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

[Beekissed]

Wow not cool at all. So do you rec. culling a bird that seems to get sick and not kick it, or give them more of a chance, I culled 2 the other day that have been sick off and on for 4-6 mo. They would get better then sick again. when you cull one for scrauny or sick do you eat them or not?

I've never had a bird that "got sick" in my flocks, though I've had some that just up and died off the roost with no warning of any kind...from heart attacks from what I could see. If a bird had a bad appearance of dull feathering, dull eyes, loss of weight in my flock I'd give her a reasonable amount of time to get over this lapse in good health...say a week or so. Then she would be culled.

If this were during molt or some other season where one would expect a lack of lay and feathers looking a little less than glossy and smooth, then I would leave her until that season was over and then consider her for culling. No off and on sick days allowed.

I usually cull before a bird gets sick, so that's probably why I don't have to cull sick birds. I cull once a year for non laying, non thrift(dull feathers, low weight, etc.), disposition, etc. Yes, I eat the birds I cull because they aren't actually sick when I cull them. If they were actively sick when I did, I would not eat them nor any eggs they produced.

we have started using acv also we had a fairly serious problem with our chickens getting sick and or dying form what we and the vet speculated was possibly some sort of infection, after several died we sent one to ut for examination to find out it was ecoli build up, so we have started with the acv and most of them have recovered very nicely and some are starting to lay eggs.

It would be very cool if you could post that on my other threads so that others could read it...it's a great advocacy for the ACV: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-horrors-anyone-want-to-follow-their-progress

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...osis-and-other-poultry-diseases-in-chicks-acv

Sorry also..did you do an autopsy and take pictures?

Yes! Wanna know....

 

[JeffOeuf]

Just noticed my top-of-the-pecking-order hen hasn't left the coop today. She didn't much yesterday, either, but I attributed that to common sense (in was cold and rainy). She's got a little bit of dried snot around her nostril, but her breathing seems normal, eyes are bright, she's up on her legs on the roost, but won't leave the coop. Poop is a little runny, but other than that normal. Any ideas? I've not been using ACV, but might start, if anyone thinks it might help.

 

[Beekissed]

ACV is not a cure all. It can't hurt to add it to your regimen, particularly mother vinegar...it has some great probios. But just using ACV and not adjusting other aspects of animal husbandry when animals get sick is not something I advocate. Sure, it's better than doing nothing or lavishing antibiotics on everything on the land but it won't be a fix.

Often we have folks who claim that the ACV wasn't worth pouring it from the bottle because they were expecting it to be a magic potion that cures all the ills, but it is just a small part of a whole husbandry method and should be used as such, IME, to get the full benefit of the changes in health that a flock can experience with its use.

I'd say...go ahead and try it because it certainly can't hurt, but you might also examine other conditions in her environment that may need adjustment.

 

[JeffOeuf]

Well, at this point I'm pretty sure it is coccidosis. The symptoms seem to point to that. I'm going to try Corid for a week, then we'll see if we can't get them toughened up enough not to need meds.

 

[Beekissed]

Why not try an experiment and use the mother vinegar instead? See if it will work and work long range instead of using the Corid which most certainly won't be a long range treatment but can only correct it temporarily.

Then maybe examine how your coop and soils are supporting an overgrowth of cocci?

 

[JeffOeuf]

Well, I'm not entirely sure that my coop and soils are supporting an overgrowth of cocci. In fact, I'm pretty sure they're not. I've added a couple chickens to the flock, they've free-ranged in the same area, and I imagine the older girl just wasn't exposed to some of the cocci that the new ones carried in with them. Corid treatment isn't going to be any more expensive than ACV treatment, so I think I'll rely on science for a cure and then work on a homeopathic approach once we're over the hump.

 

[chickachee]

Do I just give the chickens smashed up eggshells when I think their eggs have thin shells, or should I feed them the shells once in a while anyway?

I give mine smashed up egg shell with the cooked egg still in it for a treat once in a while, they love it. they will eat plain ole smashed up shells too. Do you set out oyster shell too?

