Consolidated Kansas

[CHIKENROOKIE]

I have got to stay of craigslist!! Too much talk of chicks!!! When Oh when will the warm weather arrive????

 

[22qZoo]

KSKingBee- thanks for all the info. We have an earthome that is pretty efficient in a lot of ways but its getting older and some things just need to be updated after a while . The slab/floor has all the duct work and plumbing so some of that is difficult to change. The system you and QueenBee have sounds awesome .
Danz- that's interesting what you said about the starlings, I'll have to watch that this year . I had a couple hens get that eye/sinus thing last year when it was really hot but didn't notice any starlings. We have tons of bluejays and cardinals and junkos , they make about as much noise as the chickens and the geese do when the feeder is empty.

 

[chicken danz]

22qzoo I used to have all kinds of bird feeders out and loved watching the birds. I had a great selection and rarely got any junk birds as I call them. But summer before last when I got my first taste of a group of birds getting sick from migrant birds I quit. I really do miss it. I used to make my own suet cakes which were principally peanut butter and lots of grains too which I found the blue birds and wood peckers had a huge weakness for.
We've been over run with sparrows but they don't seem to be much of a problem. But the starlings are bird disease on two wings. I used to go out and just shoot in the middle of them but after a while they get used to it and don't even fly off. There was bird poop on every food and water bowl out there yesterday from the darned things. I'll be moving the feed bowls all inside today so they will be out of the weather. That won't keep the starlings out of them completely but it might help. I don't want to move the water inside so I guess I'll have to deal with them and the water. Maybe it will thaw enough today they'll move else where. Wishful thinking!!
I've got a full day today. There's lots I need to do to get ready for a week of storms. Plus some other things to take care of. Maybe with luck it will be pretty quiet the rest of the week.

 

[HEChicken]

Groan. I just saw the weather forecast for this week. Several days in a row where the high for the day barely makes it out of single digits, and a forecast low one night of -5. Not to mention the 5-8" of snow to shovel. Ugh. Today is the last day above freezing all week. Hopefully after this blast we'll get a break for a little while….

We get a lot of wild birds here too. At our old house, the grackles were a terrible problem once they discovered the chicken feeder - I couldn't keep feed in it for the chickens as the grackles would swarm in and empty the feeder in no time once I filled it. I tried everything to deter them to no avail. Our here I don't lose much feed to them because my only feeder is in the coop and they would have to enter via the pop door to get to it and they are reluctant to do that. Nevertheless, there are wild birds in the yard pretty much all the time and I have a pair of starlings that nest in the propane tank which is only a few feet away from the chicken yard, every year. I saw them out there this morning building their nest. I'm sure they are pleased I got sheep and goats this year. The sheep rub against the fence and being hair sheep, leave lovely tufts of wool for the birds to use to build their nest.

Not much other news around the farm. My RP tom was looking a little droopy a few days ago so I decided to worm him. He was still displaying so wasn't that sick, but he seemed to be spending more time sitting around than he usually does and I don't want to take any chances with him. I wormed the whole flock with Ivermectin a month or so ago but the turkeys seem more susceptible so I decided to hit him directly with a different wormer in case the Ivermectin was not what he needed, or he had picked up something in the meantime. I used Safeguard this time, and had to guess a little on the dosage. Plus, I got the horse wormer that is a paste and of course when I squirted the dose into his mouth, he spat some of it out so I had to give him a little more to make sure he got enough. How much he actually got will remain unknown but hopefully it was enough. Danz, I know you've used Safeguard in the past - do I do the second dose after 7 days or 10, do you remember?

 

[lizzyGSR]

We already have 6 inches of snow on the ground and are forecast to get up to 6 more inches by the end of the day tomorrow. WE're also supposed to get some wind, which could blow all this moisture away! Ugh! We need the moisture, but we could do without the wind! I am really hoping that the sun did its job yesterday and at least made a crust on the snow we've already got so it won't all blow away. We're hurting for moisture pretty badly here still. We have already had several days with sub-freezing high temperatures. The next several days look like they're going to make the weather we've had the last few days seem balmy and warm. Wednesday and Thursdays high are in the low single digits with lows in the negative single digits, not counting wind chill. My ducks/geese don't stray far from the duck house when there is snow on the ground. Those poor birds haven't done much but sit in/under the duck house for several days, and the next several days aren't looking much better. The 5 day forecast has today being the warmest by a ways with a high of 27. The next warmest day in the 5 day forecast is tomorrow with a high of 16*F actual temperature (not including wind chill). BRRR!!!!!

