Colorado

[21hens-incharge]

I cannot do hatching eggs since I am not allowed a rooster all my eggs are sterile. We will get by on what I am collecting and the customers I have are understanding about the egg thief.

I am off the selling eggs list until all my hens continue to show no signs of illness.

My avatar hen died today. Unknown cause, she looked a bit off this morning and was dead when I got home. No symptoms over the weekend while I was working on the run.
It could have been something the thief tracked in. Due to that I am no longer selling eggs at this time.

Danged disappointing to loose her. She was 8 months old. She is also the one that was a family favorite and had been lovingly named Grandma. I am sure many of you will remember when she was a wee thing this spring.
The really odd thing about her death was the Buff Brahma of the same age would not let me near the body and had to be put in the coop so I could collect her. Weirdest thing I have ever seen a chicken do.





R.I.P Grandma chicken. You will be missed in the flock.

 

[KLBCOS]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[emptynesters970]

So sorry to hear about the loss of your beautiful lady.

 

[Latestarter]

Awww... sorry 21hens, to hear about grandma... She was a pretty little thing. Wonder why the roo was so protective? As I recall, she was the runt and a little "grandma" lookin as a chick... Maybe there was something biologically wrong with her that she died young? I mean, of course there was, she's dead, I really meant genetically wrong... Either way... sorry.

@rf12345 As I said in my previous post..."OK, so it's a chronic respiratory disease. It is a permanent condition - once the birds have it, they always have it (test positive for it). It is contagious. It may/can be passed on to/through eggs. It may be terminal or may not be. So is the diagnosis of MG/MS in your flock a death sentence? Should it be? I would think that if your birds survive the infection, they build up immunity to it, it becomes less of a factor over time. Hopefully that immunity is also passed on through the egg?"

Why are you culling/killing your entire flock? There's no need or reason to do that! They have the equivalent of a bad runny nose! They'll either die from it or live and produce antibodies to combat the disease. IMHO, You are really blowing this way out of proportion. It's NOT like Mareks and it's NOT avian influenza... As has been said, it's carried by wild birds as well. You could step in wind bird poop and track it into your coop and infect your "closed" flock. Just like cancer is no longer an automatic death sentence. Relax and look at this objectively. Your prized bird can still be used to produce awesome offspring. There's no guarantee the chicks WILL have MG or MS. It's NOT 100% positive to be passed on.

I understand your anger and you should not have been outright lied to. However, you now have the situation to deal with and perhaps you should give it a little more thought before you proceed.

 

[rf12345]

Aside of high to extreme levels of negative publicity around mg/ms and plenty of "I did not test for it therefore I do not have it" attitude and whoever got it tested is shunned as it is all their fault both for catching it, for treating the bird while trying to turn internet upside-down in search of what on earth is that illness and how to get it tested as the local vets are avian-clueless if I may say it ... Did you read those posts and what is the attitude towards the people who were infected with that? And how those farmers who keep large flocks and spread that anyways come down at their own customers with all the blames/excuses there is? I'm already shunned by the locals like I have who knows what disease... It is not like that farmer who got my birds sick is ever going to close or change or reconsider his practices. That farm is not going anywhere, same sa it was when they sold sick bird. But sure folk made sure I'm shunned because I've mentioned test results. How long has it being this way I wonder? Not a death sentence? Its equivalent?
Reading all that was quite disheartening.

 

[uzisuzuki]

I did read the thread where the OP posted the slander against Ideal Hatchery and caused the ensuing panic. Here's the thing I've learned trying to use this site to help keep me better informed to take care of my accidental flock: People act like a flock of panicked chickens pretty easily, especially on message boards where a lot of things are treated as absolutes when they are not. I mean, in that thread alone, people were *still* arguing on whether or not the OP had lied even *after* someone contacted the state and Ideal and proved that the OP had lied. The thread had to be closed because of the circles the arguing was going in. I've seen people here getting cutthroat about whether or not pumpkin seeds have any beneficial effect on chickens. Flipping pumpkin seeds. The peafowl section is really condescending and rude to outsiders and newbies to peafowl because god knows the only people who know anything about peafowl would be posting on this site and anyone else is a filthy liar selling under false pretenses. I may still be a little salty about that encounter. Or, hey, how about the user who accused me of being a terrible owner who would end up killing all her birds because my brother's puppy broke into my chick brooder and ate my blue phoenix chick? Because, on here, everyone is a saint and full of magic and can foresee any troubles and stop anything bad or unwanted from ever happening except for me and you, right?

