Consolidated Kansas

[coleco]

Happy Belated Danz!

I spared everyone here my winter panic yesterday! I was going to post about how my native Kansan intuition was screaming that winter is coming!
I am ok for winter, the birds will survive, but that is not my plan. My plan is to build at least 7 pens and runs before winter to kickoff my first attempt at a breeding program.
I have 5 different age groups of birds that i'm keeping alive right now as well as eggs in the incubator. I started calculating the amount of feed I will need this winter and gave up because that can cause a person to freak out!

It's one of those times where you go buy a 50' roll of hardware cloth just because you know you will really need 4 but will have to buy them over the course of months. I started buying ebay hatching eggs to begin the task of quantity over quality hatching. If i can get at least a few pure birds to hatch from the ebay eggs then I will rest much easier. I know it's a crapshoot they will all be scrambled. Timing right now just isn't right for shipping chicks, and the various importers are out of stock of the birds that I want to purchase so I have nothing to lose besides egg money.

They started laying eggs regularly again. I threw a bunch of oyster shell everywhere

 

[chicken danz]

It's going to be a very hot day today. I'm not looking forward to it but I still have plenty to do regardless. I have a full list of work to do but none of it is going to be pleasant in this heat and humidity.
Coleco you have quite an adventure ahead of you. At least once you have a breeding project going you can sell chicks. It's just going to be an expense until you get to that point. Eggs are at a premium right now so when you have extra eggs you can always sell eggs.
I'm not sure how feed prices are going to be cause it was a weird year. I fear that corn is going to increase a lot because of all the rain and the late spring. It's always a gamble but I feel right now is one of the best times to invest in birds.

 

[nick1234]

Hi all,
Been a while since I've posted, but I still get tons of great info off this site...

One of my chickens died yesterday. On Friday, it seemed lethargic... like didn't run away when I tried to pick it up, haha. it just kinda chilled all day. it was really quite hot, so I thought that might be it and decided to keep an eye on it though (because the others, while they seemed hot, were still moving around a good bit). Anyway, yesterday it died. On thursday, it seemed totally healthy.

Any ideas?

I checked for mites (well I tried at least... I'm pretty new to this and wasn't 100% sure what I was looking for + my wife and I were pretty bent out of shape/upset. I didn't see anything. I checked the other birds as best I could and didn't see anything.

Any other thoughts?

Thank you as always for any help you can provide!

 

[chicken danz]

Hi all,
Been a while since I've posted, but I still get tons of great info off this site...

One of my chickens died yesterday. On Friday, it seemed lethargic... like didn't run away when I tried to pick it up, haha. it just kinda chilled all day. it was really quite hot, so I thought that might be it and decided to keep an eye on it though (because the others, while they seemed hot, were still moving around a good bit). Anyway, yesterday it died. On thursday, it seemed totally healthy.

Any ideas?

I checked for mites (well I tried at least... I'm pretty new to this and wasn't 100% sure what I was looking for + my wife and I were pretty bent out of shape/upset. I didn't see anything. I checked the other birds as best I could and didn't see anything.

Any other thoughts?

Thank you as always for any help you can provide!

It could be any number of things. First we need to know how old it was and if it was a rooster or a hen. Where did it "chill" In a nest box, outside in the shade, floor of the coop, etc? Have you wormed recently?

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

This may sound stupid, but maybe this so-called AI (bird flu) could be caused by the medication they put in the poultry feed. It is a known fact that too much use of antibiotics weakens the immune system. The majority of the problem is in the large poultry complexes, and the heavily medicate the feed. I am just suspicious of government reports that may protect large corporations.

I hear where you're coming from! I am not a fan of unnecessary anitbiotics or Gov. meddling. In this case though the bird flu is being trasmitted though migrating birds. A bird flu epidimic would be devestating for 'big chicken corp' and small breeders alike.

I'm not sure how feed prices are going to be cause it was a weird year. I fear that corn is going to increase a lot because of all the rain and the late spring. It's always a gamble but I feel right now is one of the best times to invest in birds.

100% aggrement, and not just this year either. People, especially those in cities that allow them, are chicken crazy. The hard part is knowing what type they are going to want LOL. Silkies are always a favorite, and I hope to get some Showgirls in the near future. NN are great!

It's supposed to be really hot all weekend. I'm going to have to go out in a bit & spray things down & give my rabbits some ice. I'm really ready for some cooler weather, not cold but just a bit cooler for awhile.

I LOVE Fall, but it always turns into winter

and far too soon here.


It was lovely this morning, except for the mosquitoes. We got a bunch of yard work done. I still have a lot of work I need to do in the coop and brooding room but that will have to wait until It's cooler, and far less humid. My asthma has been terrible this year.

 

[nick1234]

ya sorry I should have included more info!

old pullet, should have been laying soon. the others should start laying soon too.

she was being lethargic mainly outside of the coop in the run. when I opened the door she went out of the run about five feet or so and then just sat there for a while. the run is semi-shaded.

do you have more info about worming? something I could read? I've actually never wormed!

 

[chicken danz]

ya sorry I should have included more info!

old pullet, should have been laying soon. the others should start laying soon too.

she was being lethargic mainly outside of the coop in the run. when I opened the door she went out of the run about five feet or so and then just sat there for a while. the run is semi-shaded.

do you have more info about worming? something I could read? I've actually never wormed!

