Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[tiktok]

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hmm I've had one go broody (twice) and I take in all eggs daily (no rooster, only 6 chickens and no hiding places)

 

[Fred's Hens]

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Won't do it.

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

Just had to share!

Went out & 7 eggs had been laid & a EE was on the nest, so by noon we had 8 eggs. This had to be laid by a BO, since I have yet to see my Light Brahma on the nest yet. Am guessing a double yolker.

 

[perchie.girl]

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LOL all I can say is Ow......

 

[Cass]

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I'll second that....about the chronic sneezers....I have one too....and a raspy crow....but otherwise healthy, eating well and well being a roo....more often than his favorite hen would like.

 

[al6517]

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X2 agreed............... we have over the years done the same to ourselfs to the point where now every sort of virus is immune to antibiotics, now you people are doing the same thing to your flocks, you are just setting yourselfs up for something worse to come in the future.

When OT's were young we used to do things new Moms nowadays would freak out over, and now their kids catch a cold watching a cold on TV. Throwing meds at everything in sight isn't the way to gain control of a unhealthy flock, letting chickens be chickens is the way to a healthy flock IMHO.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

believe you me. i dont believe in doing alot of treating. i dont run a hospital here. and i personally would have culled something that i deemed a "chronic sneezer" (thats a new one to me) but i notice most on here baby thier birds. so i dont think treating them with a run of biotics is a bad course to take. if it doesnt cure them, then by all means cull the sick ones. but one run of treatment will not make a flock or an individual some type of "immuno-compromised" mutant.

what i have done, is use tylan on an individual. esp. if the flock doesnt need to be treated. tylan can be bought at any feed store. with that said i can count on one hand in all my life the amount of birds ive treated with tylan. this is reserved for a very valuable, irreplaceable individual. and ive only had one hen that did not react positive to the tylan treatment. generally if something is that bad off, even if it is getting along fine, i cull.

usually i just use vetr-x on grown fowl. but for chicks a dosage of respiratory medicine. will not hurt them at all.

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

perchie.girl :

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LOL all I can say is Ow......

Funny thing is, I never heard a egg song all day.

 

[centrarchid]

In respect to weazers, sneezers and runts, they generally appear less fit more than in respect to egg or meat production. My birds have been tagged and I periodically check condition and record. What I am seeing in a free range setting is that birds with the apparent health issues at time or during growth season appear to be more vulnerable to losses from subsequent health challenges or depredation by Mr. Fox. Culling on spot would have been wiser when considering all the extra feed invested and then lost without gain. It was the Mr. Fox's harvesting pattern that was a real surprise. I might hire him if he will leave better birds alone.

 

[Fred's Hens]

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99% of the time, our hens lay in complete silence. It's just business-like. I think new chicken keepers are rather predisposed to think that hens make the call when they lay with regularity, when actually, a settled, secure flock of hens really don't.