No, I guess I thought that their layer food had enough calcium in it. No so?? I have been sprinkling the smashed shells on top of their ff every once in a while, but thought I'd better check to see if/when I needed to.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If chickens are healthy, you don't need to cure them.

If your egg shells are hard enough and thick enough, whatever you are doing is working. If the egg shells are thin or soft, you need to do something else.

It's possible to have one hen messed up that is laying soft eggs. That is a specific hen problem not a all hens in the flock problem.

 

[Miss Lydia]

No, I guess I thought that their layer food had enough calcium in it. No so?? I have been sprinkling the smashed shells on top of their ff every once in a while, but thought I'd better check to see if/when I needed to.

I Only give this as a treat, not everyday or week even. I don't get soft shell very often. But saying that I did find 2 under the roost last Monday, but haven't seen one since and Bee said this time of year your more apt to see them that other times.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

ML, I've been using JOB for years now and the rats always crawl outside to die....never once have my dogs, cats or chickens touched them. If a coon or possum finds and eats the carcass, I count that as a two-fer.

Same here Bee. I don't know the name of the bar poison I use, but I've never seen a chicken or any of our dogs or cats bother any poison dead critters (Mice or rats). This time of year when it starts getting colder we have field rats start coming into the barn so I place a few bars in the feed room behind the feed barrels. Last week when checking for eggs I found a fairly large field rat dead under the nest boxes in the Orloff coop. The chickens hadn't touched it.
Not saying it never happens, just that it's never happened here.

Is chicken poo bad for dogs if they eat it?

There's a lot of partially digested nutrients in poo. It is a prize for many animals, plus they can pick up some probiotics if they eat poo from their own kind. It's real common in the animal world. I'm willing to let animals be animals, but then I don't French-kiss my dogs.

Just one of the many reasons I love reading your posts Ridgerunner.

These thoughts have been on my mind today. I spent a few hours with the birds today, walking with them, examining them, just fussing with them. It was our first sunny day in a week, and boy, did I enjoy my time outside with them. It's been over 50 years and I still enjoy them.

The novice typically make an initial purchase of birds from a feed store or place an order with a hatchery and so begins their experience with chickens. Those who spend more than a year or two and don't drop the "hobby" in disillusionment, may eventually find themselves outgrowing the scattergun and roulette wheel of just hoping to get good birds, or jumping from breed to breed to breed haphazardly trying to stumble upon good birds.

Take this for what it is worth, but having good birds just makes so much difference in enjoying chicken keeping. Once you have a few good birds, you have little patience with nasty, junk or useless birds. What's the point in having such birds? Life is too short and feed costs too much.

If this chicken fad is going to last, a lot of the more serious folks are going to desire better birds, going forward. As they should.

Sort of a diary entry, I know, but those are my thoughts today.

I've had some of the same thoughts lately Fred. I have both hatchery and some good strain breeder birds so I know the pros and cons of each, but I for one raise chickens first and foremost because I find them to be a relaxing part of my life. It really doesn't pay to raise anything you don't enjoy.

don't know how I found this thrread, but I still have plenty to learn, been chickenin' 2 years now. Howdy y'all.

Howdy! Welcome to the OT thread

Well the news is true and it's not good at all, last week I lost 12 of my best show birds to a pack (5) of unruly uncontrollable dog's who's owners live in the next section over. I had my cornish in my new breeder conditioning complex and they were coming along very well for this fall/winter show season, and the ones who I selected to be future breeders and fill orders from, they also just happened to be previous show winners. I had my first show scheduled for yesterday and already entered several more this year. I almost never lose birds and never lose any at all to preditors, these dogs were big, mean and on a mission, I was away in town at a jobsite when my wife called and said she was headed out to there cause she saw them near the pen's. She just got out of the hospital from surgery and couldn't move very well. She tried to beat them off with a 2x4 and they left for awhile, but came back 30 minutes later and even more determined. She went out there with the shotgun and was able send 2 to hell ripping out her fresh stitches from the shotgun bless her heart, the others came back but she couldn't even leave the house at that point and watched helplessly as they killed the rest of my show flock.