What I'm trying to say, and I should really take my own advice on this also, is that take what people post here with a grain of salt. Just because posters here are throwing a walleyed fit about a disease that, according to vets and a majority of research, is the most common mycoplasma birds can get doesn't mean anything other than that's the hill they want to die on and can't see any other outcome other than doom. ALL those people claiming their flocks are healthy and are angry that people could have flocks with MG don't know 100% for sure that they don't already have MG in their flocks because birds can be carriers of the disease and never show symptoms of it. The *only* sure fire way they could know not a single chicken they own has MG is to have a vet test their entire flock every 90 days. My pullet chickens and my cockerel and my 5 1 year-old hens and the peacock and the other peahen haven't once shown symptoms. They all have MG, that's just a fact of life with how contagious MG is, but if Richmond hadn't shown symptoms a couple months ago I would have also worked under the assumption my flock didn't have MG and I wouldn't have ever known about MG. Reality check for me.

Can MG kill some birds? Yes, it can. Does it devastate flocks like AF or Marek's? In my extremely limited knowledge, no. If it did, vaccinating for it would be mandatory for large scale hatcheries and NPIP certification. Is it okay to have a meltdown when you find out that your flock does have MG? Totally, and I'm saying that because I'm biased and had one of my own. But then I had to think about the same thing I have had to think about since I was 10 and became responsible for the wellbeing of horses and dogs and rabbits and so on: Is this life threatening? Will this negatively affect their quality of life? Am I thinking more about how their death would affect me and euthanasia really is the best option? Talk to the people at the lab again and work out your questions with them. Talk to some vets about it. It made me feel a lot better having my vet explain MG to me and the realities of it because my imagination is vivid and wild and likes to jump to conclusions when allowed to.

At the end of the day, you have to do what's right for you and your flock because only you know what that is in a case like this. Do not let people here tell you what is best for you because they're in a panic. If you want to create a breeding stock, I think you should keep what you've worked on building and do that as long as the birds aren't suffering. Be honest when you sell, unlike this dude you were dealing with was. I have to think that with exhibitions being as unbiosecure as you can get, not a single bird being shown isn't already a carrier for MG as it is. I mean, every time I went to the Stock Show or a comic book or video game convention, I *always* came home with a serious cold! It's so prevalent, it's called Con Crud. I can't imagine that animals wouldn't have the exact same thing happen in that type of environment.

I would seriously love to see the level of biosecurity those people have if they think they can avoid MG or all diseases and infections in their flocks. Those chickens must be like that bubble boy movie John Travolta was in.

 

[uzisuzuki]

To apologize for that long winded baloney post I just did, here's a picture of our latest bunny:



I hope you all have a wonderful week and holiday if you celebrate it.

 

[rf12345]

