I left my 5 week olds in the hoop yesterday afternoon because they were saying no rain until later in the evening and went to Topeka. We only got and inch and a half here, and they don't appear to have suffered any ill affects. I think they will be spending their first night out in the hoop coop tonight. I'm really tired of the smell and the mess.
@Chicken Danz, you have really had the weather this year. We get an inch and you get 4 (at least). I hope it dries everything out and you don't have any long term ill affects from this one.
Yeah we really have. They did say on the weather last night that surrounding Emporia some areas got between 5-7 inches. I thought maybe you got hit hard. You are one of the lucky ones. I had one customer this morning that just left. I sold a tiny bit more than I planned. Talked her into buying a half dozen guineas. That brings me down to a fair number now. I have a couple more I would sell but don't have to I guess.
I had planned to sell her hens but she took some younger birds and one hen so I was okay with that.
I have another customer coming late afternoon. I'm already drenched in sweat. It's going to be a miserable day.
I have a very basic, rookie chicken-keeping question that I think experience may answer better than articles I have found and read that are from ag university and ag dept. resources.
Here's the scoop. My 7 laying hens have all but stopped laying. I have just not gotten many eggs at all from them since I've gotten back from Illinois last Sunday. Here are recent possible factors. Tina, our little black Cochin Bantam, is being a full-on broody. We did have the coccidiosis issue 2 weeks ago, which they have been medicated for. We are down to just the preventative dose at this point. I did 5 days of treatment dose, and decided to continue a preventative dosage for 21 days, which gives all the oocysts time to cycle through their hatching and infectious stage before the chickens go Corid-free. They have about 7 more days at the preventative dosage before they're done with the Corid. It has rained and rained and rained again, and it has been unseasonably cool, which is par with what has been going on with the weather where most of y'all live. We lost one layer while we were gone to Illinois, due to a vent prolapse. We also added the new chicks to the flock that we got from from Danz about 2 weeks ago. The 3 smallest ones are in a wire dog kennel inside the coop, and the oldest one is with the other chickens. I don't know about molting, because we've just not yet experienced it, since we've only had the chickens for 9 months and raised them from chicks. Do any of you long-time chicken raisers have any ideas, based on this information, what could have caused my girls to stop laying?
On that note, I found this Facebook post to be timely with my situation and pretty funny. However, I will NOT be laughing if my girls' non-laying spell goes long enough for me to have to BUY those expensive store-bought eggs!!
Quote:
You have isolated all the probables, there. I would say the Cocci problem and treatment could be a contributing factor. I hadn't heard about going 3 weeks with it. The new chickens in the coop will disrupt patterns and throw them off. I've gone from 5-7 eggs a day to 3, too, with no real changes. Chickens are weird. Sometimes they lay, sometimes they don't . My DH said this morning that one of the eggs he had taken to work had such a thin shell that it collapsed and slid off the counter to the floor before he could get the shell over the cup yesterday. That is worrying for me since my green layers are all about 3 1/2 years old. Is there a withdrawl period for Corrid? I have some, but have never needed to use it (fingers crossed). I bought it before I got the chickens, so I probably should check the expiration date on it.
I have a very basic, rookie chicken-keeping question that I think experience may answer better than articles I have found and read that are from ag university and ag dept. resources.
Here's the scoop. My 7 laying hens have all but stopped laying. I have just not gotten many eggs at all from them since I've gotten back from Illinois last Sunday. Here are recent possible factors. Tina, our little black Cochin Bantam, is being a full-on broody. We did have the coccidiosis issue 2 weeks ago, which they have been medicated for. We are down to just the preventative dose at this point. I did 5 days of treatment dose, and decided to continue a preventative dosage for 21 days, which gives all the oocysts time to cycle through their hatching and infectious stage before the chickens go Corid-free. They have about 7 more days at the preventative dosage before they're done with the Corid. It has rained and rained and rained again, and it has been unseasonably cool, which is par with what has been going on with the weather where most of y'all live. We lost one layer while we were gone to Illinois, due to a vent prolapse. We also added the new chicks to the flock that we got from from Danz about 2 weeks ago. The 3 smallest ones are in a wire dog kennel inside the coop, and the oldest one is with the other chickens. I don't know about molting, because we've just not yet experienced it, since we've only had the chickens for 9 months and raised them from chicks. Do any of you long-time chicken raisers have any ideas, based on this information, what could have caused my girls to stop laying?