My guess is one of two things. Either the heat was too much for her or she was wormy. if it was heat she most likely would have acted dizzy and disoriented.
There is a world of difference in opinions on worming and methods to do it so I am sure there'll be disagreements here. For chickens the main culprit is roundworms. There are several on the market products that will remove roundworms. However the one thing most people don't do is the follow up worming in ten days or so after they worm the first time. Any time you worm you need to do it again in a week to 10 days to kill the eggs that were left in the system and have hatched. I too, forget to do that second round of worming. I use 4cc of ivermectin injectable per gallon of water to eliminate moist worms. If you want to start basic and cheap you can buy Wazine which will only eliminate the round worms.
I worm every quarter. I try to worm the day each season begins just so I can keep track. I use ivermectin injectable one time and Safeguard goat drench the next time at the same dose. The goat drench will kill cecal and capilliary worms which aren't mecessarily a problem in chickens but are in other fowl. I have many birds though so it's just easier to worm them all for everything at the same time. This seems to work for me.
There are many things on the market that allegedly worm birds naturally but I'm not quite a believer. I think they help prevent worms if used on a regular basis but I don't believe they kill them. Some of these things are: cayenne pepper, diatomaceous earth,& raw pumpkin seeds.
It's a good time to worm these birds before they start laying because there is a withdrawal period for eating eggs. If it was worms and they were bad enough to kill one hen the others will have a full gut load and they really need treatment right away.

We got more rain early this morning. That is three mornings in a row. Yesterday it sprinkled off and on through out the day. The heat and humidity was just too much. We need the rain I am sure, but it is keeping me from getting a lot of dirt work done I need to. And I can't seem to stick with any project in this heat for long. It seems like I am just running in circles these days. It's supposed to be slightly cooler this week but unless the humidity decreases its still going to be miserable out. I never wish for cool weather but I have to admit I am really tired of the heat for now.

 

[Trish44]

I use the triple wormer by Rooster Booster, it covers 3 kinds of worms. You just mix it in with the feed, so that's easier for me with all I have & I feed FF so I can mix it in there. I just worm twice a year because if you have free range birds you're going to have worms, it's a given. I worm all of mine, pens & free range at the same time. It's harder to use something in the water with the free range birds because they drink water outside & any puddle they find instead of just what I would want them to.

nick1234 I agree with Danz, it could have been stress from heat, worms, it even could have been mites if you didn't know what you were looking for. There are types of mites that can be so bad they make the bird anemic & they eventually die. When I clean out my coops I put DE in there & Sevin Dust on all surfaces before I put my clean shavings in. It seems to keep things in pretty good shape till the next cleaning. You can dust your birds with Sevin or poultry dust if you suspect mites.

We got some rain yesterday when I didn't think we were supposed to get it & then again during the night & this morning. I hope it's done for now because I need to do some things outside that I can't do in the rain or humidity.

 

[Grain Gypsy]

@chicken danz , happy belated birthday! Thank you and @Ralph Moyer for the insight on the cayenne pepper. I have a HUGE Sam's-sized cayenne pepper, due to my penchant for spice, so I will have to try it on my girls to see if it prompts an upswing in laying. Speaking of...my husband said that he collected 4 eggs yesterday, including a blue one! That is the most eggs we've had in any given day for two months. That also means that Cheeky, my Blue Ameraucana, is off her egg-laying vacation!

The kids and I are taking advantage of our last week before school starts by spending it at my parents' house in Ulysses. I love coming home. There are just things about southwest Kansas that I appreciate and find beautiful. We took the kids out to drive the golf carts this morning, and I love the native plants, flowers, and trees. Of course, I also love just being "home" to visit my mom and dad. On our way here on Sunday, we stopped in the big city of Iuka, KS, to attend the Epley Family Reunion, my grandma's family's reunion.

I have a question I need help with. My friend called me this weekend with a chicken health question I didn't feel completely qualified to answer. He described a chicken who seemed lethargic, skinny, and just didn't want to move much. He was having to put her in the coop at night, because she wouldn't go on her own. I confirmed that she was around 12 weeks old and seemed fine pretty recently. I also confirmed that his chicks had been vaccinated for Mereck's. I encouraged him to check for an impacted crop when he got home, describing what to check for. I also told him to feel the sick chicken's crop compared to the other, healthy chickens' crops. He called me when he got home, telling me that her crop was definitely not right and "hard as a rock". I told him to bring her inside and provide her with food and water. I also told him to try to massage her crop and give her epsom salt dissolved in water to flush her crop and hopefully get things going, along with getting some grit and putting it in her food. A quick computer search suggested surgery, but he wasn't up to doing crop surgery. What do y'all do to take care of an impacted crop?

 

[chicken danz]

@Grain Gypsy I would have suggested giving her oil by a dropper or syringe, then massaging the crop. More water and grit but not more food until the problem was resolved. 12 weeks is awfully young to have an impacted crop. I would think that she had a lot of grass or something stringy in there and surgery might be the only cure. These can also go septic if it goes on too long which might require antibiotics. I think you did an excellent job of telling him what to look for.
I'm looking forward to a slightly cooler day today. I actually shut down the fan and closed the door in the brooding area in the building last night. I had just moved several young peafowl and turkeys out there without heat. Sure hope they did okay. They should have considering their age but none had been without heat here in the house until then.
I couldn't believe when I looked at the thermostat this morning and it only read 71.
I have high hopes for the day to get some much needed work done outside. Sure hope it is dry enough not to cause problems.