Chickens were bought for organic bug control, then for eggs, and then to show where does the food come from and that eggs do not grow on trees and such and maybe to show how exactly the hen sits on that nest an how do baby chicks happen. And the there were ideas about doing it for educational purposes so the children socialize and because my neighbor does 4h and thinks it's a really good idea and it shows in their kids. I did not really mean to get anything rare of the rare, I was looking for chickens that are tough like nails in not heated coop and can tolerate nasty weather. I did not plan to do any shows and such, not my thing, I was thinking about preserving the blood line because I found out they happen to be heirloom chicken and there are not so many of them left it turned out, endangered species according to the conservatory. I did not even know such a thing existed before I got those chickens. I mean they look like ordinary chickens, they do all things chickens do, usual multi purpose bird from old days back then...I did not have any clue what I have before I showed some pictures and some of the experts looked at them and contacted me. By that time I already was exposed by that farmer to the decease and did not know the diagnosis. I could not even think farmers would do such a thing... It just so low key I could not even think of people doing it and having such an attitude being in that business.
What is happening now local who have chickens shun me and my kid, no one wants that to be here, people talk and they do not talk nicely. If I kill entire flock and reestablish I'll get it again sooner or later if 95% of the flocks are infected as some of the vets say. Is any of these data are true and how those numbers did come to be ... I do have my doubts regarding the accuracy as this is not the state controlled disease and most of the flocks are never tested (judging by the price of the vet visit and how not easy it was to find out about the tests and what to ask for or to find an avian vet to begin with...). No one here around is NPIP and there is really no such a thing as NPIP with 10 chickens or with 30, there is not. I'm not a farm, I'm one of their customers. All that attitude does make me wonder why would people treat one another in this way. Lab does not suggest o kill entire flock and they suggested to treat that as there are options. It is a situation when no matter what I do it is wrong, State will not get involved with mg, as many have mentioned too common and not too deadly for the commercial farms. That's the only time when the state gets involved when there is a lobby large enough. 10 chickens just plain do not matter, it is simply nothing.

 

[rf12345]

tested something. 1 large Muscovy drake or 2 small ducks, skinless, cut into portion pieces (heart, liver, stomach goes into the same pot, makes the sauce better)
saute 1 onion in vegetable oil, add mushrooms to taste (say 2 cups is good), saute a bit more to golden brown.
put duck into saute pan (large on), make sauce:
1 cup of heavy cream, 1 cup of sour cream, 1 cup of apple sauce, 1 tea sp of Worcestershire sauce, salt pepper to taste (for the duck, 1 tea sp of sea salt does it, but that depends on personal preference).
add onions and mushrooms, put all that over the duck and cook on low till the duck is tender, usually takes 2h.
while duck is cooking in the pan where mushrooms were saute 3 large carrots sliced and 2 large parsnips.
as seasoning can use 1 tb sp of costco vegetable organic seasoning (turns out good tasting as well)


that's the slow cooking way works well for those folk who those who can not pluck the duck and had to skin it.. works well.
that's what's in the pot. happy holidays!

 

[21hens-incharge]

LS, As it turns out she was eggbound. I did a better exam after I had calmed down and found the issue. She did have genetic issues like split wing and a slight crossbeak. Neither were the cause of her death but did show that she had genetic issues. Yes she was a super cute little chickie and turned into a pretty pullet. Even though her life was very short she was well cared for and loved every day we had her.
The Brahma thing about guarding the body was so very odd since there are no roosters here at all. It was another pullet displaying this odd behavior. The Brahma is clingy now like she has never been before. When I closed the coop last night she got down and stood on my feet while I gathered my miserable 2 eggs from under the old BO hen. Picked her up gave her a little petting time and put her back on the roost. Left the coop in tears over the loss of Grandma chicken. I guess she is sad too.

Uzi,
You have logical and good advice in your "baloney" post. It makes good sense to me that mine are most likely positive for it as well. The wild birds are plentiful here. I do not have a sealed change and shower area just inside the coop door to disinfect before entering and the wild birds have access to the run through the chain link or just from flying above. I can only assume mine are likely positive since I am not willing to spend bookoo bucks having over 30 birds tested and retested. I am glad you posted about your experiences and what you have learned along the way.
Super cute bunny by the way. I want to pet it just between those cute little ears.

rf12345,
You posted that you had not done quarantine with the purchased bird. I know it is a hard pill to swallow but without proper quarantine the chances of diseases being spread is much greater. Hopefully in the end this is a learning experience and things go better in the future. It is a gamble to not quarantine and sadly this time it did not go in your favor.