California - Northern

[joydix]

When i first got chickens my second time around i ordered from a hatchery. i was (am) really serious about all organic no GMO etc but when i went to buy the first batch of food the poultry expert at the feed store asked if they were hatchery birds....he said they have a hard time with the travel and the treatment before they arrive so why make it harder on them...i went with that. i don't use hatchery birds anymore. i go with local breeders and i don't use medicated chic start for them. they have all been fine, and have not had to use sulmet or corid either, no casualties.....i lost many birds in shipments from hatcheries..i have tried 3X.

 

[Audio51]

Quote: There is a FB group someone told me about called "Chicken Vet Corner" where you can post your medical questions about chickens and they will be answered by a Veterinarian that is well versed in chickens. I post my lab results there along with a bit of the history and asked for some information on what it all meant. This was the response:

"Have you called the lab to discuss the results with them? Because based on what I read I would have to guess your chickens died of Proteus pneumonia. I have to be honest and say I don't know enough about proteus to give you advice, but your lab should be a wealth of information. It can also be post mortem bacterial growth. I would expect that their free necropsies are not as inclusive, and are mainly to rule out important diseases like AI, but normally I would like to see a culture/sensitivity run on problematic bacteria, so it gives you a good treatment plan. Dr. A"


The Penadesencas are Crele I believe. The person is the one that adopted the rooster Jason had with the bad foot. She got a custome made neoprene support for him and he gets slong verwy well. He is able to mate very effectively now.

Quote: I tired going organic with the batch of meat chicks I bought, bit started losing t to cocci and hat to treat them anyway. They were in a newly built brooder that had not previously been occupied, so may have come in with it.

 

[Sylvester017]

When i first got chickens my second time around i ordered from a hatchery. i was (am) really serious about all organic no GMO etc but when i went to buy the first batch of food the poultry expert at the feed store asked if they were hatchery birds....he said they have a hard time with the travel and the treatment before they arrive so why make it harder on them...i went with that. i don't use hatchery birds anymore. i go with local breeders and i don't use medicated chic start for them. they have all been fine, and have not had to use sulmet or corid either, no casualties.....i lost many birds in shipments from hatcheries..i have tried 3X.

I bought Sulmet but switched to Corid. I read the directions on Sulmet and the warnings of weaning off slowly from Sulmet kind of scared me and then a chicken breeder said it was best not to use Sulmet. And Corid will cover all 9 strains of cocci. The only thing I don't like is that the chicken loses her perkyness on the medicine and I supplement with a Poly-Vi-Sol vitamin drop a couple times a week. I can't handle the minimum chick order required by hatcheries so I need to order through private breeders - one chicken at a time.

 

[joydix]

local breeders is the way to go...good for you. i have had some really awful examples of a breed from the hatcheries. i don't breed but i like them to look like they are supposed to! i have spitzhaubens and brabanter, silkie and polish, birds that have crests and beards etc. i love all my girls but a few don't look like they should. i can't remember why i used the sulmet. it was something about the doses....but i have not had to use again thankfully. i have both tho.

 

[Audio51]

Quote:

local breeders is the way to go...good for you. i have had some really awful examples of a breed from the hatcheries. i don't breed but i like them to look like they are supposed to! i have spitzhaubens and brabanter, silkie and polish, birds that have crests and beards etc. i love all my girls but a few don't look like they should. i can't remember why i used the sulmet. it was something about the doses....but i have not had to use again thankfully. i have both tho.

I agree on the hatchery chicks. Breeders are the way to go. The one exception for me is the Cornish X chicks. I cant keep roos so am not breeding, but still want them to have the characteristics the breed is supposed to have. I have yet to see feed store Marans have even close to the right egg color. I do still have the very first hen I got when I started back with chickens a few years ago. She is a blue Wyandotte and has been my best broody. She has raised many a chick for me!


@Sylvester017 This is a current picture of my 1-legged Blue Ameraucana. As I said earlier, she does very well on the stump!

 

[Sylvester017]

I agree on the hatchery chicks. Breeders are the way to go. The one exception for me is the Cornish X chicks. I cant keep roos so am not breeding, but still want them to have the characteristics the breed is supposed to have. I have yet to see feed store Marans have even close to the right egg color. I do still have the very first hen I got when I started back with chickens a few years ago. She is a blue Wyandotte and has been my best broody. She has raised many a chick for me!


@Sylvester017 This is a current picture of my 1-legged Blue Ameraucana. As I said earlier, she does very well on the stump!

What a sweetie - Stubby. I had to put down my Blue Ameraucana but am enjoying my Blue Wheaten Amer girl. A BYCer had a cockerel that got his wing stuck and it came off at the elbow joint and he is off balance when he walks - she said he was too sweet to cull but didn't know what to do with him. I told her he would be nice as a therapy organization's animal for children's, seniors', or hospital amputee wards. Usually they use disabled dogs or cats but I've seen bantams and pigs with prosthesis. Wild waterfowl have been rescued and prosthetic beaks reconstructed, etc, and then released back into the wild. With chickens I don't know if there are such things as successful prostheses for them.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Pulled the egg/chick switcharoo tonight. It went smoothly. We'll see what I wake up to.

What I did discover was my cockerel snuggled down beside the nest boxes rather than roosting with the one non-broody hen. He watched me as I made the substitutions, but didn't seem overly concerned.

 

[Granny368W]

I happen to be visiting montana right now, loving the beautiful weather and landscape. Wish I could move here.

Where are you visiting? We live in the central south Montana... where do you live?

 

[curious chickee]

Where are you visiting? We live in the central south Montana... where do you live?

We started in yellowstone, then 1 night in garyowen, 2 nights in hungry horse visiting glacier national park, then 2 more nights in whitefish for my DH work. We live in central CA, outside Fresno.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Haven't opened up the coop yet, but I can hear lots of happy sounding clucking from inside. *fingers crossed*