Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

TSC and Atwoods both carry Tylan. It may be in a locked cabinet and you have to ask a staff member to get it out for you.

Danz, thanks for the detailed info on your decision between the 1 and 3-ton grain bins. That totally makes sense and like you, I like to look at all the factors and predict future use as well so I really appreciate the detailed analysis. Hmmmm....its to think about for sure. I won't be pulling the trigger on anything real soon but will keep all those thoughts in the back of my mind.

I've had chicks hatching all day yesterday and through about lunch time today in both the incubator and under broodies. Awhile back I put my silkie and 3 cochin hens in my hoop coop, hoping that by keeping them from going broody in the main coop, I'd avoid having 20 broodies at a time like I have the past two years. Broody seems to be contagious and once one does, they all join her. So far so good - the only broody hen in the main coop is that silly little mutt hen brooding on the roosts. The 4 bantams in the hoop coop went several weeks without going broody which is pretty amazing for silkies and cochins in spring. Then a NH broke into the hoop coop so she could go broody in there and as soon as she started sitting, the 3 cochins joined her.

I gave them 8 eggs and it was funny to check under them - those eggs sure did the rounds. Any time a hen got up to take a broody break, the others would all hastily steal them. One thing is for sure - the eggs never got a chance to get cold. All 8 appear to have hatched. I've sighted 7 chicks at a time and haven't found any unhatched eggs. And all 4 hens are co-parenting nicely. Chicks will come out from under one hen to explore and then crawl under the nearest hen when they're ready to warm up again. Here is a photo of the 4 mama hens. Most of the chicks were under them at the time.

 

[chicken danz]

are they all sniffling and acting humped over or fluffed up? Or are they experiencing eye problems like this chick has and sneezing? The problem is we don't know if she got something in her eye and there is cocci going on or if it is a respiratory disease. I haven't seen too much respiratory in young chicks. Are these inside or do you have them in an outside area with heat? If it is outside it would probably be respiratory. If you are keeping them inside it would most likely be cocci.
For Corid give one teaspoon per gallon of water. For Tylan 50 try the directions I gave for that earlier. I get tylan 50 at TSC in a small bottle that works with a syringe. It is usually in with cattle and horse meds.
I wish you were closer so I could take a look at your set up and the chicks. I think I could probably guess what was going on better. Have you noticed any other signs or symptoms?
I have doubled up on antibiotics more than once but it's not necessarily a safe thing to do. Especially in chicks. I've done it when I was reasonably sure they weren't going to make it otherwise.
If you use the corid and there isn't a marked improvement in 24 hours it's probably not coccidiosis. Tylan won't cure coccidiosis but it works really good for respiratory illnesses.
HEChicken I've probably spent a year looking at the different types of grain bins and checking out how they can be adapted. So far this is awesome.
I've been out in the greenhouse setting up brooders for the goslings and trying to get ready to move the next batch out of the incubator. It's been a really full day with lots of interruptions. I got a load of feed today and it looks like rain. I'm so glad I don't have to go out in the wind and shovel it off into barrels to keep it dry.

 

[chicklover56]

are they all sniffling and acting humped over or fluffed up? A few of them are hunched over and fluffed up. I am not sure about sniffling. Or are they experiencing eye problems like this chick has and sneezing? The one with the swollen eye is the only one. The problem is we don't know if she got something in her eye and there is cocci going on or if it is a respiratory disease. I haven't seen too much respiratory in young chicks. Are these inside or do you have them in an outside area with heat? They are in my garage with heat lamps. If it is outside it would probably be respiratory. If you are keeping them inside it would most likely be cocci.
For Corid give one teaspoon per gallon of water. For Tylan 50 try the directions I gave for that earlier. I get tylan 50 at TSC in a small bottle that works with a syringe. It is usually in with cattle and horse meds.
I wish you were closer so I could take a look at your set up and the chicks. Would pictures help at all? I think I could probably guess what was going on better. Have you noticed any other signs or symptoms? No not really. Just some of them are not active.
I have doubled up on antibiotics more than once but it's not necessarily a safe thing to do. Especially in chicks. I've done it when I was reasonably sure they weren't going to make it otherwise.
If you use the corid and there isn't a marked improvement in 24 hours it's probably not coccidiosis. Tylan won't cure coccidiosis but it works really good for respiratory illnesses.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I got to go spend time with Lizzy. @lizzyGSR last night. It's been over a year since I saw her. She looks so cute with her little baby tummy. I wish I hadn't been so tired and had had more time, but we were both really tired.

