Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I really was amazed by your work Danz. Love the ideas and will have to come back for a work day to help sometime!
You definitely deserve a break even if it's unwanted. I will absolutely return the favor on the breeders when i find another line and build some pens. Can you add eggs into a flock without getting a new npip certificate?

You can hatch eggs from another person who is NPIP certified, but not eggs from someone who isn't. On the safe side right now, aside from NPIP, I would personally only get hatching eggs from southern states. They are the least likely to be infected with AI. If you go to the government site you can check which states have had AI cases and I would avoid buying hatching eggs from any of them.
Quote:

My antivirus is blocking a url from Backyard Chickens sites. It is apparently an advertisement with a link that is "malformed" meaning it can go somewhere you don't want to go. Just a heads up. I use Avast, and it is pretty diligent about malformed links on websites.

Thanks for the headsup. I never click on advertisements on BYC. I'm not getting any alerts from my antivirus. If you figure out what it is let me know please.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Tarabella I must warn you if you bring in birds from any outside flock that are not NPIP tested it voids your certification. That also includes hatching eggs you purchase. I am a tester and have been for several years. Technically any bird moved from state to state or sold publicly must again be tested within 90 days of the sale. Since there are no public sales in Kansas this year that isn't a factor right now. The NPIP tests just certifies that they are pullorum typhoid free. If the state came out and tested for AI that simply means they were free of AI when the actual test was performed. By no means does a certification mean that you can let biosecurity down or that your birds can't get sick. The NPIP test needs to be repeated once each year to remain current. You may be totally aware of all that but so many people just get the impression that once they have the test they are good. It just doesn't work that way.
I always test all the birds I take to events a day or two ahead of time. I have so many breeders I tend to test my own in certain groups at different times. It's the only way I can keep up with it. It would take me days to do them all at once.
As big a scare as AI has been if Pullorum Typhoid reared it's ugly head in the U.S. again it would wipe out the entire industry.

I normally test birds for the fair but this year I got a break. I get donations from some but the expense of testing can get insane for serum, needles and other supplies.
I just sold 88 birds this morning. That was a work out for sure since I caught them all myself. I sure didn't make much on them but that is at least 50 pounds of feed less a day I'll be putting out and three less pens to maintain. I imagine in a month or two I'll have another load of cockerels to thin once I choose some new breeders. In a perfect world I would be selling them all before that.
I still have a busy day ahead. It's really hot and steamy already. There is no wind at all.

Oh yes I understand. I am a Science buff and have a good understanding of the microscopic world LOL. I know what to look for in AI and how to help prevent it. I also asked a billion questions of the certifier LOL. That is another reason I would like to be able to test on my own. The birds I am expecting, and your birds of course are NPIP. That is one thing I have been careful about. I have had some customers confused as to why their children can run through the pens SMH, "sorry but my birds come first". I have specific shoes for the run as do my children.

About how much does it cost per bird to keep them tested, if I may ask?

I wish I were closer and I would take all of your excess cockerels off your hands, or at least help you caponize the excess LOL!

 

[RooksMom]

Thank goodness I've learned at least some self control when it comes to other animals. I raised rabbits when I was in OKC. The plan was to provide meat.. not show them. But I found I had trouble eating them after raising them. It wasn't that I was attached. I think it was the smell that messed me up. I am the same way about chickens. I never eat chicken within a few days of butchering. I have to get the smell out of my brain to enjoy it.
I did way too much the last couple days and now my arthritis pain is flaring with a vengeance. It makes it very hard for me to get motivated to do anything at all. I still have so much on my plate to get done. If it were a little cooler out I think I could work past the pain and get more done.
I have three buildings I need to move in the near future and I need to put new floors in two of those. I should be out working on those projects.

Very few of my rabbits were for show. I had two males, one New Zeland (flawed I guess, something to do with his ears) and one very oddly colored Californian. The Californians I would sell to 4h, but any that weren't sold as babies were dressed out and put in the freezer. I usually had about fifteen in the freezer at any given time. They sold well, not to mention having a chest freezer full of rabbit, and another full of venison by the time it started snowing made for tasty winters.


Quote: I wasn't meaning just put the little ones outside, I was trying to help a little with some breeds I know are cold hardy.

