Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

It depends on what you are looking for. The early spring auction didn't have much as far as poultry that I would have been interested in. There were a lot of rough looking birds. But I am much more picky than a normal person. I would guess there would be a lot more this time than last. Today would be the day to go because poultry sells pretty fast. If you want to see the other animals it's a great time to go. Lots of real exotics and stuff this time of year and many new babies born since the first of the year. The poultry, rabbits, and small caged animals sell per cage with the price on the cage. They aren't auctioned. The auction itself starts slow. They sell a lot of equipment and stuff first before they start on the animals. That part gets a little boring. But it gives more people time to get there I guess. If you buy birds look for health. No sneezing, plucked behinds, rough dull feathers, droopy looks etc. Then quarantine them if you already have other birds.
I typed a bunch and accidentally wiped it out. Grrr!
I need to apologize to many of you since you've been so caring about me. I've just been skim reading and running lately and when I post it's been a fast update. I really haven't responded to many of your posts. So sorry!
Josie I think if your adult dog has got the patrolling of your place down, then the pup would be fine out. In my experience the older dogs communicate and keep the younger ones home when they are actually after a predator. These dogs are just super smart about those things. If it were just a pup or two alone I would give it more time.
Karen the ducks look so pretty on the pond. Isn't it amazing how fast they grow?? I am so jealous. I wish my pond were close enough my ducks could spend time on it. I think I should just expand my existing pond and build a new house over looking it on the other side of the property. Like that is going to happen!

 

[HEChicken]

Well the rest of my turkeys are still hanging in there, but still not what I would call "normal". Just when I think the first two are doing better I go down & one or the other is lying on their back again with their legs in the air & can't get flipped over. I tried making that mash & it seemed like just a mess & none of the birds ate it. I have been dosing them all with vitamin E since what I read is that this is a neurological problem. I don't know at this point if any of them will make it or not. I guess the next days will tell about that. I have a really busy day tomorrow with an event at the Cowley County Humane Society in the morning that we do along with our little dogs every year then in the evening I have my 40th high school class reunion to attend, so I won't be here that much to keep flipping these birds back over again & again. I guess whatever happens with them will have to happen. They're all so darned cute it's a shame they have this problem. Some of them can seem to flip themselves back over, but the two first ones to hatch can't for some reason.

Trish, have you posted anything about this on the turkey forum to see if this is a normal occurrence or something else that is going on? There is also a turkey hatch-a-long and many of them are hatching right now. I've been following that thread even though I'm still two weeks out from hatching and haven't heard of anyone else reporting these kinds of issues. I wonder if its some kind of genetic thing going on with this particular batch of eggs, or what else could be causing it. Its a pity they wouldn't eat the special mash you made them. I just wonder where a vitamin E deficiency would come from. If they are eating turkey feed, I would think it would be formulated to contain everything they need already.

 

[chicken danz]

I don't believe it is a Vitamin E efficiency. I use Vitamin E all the time on chicks with brain or equilibrium problems. It keeps the swelling down in the brain if they have some brain problem which not only keeps them alive but allows it to correct itself. It works like gold. This problem is very common in birds like silkies and polish with vaulted skulls since they get injured easily. I don't make a mash. I just open a capsule and squirt it directly in their mouth. Once they get better I continue to squirt a little on their food for a while.

 

[Hawkeye95]

opps! realized that I missed an entire page! never mind!

 

[chicken danz]

I just did a one worse than Hawkeye. I had to check all the incubators cause I could smell a bad egg smell. There was one in each of them. But the last tray in the last egg as I was sniffing I droped the egg on the floor. Crap. It landed on the pointy end and made jsut a barely visible crack but soon started leaking. So I ruptured the membrane. Of course it had a chick developing! Makes me a murderess! I coulnd't resist and candled my turkey eggs. Looks like I have three that aren't fertile. Not knowing how the others will do I'm glad I ordered the poults too.
I think I've finally got my hatcher regulated again. It's sitting about perfect for temp and humidity. I had another guinea and a duck hatch out this morning so far. So I'm not going to give up yet. It is super hot and sticky already. I guess I'd better get back out there and finish watering all the birds.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I just did a one worse than Hawkeye. I had to check all the incubators cause I could smell a bad egg smell. There was one in each of them. But the last tray in the last egg as I was sniffing I droped the egg on the floor. Crap. It landed on the pointy end and made jsut a barely visible crack but soon started leaking. So I ruptured the membrane. Of course it had a chick developing! Makes me a murderess! I coulnd't resist and candled my turkey eggs. Looks like I have three that aren't fertile. Not knowing how the others will do I'm glad I ordered the poults too.
I think I've finally got my hatcher regulated again. It's sitting about perfect for temp and humidity. I had another guinea and a duck hatch out this morning so far. So I'm not going to give up yet. It is super hot and sticky already. I guess I'd better get back out there and finish watering all the birds.

