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

[therapydoglady]

Kids off to school and three silkies are headless...The worst one wasn't very perky this morning. The "stuff" I cleared from her mouth and throat yesterday was already back this morning, and she was having difficulty breathing, even with her mouth open. I decided to go ahead and do away with the three that are/were showing outward signs of this awful stuff, and, if the vaccine gets here in time, will vaccinate the other two and see what happens. I buried them in spite of the fact that I think burning would be better...there's a burn ban in effect, I am claustrophobic, and therefore would not do well in jail.

This leaves me with a very unsettled feeling inside. Not so much that I killed 3 chickens. I did not enjoy it, but I feel like I saved them from the drawn out and slow demise they were destined for. At least I know I can do it if need be. But the fact that they had this stuff, this "fowl pox" in the first place, and I have had to handle them makes me feel...well, dirty. After the burial, I went inside and put my clothes, including tennis shoes in the washer with soap and probably too much bleach and went straight to the shower. The info I read says that this type is more than likely spread by mosquitoes, so our other chickens should be safe, shouldn't they, if I tend to them 1st and tend to the sick ones last and then wash clothes afterward? How do you guys handle stuff like this? The house, where the sick ones are, is 3 miles away from the pens where all the other animals are. That helps. If I follow this strict order, don't you think the others will be ok? Or should I vaccinate them as well as a preventative measure? All of a sudden I'm a nervous nellie!

Brie

 

[fowlman01]

Should be able to fix it but it will take time...and these are some geriatric birds, Al! They are almost as old as us in chicken years!

We'll see if they can make a come back and still lay afterwards....cause you know I cull for laying. Won't feed a bird that doesn't work....well....maybe for a little while. Just gotta see if this will work.

I am guessing that you will have most of them back the way they were, but it might take 6 months. Some will be quicker than others.

Walt

 

[Eggcessive]

TherapyDogLady (Brie), I'm not an oldtimer although I have read this thread from the beginning and have read everything I can about chickens for the past 2 years. I think you are dealing with a chronic respiratory disease (CRD, MG, or coryza plus many more.) They have sneezing coughing, nasal drainage, and eye drainage as some of their symptoms. You probably did the right thing with the silkies to kill them, and the others may be heading that way since it is highly contagious. There are antibiotics you can give, but these diseases can come back again and again. Your other chickens can get it when you eventually put them together because the sick ones become lifelong carriers. Gapeworm should not have the nasal crud.

 

[mendocinosunris]

I can't believe you just smacked me! On your other tree hugger thread, I gave you the diplomatic sweet mushy answer you were looking for. Here on the OT site.... I will offer to come visit you in W by God Va. and cull them for you if you can't do the deed....

Before you crucify me people for giving some flack to your leader, read what I wrote on the other thread. I call it my duality. I am a Gemini.

This thread is endlessly entertaining!

 

[galanie]

TherapyDogLady (Brie), I'm not an oldtimer although I have read this thread from the beginning and have read everything I can about chickens for the past 2 years.  I think you are dealing with a chronic respiratory disease (CRD, MG, or coryza plus many more.)  They have sneezing coughing, nasal drainage, and eye drainage as some of their symptoms.  You probably did the right thing with the silkies to kill them, and the others may be heading that way since it is highly contagious.  There are antibiotics you can give, but these diseases can come back again and again.  Your other chickens can get it when you eventually put them together because the sick ones become lifelong carriers.  Gapeworm should not have the nasal crud.  

That concerns me as well. Can you take a picture of the crud and foamy stuff on the chicken and show us?

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, after following this board since it's beginning I have to say I'm not sure your attempt to revive these 7 yr old birds is at all what I would have expected.

IF it works you still have an old flock at best, IF it doesn't how much time and effort will be for naught?

How many times are you going to ask yourself "why?"

IF they do mend, and they don't lay well you plan to cull them? I guess this goes against a lot of what I have learned here and in real life,,,,,

never too old to learn from one's mistakes and move on,,,,,,,

you saved the birds from a slow and painful demise, that is a good thing, now it's time to dispatch them and consider the options for the future,,,,,,

just my .02 as an old timer at raising critters

totally your decision, good luck with whatever you choose

You are exactly right. And that went through my mind all the way across the state...I should take them home and kill them. If this were my production flock and I was still raising three teen age boys that eat everything with a grain shovel, these birds would be eliminated from the cost of living.

But the boys are gone and it's just me and my mother living here. Her land is a foraging paradise, as I found out when I raised 50 CX out here this spring....they found endless nutrition here in this woodland meadow. I wanted to get a small layer flock and start building good birds again just for the eggs and meat and I wanted to develop a flock that will only need supplemental feed in the winter time. If they can't produce on foraged nutrition, I was going to cull them.

As anyone knows, that's a risky business...trying to take these highly domesticated genetics from hatchery stock and see if they will produce and lay well on just what they can forage. It would take some really strict culling practices to pull it off. Person could probably find one out of ten birds that could lay well on foraged feeds.

Nowhere did old, sick birds fit into that plan.

Then a friend on BYC asked about how to get her chickens to a place where they wouldn't need deworming and tweaking to be healthy. A light went off and I saw a learning opportunity in the offing. How can a person who will not cull take really bad birds and turn them around? Many people on BYC will not kill their chickens, pet or not. They have small flocks and killing them for poor genetics is something they cannot wrap their minds around.

Since this won't cost me anything but $30 in laying mash for this winter's feed and there are only 13 birds to feed, I decided to see what will happen here. After a small time period with a little fermented feed to get their bowel flora recultured, can these birds turn around their poor health on normal chicken food...foraged foods only? Can fresh, clean, balanced soils and living conditions get birds with already hardy genetics back to a healthy life?

