California - Northern

[mendocinosunris]

Hah! I finally caught the little demon that's been killing my chickens. He got three of my favorites, including two of my birchen Marans.
I think he'll make a nice pair of slippers.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Hah! I finally caught the little demon that's been killing my chickens. He got three of my favorites, including two of my birchen Marans.
I think he'll make a nice pair of slippers.

Wow, I'm impressed. Foxes are really hard to trap.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

WOOT! Congrats on catching the critter, make a hat too!

Hah! I finally caught the little demon that's been killing my chickens. He got three of my favorites, including two of my birchen Marans.
I think he'll make a nice pair of slippers.

​

 

[zooweemama]

Hah! I finally caught the little demon that's been killing my chickens. He got three of my favorites, including two of my birchen Marans.
I think he'll make a nice pair of slippers.

Whoa awesome! My oldest is 10 and he has spent his own money and traps and he would flip if he caught one of these. I don't think he has thought through what we would have to do with one of these if he caught one. haha So glad your caught the sneaky thing who was busting in and hassling your flock!

 

[zooweemama]

Thats a lot of ducks!

LOL It doesn't feel like it. I found a home for the extra drakes (3 of them) and that only leaves us with 14 ducks (11 are female). I think in chicken numbers that wouldn't be very many right? We chose ducks for eggs instead of chickens. We still plan on having a few chickens. Probably only 4 though- 3 hens and a Roo after we adjust to live in the country with farm animals. We are city folk transitioning. We only have 4 acres so we are trying to be smart about what animals and how many. There are 7 of us and we eat a lot.

 

[zooweemama]

Don't tell him about chicken math then. I started with 7 and now am over 30 chickens. (actually not sure exactly how many I have at the moment) Plus 14 eggs under a broody and turkeys on order for sometime late this spring. Oh, and I started last week with bees too. Luckily for me, my DH never goes in the coops, so he has no idea how many birds we have.

(he doesn't care either because I take care of them)

Oh goodness! Ducks now but I still want to add chickens (only 4 though), some goats to help with weed control and turkeys (just a couple and honestly I don't think I purpose in mind I just want maybe 2 just because they are so cool!). It's amazing what happens when you start with just a couple birds...they really do multiply!

 

[zooweemama]

Welcome Zoo & Meg. I am always happy to have new people join in the fun.
I live in Turlock & think of my summers as hot but I see Zoo lives in the Shasta area & I camped at shasta Lake once many many years ago & thought I was going to die in the heat getting there. I run sprinklers on the roof for my chickens even here during the hot spell & I have lotsa shade.
Hope you both enjoy the experience as much as I have.

Hell on earth! Nah. It's not that bad but it is stinking hot. 105-110 for full summer temps is pretty norm. We sing and dance if it stays under 101 on those days. We have pond and lotsa trees so I hope the ducks will make full use of those things during the day. Plus we will still offer them their kiddie pools freshened up 2-3 times a day.

 

[CowgirlJules]

I'm facing disaster here, and I could use some advice.

My flock has come down with something in the respiratory family. I've narrowed it down to Infectious Coryza or M. Gallisepticum. Both of those diseases, the recovered birds remain carriers, so my flock would have to be closed forever if I decide to keep them. I'd like to send a dead bird off for testing to make sure. I've been treating all of them with Tetracycline and Vetericyn for their goopy eyes for five days now. Some seem to recover, some die without showing any symptoms, and some just keep dragging on with it. I culled the worst of them last night, and between that and the ones that have died this week, I figure I've lost about 10% of my flock. The birds in the brooder in the garage don't seem to have it, nor do my little bantams out by my dog pen, but I'm afraid they'll get it.

I'm already out of the Silver Laced Wyandotte breeding. I had to cull both of my good roosters and all but one of the cockerels, and the last one has it too. Both replacement pullets are also dead. Some of the Blue Laced Reds have it, but that flock rooster seems to be fine. None of the Blue Andalusians have symptoms yet, but they're exposed.

I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out where we might have picked this up. I haven't brought a new bird into the flock since February, and those are the bantams that were both quarantined and don't have it anyway. I'm suspecting tracking it in on my shoes. The spring fair was exactly ten days before I first saw symptoms, and we came home real late that night and rushed to feed and water everyone before it got dark.