It was so good to see you, Danz! Thanks so much for coming to see me! I'm still exhausted today. I'm really hoping to be able to catch up on some sleep tomorrow. i don't know how I'll maek it through another week without getting some more sleep somewhere.

I took some more pics of my birds. Can anyone help me identify some of these?

I know the appenzeller spitzhaube in this pictrue. I thought the other one with a "hat" was a mottled houdan, but it isn't showing any mottled coloring. It does have 5 toes. any ideas? Need help identifying the rest.


Cochin?


Light brahma?


Not a very good picture, but the bird I thought was a houdan is on the left. Any idea what the 'gray' bird is? What about the bird in the top right? Sorry for the poor quality...


Another one with the "houdan" in it. the bird on the other side of the chicken wire is a speckled sussex I got from @chicken danz
when I met her this past week.


we originaly thought this bird (I have two that look like this) could've been a phoenix. What do ya'll think now?


Another group picture. Danz, I think the "speckled sussex" is in this picture. She's the one just above the brown/white bird to the left of the milk jug feeder.


Any thoughts on what breed my ducklings are? Also not the greatest picture, sorry!

 

[chicklover56]

Not a very good picture, but the bird I thought was a houdan is on the left. Any idea what the 'gray' bird is? I think it could be a Breda Fowl but not sure.

 

[chicken danz]

Quote: I would use the Corid I think first if I were you. Sorry I wasn't available to answer this last night. They could have been well on their way to getting better if they got corid yesterday if it is in fact coccidiosis:

Quote: No Sweety. These are hatchery birds. There is no Breda in hatcheries at all.

Quote:

Quote:

Quote: They look like Pekins to me.

 

[Trish44]

Ugh is everyone else as tired of this wind as I am, it's just been crazy lately. It just wears you out fighting it to be outside. I went out & blew around yesterday to get my hardware cloth put on my new growout pen at the bottom to keep the chicks in when they're old enough to go out there. I was exhausted by the time I did the whole pen & the door & all of my other chores. I hope eventually to be able to do things again without getting so worn out. From what I have read it's all part of this surgery & the recovery from it.

I still have chicks hatching under broody hens. I got one more Mottle Orp chick yesterday & another bantam Cochin. It's different with broody hens hatching than putting eggs in an incubator, they're more staggered hatches. I keep having to check for chicks daily because I don't have my pens set up for tiny chicks so I have to collect them & bring them into the brooder. Otherwise they will just get out of the pens & get eaten by the cats out there. I have had that happen before.

I have a little break till the 15th with hatching & hope to get some chicks out of here before more hatch, keeping my fingers crossed. I have just had more chicks this year than any time before. I need to go clean out brooders today too, not a pleasant task but necessary.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I would use the Corid I think first if I were you. Sorry I wasn't available to answer this last night. They could have been well on their way to getting better if they got corid yesterday if it is in fact coccidiosis:
No Sweety. These are hatchery birds. There is no Breda in hatcheries at all.




They look like Pekins to me.

Danz, thank you for all the IDs! I'm curious though... How do you tell male from female at this stage? I've got at least 2 of the light brahma birds (and a third that looks like it but has clean shanks). How do I tell what gender those are? I'm not sure I can tell them apart well enough to know which is which right now.