I have mixed feelings on the cooler weather. I've never been a hot weather person, I like the cooler temps, but I have had arthritis in my ankles since I was five years old (preemie) so winter kicks me around. It's not so bad since we moved to Kansas, I haven't had to use a krutch to be able to walk since we left michigan four years ago.

That is awesome, the incubator, I've been thinking about building one myself. I have a hen that is brooding right now, but one of the Rocks keeps climbinb into the nest next to her and laying eggs, and mama dutifully snuggles them under her, so I'll have a whole bunch of eggs that are not ready to hatch, when the ten eggs that origonally went under her start hatching. I wanted to try and incubate them through the rest of their hatching. I figure, can't hurt, if they don't hatch, I'm not out anyhting more then a dozen eggs, and if they do, I have more chickens.

(sorry for any spelling mishaps, my spell check has been disabled and I can't figure out how to turn it back on)

 

[chicken danz]

Oh yes I understand. I am a Science buff and have a good understanding of the microscopic world LOL. I know what to look for in AI and how to help prevent it. I also asked a billion questions of the certifier LOL. That is another reason I would like to be able to test on my own. The birds I am expecting, and your birds of course are NPIP. That is one thing I have been careful about. I have had some customers confused as to why their children can run through the pens SMH, "sorry but my birds come first". I have specific shoes for the run as do my children.

About how much does it cost per bird to keep them tested, if I may ask?

I wish I were closer and I would take all of your excess cockerels off your hands, or at least help you caponize the excess LOL!

It all depends. It's not sensible to become a tester unless you also test for other people. The serum is very expensive and it expires quickly. You have to buy 1000 doses at a time. The cheapest price is about $145 for one bottle. But an extra expense comes in shipping. It has to be overnighted and kept cold. No one will compensate if it gets hot during shipping either. In my case I have a lot of birds and it's easier to test them a few at a time. And then I get compensated more for my gas than anything for testing other's birds. I usually break fairly even if I have a couple of outside testings of large groups. But my serum always goes out of date long before I use most of it. The ideal is to find someone else who is testing and split a bottle. I've only managed to do that once. There just aren't enough testers out there nearby who I can split with.
The other major problem of course is to make sure you don't contact your own birds until you have gotten all your clothes off and in the laundry and taken a shower. You just never know what other diseases you might transfer. I use hypodermic needles to get the blood. The point on my loop is worthless and they hypodermic needles seem to work the best. You have to switch them out after so many birds though cause the points get dull. I buy them in large quantities so I can save money that way. Still it is an added expense. I've tried several things and that seems to work the best. Your box or plate is also an added expense. I'm not trying to discourage you. It's just a major expense to consider.
Actually I have sold all the older cockerels I had available. I have some young ones that I haven't decided on yet. They are mostly either too young to sex or I haven't got them grown up enough yet to see if I want them as breeders.
Originally Posted by RooksMom

When you go to reply you can click on the little box at the top of the reply area that has ABC and a check mark. That will individually check that message. If you post your browser is, I am pretty sure one of us can help you get your spell check back on. @sharol can probably help you with that the best. She is very computer savvy. I use firefox and lots of people don't so I don't know if I could help or not. You can also look up things like that things like that by doing a help search for your browser.
I am and always have been a warm weather person. I hate hate hate cold. It makes me hurt so bad... but then I never liked cold weather at all to begin with. I've not had arthritis my whole life but started getting it about the time I turned 20 and it has gotten severe in the last several years. I've had many surgeries because of it's destruction. So yes I can empathize with you on winter. I am miserable all winter every winter. Wet weather is just about as bad as winter weather any more.
If you build an incubator I suggest studying as much information before hand as you can. You can make a so so incubator without research but if you spend the time to make one you might as well have one that works well. If there is anyway you can afford to use digital components as opposed to some analog component it is going to work much better. @coleco is very good with electronics and can help you a lot.
I am hoping to switch course today and start working on my new peafowl building/pen, if I can talk DH into helping me move the building. I want to do all I can today cause it's supposed to rain the rest of the week. I guess time will tell if I get it done.