I'm sick about the whole thing. I hate to lose these years of work and money, and culling almost 200 apparently healthy birds is not my idea of a good time. But it looks like my choices are to completely start again or to close the flock forever, and what's the point of raising these fancy birds if I can't show them? This is going to be a difficult choice.

 

[ronott1]

Hi CowgirlJules,

Sorry to hear about the chicks.

Here is the link for the Necropsy: http://www.cahfs.ucdavis.edu/index.cfm

It's free for non commercial flocks.

A person in Texas had M. Gallisepticum in her flock. She had treated her hatching eggs and was trying to hatch disease free chicks from her infected flock. I did not hear if it worked, but she did hatch chicks.

I hope the rest get better soon.

Ron

I'm facing disaster here, and I could use some advice.

My flock has come down with something in the respiratory family. I've narrowed it down to Infectious Coryza or M. Gallisepticum. Both of those diseases, the recovered birds remain carriers, so my flock would have to be closed forever if I decide to keep them. I'd like to send a dead bird off for testing to make sure. I've been treating all of them with Tetracycline and Vetericyn for their goopy eyes for five days now. Some seem to recover, some die without showing any symptoms, and some just keep dragging on with it. I culled the worst of them last night, and between that and the ones that have died this week, I figure I've lost about 10% of my flock. The birds in the brooder in the garage don't seem to have it, nor do my little bantams out by my dog pen, but I'm afraid they'll get it.

I'm already out of the Silver Laced Wyandotte breeding. I had to cull both of my good roosters and all but one of the cockerels, and the last one has it too. Both replacement pullets are also dead. Some of the Blue Laced Reds have it, but that flock rooster seems to be fine. None of the Blue Andalusians have symptoms yet, but they're exposed.

I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out where we might have picked this up. I haven't brought a new bird into the flock since February, and those are the bantams that were both quarantined and don't have it anyway. I'm suspecting tracking it in on my shoes. The spring fair was exactly ten days before I first saw symptoms, and we came home real late that night and rushed to feed and water everyone before it got dark.

I'm sick about the whole thing. I hate to lose these years of work and money, and culling almost 200 apparently healthy birds is not my idea of a good time. But it looks like my choices are to completely start again or to close the flock forever, and what's the point of raising these fancy birds if I can't show them? This is going to be a difficult choice.

 

[mycutekitties]

I'm facing disaster here, and I could use some advice.
My flock has come down with something in the respiratory family. I've narrowed it down to Infectious Coryza or M. Gallisepticum. Both of those diseases, the recovered birds remain carriers, so my flock would have to be closed forever if I decide to keep them. I'd like to send a dead bird off for testing to make sure. I've been treating all of them with Tetracycline and Vetericyn for their goopy eyes for five days now. Some seem to recover, some die without showing any symptoms, and some just keep dragging on with it. I culled the worst of them last night, and between that and the ones that have died this week, I figure I've lost about 10% of my flock. The birds in the brooder in the garage don't seem to have it, nor do my little bantams out by my dog pen, but I'm afraid they'll get it.
I'm already out of the Silver Laced Wyandotte breeding. I had to cull both of my good roosters and all but one of the cockerels, and the last one has it too. Both replacement pullets are also dead. Some of the Blue Laced Reds have it, but that flock rooster seems to be fine. None of the Blue Andalusians have symptoms yet, but they're exposed.
I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out where we might have picked this up. I haven't brought a new bird into the flock since February, and those are the bantams that were both quarantined and don't have it anyway. I'm suspecting tracking it in on my shoes. The spring fair was exactly ten days before I first saw symptoms, and we came home real late that night and rushed to feed and water everyone before it got dark.
I'm sick about the whole thing. I hate to lose these years of work and money, and culling almost 200 apparently healthy birds is not my idea of a good time. But it looks like my choices are to completely start again or to close the flock forever, and what's the point of raising these fancy birds if I can't show them? This is going to be a difficult choice.

OMG! What a nightmare! I am so so so sorry.
Have you taken any to the lab to make sure you know what your dealing with? You can bring in a live bird for testing. You won't get it back but at least you will know.
I have no advice since I have not had to deal with this.
So sorry!