rooster's name
"Beat ? chickens" = I'm not saying the breed, but raised to try to beat one well known exhibitor, so I'm also not saying their name, LOL
"Used to be H1's" = SL polish (they now live in C1 - Chicken Chalet as opposed to Hen Haven)

Almost all of the breeds are that way. I'd think it would be easier to just remember the breeds, LOL, but it works for him. When you get hatching eggs from me, they are always labeled two ways depending on who collected them. Silver Campine would be "SC" (me) or "H3" (DH). It throws people off, so I always tell them when I ship eggs.

The funniest are my Isbar eggs. I of course write "Isbar", but they live in with my egg flock, DH writes "Egg"

, we call that run "The Egg House". I always think people will think I'm nuts when they get an egg labeled "egg"!

As long as the right hatching eggs make it to the right place, I wouldn't think they'd care what was written on them.

It's a presumptive finding for merrikks. The lab test was negative, but they found small lesions so they are assuming that was it.

My quarintine was fairly good. Did not do stuff with both sets of birds at the same time, and bleached hands and feet when I left garage. Did not change my shirt every time however. I did NOT know merriks was from dander. He is the right age, ( 6 months,) for something to happen. I thought they were 1.5 but i read the date wrong. Shipping is traumatic, so I imagine it came out while in transit.

They are in metal cage and on linolium, (There is a false wall behind them even of boxes, so it is doable to sanitize the area, unlike if they were on ground or on wood, etc.) so I bleached it to all get out last night, and got rid of all the litter. There is zero symptoms in anyone else, but I'm not sure if that means anything.

I'm going to spray the chickens themselves today with oxine, didn't want to do it while it was so cold before. The real question is, do I have to cull everyone in there, or not. Killing very expensive asympotomatic birds would be painful.

I'm going to see if I can talk to someone at Davis and get some advice. I have been going back and forth on it since yesterday. I read About Cheryls case in BYC history, I know several people here have had cases and it has not gotten the entire flock. I'm also wondering if I should let CJ know, or if that is a moot point.

Mareks is a huge issue on the East coast from what I understand from other breeders I talk with. It is around and most flocks have probably been exposed to it through wild birds. There is a great Sticky on vaccinating for Mareks. The issue IMO is that the vaccination keeps you from seeing the symptoms, so you could have a bird that is a carrier, but you won't know it.

Deb is correct in that if you let a bird recover from Mareks, it will be a carrier for future birds. It does not pass through the egg to offspring, though they can contract it from carrier birds, or the environment. All of your birds have likely already been exposed as it is passed through dander and it can even blow in the wind. So it can travel on your clothes/shoes to your other coops.

Many breeders, myself included, have chosen to breed for resistance. I will not vaccinate for it, as I have yet to see any evidence that the vaccination does anything other than mask the symptoms. While I have never had any signs of Mareks in my flocks, if I ever do see one with symptoms of it, I will cull that bird. Any that do not contract it will be stronger and pass that immunity on to their offspring. You build a stronger flock this way, but the key is you cannot ever let a bird recover from it - as they will remain a carrier. I know several breeders that breed in this manner and it works well for them.

Here is the Sticky on the Mareks vaccine:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/39918/mareks-vaccine/0_50

 

[Grandmas Basket]

I'm on a roll today

. Next question is Scratch or not? I got a free 50 lb bag of Bar ALE Certified Organic 2 Way Scratch at a local feed store where the Bar ALE folks were doing a presentation. I still have chicks on starter at 10 weeks. And I'm quite confused about Scratch - read negative posts about feeding it to chickens. I only have 3 pullets, so the 50 lbs seems overkill even as a treat. Before I open the bag, can someone advise me on if I should even use it at all? If not, is anyone interested in this Scratch?

 

[Happy Chooks]

I give my flocks scratch as a treat. I buy it in 50 lb bags - It keeps well in a garbage can. Just a little bit as a treat is fine, just don't feed it as their main food. (think of it like candy)

 

[debs_flock]

Quote:
Wow! Those are six productive hens!!!

I'm on a roll today

. Next question is Scratch or not? I got a free 50 lb bag of Bar ALE Certified Organic 2 Way Scratch at a local feed store where the Bar ALE folks were doing a presentation. I still have chicks on starter at 10 weeks. And I'm quite confused about Scratch - read negative posts about feeding it to chickens. I only have 3 pullets, so the 50 lbs seems overkill even as a treat. Before I open the bag, can someone advise me on if I should even use it at all? If not, is anyone interested in this Scratch?

I use scratch in my daily treat mix. I take a couple of scoop of scratch, a half scoop each of BOSS, calf manna, rabbit pellets and a small scoop of cat food and oyster shell. I mix that together and throw 1-3 handfuls to each pen (depends on number of birds). That way everyone comes running and it gives me a chance to observe all my birds every day.

It might take you a heck of a long time to go through 50# of scratch with 3 chickens. You could bag up 3/4 of it into Ziploc bags and put them in the freezer. Then just get out a bag at a time. That way it won't go rancid. That's what I do with all of my baking flour, since I buy it 50#'s at a time. A one gallon bag holds about 5#'s, it should be about the same with scratch.

 

[ronott1]

When the Uof A lay will you post a picture? I would like to see how blue....

Yes, I will post pictures!