I got home as fast as my truck and these country roads would let me, but I was to late. I left the birds and took her back to the hospital to get checked out and, came home called the county boy's to come out and file a report, I documented everything and now have all of my affairs in order. The owners of the dog's have already gotten the summons and court is next month, they don't have any $$ so I hope the judge will do what ever he can. My show season is obviously shot and my breeding program is in the crapper for many many years to come, I have nowhere to get replacements as most of the better cornish guy's get their show/breeder stock from me. I am seriously considering throwing in the towel, this has been a little tough so I am going to settle down and wait till I can regain my composure and see where Iam with all this.

This is the complex as I call it where I condition my show birds, and also the sight of the carnage.

Anyway there it is, I haven't posted much because I am still in shock and trying to figure out where my chicken deal will go from here if at all. enjoy your Sunday folks.

AL

Al, I'm so sorry I missed this until now. After losing most of my rose comb Reds this summer, I feel for you. I wish there was something I could do to help. I sure hope your wife is better and it sounds like you have a wonderful right hand in her.
I've said it before, and will say it again Al. I've learned a lot from your posts and have a lot of respect for you and your knowledge. Please make the calls and keep going with your breeding program. The fancy NEEDS people like you.

Now seems as good a time as any to discuss predator control. I know we've covered it before but, in the wake of Al's recent incident with 5 large dogs wiping out his breeding stock, now seems a good time to bring up the subject once again. We've learned from this that even the very experienced flock keepers can have a wild card episode that catches you off guard.

Right now I'm one dog down on my flock protection and the dog I have left isn't really a true alpha dog, which means he is way too friendly to stray dogs. My older dog, Lucy, was very much death on any stray dogs( which remain the biggest and most uncontrollable threat to flocks because of the human factor that is entertwined with this particular predator)and I do mean death...she would kill any that came in her territory. She was a big part of my predator control. I also lack a perimeter fence...something I used to have but will never have at this place.

If I had a pack of dogs come through, I doubt that Jake would or could defend my chickens from this threat. He is good for all other wild predators but not much good for other dogs because he is much too friendly to strays. I've had to add the loaded gun on the back porch to my current setup and that only works if I am home and can respond quickly enough. For now, I just wing it and pray protection over the flock. We have already killed three strays this year.

Any OTs care to explain their current defenses and how those have worked in your area, what types of threats to the flock you ordinarily have and any adjustments you have made over the years and why?

Bee, I lost most of my best breeders and almost half of our laying flock to a stray dog this past summer while I was in the hospital. I have good fences (6' and 4' chain link mainly) and a four strand hot-wire fence also outside those fences. The coops are mostly enclosed by welded wire, hardware cloth and steel grates. We lock all (well, most all) of the flocks up in the coops at night. Anytime the dogs bark at night or I hear anything out of place I have a good flashlight and a 12 guage and don't care a bit to use it.
We seldom ever lose any stock, but all it took was one time leaving a pen gate unlatched and forgetting to close the coop. When I got home and found the carnage I sat down and was sick. Literly. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. All that time, work and money just... gone. I fought back the tears. Then I did what most of us OTs would do.
I got up, dusted myself off, went ahead and killed all the birds that were so wounded I knew they wouldn't make it and butchered them Then I put a little blue-cote on the ones I thought had a chance and cooped them up in my breeder coops to give them a chance, I gathered up all the dead birds and built a big fire to dispose of them. I counted heads to see what was left and had a talk with my son on the importance of locking every door every time.
Life goes on.

2 things 1. i kinda like the electric fence. gives me a real charge. lets me know i'm alive.


2. the new feed formula is fantastic. the birds are full ( crops bursting.) looking good and lively.

the meaties are gaining ground on this mix. i am overall thrilled. if anyone wants the mix i will post again or you can p.m. me.

okay i am going back to lurking.

Ok Bruce, I missed your feed mix and I'm curious. Would you PM it too me please?