Consolidated Kansas

[maidenwolfx80]

I would have thought a hawk would behead a bird and fly off with it to eat it. I've never had one be successful around here cause my dogs keep them at bay.
Well I am disappointed. I had gone out earlier and the house with the Swedish and the d'uccle's seemed to be doing better. I went out about 30 minutes ago and they are all sneezing and wheezing again. I had just put duramycin in their water. The olandsk seem so much better I am going to switch the others to denaguard tomorrow as well. I probably should do it tonight but I already have the hose blown out and everyone shut up for the night.
I tried the FF on the brooder today and no one seemed interested in it. About the only place I got a really good response was the peacock pen. They seemed to like it. I just put a little here and there to see if any of the birds wanted it. I'll check tomorrow to see if it was a total waste or not. I have got to do some more research on this. That was a total mess to deal with. I had just mopped the back hallway and now have a mess of spilled grain stuff there.
I've been giving a couple of upside down birds some vitamins to see if I could get them back on their feet. There was one I was sure would have died by now and she is standing up and holding her head up again. I've been trying to search for liquid thiamine but it is hard to find alone without the other B vitamins. I might try to grind some lentils since they are high in thiamine and see how the birds do on that.
I am just very confused that professionally prepared chick starter doesn't seem to contain what the birds need. Vitamin E has always be my go to viatmin but in some of these cases it just isn't doing the trick.
I keep telling myself that only the heartiest birds are the ones that I want anyway but I have lost too many. I am very concerned that these darn high dollar birds are weak from the breeding or from being imported. I need to breed healthy stock or it is a waste of time and money. I'm hoping I can breed in some better traits with time. Also I know I can feed them a healthy diet to lay with which will help make stronger chicks. Hatching other's birds I never know they care they received before laying.

Sorry you still have sick ones.
It takes awhile to get all the birds used to the ff. Mine are getting used to it and like it. I have to make a larger batch now that I know they like it. I think it has many advantages. It doubles your feed amount, they waste less, they get more nutrients from the feed so they eat less, more vit/min they poo less and less of a smell and the probiotics. It is wonderful.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

I would have thought a hawk would behead a bird and fly off with it to eat it. I've never had one be successful around here cause my dogs keep them at bay.
Well I am disappointed. I had gone out earlier and the house with the Swedish and the d'uccle's seemed to be doing better. I went out about 30 minutes ago and they are all sneezing and wheezing again. I had just put duramycin in their water. The olandsk seem so much better I am going to switch the others to denaguard tomorrow as well. I probably should do it tonight but I already have the hose blown out and everyone shut up for the night.
I tried the FF on the brooder today and no one seemed interested in it. About the only place I got a really good response was the peacock pen. They seemed to like it. I just put a little here and there to see if any of the birds wanted it. I'll check tomorrow to see if it was a total waste or not. I have got to do some more research on this. That was a total mess to deal with. I had just mopped the back hallway and now have a mess of spilled grain stuff there.
I've been giving a couple of upside down birds some vitamins to see if I could get them back on their feet. There was one I was sure would have died by now and she is standing up and holding her head up again. I've been trying to search for liquid thiamine but it is hard to find alone without the other B vitamins. I might try to grind some lentils since they are high in thiamine and see how the birds do on that.
I am just very confused that professionally prepared chick starter doesn't seem to contain what the birds need. Vitamin E has always be my go to viatmin but in some of these cases it just isn't doing the trick.
I keep telling myself that only the heartiest birds are the ones that I want anyway but I have lost too many. I am very concerned that these darn high dollar birds are weak from the breeding or from being imported. I need to breed healthy stock or it is a waste of time and money. I'm hoping I can breed in some better traits with time. Also I know I can feed them a healthy diet to lay with which will help make stronger chicks. Hatching other's birds I never know they care they received before laying.

This took place across the street in my neighbor's open yard (then the bird was in the middle of the dirt road between our houses) - happened broad daylight at 1pm.. do you think a possum would attack in the open like that and then drag it to the middle of the road to eat its belly? (I would think a possum would want to hide)

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Ok next fri is 18 days for my eggs. I do not have a way to measure humidity. I know I need to make sure there is alot of humidity at lockdown, should I add another container of water fri? Any suggestions?