On that note, I found this Facebook post to be timely with my situation and pretty funny. However, I will NOT be laughing if my girls' non-laying spell goes long enough for me to have to BUY those expensive store-bought eggs!!
The disruptions might be factor and this sudden high heat would also contribute to no laying. The corid should have no effect on them Your girls are generally too young to molt so that shouldn't be a problem although it is time for that to begin. I have a few who have started even though it's usually fall when they do. I think our changing weather patterns are contributing to all the birds no cycling as normal. This whole year has been off and the birds have certainly shown it. I'd be sure to increase protein, and calcium right now. The best way to do that is with as many fresh veggies and greens as you can give them. If you have a friend with a garden ask for any of their scraps or by products as long as they aren't moldy. If you can find some calf manna you can add about a quart to 50 pounds of feed you give the birds. For most people a 50 pound bag would last forever. Or if you don't want to purchase anything that big, buy some do food with smaller pieces and add a little to their feed or give it to them as a treat. Look for higher protein and a high calcium. Cheap is good. No reason to spend a fortune.
Originally Posted by sharol
Most people don't give Corid to laying birds because it's rare there that they contract cocci but it does happen if their health is poor or if they are stressed. There is a 24 hour withdrawal for slaughter. It really hasn't been studied and says so on the container. I wouldn't worry about it at all unless a member of the family has sulfa drug allergies. The amount ingested would be so minute I doubt if anyone would ever have any reaction even if it did have an effect. I've forgotten more times than I like to admit that antibiotics had been given and have never ever had any reaction to them. With my system I would definitely be a candidate for a reaction if anyone was.
Speaking of my system, I've been battling cleaning out the muck again caused by the rain. Now I have a sinus infection which has gone to my chest and given me bronchitis. I am so tired of coughing. It's always something.
I had more customers last night so I still have one pen to clean out and/or move. It's a nasty muddy smelly place right now. If I have the time I may set up a new pen somewhere and start channeling some young cockerels in there, then put the pullets all together based on size. I really had planned to spend the day cleaning this house since it's going to be so hot but thought I would have more done outside than I do.
We got the vent in the building yesterday. Now we need to wire in the big fan and vent on a thermostat so it kicks on and the vent opens automatically. I could certainly tell what a benefit it was going to be when it was open. I need to go buy a thermostat someplace to operate it. Of course the wiring still needs to be done as well. It made a huge difference in the temp of the building.
The disruptions might be factor and this sudden high heat would also contribute to no laying. The corid should have no effect on them Your girls are generally too young to molt so that shouldn't be a problem although it is time for that to begin. I have a few who have started even though it's usually fall when they do. I think our changing weather patterns are contributing to all the birds no cycling as normal. This whole year has been off and the birds have certainly shown it. I'd be sure to increase protein, and calcium right now. The best way to do that is with as many fresh veggies and greens as you can give them. If you have a friend with a garden ask for any of their scraps or by products as long as they aren't moldy. If you can find some calf manna you can add about a quart to 50 pounds of feed you give the birds. For most people a 50 pound bag would last forever. Or if you don't want to purchase anything that big, buy some do food with smaller pieces and add a little to their feed or give it to them as a treat. Look for higher protein and a high calcium. Cheap is good. No reason to spend a fortune.
Originally Posted by sharol
Most people don't give Corid to laying birds because it's rare there that they contract cocci but it does happen if their health is poor or if they are stressed. There is a 24 hour withdrawal for slaughter. It really hasn't been studied and says so on the container. I wouldn't worry about it at all unless a member of the family has sulfa drug allergies. The amount ingested would be so minute I doubt if anyone would ever have any reaction even if it did have an effect. I've forgotten more times than I like to admit that antibiotics had been given and have never ever had any reaction to them. With my system I would definitely be a candidate for a reaction if anyone was.
Speaking of my system, I've been battling cleaning out the muck again caused by the rain. Now I have a sinus infection which has gone to my chest and given me bronchitis. I am so tired of coughing. It's always something.
