Heather she originally fell in love with an albino (pink) corn snake. With an endorsement like that she might get one of them. I really wanted to feed frozen too, and heard they were difficult to switch over, but I didn't realize it might be impossible.
If she ever wants to come over and visit mine, just give me a call.
HEChicken, I am really upset. I went out to feed and water and my RP Tom is NOT doing well.
He's been just fine but he was just standing there like he was in a daze instead of strutting and stuff. I put wormer in his water and gave him a dose of metronidazole and now he is just laying there with his eyes closed. I picked him up and set him in the shelter and he had no fight left in him. He's been perfectly fine. I noticed yellow diarrhea in the pen. Not a good sign. Not sure what it is but now I'm afraid all the other turkeys might come down ill. Heart breaking! I did give both the girls a half doze of metronidazole as well to be safe. I know I have a couple eggs that are fertile but I sure don't want to loose him now that the girls are laying. I figured out which one laid yesterday and I don't know if one or both of them are.
I also found another pullet egg in one of pens where I had put the 5-6 months old birds. At least this one I understand but have no idea who laid it.
This has NOT been a good week bird wise. I wish I knew what to do to save this guy.
Oh no, oh no, oh no - I am devastated to hear this news. I almost hate to ask how he is doing this morning. I had to go help a friend yesterday afternoon for what was supposed to be a couple of hours but one problem led to another and it was late before I got back so I didn't get this news until this morning. Turkeys seem to be at the same time both strong and fragile. My original Tom (Ned) went downhill shortly after I got him. His symptom was lethargy. He didn't strut or gobble and spent most of his day just sitting in one place. When he did move, it would be to walk to a new location and sit down again like he was exhausted from the effort. At that time I was so new to turkeys I had no idea what was wrong. That was when I read up on Ivermectin in the water for the first time and decided to worm the chickens. It never even occurred to me it was worms causing Ned's symptoms but fortunately the Ivermectin treated the whole flock. A day after I started it, he was at the feeder eating like there was no tomorrow and he never looked back again after that. Within a week he was strutting and gobbling like crazy and he went on to father many, many offspring. Unfortunately he died in 2013 and it was sudden like you are describing. One day he didn't look good and that night I lay in bed worrying about him and decided to start him on Ivermectin first thing in the morning "just in case" but in the morning I found him dead.
I will be anxiously waiting for news and hope against hope that your tom is looking better this morning.
We are stressed to the max.
been dealing with county and other morons rewriting codes in our area just to screw us out of our birds.
I put up one hell of a fight, and so far its been quite for about 6 weeks
Wouldn't you be grandfathered in?
Well I only have a pair at present of the Wheaten Ameraucanas, I've been trying for a year to raise some more hens to add to the flock, but no luck so far.
Danz, I'm sorry to say those sound like Blackhead symptoms. That is what killed my first RP tom I had, he got sick & died so fast I didn't really have time to figure out what he had & then by the time he did I was able to get the meds & treat the hens so they didn't get it. I'm not sure if that is what my RP hen died from, she really didn't seem the same as the tom. Unfortunately if the tom is that sick I doubt he will drink anything & I don't know how long it takes that med to take effect either. That particular disease only can be treated with that one drug.
I really like the Wheatens. They make a different sound than any of my other hens - it is very distinctive and I know where they are just by listening. It occurred to me yesterday that it may not be one of them laying the new green egg. I have a pullet I hatched last year who is mixed but looks like an EE with ear muffs etc. Looking at her, I could always imagine her laying colored eggs, and she, like the Wheatens, hangs out in the area where I've been finding the new green egg. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it is her laying it and that way I still have two chances for blue eggs from the Wheatens. Whoever it is has finally figured out the process and built herself a little nest in the hay wall, where I found the egg yesterday. Hopefully she returns to it regularly so I don't have to hunt around the sheep pen looking for wherever it dropped.
