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

[mendocinosunris]

I have a resident murder of crows that have lived here for years. I have fed them when they have chicks, especially when West Nile killed a few off.They nest right near my coops. I have never had them harrass my Orps, but they run off the Red Tails and the Pergerine pair that also live here.Love my crows, but I wouldn't trust them with chicks running about. The big Orps just ignore them.

I had forgotten that a group of crows were called a murder. Thanks!
I will make sure the murder is verra well fed...

 

[mendocinosunris]

After all that discussion..........I was talking about shooting the squirrels, not hawks. As I said, that's a nice day's entertainment around here

Note to self--remember to quote addressed post on this massive, multi-topic thread.

Carry on............

Sorry - I think everyone has so many more problems with hawks, that your ground squirrel question sorta got hijacked.

I don't have any experience with ground squirrels, but we do have moles and gophers. My cats help a bit with the problem, but not much. They're lazy.
Gopher plant also helps keep gophers away, but I don't know much about it. It might be poison to chickens, and I have no idea if it helps with other underground varmints.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Leg trap. Someone told me that is what they do. If I ever did that, there is no way, NO WAY, I would post that on a public forum. They pace the snap trap on the post, the hawk lands on post, gets leg caught and cannot fly away.

You're right. I wouldn't put that on a public forum either.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

I had a mareks question.....

Wednesday, I was at our local feed store (also a breeder of several different types of poultry and is well known in our area as the place to get birds. He does lots of volunteer work with the vo-ag class at the HS, so I thought it would be safe to buy from him.). They had two lonesome 2-week-old golden laced wyandottes for sale. I asked about them and the owner said that one had apparently fallen through the wire and had a sore knee (and a bit of a limp) but the other was fine. He said he'd sale the healthy one and give me the one with the gimp leg---it would probably heal and be fine. They had not been on medicated feed, so when they got home, they started on high quality medicated feed(what all my other chicks have been on). They both seemed fine except for the little limp in the one and her knee was sort of red. After a couple of days the redness went away and she gets around better, but is still limping some. And when you check her toe response, you can tell that leg is just not as strong.

Anyway, Saturday after I got them I went in to check on them and the other chick without the limp was very weak (the night before she has seemed perfect). I mixed up some electrolyte water and tried to get some down her with a dropper, but she just kept falling asleep and wouldn't take any. I held her for a while and she died a little while later in my hands. It's the first chick I'd lost so I was pretty upset, but I had the sense to dump the brooder in the garbage (we usually compost) and to wrap the chick up and throw her away as well (it's in my nature to bury in the flower garden) just in case it was something catching. I sterilized the brooder before putting the remaining chick back in it, though if it was something contagious, it is exposed anyway.

The remaining chick still seems fine with no other symptoms (it's been one week now since I brought them home) and her leg seems to improve every day. I check her several times a day and keep her apart from any other birds. I wash my hands and change shirts when I hold her before handling my other birds.

Anytime you say a bird is limping, the first thought is mareks, because it is so dangerous and so hard to get rid of if you ever get it in your birds. So when I did research about what could have killed the one, I came up with possible mareks. But does it make sense that the other is fine? And They are now just 3 weeks old. Is that too early for it to be mareks? Any suggestions? One thread even suggested that if you have the tiniest inkling that it could be mareks to cull. Better to be safe than sorry. On the one hand, I feel so sorry for her and want her to be ok and on the other, I am scared to keep her.

 

[NYREDS]

It would be unusual for Marek's to affect a bird that young. Also, symptoms you describe don't sound like Marek's & Marek's doesn't progress that rapidly.

 

[Beekissed]

Either way it sounds like you got two substandard birds from this guy. One dies and the other limps. I can tell you that I've been ordering and keeping hatchery chicks(by all accounts the most substandard genetics coming and going according to the breeders on this forum)and have never had one die or limp as a young chick.

So..if he is selling birds that are even more substandard than hatchery genetics, I'd avoid the guy in the future. I'd also ditch the genetics(remaining bird).

Don't be mistaken that we advise to merely cull to get the disease out of our flocks...that is not our only measure of defense. If you cull for this and still do nothing else to protect your flock's immune systems, you still leave your flock open to disease and illness....there is no way you can keep all potential pathogens from your flock, even in a closed system. Some diseases are not readily identifiable or noticeable upon purchase of the new chicken, so culling after they have been in the flock for awhile is like a knee jerk response to fear of contaminating your flock.

My goal is to have a flock that has such a strong immune system that, even if I notice an illness and cull it, it will have had no effect on the flock anyway. The reason to cull at that time is to keep the birds with naturally poor immune systems out of the genetic pool. No need to keep them once they have been identified as weak and prone to illness.

If you take sentiment and feeling sorry out of the equation, you can develop a healthy flock. Of course, everyone roots for the underdog or the runt/weakling. We all can identify with that animal in some way or another...but chickens aren't humans and they serve a purpose that relies on them being at the top of their game. Leaving a gimpy, unhealthy hen in the layer flock is like putting the water boy in to play for an NFL team...it may look cute but he sure isn't going to score and eventually he is going to get hurt.

 

[NanaKat]

Just found this...on page 5 and already rolling on the floor at the humor...great words of wisdom. Will be back often and right now spending some time catching up...This thread ROCKS!

 

[Back2MyRoots]

Thanks for the practical advice. I know I should probably cull, but I fully admit to being unsure if I can do so. How would one even kill a 3 week old chick? I'm asking seriously. Also, I won't buy from that breeder in the future. I have found another breeder a bit farther away, but he is state tested and has lots of awards. He even e-mailed me credentials this morning. I talked with him about my problem too and he also suggests culling. Only problem is that he sells straight run chicks and I do not want roosters! I'm not breeding. I want enough eggs for my family and some entertainment value. Still going to be on the look-out for a reputable place to get sexed chicks from.

 

[loanwizard]

Hatchet, hands, foot... It isn't difficult to kill a 3 week old chick. Just make it fast and humane.... so no the foot isn't a good idea.

 

[WillowChick]

Thanks for the practical advice. I know I should probably cull, but I fully admit to being unsure if I can do so. How would one even kill a 3 week old chick? I'm asking seriously. Also, I won't buy from that breeder in the future. I have found another breeder a bit farther away, but he is state tested and has lots of awards. He even e-mailed me credentials this morning. I talked with him about my problem too and he also suggests culling. Only problem is that he sells straight run chicks and I do not want roosters! I'm not breeding. I want enough eggs for my family and some entertainment value. Still going to be on the look-out for a reputable place to get sexed chicks from.

I used to work at the wildlife rehabilitation facility in our area. I learned one very humane way to euthanize small animals is to freeze them. I know this sounds harsh, but if you put them in a box with bedding and airholes in your freezer, they just drift off to sleep after the first minute or so of being cold. After an hour or two, just take the chick out and dispose of it safely. Sad for you

Willow