 

[Trish44]

Perhaps they were acclimated, good point. I did not add the heat lamps until after they showed signs of being very cold-- shivering and lifting feet. THEN I added heat. So I did try to wait it out and was hoping I would not have to use heat lamps this winter. But I also think because they are in a more windy spot that it doesn't help. We have no wind breaks out here. They are wrapped in plastic, so the wind have been taken off of them, and I thought that would be enough. The other silkie peeps have outdoor pens like mine and have theirs wrapped in plastic too-- and are working out with heat lamps well. But they are further up North and they have had birds freeze overnight, I've been reading horror stories about once a week from my silkie board.


Thanks, I am feeling better today. Do you have a Whole Foods up there? We have an awesome store here called Food For Thought and they have an entire wall of essential oils-- the GOOD stuff and that is where I buy all of mine. They let you sample everything first, too. They also have a couple of large books on what each oil does and how to combine it, use it and what it's good for. So when you come in with a specific request, they can mix something up for you, or they can figure out which oil you need or just help you in finding the one you came in for.



I had a couple of interesting pictures I took today. The first one is of my crazy 2 year old bird MOLTING in winter!?!? It's insane!! I am almost too embarassed to post this picture, because she looks down right ugly here and doesn't even look like a silkie! She has no more crest and no more tail! A few weeks ago she was fluffy and beautiful. She is either bald in spots or has little pin feathers coming in. This poor bird looks mangy!!
(click to enlarge)




This one is cute-- the girls were all dug down keeping warm in the bedding.

Hawkeye, your silkie doesn't look half as bad as my poor little Australorp, she is just the most pitiful naked chicken I have ever seen. I will try to get a pic of her tomorrow when it's warmer.

This took place across the street in my neighbor's open yard (then the bird was in the middle of the dirt road between our houses) - happened broad daylight at 1pm.. do you think a possum would attack in the open like that and then drag it to the middle of the road to eat its belly? (I would think a possum would want to hide)

Sunflowerparrot, possums don't take the bird & hide they eat it right where they kill it, just eat the guts out & leave the carcass, believe me I know after how they attacked my guineas before. I just found a whole slaughter of dead guineas with their insides eaten out.

We just got back tonight from going to KC to celebrate my DH's birthday. He wanted to go up there to use his coupon for a restaurant we both like & yes it was worth the drive. I hated to leave my birds even overnight, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He says he's not staying home all the time just because we have chickens. On a positive note though I did get to pick up two little Barred Rock pullets I wanted & a little Swedish Flower Hen pullet on my way back. Danz, I would have stopped to get the little roo from you, but my DH was already cursing me for picking up chickens on the way again & we were running late by the time we stopped at Eileen's to pick up the pullets. There was someone else there & I had to wait until he got his pick of the SFHs before I could get one because I hadn't actually asked her for one, just the BRs, but after I saw she had a couple of the Mille Fleur color I really wanted one. She had a couple of really pretty white ones that had really pretty colors too, but she was keeping those. She really has some nice birds. I saw the little Russian Orlansks she had too & they are cute little things. I just don't want to get into the smaller birds myself. I was somewhat tempted to get another Cream Legbar pullet too, but restrained myself. I really was happy to get those two little Barred Rock pullets though because my two are starting their second year of laying & I wanted to get a couple more started. These at least are two or three months old already, so they're not so far from laying. I just love my Barred Rocks for the egg laying machines they are. These pullets I got haven't actually been outside yet, at least the SFH hasn't. She had them in big brooders in the house, but the BRs were out in the barn, so I guess those would be more used to the cold. I put them in the garage to kind of slowly acclimate them into it. I think the two BRs will be able to join my main flock soon, they're fairly good sized. Anyway, I'm glad to be back home & tomorrow I have a lot to catch up on around here outside. It's supposed to be warmer for the day, so I plan to spend some time doing things again that need to be done out there in the pens & coop.