I don't think I had ever heard that your first tom died of Blackhead. Is blindness a symptom of blackhead? I should probably read up on that ailment since I know so little about it - I know my understanding was that you either have it in your area or you don't. If you do, turkeys are most likely to succumb to it. Beyond that, I don't even know what symptoms to look for.
We were leaving my SIL's (in town) last night and DH saw a fox. They'd lost a duck to a fox last year.
Whenever I walk past the kitchen door, and frequently when I'm just doing things in the kitchen, I look out at the chickens. This morning I happened to look out and see two of the chickens flapping around like they were scared of something. I opened the door to get a better look, and saw a fox in the alley, standing right at the fence and staring at the chickens. I went out and the fox wasn't the least bit worried about me. I banged on the fence and it trotted down the alley. By then, all the chickens were back in the coop, so DH just closed the door on them. I guess we won't let them out until it's fully light outside.
What was interesting is that the chickens weren't making any noise. If they see a cat, they sound the alarm. Why not with a fox?
We've had foxes in town for many years, but this is the first time I've seen one in our neighborhood. I always figured there were so many dogs on our block that the foxes didn't like it.
Wow Cherwill - so glad you were there. Foxes really are very non-fearful of humans - that has been my experience with them too. As to why the chickens didn't alert, I can't answer, because I'm surprised at that myself. When my chickens were being hunted by the fox in 2012, most went into hiding and were very quiet but a couple of flock leaders were out in front singing the egg song like crazy but in a sort of desperate, anxious way. I don't know how much of that was because I was out there with them and they were trying to communicate with me that they had a visual on it, and how much they would have done even if I weren't there with them, since it would seem that quietly hiding would be a better defense than announcing their presence by making a racket.
HEChicken, I'm glad processing went well, I understand what you're saying about it being easier to process one that causes problems. I will I'm sure have a few extra cockerels to do something with after I grow some of these chicks out of various breeds. I can tell right away with the Cream Legbars, but at the same time I need to grow them out to choose which ones I want to keep for breeding stock, so I will have some extras later on. I can't tell on the lavender Orps yet since they aren't showing any bigger combs or red combs as of yet. Wouldn't it be nice if all of the breeds were sex linked & we could always know right away which were cockerels.
HEChicken that BR rooster I have is still growing, he just seems so clumsy, because I guess he hasn't grown into his big feet yet. Those two little pullets I got from you are starting to really grow now, one is bigger than the other one.
Yeah, my DH came in while I was skinning and said "Frank does good work". He couldn't believe how big this guy was! He just barely fit into my chicken cone and I half thought I might have to go get the turkey cone to put him in. Considering that my huge ducks fit in the chicken cone, that is really saying something. Once he was skinned, I almost couldn't get him in the crockpot. If it didn't have a lid that latches down, it never would have worked. My old crockpot, the lid just sat on top and in that, the lid would have been sitting askew for the first few hours of cooking.
Trish, has your BR cockerel's attitude improved? And have you processed any since we did the ones at your place that day?
I can't remember who it was who commented on the sex link discussion but I just wanted to say that in the chicken world, it seems there is always something new to learn. I personally am fascinated by learning more about breeding - what works and what doesn't. I found that link I posted to be some of the best sex link information I've ever read. Some people get so into genetics discussions that they wind up using a lot of technical language and information and lose me, since I don't have a background in genetics and can't follow a really technical discussion. However the person who wrote that article I linked to, kept in mind that not all audiences have a genetics background and he stuck to explaining it in a way that I could follow it and understand it better. I really liked his charts too, as they made it easier to figure out what combinations will work and what won't. And it helped to have some of the photos as well. I found it interesting that some combinations will produce sex linked chicks that are obvious at hatch - i.e. chicks will either be red or white - whereas others you will have to look closer. The chicks will all be chipmunks but the males will have one color while the females will have another, at just one point on their body. Fascinating!
Trish, did you get a chance to go back and review that? I think it was the latter that will result from your NH/Wyandotte cross - i.e., the chicks will all be chipmunk but you will still be able to differentiate the males from females by looking closely.
