calling any one from missouri

[potagergirl]

Interesting conversation.
I'm not sure why but I hadn't thought about local mills producing and reusing their own. Probably because we have MFA and to my knowledge everything they have is GMO.
I would very much like to buy non-gmo but the shipping makes it cost prohibitive which brings me back to growing and feeding my own. This takes time though and for now I
have to buy the GMO because that's all I can get. I used to think I was an unusual case since I can't feed yellow corn, wheat, barley or rye due to the gluten issue. I'm finding more and more that I am not yet I've noticed the stores selling feed in our area have not stepped up to the situation either. I would love to go out and buy bags of mixed feed as a supplement for my birds and would do so if the stores carried the feeds I need.
That I know of we do not have local mills any more but I will do some checking around and find out.

 

[microchick]

I have a question for y'all.

My chicks are ordered for a late March pickup. 8 Buff Orps and 4 partridge cochin bantams. I have purchased from a NPIP breeder so I know I am getting healthy chicks. Our farm hasn't had fowl on it for over 5 years now. When it did they were Amish birds (Amish Owned I should stipulate) and free range. They roosted in a corner of the barn for the most part. No coop, just roost polls for them and even then, some of them roosted in the loft or outside in trees. From what I could see of the birds they were all fat and sassy.

I am wanting to build an enclosed coop for them in another corner of the barn but after reading on the forum and internet about NPIP and Pullorum, I'm starting to have second thoughts about where to build due to the Amish's ignorance concerning things like contaminated soil and disease transmission.

My husband was planning to take his tractor bucket and scrape composted top soil out of the section of the barn where we planned to build our coop, tamp down the soil, build the coop with 6 inches of barn siding going underground around the coop exterior, then floor it with sand that we can harvest from our own property.

Does this sound like a plan that will protect our birds from any nasty buggies that the Amish birds may have left behind? I've done some reading and for the most part it looks like the salmonella bacteria only survive for about 1.5 years in soil. I haven't found any information concerning whether the bacteria goes into spores that lasts longer and this is my concern. I'm a retired nurse so I do have an understanding of disease spread and prevention.

OR....should I plan to build our coop away from the barn just to reduce the risk of any hibernating bacteria lurking around?

Our chicks are going to brood in a spare bedroom that I plan to sanitize with disinfectant a few days before the chicks take up residency in their brooder.

Where would you put your coop? Do you think the barn is safe at this point especially since no animals have been housed in it for 5 years. Or would you build elsewhere?

 

[Fyremelody]

I don't typically have a good feel for how long it takes to drive anywhere across our state. Typically, what I estimate is way off. Heh.

However, I do know our mill here sells by the bag and by the ton. I used to buy Equine Senior by the ton and that was about 40 bags per ton. So if you had the storage, and the transport, I presume you could make a monthly order. I want to say their "Special Egg" was like 11.00 per 50lbs.

Just throwing out ideas.

Val

 

[Fyremelody]

I had a respiratory scare here with the turkey in my profile pic. What I took away from my reading on possibilities before we had her necropsy tests I thought the longest "life" for any of the "big nasties" was five years after all birds left. I'd look it up but I'm scooting in here before I have to work and can't devote the time right now.

If it were me, I would feel safe using the barn area after that much time. True the Amish aren't technologically advanced, but you don't tend to hear stories of disease outbreak originating from their farms. They are pretty "closed" so you wouldn't have incoming/outgoing traffic. Disease exposure would be limited to anything that originated on the property, be that in initially acquired birds who are already carrying disease or from exposure to wild birds.

Honestly, I would feel pretty safe building on Amish property over a lot of 'backyard' folks who may not be as heavily dependent on the livestock and the land they tend. They may not subscribe to our modern medicine practices, or even our animal welfare practices (in a humane perspective remark), but they do have to subsist off of what they own and they wouldn't be apt to let disease overrule their food sources.

Edited: Is your Buff Orp breeder local to Missouri? I'm really looking for a pair of pullets for spring.

 

[microchick]

Fryemelody, thanks for the reply.