 

[Trish44]

The problem with the NPIP testing is that testers are few & far between so it's hard for people to find someone in their area to do it. I think if the government really wants us to test they need to make it more accessible & cheaper. I know people who want to have testing done who have found nobody to do it. In other states they do the testing virtually free so our state is really behind on helping in that regard. I have read some comments on FB that they have had a Dr. from Manhattan come out & do their testing but I doubt they're going to drive all over the state so unless you're pretty close I doubt that will happen. Another issue after you get tested is the availability of birds or eggs to purchase that are NPIP. With so few people in our state being certified it then causes you to seek birds or eggs out of state for what you want. It's a lot more expensive having to add shipping onto the cost of the birds or eggs & then people don't understand why your chicks are more expensive than the hatchery or farm store. A hatchery doesn't care about quality of the birds, they only care about how many they can roll out the door. It doesn't matter to them if the birds are pure bred or show quality, it's all about the dollar. I know Danz & I both try to obtain the best breeding stock we can to breed with & that comes at a big cost. It also takes months to grow out your stock & a lot of feed to get them to breeding age.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

It all depends. It's not sensible to become a tester unless you also test for other people. The serum is very expensive and it expires quickly. You have to buy 1000 doses at a time. The cheapest price is about $145 for one bottle. But an extra expense comes in shipping. It has to be overnighted and kept cold. No one will compensate if it gets hot during shipping either. In my case I have a lot of birds and it's easier to test them a few at a time. And then I get compensated more for my gas than anything for testing other's birds. I usually break fairly even if I have a couple of outside testings of large groups. But my serum always goes out of date long before I use most of it. The ideal is to find someone else who is testing and split a bottle. I've only managed to do that once. There just aren't enough testers out there nearby who I can split with.
The other major problem of course is to make sure you don't contact your own birds until you have gotten all your clothes off and in the laundry and taken a shower. You just never know what other diseases you might transfer. I use hypodermic needles to get the blood. The point on my loop is worthless and they hypodermic needles seem to work the best. You have to switch them out after so many birds though cause the points get dull. I buy them in large quantities so I can save money that way. Still it is an added expense. I've tried several things and that seems to work the best. Your box or plate is also an added expense. I'm not trying to discourage you. It's just a major expense to consider.
Actually I have sold all the older cockerels I had available. I have some young ones that I haven't decided on yet. They are mostly either too young to sex or I haven't got them grown up enough yet to see if I want them as breeders.

Yuck, I think I would rather put that toward more chickens! I had a guy directly from the State Ag Dept, he said that he doesn't have too many people wanting testing here. I thought it would be worth my time, but with expenses like that it would not come close. I have no plans to get more than 100 birds at a time, actually hope to keep it closer to >60. Thanks for filling me in.

 

[chicken danz]

TaraBella I'm really surprised you got someone from the state. They have funds to pay for that because of AI threat. But they run out of money before they year is over. This spring just as they were getting their annual allotment (it comes from the federal government...not the state) we had the big AI scare, so at that time they didn't have time to test their flocks.
I'm happy to do my own testing because I have a constant flow of birds going through here depending on what breeding season it is. It would really be impossible to get exact numbers most of the time. I'm working on that as I move birds to the building but I have about 60 geese out here right now until I sell several, and that really is a problem. You don't normally test water fowl for pullorum, but the state tests them for AI when they come out, so they have to be tested. I also have peafowl, turkeys, guineas, and ducks. The guineas, ducks, and geese all free range right now so it's a night mare to gather them up.
With luck my plan is to have everything in a pen and under control before cold weather.
I did go down to the Wichita area a couple times and meet with BYCers and test several people's birds at once. They weren't large groups so we met at a single location. Much the way I do testing for the fair. But I planned to be there anyway so it was no big deal.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I was surprised there was no fee. I wonder if it had something to do with me being so rural.

I am still waiting on my Dumpys and Orps. They are having issues with the Dumpys. They have a lethal gene. I wanted to ask more questions about thier breeding operation LOL but could tell that the woman was swamped!
I am like a first time parent, I can't wait.....

