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

[fowlman01]

Have you seen this site, Al? LOVE the products here...can't wait to get the whole flock some fashion wear.

http://www.louisescountrycloset.com/diapers-1/

The blue flame pattern is my personal favorite.

w.

 

[MoonAngel12]

Crazy about those lightbulbs! I wouldn't want that in my home either!! It's hard not to be paranoid and leery about anything you buy anymore... sheesh!

But it did remind of another random question. Snakes have been out biggest predator issue (so far

, we have other things, but they have never shown an interest in the chickens that I can tell) and a neighbor tole me that moth balls would help deter them, but as strong as they smell I wasn't sure if they would cause any issues short or long term with the chickens if I put some around the perimeter of the coop (fairly open - hoop coop with a tarp).

 

[MoonAngel12]

With all the talk of "biosecurity" an all, how often do you bring in birds from an outside flock? Swaps and auctions seem popular, but it's been something I have been leery about since getting chickens - pretty much I have only gotten them from one feed store that doesn't have access for people to handle them much (unlike the open tubs at other places they are in actual enclosed cages) and my one friend's house b/c she raised my first two batches of chicks for me since I had a newborn both times. I found this ad on craigslist (they have a few so I assume them to be a breeder of some form, I'm actually wondering if it's where my other friend gets her BLRWs from) and am really tempted to finish out my flock for next year without dealing with shipping from a hatchery in the middle of summer! (not to mention the price is right, and we would get a few birds to eat out of the deal as well seeing they are straight run)

http://greensboro.craigslist.org/grd/3132171202.html

As long as they are "quarantined" for a certain amount of time (how long?) I should be OK, right? I can help the new ones build up immunity to anything my current ones possibly have by adding dirt to the brooder early on, correct?

 

[Marty1876]

I quarantine for 90 days, which is long enough for most diseases and pests to become present. I also worm, and give each newbie a check over monthly. I continue to wash my hands between groups of birds, when their are newbies, just in case.

I seldom ever buy birds from outside, I often hatch my own eggs (purchased ones too), but I did have to get some midget white turkeys from a breeder this year, and also breed/show quality sebastopols. All were properly NPIP tested (including eggs-only from NPIP flocks). I would be cautious about Craig's list birds, but that doesn't mean they are bad. If you pick them up yourself, take a look around, and decide if they keep a clean healthy flock, or are just breeding birds mindlessly. If they don't care enough to have NPIP, though, I'm just not interested. To me, that tells me how much they pay attention to other health details of their flock.

 

[galanie]

Do you know, my Black Orpington rooster's favorite squeeze, with all the Orp hens he had to choose from, was a Dark Cornish! That little hussy cozys up to any male chicken she can find! And never a bare back either. Course, there's always at least one exception to the rule and I guess I have it. The hussy.

You shoulda seen it. You couldn't even see that little solid chunk of chicken under that big guy. LOL

 

[Ridgerunner]

My take on it is that there is a difference in what can happen and what will happen. People often get confused between those two.

If those chicks are hatched in an incubator and kept away from the flock, there is very little chance of them bringing any disease with them. If they are with the flock, they are exposed to what the flock has. So that would be one consideration. When you pick up the chicks you can look at the flock and see how healthy they look and maybe that should your decision more.

To me, there are three different classifications of what can happen, four if you consider that they might not bring anything with them at all. They might bring something that is an annoyance but not serious, like mites or worms. You can treat them in the brooder and it’s over.

They might bring something that can be easily handled, like Cocci. It is a risk to your flock but unless you have a wet run or coop, it’s probably not going to be fatal. You may need to treat your adults since Cocci can be hard on them, but they will develop immunity to it. No big deal once you get over the first hump.

They might bring something that wipes out your entire flock. The odds of this happening are pretty rare, but it does occasionally happen. That’s where I would look at the flock they are coming from.

You can quarantine them pretty easily if they are in the brooder and you have a remote place to keep the brooder. That is some protection from the deadly diseases since newly hatched chicks have not built up any immunities. But chicks can develop immunity to some things easier than adults, so there is some risk they will build up that immunity and you won’t know it. But look at the odds. It’s highly unlikely that will happen.

I take dirt from the run and put that in my brooder about day two or three to expose them to anything the flock may have. It also gets grit in their system. I have not had any problems doing that, either in the brooder or after they hit the ground.

We are all different, but if I were in your situation and wanted the chicks, I’d get them after looking at the flock they came from.

 

[al6517]

Have you seen this site, Al? LOVE the products here...can't wait to get the whole flock some fashion wear.

http://www.louisescountrycloset.com/diapers-1/

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little, now that I have seen that website, I don't know if I will be able to sleep without having nightmares.

There are a few of these goofy women that frequent one of our local auctions and always sit together at a back table and constantly jabber incesantly. They are always talking about that silly hen stuff and they all have Foo-Foo birds, with no roosters of course, nobody ever talks to them cause they are just plain outcasts with their house chicken attitudes. One day they brought a bunch of that junk dresswear for chickens to the auction thinking they would be such a great seller. Nobody even entered an opening bid and this place had 300 people there, (regular chicken people I might add). well they ended up taking all that trash back home and they were amazed people didn't want them ( ya think). Of course I couldn't resist cause Y'all know me well enough LOL, I approached the table and told them this wasn't quite the right place to peddle that silly stuff cause this was a real chicken auction I think I may have rolled my eyes about 20 times for effect LOL. needless to say nobody still visits with them at the auction and they don't bring anymore of that worthless stuff to sell, and they never ever buy anything ever, except snack bar stuff LOL.

 

[Kilkenny]

I think that the point about Alaska was not "please tell me not to keep chickens because of where I live" but "be aware there are exceptions to the rule that you don't need to give chickens a heater to protect them from the cold".

I know, that post was 400 pages back - I'm reading as fast as I can trying to catch up.

 

[Marty1876]

Read, girl, read!

My friend who lives in Alaska doesn't heat her chicken coup either, but she keeps enough birds to keep each other warmer, and puts straw around the bulding I think is what she said. I might have to go reread what I read as a lurker again.

 

[galanie]

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little, now that I have seen that website, I don't know if I will be able to sleep without having nightmares.

There are a few of these goofy women that frequent one of our local auctions and always sit together at a back table and constantly jabber incesantly. They are always talking about that silly hen stuff and they all have Foo-Foo birds, with no roosters of course, nobody ever talks to them cause they are just plain outcasts with their house chicken attitudes. One day they brought a bunch of that junk dresswear for chickens to the auction thinking they would be such a great seller. Nobody even entered an opening bid and this place had 300 people there, (regular chicken people I might add). well they ended up taking all that trash back home and they were amazed people didn't want them ( ya think). Of course I couldn't resist cause Y'all know me well enough LOL, I approached the table and told them this wasn't quite the right place to peddle that silly stuff cause this was a real chicken auction I think I may have rolled my eyes about 20 times for effect LOL. needless to say nobody still visits with them at the auction and they don't bring anymore of that worthless stuff to sell, and they never ever buy anything ever, except snack bar stuff LOL.

Oh Gee, Al, and here I thought the Argyle hearts was the one you'd pick!