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

[galanie]

  Ooooo, that's sad, Maven!  I never dreamed of such a thing.....    When you run into rooster problems, hubby's going to ask, "What would Al do?". 

 

I know what he'd do! https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/573517/got-flogged-by-a-rooster-tonight

 

[Beekissed]

Now, THAT was a funny thread!

 

[galanie]

I just loved it. And the one linked on page 2 of that thread about the girl giving the rooster a bubble bath. Both had me splitting my sides.

 

[Leahs Mom]

. But really, y'all have been such a gold mine of GOOD information! Everyone who comes over, even the OT chicken raisers around here, tell me what beautiful birds I have, how healthy and strong they look and what nice size they are for only 10 weeks old. And I owe it all to this thread and the FF thread.

Ditto... so glad I somehow "stumbled" on this thread. Read it every day and, as a newby have SO BENEFITED! (And my husband hears me refer to y'all quite often...)

Thanks!

 

[Beekissed]

Question for the OTs: When a chicken dies suddenly and without any symptoms to show cause of death, either prior to the death or after the death, how do you handle this~from a flock management aspect. What steps do you take to analyze the problem and what conclusions do you draw on the situation? Can you give examples of actual incidents in which you have had this happen?

 

[Maven]

Hey, I have another question.

I have a nearly full jar of Avia Charge 2000 (a gift to me). Now that I have the girls on FF, they don't drink NEAR the water that they used to drink and I am constantly throwing out treated water to give them fresh - it is a waste! Do you think it would be ok to sprinkle a little on their feed each day or so when I scoop it up instead of putting it in the waterer?

Thanks!

 

[therapydoglady]

Went out after lunch to work on the new cattle panel pen for the Porcelain d'Uccles (somehow, I just ran out of time and daylight yesterday!), and the other ones had pecked the poor thing's toe till it was a bloody mess again. I should have known that they would, but just didn't think of it. Removed poor ole Sore Toe and put him in a giant dog crate that is used to transport goats around. It is plenty big enough for him to move around in and I drilled holes in the ends of a piece of 2X4 and zip tied it half way up for a roost for him. He can be by himself till his toe heals up. Can't believe I was so short-sighted as to put him back in with the others with a big, bright yellow blob of styptic powder on his toe! I hope the other chicken's tongues are all drawn up! I will learn from my mistake, and be sure not to do something like that again. I WILL learn to "Think Chicken!"

Brie

 

[donrae]

I've had this happen maybe three times in the last several year. Go out to the coop and a hen's just dead on the ground. No injuries, nothing seemed off the day before, nothing. I don't vent probe or anything like that. When it's just one hen, I don't change anything. I just figure sometimes things die. Even apparently healthy things. So, I don't do anything different, maybe more frequent observation of the flock to be sure there's not something going on. I've never lost more than one at a time that wasn't predator related, so I'm not sure how I'd respond.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Get a cat, feed the bunnies to the cat. Takes care of the large amount of rabbits in the area and will cut down on dogs bringing them to you for nursing.

 

[fowlman01]

I look at the eyes and nostril area and if it clean I don't worry about it. Some of these birds are destined to die at the embryo stage. If I had a number die on me, I would do some home autopsies. I have had mystery deaths over the years, but it has been just one bird...they have looked healthy and then the next day they have their feet up in the air...no symptoms or advance warning that they are under the weather. I don't worry about these deaths.

You can send them off to the lab and get a "diagnoses", but I have found that they are usually wrong. I am not a vet, but I am a certified poultry health inspector for the state, so I know through on the job training what most symptoms in Cali are......we don't have some of the diseases here that other states have and that's why NPIP is not required here.

Bottom line is that I don't worry about losing a bird once in a while when my flock consists of 500 or so birds. When I was a young kid I saw over 10k birds die in one day. That was Exotic Newcastle disease. In Cali they have never found END in a backyard flock....only commercial flocks that have the birds packed into a small area.

Walt