I have the time, it won't cost me hardly anything and I am curious...that's all it took. I may wind up killing them all in the end, when their meat will be healthy enough to actually eat. Right now I wouldn't eat their eggs or their meat, so killing them would be a little wasteful.

Different time in my life, different goals, different place to raise chickens....I'm a fool for learning something new and I learn best in a hand's on situation. I'm going to see if this small flock can get back to normal without spending much money or time on their recovery. Should be interesting!

 

[therapydoglady]

That concerns me as well. Can you take a picture of the crud and foamy stuff on the chicken and show us?

Not now...I buried them after I killed them. It was kinda like decomposing foam rubber, or a sponge that is falling apart in texture, except it was wet. The little hen that was the worst even had it coming out her nostrils, so I'm sure the entire sinus cavities were full. Definitely a fungus of some sort to grow that fast. It was the same color as chick feed, a yellowish color. I scraped it out of the little hen's mouth yesterday, and it was back with a vengeance this morning. I looked into the remaining two bird's mouths, throat, nasal cavities and saw no sign of any fungus, so when the vaccine I ordered for fowlpox gets here, I will vaccinate them and see what happens. I don't think I want these birds around at all. They give me the creeps, but will give them a chance. I sure don't want to give them to anyone else to contaminate their chickens.

My long suffering husband has promised to be more vigilant in the future...his ears are rather burned, and I think he is grateful, this day, for his job that keeps him away for several days at a time. LOL.

Brie

 

[featherz]

Not now...I buried them after I killed them. It was kinda like decomposing foam rubber, or a sponge that is falling apart in texture, except it was wet. The little hen that was the worst even had it coming out her nostrils, so I'm sure the entire sinus cavities were full. Definitely a fungus of some sort to grow that fast. It was the same color as chick feed, a yellowish color. I scraped it out of the little hen's mouth yesterday, and it was back with a vengeance this morning. I looked into the remaining two bird's mouths, throat, nasal cavities and saw no sign of any fungus, so when the vaccine I ordered for fowlpox gets here, I will vaccinate them and see what happens. I don't think I want these birds around at all. They give me the creeps, but will give them a chance. I sure don't want to give them to anyone else to contaminate their chickens.

My long suffering husband has promised to be more vigilant in the future...his ears are rather burned, and I think he is grateful, this day, for his job that keeps him away for several days at a time. LOL.

Brie

It's most likely canker. Dr. Peter Brown (the chicken doctor) did a show on this a while back. It's treated with flagyl and is passed through the water bowls primarily. I've had wet fowl pox and it was VERY difficult to scrape that off, plus it did not spread so quickly in my case.

 

[Maven]

You are exactly right. And that went through my mind all the way across the state...I should take them home and kill them. If this were my production flock and I was still raising three teen age boys that eat everything with a grain shovel, these birds would be eliminated from the cost of living.

But the boys are gone and it's just me and my mother living here. Her land is a foraging paradise, as I found out when I raised 50 CX out here this spring....they found endless nutrition here in this woodland meadow. I wanted to get a small layer flock and start building good birds again just for the eggs and meat and I wanted to develop a flock that will only need supplemental feed in the winter time. If they can't produce on foraged nutrition, I was going to cull them.

As anyone knows, that's a risky business...trying to take these highly domesticated genetics from hatchery stock and see if they will produce and lay well on just what they can forage. It would take some really strict culling practices to pull it off. Person could probably find one out of ten birds that could lay well on foraged feeds.

Nowhere did old, sick birds fit into that plan.

Then a friend on BYC asked about how to get her chickens to a place where they wouldn't need deworming and tweaking to be healthy. A light went off and I saw a learning opportunity in the offing. How can a person who will not cull take really bad birds and turn them around? Many people on BYC will not kill their chickens, pet or not. They have small flocks and killing them for poor genetics is something they cannot wrap their minds around.

Since this won't cost me anything but $30 in laying mash for this winter's feed and there are only 13 birds to feed, I decided to see what will happen here. After a small time period with a little fermented feed to get their bowel flora recultured, can these birds turn around their poor health on normal chicken food...foraged foods only? Can fresh, clean, balanced soils and living conditions get birds with already hardy genetics back to a healthy life?

I have the time, it won't cost me hardly anything and I am curious...that's all it took. I may wind up killing them all in the end, when their meat will be healthy enough to actually eat. Right now I wouldn't eat their eggs or their meat, so killing them would be a little wasteful.

Different time in my life, different goals, different place to raise chickens....I'm a fool for learning something new and I learn best in a hand's on situation. I'm going to see if this small flock can get back to normal without spending much money or time on their recovery. Should be interesting!

Good luck to you on your learning journey, Bee. If anyone can turn those gals around you can.

I hope you will continue to keep a running 'diary' of the experience in the thread you started for it; I've book-marked and I am looking forward to learning a lot from your experience with them.

 

[therapydoglady]

I looked up canker in chickens, and that is EXACTLY what it is. I looked up Dr. Peter Brown as well, and read about canker in chickens, usually spread from contaminated water (eeeeewwwww!) Poor chickens!. Can't imagine letting our chickens' water go for even a whole day! Anyway, the article Says that even if the canker lesions go away, the chickens will always be carriers, so these guys are toast! Thanks, everybody, for your help. If I know what to look for, I can surely learn what to do about it. Y'all are such a God send in that you are such a wealth of information, and so willing to share.

Thanks,
Brie