I had more customers last night so I still have one pen to clean out and/or move. It's a nasty muddy smelly place right now. If I have the time I may set up a new pen somewhere and start channeling some young cockerels in there, then put the pullets all together based on size. I really had planned to spend the day cleaning this house since it's going to be so hot but thought I would have more done outside than I do.
We got the vent in the building yesterday. Now we need to wire in the big fan and vent on a thermostat so it kicks on and the vent opens automatically. I could certainly tell what a benefit it was going to be when it was open. I need to go buy a thermostat someplace to operate it. Of course the wiring still needs to be done as well. It made a huge difference in the of the building.
Sorry you are feeling crappy. Breathing in all that humidity and corruption does that to me, too.
I am fostering a kitten that wasn't doing well at the shelter. I'm cautiously optimistic about her. She has gone from 20.8 oz on Thursday to 25 oz. this morning and she is finally eating. They have a home for her if we can get her weight up. She is supposed to be 12 weeks old, but she is TINY. Her legs are long and her actions are typical of an older kitten, so she may just be small for her age. She was brought in when someone found her abandoned in their yard, but she just wasn't thriving at the shelter. Lovely little calico.
I also have a political meeting this evening -- fundraiser for the party -- so things are getting interesting around here.
Hope you get to feeling better. The weather may help in your case (you like it warmer than I do).
Speaking of kittens I meant to give an update. A few days ago our mother cat had 3 little yellow kittens. They were over 24 hours old and I checked her and it was obvious she still had kittens in her. I told DH she would die if she had dead kittens left inside her due to infection. Yesterday I checked her again and she seemed normal. Lowe and behold I found a gray kitten and a black kitten she had had somewhere between 24 to 48 later after she had the other two. She seems fine but there is always a chance she could get an infection from that long period in between. i'd certainly hate to bottle feed 5 kittens.
Sharol, many years ago we had a cat that had premature kittens. One of them managed to live but had no litter mates and seemed to be retarded. It didn't grow or eat or move around like a normal kitten even when it was 2 months old. It still looked like a new born after all that time. Another cat had three kittens so I took a chance and put the dwarfed kitten in with her and her kittens. The kitten took right to the surrogate mom. All of a sudden she started growing and interacting and playing like the other kittens did. I have believed since then those kittens need to interact and learn from siblings. She was always very tiny for her age but turned out to be a beautiful sweet cat who was later adopted out.
My favorite cat of all time who passed a couple years ago was an orphaned cat. I got her and two siblings at about 2 weeks of age. They weren't able to eat on their own yet so I hand fed them and took care of them She was in all respects human. She was the smartest most loveable cat ever. I swear she understood every thing I said to her. Because I put them under the kitchen faucet to clean them each time they ate she never had a fear of water. She would go in the shower or swim in a stock tank. The bad part of that was I was growing fish and plants for a water garden business I had and she had no problem jumping in the stock tanks to catch fish.
Danz I'm sorry you're sick, I hope you feel better soon. I agree, probably all of the darned rain didn't help you. I'm so terribly allergic to mold myself. I developed that allergy when I lived outside Derby & we had an old cellar underneath the kitchen that always got water in it when it rained a lot. We had clay like you do Danz & it just didn't drain well. We had a slab foundation & when we tore up the old tile beneath the carpet in the livingroom it had mold all underneath it, it was nasty. No wonder I developed an allergy to it. I did a lot better after we got rid of that.
I sold all of my guinea keets yesterday to one guy who drove down from Leon. I was so thrilled to have all of those gone! I also sold another rooster so every one that leaves is one less to feed, yay! I still have at least a dozen out there but some are still chicks. I have some guineas growing out in the growout pen for myself but I will pick out the females & sell the males when I can tell which are which. I need more females for breeding because I couldn't keep up with people wanting guineas this year & had to buy eggs to hatch twice. I'm starting to hear the buckwheating in that growout pen so I know I have some females in there. I ended up with almost all males last year so it will be nice to get some females this time. I let the extra males free range outside & eat ticks & they sleep in the trees over the guinea pen. It's a good way to get them to stay because they hear those females in there. They go eat with my laying flock in the main coop & every night when I clean out my buckets after feeding the FF they come running over to eat the leftovers at the faucet that come out of the buckets. I can call them if they're not right there but usually they watch for me to go wash the buckets & come running anyway. It's so funny so see them do that & they will call for the rest. They're just goofy birds & I get a kick out of watching their antics in the yard.