I ordered my birds through L&M Gamebirds in Brashear, MO. I found them in the Missouri Poultry Yearbook. The driving distance is a lot shorter for us than if we were having to drive down to Cackle to pick up our birds as we are in Macon County and we didn't want to have our birds stressed by mailing. Their prices are reasonable and Lisa was fast to answer my emails. We are picking them up in late March early April. I believe they have standard and show quality Buffs.

We still chuckle about our barn. When we committed to buy our farm, the young man who owned it stopped cleaning it. It was funny really, looking back. We dropped the floor level a good foot in places just scraping out the old horse and chicken poo that had accumulated. It was like he was saying 'okay, it's your problem now, you bought it!'

I like the idea of our chickens having backup weather protection by building their hutch inside the barn with the run coming out into a nice southern exposure area of grass for them to scratch around in ..... until the grass is gone that is. And yes, I agree with you about the Amish lack of medical knowledge, at least modern practices. He had sheep dropping like flies due to heavy parasite loads. His treatment? Vinegar and garlic. No worming schedule. Didn't believe in it. In the mean time we were disposing of dead sheep as he was pasturing them on our property.

So I'm trying to err on the side of caution.

 

[potagergirl]

I know the answer to this one.
Getting the information for npip from Mo. they send a dvd for you to watch and it says on the dvd approx. 2 1/2 to 3 years.
Either way you are covered with your 5 years. I also have a lot of Amish/Mennonite in my area and they are super clean
when it comes to their barns and livestock. I would have no problem working with your barn.
poo.... wow I can't imagine how awesome your gardens are with all that fertilizer =)

 

[potagergirl]

thank you for the info. we are still leaning on getting two but a year apart. Saw a fox running across the property today. not good with free range and I'm glad it was too cold to let them out or they would have been out today. Instead they have a nice big shelter to peck around in on days like today. The Aussie will be trained to sleep near the house and the pyre will be trained to sleep with the goats. The family selling the pyres have training programs you can attend and I think it is a great way to make sure you will be confident with the large pyre before taking it from the seller.

My chickens love quinoa and amaranth. I like mixing these with oats and lentils when making mash for them.

 

[microchick]

I know the answer to this one.
Getting the information for npip from Mo. they send a dvd for you to watch and it says on the dvd approx. 2 1/2 to 3 years.
Either way you are covered with your 5 years. I also have a lot of Amish/Mennonite in my area and they are super clean
when it comes to their barns and livestock. I would have no problem working with your barn.
poo.... wow I can't imagine how awesome your gardens are with all that fertilizer =)

Cool Beans!

I have to admit we were a little concerned and I was almost ready to move my building plans to another spot. just to keep it safe for our birds. I was in one super clean Amish barn a few years ago. I swear you could have eaten off the floors.I looked at my husband and asked if we could move into it, LOL. I guess like non Amish, not all are cut from the same cloth. We are still scraping compost out of our barn after 5 years and yes, our garden loves it! We have an apple/pear/peach tree orchard and a blackberry arbor so there are big plan for those chicken droppings. My husband is going to build a tractor that we can put 4 hens in and move between the rows of fruit trees so they can keep the bugs and grass down and fertilize as they go.

Foxes are bad news no matter how you look at it. If you are not getting you LGD soon or your Aussie, I would suggest getting a haveaheart trap and live trapping it for relocation in some nice dense timber. My husband had one try to take out one of his cats before we met and about three years ago we had one chase a rabbit right in front of us. We have a live trap that is kept on stand by for just such an occurance.

 

[potagergirl]

I'm trying to decide if your guy was ready to move on and leave it behind or if there was some kind of deep mulching going on where they move it to the garden every spring.
As for the fox I saw, I'm starting gardening class in a couple weeks. Pat teaches and he will know if I can get the conservation people to come out and do something/if anything is
possible to do. If not I will set hubby on the situation. The birds won't be coming out to free range until the temperature is above the number of my age which doesn't look to be
any time soon.

 

[Fyremelody]

We have an apple/pear/peach tree orchard and a blackberry arbor


Say no more. I'll be moving in, thank you

So envious!