 

[chicken danz]

Nope, the federal grant pays for all that testing if you can get it done when the funds are available. But sometimes you have to wait months to get testing done. I think probably since there are no bird exhibits at all the fairs this year, and there haven't been more instances of AI since spring they actually have some time and some funds left. Normally you have to book months in advance.
I have to pay the state for each page I send in for an NPIP number.
We got the new building moved over by the peafowl pen finally just a little while ago. Every project seems to stem in to a thousand little projects to get anything done. Maybe tomorrow if it's not raining I can get some post holes dug and set some posts for the pen. Wishful thinking!
I forgot to mention I got my first egg from one of my home bred olive eggers. It's actually more of a pale green than olive. This one was a bit of an accident. I had one brahma hen who wasn't really what I wanted to breed in my project so I let her out to free range for awhile. She seemed intent on staying in the brahma pen so after a week or so I put her back in. Apparently she had been bred by the Araucana rooster while she was out and the egg just went in the project eggs. The pullet was beautiful; not what I was aiming for for the project, but so I put her in with the brahmas anyway. I failed to notice her back end was curved down instead of upright. She was smaller but I thought maybe she just needed to grow some. She surprised me with her first egg. I know I won't hatch any of her eggs cause they are a different color, but I am thrilled with the outcome.
I have at least two other pullets near point of lay that the araucana bred and I expect them to start laying fairly soon. You can easily tell them by their eyes which are much bigger than a normal chicken. It will be nice to have some more colored eggs in the layers.

 

[Grain Gypsy]

@RooksMom , welcome to the Kansas forum! I don't live too far from you. I live between Wichita and Valley Center (technically in the county). My husband and I have four kids; 2 boys and 2 girls. We have roughly 30 chickens at any given time. They are all pure breeds, but all different breeds. We have a motley crew of chickens, I guess. We're still in our first year of raising chickens. We raise them for the education, eggs, and 4-H (even though we didn't get to show this year due to AI restrictions). Most of our chickens came mail-order from MyPetChicken.com, mainly because I could buy them sexed and just one of each breed. We also got a few of Danz chickens recently. They are beautiful. Our learning curve has been steep. We started out free-ranging, and lost 8 chickens that way. We lost one to a fox, 3 to coccidiosis, and 2 to the heat. Learning through loss has been hard on us all, but we are getting wiser about chicken quirks and needs as time goes on.

@girlsnammo , may God give your family peace, comfort and healing during your time of loss.

So, Danz, I have a quick question for you. As an experienced Brahma breeder, do you consider the breed to be heat hardy? I'm trying to make sense of some losses I've had recently. I don't know if you remember, but I found that little blue brahma that we lost dead and buried under the pine shavings on the floor of our coop. When I finally found her, she didn't have any visible signs that would indicate why she died. Last week, we lost our Bantam Buff Brahma roo. I found him lying dead in the same place in the coop I found the other brahma (I think this was just coincidence), but it was after a very hot day and night. When I thought back to losing that little brahma we got from you, it was also after a very hot day and night. I am just wondering if they are a breed I need to baby a little more when these hot days arrive.

The broody-breaker worked! Tina Turner is no longer broody. We left her in the broody-breaker cage for 5 days. On the evening of the 5th day, I went out at dusk, got her out of the cage, and put her up on the roost. She hasn't been back in a nest box since.

I did my first bumblefoot surgery on one of my Red Stars last week, as well. My family wasn't very helpful in assisting me with holding on to her while I was working with the scalpel on the pads of her feet. They kept watching and getting queasy. I took the bandages off 2 days later, and she seems to be healing up nicely. I have several others I need to take care of, but I wanted to test the procedure on one of the girls and seeing how it went, before doing the procedure to all my bumblefoot surgery candidates.

Lastly, my girls still aren't laying much. I don't think it is even molt that caused the halt in production, for a couple of reasons. 1) They are only 9 months old. 2) They haven't lost any feathers. It is almost as if Tina's choice to go broody made all of the girls decide they would just take a break, too. One of the girls has continued on with the laying faithfully through the whole halt in production. I found a 2nd new/different egg in the nest box this afternoon. I can't tell if one of the oldest girls is coming back into production, or if one of my April chicks laid her first egg.

R.I.P., Bubba Brahma


Rocky Rooster watches after his ladies.