I'm kinda disappointed about the ducks. I was hoping I would get something in my surprise box that I could NOT get around here... I am happy I got some ducks, I was just hoping for the harlequins or the ancona. Now, hopefully at least one of those two pekins is a female.

 

[chicken danz]

Lizzy, if you have a clean legged one it would be a delaware (most likely) or a columbian rock or columbian Wyandotte. Well knowing some of those birds I am familiar with how they develop. The brahma pullet for instance has a smaller head and a lot less prominent comb than the cockerels do. Some of them you can tell by color pattern because certain color patterns are different in females than they are males. Once you've raised a lot of different breeds and know how the sexes vary it becomes much easier. People that come for chicks can't understand how I can take a group of 200 chicks with many looking alike and separate breeds. It's the same thing. A trained eye. I know I've made errors before and that is to be expected but some things are just a given.
It's 82 degrees out and I've been working myself to death. I have sweat dripping in my eyes and burning. I love days like this though. I just widh the wind would stop because I have a ton of burning I need to do. Instead it blows all over and makes the yard look worse than it already is.
I am SICK SICK SICK of the wind.

 

[HEChicken]

Today has been a busy, busy day but we got a lot accomplished. With DH's help, I got two more sheep sheared and their hooves trimmed while we had them caught up. I just have one more sheep left to shear and then I'm done for the year - yay!!!

Then I planted my tomatoes out in the garden. It is a risk on Apr 10th. Last year we didn't get any more frost after the first week of April but the year before we had snow on May 2nd. The 10-day forecast has temps in the 40's and up except for one low of 35, but it is supposed to be overcast that night so it shouldn't frost. I bought a grow light this year and my tomatoes REALLY liked the grow light and proceeded to grow huge. I've had to repot them twice and one was even flowering inside. I've never before had tomatoes this big, this early and it created a dilemma. I support them via a cattle panel out in the garden so I couldn't give them anything to support themselves on inside, without hurting them when transplanting them.

They were calling for strong winds both yesterday and today but it wasn't near as windy as they said it would be. There was a brief period yesterday when the wind was blowing strong but today has been very mild - only 10-15mph winds. So I decided to go ahead and get the tomatoes in the ground and hope for the best. I piled a bunch of hay around each to protect them from any winds we have in the next few weeks while they're establishing their root system, and most were tall enough to already start weaving them through the cattle panel, so I think they'll do fine. That took awhile as I'm growing a lot of different varieties, but it is nice to have something else in the garden other than just my comfrey and garlic.

Last night I gave 6 more chicks to the broodies who hatched all 8 of the eggs I had given them. I realized my brooder is going to be overcrowded when all these chicks start growing so it helps to have a few more of them outside. The hens are doing great with them and this afternoon brought them out of the dog house for the first time to run around the hoop coop. Its such a warm day they weren't even wanting to spend much time under their Mamas. They sure do have life figured out. I love that they come out of the egg understanding the different sounds their mamas make and when one calls them to eat, they run to her and peck at what she's telling them is food. Fourteen chicks out there seems like a lot but between 4 mamas, I think they'll be able to handle them.

That leaves me with a dozen in the brooder which is still a lot. They're fine now but in a couple of weeks they'll be huge. Plus, I have 5 more chicks coming. One of my hatching egg customers called yesterday to say he has 5 olive egger chicks for me. I had mentioned in passing that I'd love to add olive eggs to my egg basket and he said he would trade me some chicks for more hatching eggs. I didn't expect anything to come of it so was surprised to get his call but the timing is perfect as these chicks hatched the same day as mine so when they get here, I'll add them to the brooder. Its a good thing the weather is gong to be mild this month as these chicks will probably need to go out sooner than ever, as my brooder is not that big and I don't have anywhere to set up another.

Now that my incubator is empty I need to think about starting some turkey eggs, if we're to have Thanksgiving turkey again this year.