calling any one from missouri
- Thread starter missourichickenmama
- Start date
WELCOME garthmyers. I live in a small town called Marionville, not to far from Mt. Vernon. I have to pay my taxes in Mt. Vernon. Hope you enjoy this site and contribute anytime. I love reading everyone's posts and seeing pictures. Thanks everyone, and again WELCOME to this forum.
anybody going to the show in cape on the 19th ? it should be entertaining, we're showing our seramas tabletop for the first time
I just hope they don't fly off. my little white frizzle boy is too young to go, but at least he can't fly
I think I have a reasonable amount of knowledge about chickens BUT....
Thinking about going to a swap meet where potentially people are pawning off sick birds makes me cringe. So here is my question-
What exactly do you look for in a healthy, young bird? How do you know its not an old- as in past laying age bird? I know about the clear vent, nostrils and all that but really, what do you look for to know you are not getting taken? I would love to hear lots of opinions.
Gorgeous day today. Moved the mating pairs out of the rabbit hutch today in preparation for rabbits. Put all eggs in the bator as our broody hen kept moving to the nest box with the most eggs.
Rabbits tomorrow. But chickens will always be the most entertaining.
Thinking about going to a swap meet where potentially people are pawning off sick birds makes me cringe. So here is my question-
What exactly do you look for in a healthy, young bird? How do you know its not an old- as in past laying age bird? I know about the clear vent, nostrils and all that but really, what do you look for to know you are not getting taken? I would love to hear lots of opinions.
Gorgeous day today. Moved the mating pairs out of the rabbit hutch today in preparation for rabbits. Put all eggs in the bator as our broody hen kept moving to the nest box with the most eggs.
Rabbits tomorrow. But chickens will always be the most entertaining.
Quote:
i wish i could tell you how to do that, but i havent figured it out myself after all these years.
if a bird looks healthy, it probably is. i buy a lot of birds at swaps, and very seldom ever have a problem. make sure you look under the wings and around the vent for cralers of any sort. if you see any a quick spray with adams flea and tick will usually take care of them.
i have bought a lot of birds from good show stock breeders, and have had much worse luck with them.
as for telling the age, if it looks old it is. when you look at the eyes of birds you will notice that old birds have tired looking eyes. they let their lids droop alot, they dont have a "glint" in their eyes anymore. [kinda like us old people!]
most people dont "pawn off sick birds" at swaps, some do but most only take birds they want to get rid of. a lot of older hens, over 2-3 years old, show up at swaps because their egg production is starting to fall off. very rare to find a real old bird at a swap, every now and then someone will bring a 5-8 year old cock to a swap, just because they happened to catch the old bugger!
a lot of the people that say they got taken at swaps and auction just got birds that hadnt been exposed to the same bugs as theirs. this will cause the birds to die off rather quickly sometimes if you dont catch it in the beginning.
new birds can also give your birds their "cooties", causing problems with your origional flock. that is why we seperate the new birds for a while before we mix the flocks.
it realy sounds a whole lot worse than it is, and doesnt seem like a big deal till you loose 50-100 birds in 2 days! fortunately, that only happens rarely anymore.
from what i have seen over the years, most of the birds are 1 year or less in age. people bring in last falls hatch because they dont need anymore birds, or they just like to swap birds.
i wish i could tell you how to do that, but i havent figured it out myself after all these years.
if a bird looks healthy, it probably is. i buy a lot of birds at swaps, and very seldom ever have a problem. make sure you look under the wings and around the vent for cralers of any sort. if you see any a quick spray with adams flea and tick will usually take care of them.
i have bought a lot of birds from good show stock breeders, and have had much worse luck with them.
as for telling the age, if it looks old it is. when you look at the eyes of birds you will notice that old birds have tired looking eyes. they let their lids droop alot, they dont have a "glint" in their eyes anymore. [kinda like us old people!]
most people dont "pawn off sick birds" at swaps, some do but most only take birds they want to get rid of. a lot of older hens, over 2-3 years old, show up at swaps because their egg production is starting to fall off. very rare to find a real old bird at a swap, every now and then someone will bring a 5-8 year old cock to a swap, just because they happened to catch the old bugger!
a lot of the people that say they got taken at swaps and auction just got birds that hadnt been exposed to the same bugs as theirs. this will cause the birds to die off rather quickly sometimes if you dont catch it in the beginning.
new birds can also give your birds their "cooties", causing problems with your origional flock. that is why we seperate the new birds for a while before we mix the flocks.
it realy sounds a whole lot worse than it is, and doesnt seem like a big deal till you loose 50-100 birds in 2 days! fortunately, that only happens rarely anymore.
from what i have seen over the years, most of the birds are 1 year or less in age. people bring in last falls hatch because they dont need anymore birds, or they just like to swap birds.
oh yeah, only 20 days to jacobs cave!
a vacation with chickens, what more can you ask for!
a vacation with chickens, what more can you ask for!
I went to the Keytesville sale today. That place was packed!
We bought to 2 white geese early in the day and left. I would have liked to stay to see what all they had. I didn't get there early enough to see if they had hatching eggs or not. They usually sell the hatching eggs and baby chicks right at noon.
Did anyone else go?
We bought to 2 white geese early in the day and left. I would have liked to stay to see what all they had. I didn't get there early enough to see if they had hatching eggs or not. They usually sell the hatching eggs and baby chicks right at noon.
Did anyone else go?
What's jacobs cave?
Quote:
about 100 acres of swap meet. just south of versailles. cost 5 bucks a day to get in, but it is well worth it!
runs from 3-31 to 4-3. friday and saturday are the buissiest, sunday is the packup and leave day for the few diehards.
i do love swap meets!
about 100 acres of swap meet. just south of versailles. cost 5 bucks a day to get in, but it is well worth it!
runs from 3-31 to 4-3. friday and saturday are the buissiest, sunday is the packup and leave day for the few diehards.
i do love swap meets!
Never heard of it before. Wish I was closer, I would check it out
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