Danz, I'm sorry about your little roo, you're not having very good luck with those imported birds are you. I know how you feel since I had that rash of sickness with mine there for awhile. I was telling Eileen about my Cream Legbar pullet that lost her eye from the illness, but she seems to have recovered totally & they're all filling out now & growing. Even missing an eye she is doing fine. She is the crested one, so I want to keep her even if she does only have one eye, she is a survivor. It was interesting to see someone else's Cream Legbars & SFHs just for comparison. I'm just loving the Swedish Flower Hens the most, they are the most friendly & inquisitive little birds & I love the color combinations that are just endless I think. After seeing Eileen's I think it will be really fun to raise them & see what colors develop. Now I have one more color of hen to breed that I didn't have. I would love to have a white one like she had if she ends up wanting to sell one of those. It will also be good I think to have another blood line. Oh & Danz, she had Rhodebars too & they were pretty, she had just gotten those recently from Greenfire.

Hawkeye, I'm glad your're feeling better, that's the pits to have to go through that with your whole family.

 

[chicken danz]

Eileen's birds are pretty exciting.. Did you see the bue barred rocks? I am hoping to continue work on that project myself and try to get some going that retain their bars in offspring. My barred rocks, black and blue copper Marans, cream legbars and Swedish FH all came for her stock. Her blue copper roo came from me. I'm going to get rhodebars from her this spring when hers start laying. I got my Olandsk from different stock and some eggs from the same person she got hers from. So we are going to trade some eggs and get a few more different lines in there later.
In fact her parents, Eileen and I are meeting this afternoon. I'm getting a few more cream legbar eggs from her. I only have 2 boys and 2 girls now. I should also be getting some more olandsk eggs from Texas as soon as it warms just a little. I've hatched a few from my girl that died so assuming these live, I should be in good shape with them. I just hate waiting now until I have another pullet breeding age.
I think the denaguard is working, so today I am switching the SFHs to that. I am so done with this virus crap. At least... knock on wood, it is just in that one pen.
I am seeing some good results in forcing the vitamins on the topsy turvy chicks I have in here. I was doing some reading earlier about the clinical signs of vitamin E vs vitamin B1 deficiencies. The signs are the same. I may start adding vitamins to the birds' water in the brooder cause it just seems the chick starter is lacking the vitamins they need once they reach a certain age. I can't put these birds out yet cause I have no room and it is too much of a temperature change right now after being in the brooder house.
I am not getting notification of posts on BYC. I keep resubscribing but I am not getting the emails. It drives me nuts!
If I can get the chicks interested in the FF I plan to try feeding that instead of chicks starter for awhile to see how they do.

 

[chicken danz]

I had a fright moment all of the sudden which turned out to be a good save. It suddenly occured to me I had put the FF in my glavanized feed troughs for the chicks. I ran out the door without shoes or a coat and found the troughs were all empty and no one was ill. I think most of the galvanized part is long gone anyway. I think I'll pick up some plastic containers just in case.
Anyway I was so glad I had the moment of fright because the breaker was off and it was cold and dark in there. Amazingly no one seemed over stressed by the cold though. I have no idea why the breaker tripped but I reset it and all is good.
Even though they didn't eat it well at first obviously they got hungry enough to devour it.
This is really messy so I am going to try to drill the holes in the second bucket so I can drain it easier.
I may also buy a couple more buckets and try fermented chick starter as well so the babies get their medication. As long as I can keep the brooder house warm it should still ferment and at least I won't have to keep the chick feed in the house. If I can save on chick starter that will be a major plus.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Danz I dont soak mine to that extent. I make sure it is stew like not chicken broth like. Mine is fermenting fine that way and it isnt making a mess. If you have any extra pvc you can make a feeder like I did if you saw those pics. What do you think I should do to add humidity at lockdown this friday? I have a custard cup of water with the broken pottery pieces, should I add a rag? And were should I put it?

 

[Hawkeye95]

SHeesh, I had a good day yesterday and today back to being sick again! Ugh!

ANyway, SunflowerParrot--- It's not sounding like a 'possum at this point. I would agree it's a hawk or some thing else. A hawk would seem more likely. I had a hawk attack my turkey and she got really bad wounds in her back. Did you notice if there was any tearing/ripping on the back?