That's strange Danz that cat waiting so long to have the last two kittens. I have never seen one do that. We have several kittens here right now that are pretty wild, you can't catch them usually. They were born outside & live out there to catch mice. I have seen the one momma calling for her kittens in the evening to take them out to hunt. She will start up the hill in the driveway & call as she goes & you see kittens coming out & running after her.
Thank you, Sharol and Danz, for the ideas and information on the laying issue. I will add some protein, for sure. I already offer them supplemental calcium in kind of a free-choice situation. I have a couple little cup feeders screwed into the coop and I keep them filled with oyster shell so those who want it, get it. I really think all of the recent changes might have stressed them out, too, because (quite frankly) they've stressed me out! My layers didn't really seem to be affected by the coccidiosis. However, since they only represent less than 1/3 of my flock right now, I had to put the Corid in the waterers to treat all of the younger birds. I didn't find any withdrawal period specifications fur during or just after treatment.
Danz, I really liked your story about the little kitty that struggled until being integrated with her new little family! It is amazing what interaction with siblings and a mom can do for any animal species, including humans. I also hope your mama that birthed the two kittens later turns out alright. Poor girl.
Trish, I had never seen guineas until our trip to Danz. They've got the funniest call ever. I can see why you find them entertaining. They have interesting personalities!
I am resting at home between swim meet sessions right now. I am a USA Swimming official, so when I am at one of my kids' meets, I am almost always officiating. The kids have a sort-of "last chance" meet today, if you will. This meet is their last chance to make new or additional District or Championship time cuts before the end-of-season qualifying meets happen starting next weekend. My two boys made some new time cuts this morning. I enjoy watching competitive swimming, but I ESPECIALLY love watching my own kids swim!
I have a very basic, rookie chicken-keeping question that I think experience may answer better than articles I have found and read that are from ag university and ag dept. resources.
Here's the scoop. My 7 laying hens have all but stopped laying. I have just not gotten many eggs at all from them since I've gotten back from Illinois last Sunday. Here are recent possible factors. Tina, our little black Cochin Bantam, is being a full-on broody. We did have the coccidiosis issue 2 weeks ago, which they have been medicated for. We are down to just the preventative dose at this point. I did 5 days of treatment dose, and decided to continue a preventative dosage for 21 days, which gives all the oocysts time to cycle through their hatching and infectious stage before the chickens go Corid-free. They have about 7 more days at the preventative dosage before they're done with the Corid. It has rained and rained and rained again, and it has been unseasonably cool, which is par with what has been going on with the weather where most of y'all live. We lost one layer while we were gone to Illinois, due to a vent prolapse. We also added the new chicks to the flock that we got from from Danz about 2 weeks ago. The 3 smallest ones are in a wire dog kennel inside the coop, and the oldest one is with the other chickens. I don't know about molting, because we've just not yet experienced it, since we've only had the chickens for 9 months and raised them from chicks. Do any of you long-time chicken raisers have any ideas, based on this information, what could have caused my girls to stop laying?
On that note, I found this Facebook post to be timely with my situation and pretty funny. However, I will NOT be laughing if my girls' non-laying spell goes long enough for me to have to BUY those expensive store-bought eggs!!
Keep an eye on your hens for a day or two, I would suspect they have another nest that you have not found. When one sneaks off they all lay in the hidden nest.
Is anyone familiar with Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon MO?
Since I seem to have lots of roosters and minimal hens i am going to have to revamp my counts.
Figured I would use the hatchery since I need a few different breeds.
Additionally the better half wants me to find out everyones input on Roo or not, I say its a Roo just because of how my luck is going
I did also secure an area outside of the City Limits I can use, its going to take lots of prep work before I can even start thinking about fencing. I can access electric out there but for now I will have to shuttle my water around and make a temp. coop as I am not able to put a permanent structure out there (I don't own it so I would have made a permeant one anyways) Planning on adding some meaters with my Roos out there so when I do go to process for meat I can make it worth my while and I can keep the hens and as the wife puts it "the cute ones" here in town.