OH no!! That's terrible and so sad! Sorry about your dropped egg! I hope you found the stinky ones! That would freak me out! I definitely do not want eggs exploding or weeping into my incubator. Glad you have your hatcher working well again!

I have another pip this morning. I guess I'll see what happens! I wasn't expecting this egg/chick to pip until tomorrow.

 

[Trish44]

Well I've been told that the Royal Palm turkeys are more fragile & hard to start than some of the others. Wouldn't you know since that's what I was wanting. Evidently this is a fairly common occurrence because I did find several entries when I did a search on it & it even has a name, flipping over syndrome. I did tell the woman I got the eggs from what is going on & she says it could have been trauma to the eggs from shipping even. Anyway, the little turkeys are holding their own so far today, but there are two still flipping over. I'm just dosing them with vitamin E by squirting it into their mouths, so we'll see if it helps or not. The little black spanish actually does seem better today, it was one that had the problem really bad, but two of the royal palms are still really bad. I try to go down & flip them back over if I happen to go down & see them like that. One of them is so off balance that it's even hard to flip it over because it just flips right back, I had to try to flip it opposite if that makes any sense, it seemed to correct it for a minute anyway. It's really a strange thing to see & I feel so sorry for them.

My other new chicks out in the brooder seem to be doing fine, so that's a plus.

It's already hot today. We went out early & my DH ran in the dog-n-jog event for the Cowley County Humane Society this morning & he got first place & won a package of assorted meats, I really haven't looked yet to see what all is in there. Then after that I walked with our two little dogs for the dog part of the thing, they were so excited to be going somewhere & just like being with us where ever we go. I was afraid after my knee hurting so bad last night that I wouldn't be able to walk, but it behaved itself long enough for me to walk most of it, we cut a couple blocks out of the distance. Our dogs are so small, especially the Yorkie that with her little short legs she gets tired pretty fast.

I'm going to take a nap after while so that I won't be wiped out for my reunion tonight. I haven't been sleeping well at night with my knee hurting like it does, so I didn't get much sleep when I had to get up so early. I'm going to make an appt. with the orthopedic Dr. again to see about that darned knee. It's hurting worse than it ever has before & this is not the one I had surgery on, darned Arthritis.

You all have a good day & try to stay cool. It's supposed to cool off in a couple of days again.

 

[HEChicken]

Well I've been told that the Royal Palm turkeys are more fragile & hard to start than some of the others. Wouldn't you know since that's what I was wanting. Evidently this is a fairly common occurrence because I did find several entries when I did a search on it & it even has a name, flipping over syndrome. I did tell the woman I got the eggs from what is going on & she says it could have been trauma to the eggs from shipping even. IVY, this woman lives up your way, could she be the one you got your turkeys from? She lives in Powhattan, KS, which when I looked on google seemed fairly close to you. She is planning to send me some more eggs if she can get the turkey hen penned up soon with the tom. She says she has plenty of poults, but it's too far for me to drive to get them. Anyway, the little turkeys are holding their own so far today, but there are two still flipping over. I'm just dosing them with vitamin E by squirting it into their mouths, so we'll see if it helps or not. The little black spanish actually does seem better today, it was one that had the problem really bad, but two of the royal palms are still really bad. I try to go down & flip them back over if I happen to go down & see them like that. One of them is so off balance that it's even hard to flip it over because it just flips right back, I had to try to flip it opposite if that makes any sense, it seemed to correct it for a minute anyway. It's really a strange thing to see & I feel so sorry for them.

Yeah, since I wrote that earlier, there is someone on the turkey thread who posted about a similar problem. She has the poults that are flipping set up in cups to keep them in the right position. Then she has to take them out to feed and water them. She said after 24 hours usually they are okay to be in the brooder with the others. She even posted pics of her set up so it might be worth checking it out.

 

[chicken danz]

I've been reading about the flip over disease. Tried to stay away from BYC and look at university studies and such. It seems like it can be pretty common. The one reference I could find as far as a study indicated that it could be caused by poor nutrition of the hen. North Carolina university is doing studies on it and if you really wanted to find out if it is hereditary or nutritional I would wrie someone there. If it were me I would worry what caused it. If it is nutritional that is correctable. But if it is hereditary I certainly would just eat them and not breed them. Just sayin'

 

[HEChicken]

I've been reading about the flip over disease. Tried to stay away from BYC and look at university studies and such. It seems like it can be pretty common. The one reference I could find as far as a study indicated that it could be caused by poor nutrition of the hen. North Carolina university is doing studies on it and if you really wanted to find out if it is hereditary or nutritional I would wrie someone there. If it were me I would worry what caused it. If it is nutritional that is correctable. But if it is hereditary I certainly would just eat them and not breed them. Just sayin'

Interesting. Trish, it will be interesting to see if the local-picked-up RP's do better, worse, or about the same. It still won't tell you if it is nutritional or hereditary though. It might be worth asking the lady who shipped these, how she feeds her turkeys, and if the local ones do the same we could ask him too, to compare.