Trish, sounds like a fun time up to KC and back down with chicken pick ups! I understand the excitement! I'm not into any of those birds, but had she been a well known silkie breeder, I'd have been in 7th heaven! LOL Because of my hen that died, I'm now on the look out for another really nice black breeder/show quality pullet/hen. Sigh. The thing is, everyone is selling black birds, but they have really lousy breeding behind them. Most people have them come out of Paint, Lavender or BBS pens-- which is bad for what I'm wanting, which is a true black X black. I'm going to have to be really picky and eventually pay a lot of money for one when I find it. Le Double Sigh.

Danz, hope you can get everyone healthy soon. Sounds like you know someone close by where you can replace your birds.

Unfortunately, I'm skipping church this morning. Definitely not typical for me and I hate missing. Not to mention, I am part of the Praise Team, so I know it leaves them a person down, which I feel guilty about. I'm really hoping I feel better by New Years Eve-- we have plans I really dont want to miss out on. But I don't want to infect any of our friends, so I'll have to be in good shape. This morning I was sad to read that another person on one of my silkie sites lost 3 birds last night due to the low temps in her part of the country. She said they had a heat lamp and froze through anyway. I wonder what the heck their temps are!? I'm pretty happy with not living up North and having to deal with all of that. People were suggesting she bring the rest of her silkies inside and she got angry and said she would not do that, chickens belong outside. Okay, I agree with her! But I still brought a couple of my roosters in a few days back when it was too cold and they were showing signs of freezing their feet off. Oh that reminds me!! I got stacking cages for Christmas!!! There are 3 cages stacked and I can put them in my kitchen or dining room when I am washing birds and need them to stay inside while they finish drying and blown out. Now I just need a stand for my dryer! I'm really excited about my new stacking cages!

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, I'm really surprised yours weren't keen on it at first - mine went ape over it from the first offering. I've always found they prefer mash to pellets though, and the FF was just like a mash. I did find it too messy to continue doing it over the winter. I plan to resume it in the spring. In order to get it to ferment quickly, I had to do it in the house where it is warmer. That meant a lot of hauling heavy buckets around. It fermented in the cooler temps at the coop but not nearly as fast. So - I put it on hold until the temperatures warm up in the spring. I had heard from Karen that drilling holes in the bucket didn't work too well for her, so I never tried that. What I did do, is use a large strainer, that was able to stretch over the top of the 5-gallon bucket. So I ladled the FF into the strainer and left it to drain, then dumped the strainer into a plastic bowl to set out for them. Every time I went down to the coop, I dumped out a strainer-full and refilled it so it could drain for the next time. That worked okay although I'd be curious to know how Karen was managing hers, as I think she said she went from free-feeding pellets, to just feeding FF once per day, but I don't know how she got it all strained and drained in quantities required for once-per-day feeding.

Ned is full-on tom turkey these days. The past few days I practically never see him when he's NOT displaying - I guess those hormones have really kicked in. I noticed that Madge's back is showing some signs of wear even though I have never seen him mount her. Clearly he is doing it when I'm not looking. I'm wondering if a pair isn't such a good idea and he needs 2-3 hens to keep the wear down.....

 

[chicken danz]

I didn't go to church either. My dad was going to my sister's for Christmas today so I was just lazy. I need to get my act together.
I had a big strainer and a cullender I tried, but neither of them were big enough to fit over a 5 gallon bucket. Guess I'd better do some more looking. Maybe I am just messier than others but I had that stuff spilled every where. I did some more reading and I think the trick is to have very small holes and lots of them in the inner bucket. I have the 5 gallon bucket pretty full cause it takes most of that just to feed the brooder chicks. It is doing an excellent job of bubbling up though so I am pretty impressed with how good that part is working. Maidenwolf I think I would consider mine a pretty thick stew like. I have a inch or two of liquid that sits on top until I stir it.
Before long I am getting the brewers yeast from my son and I will start a third batch for the geese. They weren't at all interested in the little bit I offered them yesterday with the ACV base. I sure wish I had an attached garage cause it would be much nicer to do this sort of thing there rather than in the house. But I guess I'll just have to keep wishing. Needing the warmth to get good fermentation is the biggest problem right now. I can see that once summer gets here this is a project that gets moved outside if I haven't given up on it yet. If I don't see a substantial savings in food and overall health of my birds I won't continue it.
I have quite a shopping list here for today. The longer I sit here the more I think of I need to get.
No wonder I am always broke!!