On Saturday, I went out to do chores, and the calves were very impatient for their grain. The pen they are in is in the shape of a tear drop where the point of the tear drop is the water tank. The bigger calf just couldn't stand to wait another 30 seconds for me to walk across the pen, and he jumped in the stock tank trying to get to me (that end of the pen happened to be closest to where I was letting myself in the gate to walk across the lot to where the calf pen is). Thankfully, I was able to leave the grain/hay where it was and pressure the calf into backing out of the stock tank and getting back into the pen where he belongs. Somehow jumping into the stock tank in sub-freezing temperatures sounds like a really bad idea. He apparently didn't think so... The good news is that he is fine and doesn't seem any worse for the wear. The bad news is that he probably didn't learn his lesson. DH ended up putting a piece of a stock panel across the water tank to keep them from trying to jump into the tank again.

In other news, my little man is three months old today.

 

[chicken danz]

The dosage for safeguard is the same for ivermectin. 4cc per gallon of water. They recommend you use it for 2-3 days in a row. I found out my birds hate it and won't drink it unlike the ivermectin. So I put some sugar in the water. Still not sure how much they get but it seemed to have worked. If they have cecal worms a three day treatment should work as long as you make sure the ground is clear. If they have capillary worms it takes about 3 weeks for them to reproduce. So using safeguard I'd keep it going for 3 days and then worm again in about 3 weeks. That should cover pretty much everything. Round worms of course take about 7-10 days to reproduce but they aren't quite as deadly until they get built up and you can get rid of them with Ivermectin. I've read that many people worm with Ivermectin one time then with safeguard the next. I personally feel to be really effective it would be wise to use the safeguard two times, at three week intervals and the next time worm with safeguard.
I had one peachick that wasn't doing good at all last week. I mixed up some safeguard and took a syringe and squirted some down her throat. The next day she was much better. I left the treated water there for 3 days then just to make sure. Remarkably it had been about 3 weeks since I had wormed with safeguard before.
Someone asked what the cayenne pepper does. I read that it actually acts as a wormer itself and helps prevent attachment of the worms to their system. Plus the benefits of creating some heat to help keep them warm. I do know the turkeys really like it sprinkled in their feed.
Our forecast just keeps getting worse. The projection for here is 10 to 12 inches now. Then even more snow on Thursday and Friday. I almost was unable to get a load of feed ordered today because the co-op is so busy with other people wanting to get feed before the storm. I'd bet the grocery store shelves are pretty bare as well. I need to pick up some stuff to get by while I am in town.
Lizzy you can keep all this snow you want!!! Ethan is getting so stinking cute. I just want to snuggle him. I could so spoil him for you so you'd end up hating me later! I keep myself so busy, but I keep thinking if I had a grand baby close I would be one of those awful grandmas who won't stay home and wants to snuggle babies.
I had two eggs in the crate where the big Orp is in the house. I hadn't bothered to pick them up the last two days cause I doubt they are fertile. She suddenly decided she was going to hatch them. She gathered them up and pushed them under her in a corner. I had better be working on getting her bred! I sure don't want her broody with no fertile eggs.
I cooked the turkeys some more green eggs. One of them actually did a little eating. The other one still hasn't figured it out. The third one is still on it's back. I don't know how people like Frank that raise 1000 poults at a time ever get them to eat.

 

[HEChicken]

The dosage for safeguard is the same for ivermectin. 4cc per gallon of water. They recommend you use it for 2-3 days in a row. I found out my birds hate it and won't drink it unlike the ivermectin. So I put some sugar in the water. Still not sure how much they get but it seemed to have worked. If they have cecal worms a three day treatment should work as long as you make sure the ground is clear. If they have capillary worms it takes about 3 weeks for them to reproduce. So using safeguard I'd keep it going for 3 days and then worm again in about 3 weeks. That should cover pretty much everything. Round worms of course take about 7-10 days to reproduce but they aren't quite as deadly until they get built up and you can get rid of them with Ivermectin.

You must be using a different version of Safeguard. I bought a tube of the horse wormer, which is a paste and not soluble in water. They did also have it in pelleted form and I considered getting that but not knowing if he would eat it, I decided it would be a waste of money if he didn't, and the paste was the safer bet since I could force it into his mouth. Those were the only two forms of it available at my feed store though.

 

[Trish44]

Awww lizzy, he's such a cutie, wow time flies doesn't it! Before you know it he will be crawling & starting to get into everything.

Danz, we had those darned Starlings when I lived outside of Derby, they would come & build nests in my clothesline poles until I finally took them down. They are the noisest, nastiest birds & they would dive bomb at you when you went out in the backyard. I just hated them.

HEChicken, I hope your tom turkey gets better, I don't know why the toms seem to be the ones that get sick the most. Here is something I found on Safeguard on BYC:
---- from MSU ----
Fenbendazole Treatments
One-day Treatment
1 oz Safeguard or Panacur per 15-20 lb feed
Dissolve the fenbendazole product in one cup of water. Mix this solution well into the feed and give to the birds as their only feed source for one day. When completely consumed, untreated feed can be given. Be sure that the commercial medication contains 10% fenbendazole.
Safeguard is a product of Ralston Purina, and Panacur is a product marketed by American Hoechst. One ounce of medication will treat about 1000 10-oz bobwhite quail. Adjustments of the amounts of medication and feed needed may be necessary depending on the number and size of the birds.
Three-Day Treatment
1.2 oz Safeguard or Panacur in 100 lb feed
-or-
4 oz pkt of "Worm-A-Rest Litter Pack" (Ralston Purina) in 50 lb feed
-or-
5 lb bag of "Worm-A-Rest Mix Pack" in 495 lb feed
Feed all the medicated feeds free-choice for three consecutive days. The feed mixtures provide 75 ppm fenbendazole. Quail will receive about 1.7 mg/bird each day for adult birds or 2.75 mg/lb of bodyweight.

I have wormed with the Safeguard before but didn't do more than one round of it at a time, I guess I did the one day treatment. I have never used the paste before, just the stuff you mix in the water. I would think you would need to confine them so they can only get that water.

I sure am not looking forward to this snow coming tonight & tomorrow even though I really don't get outside that much right now I can go out at least to the main coop. But I don't think I will be wading through the snow to get there. My DH sure isn't looking forward to having to go out there in that weather to feed & water birds.

I had to put down one of my little Marans chicks this morning, it was just the humane thing to do. It was the one with the twisted leg, it just wasn't getting better & it wasn't going to make it. It couldn't walk at all & I knew it was going to die from starvation or dehydration so as much as I hated to I went ahead & put it down. All the rest of the chicks are doing great, running around & acting like normal chicks.

 

[chicken danz]

You must be using a different version of Safeguard. I bought a tube of the horse wormer, which is a paste and not soluble in water. They did also have it in pelleted form and I considered getting that but not knowing if he would eat it, I decided it would be a waste of money if he didn't, and the paste was the safer bet since I could force it into his mouth. Those were the only two forms of it available at my feed store though.

HEChicken what I read said to use the liquid goat wormer form of safeguard. That is what I used. I got it at TSC. I don't see it on line but they had it in the store. Here is a link to the product at Valley Vet so you know what I'm talking about.
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e0766b-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5
I know I read directions for the paste as well but I didn't want to treat every bird on the place by hand.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy you can keep all this snow you want!!! Ethan is getting so stinking cute. I just want to snuggle him. I could so spoil him for you so you'd end up hating me later! I keep myself so busy, but I keep thinking if I had a grand baby close I would be one of those awful grandmas who won't stay home and wants to snuggle babies.

I wish I were closer to you. I'd love to let you snuggle with him. Somehow, I can't imagine you being a burden when you visit. It sounds to me like you're always busy doing something productive, and I can only imagine that you'd be super helpful when you visit your grandkids.

Awww lizzy, he's such a cutie, wow time flies doesn't it! Before you know it he will be crawling & starting to get into everything.

Yes, time does fly! Way too fast!




OK, I got to thinking that I should make a small picture collage using one of Ethan's newborn pictures. The picture I posted earlier just didn't match any of his newborn pictures well enough to make a nice collage, so I took some pictures of him myself so I could make a collage. What do you guys think?