Egyptian Fayoumis Thread!

[wild chick]

Thanks Wild Chick. Yes, I have lost 7 birds since last June. I had 54 birds and I am now down to 47. My birds are mainly a hobby....that keeps hatching, LOL but I do have them for eggs and meat in case of an emergency. Right now I have a hen sitting on 5 eggs my own two bantam hens provided.

I really worry about those little embryos.

I am a retired nurse and have lived in the country most of my life with pets from chickens to horses and everything in between in my life my whole life so I know they die, heck we all die, but I just never expected to be dealing with this in my flock, not with no birds having been on our property for over 6 years when I started out with chicks..

Time will tell. I really appreciate your kind words.

Your welcome. I'll have to pick your brain on some questions from people who had chickens 30 to 40 years ago! Somehow I'm thinking things aren't the same. I hope you don't have Mareks. Fingers crossed.

 

[microchick]

Thanks, mine are crossed too.

I can't remember having a lot of health problems which chickens while I was growing up and into my early teens when my parents had flocks. They were healthy but then my folks didn't keep them around long enough for them to really develop any.

 

[floodthelast]

I live in North West montana and I own one. She did great last winter. I was slightly worried at first but after after she survived the first cold snap, I was OK. She had no problem with the snow. Also I use no heat or lights.

 

Yes, thank you for sharing this. I'm glad to hear they can deal with winter. Also, I'm glad to hear about Cleo being friendly, since they are known to be so feral. Let us know if this awesomeness continues as she matures!

 

Cleo was one of my three chicks that always hid in the corner during holding time, then around 5 or. 6 weeks she changed. She wanted to be up high so on my arm or shoulder. She fell asleep in my arms once. She still doesn't like being picked up but comes to my shoulder and tells me things or pecks my hair very contentedly. I was very surprised by the change and love it. My little road runner would be hard to hang out with if we weren't friends.

 

[floodthelast]

Me and Cleo.

 

[wild chick]

Sweet! From what I've read, you have an exceptionally friendly EF. Great photo.

 

[PraiseGod]

I'm so glad to hear that. Cleo is one of my friendliest pullets and I'd hate to lose her. She is such a sweetie. Always comes to my shoulder even without treats. She is 7 weeks old so far but a really nice surprise in personality.

I have lots of different breeds and my Egyptian has the most personality. She really seems like she's thinking or planning something more than the rest who just beg for some form of a treat. I never raised mine to want to be on us. She does the squat so I sneak a good petting every now and then.

 

[floodthelast]

I have lots of different breeds and my Egyptian has the most personality. She really seems like she's thinking or planning something more than the rest who just beg for some form of a treat. I never raised mine to want to be on us. She does the squat so I sneak a good petting every now and then.

That is very cool. Cleo hates being petted. It's coming freely or nothing. I do pick her up occasionally if she won't visit and she calms down quickly but still hates being picked up or reached for.

 

[aJadeMagnolia]

Does anyone out there have purebred Egyptian Fayoumis from Sand Hill Preservation Center's line? I'm trying to find some stock to keep that as a separate line. Thank you in advance for your reply!

 

[smudge]

I have lots of different breeds and my Egyptian has the most personality. She really seems like she's thinking or planning something more than the rest who just beg for some form of a treat. I never raised mine to want to be on us. She does the squat so I sneak a good petting every now and then.

You are so lucky. Mine won't squat for anyone, but tolerates the Light Brahma cockerel. LOL, when he covers he... he really covers her.

 

[aJadeMagnolia]

....

I can't remember having a lot of health problems which chickens while I was growing up and into my early teens when my parents had flocks. They were healthy but then my folks didn't keep them around long enough for them to really develop any.

Those were the good old days. Times have changed. You don't necessarily need to keep birds long for modern diseases to develop. Many here on BYC and other places online have reported having health problems with chicks and baby waterfowl, particularly those shipped from some of the large hatcheries. I know someone who lost an entire hatch of expensive goslings to some Mycoplasma that they caught from ducklings shipped from a bad hatchery that were being raised together. A complete loss as every bird died before they even reached 6 weeks old. Mycoplasma is a tiny genus of bacteria that antibiotics are worthless against. Mycoplasma can be passed from a sick bird to its egg that it lays and once the bird hatches it is almost always a death sentence for the hatchling and any other unfortunate babies being raised with that sick hatchling.

Some breeds are naturally more disease resistant than others, but sadly there are hatcheries out there who have very poor/inferior lines of the breeds they sell, caused by factors including but not limited to inbreeding and diseased breeding birds.

On a less depressing note, Egyptian Fayoumis are probably one of the top 5 disease-resistant chicken breeds in the world and the ONLY breed known to be completely immune to Avian Influenza (commonly known as the Bird Flu). Not that I worry about it much, Eucalyptus leaves have been reputed to treat and even cure Avian Influenza, in humans as well as fowl. Of course, that could only be of help to an otherwise relatively healthy bird that has a functioning immune system.

Major CAFOs with sick -- rephrase that, dying -- egg-layers and broilers have plenty to worry about because their sick birds are so far past saving that nothing will help them and they die within hours of exposure to any strain of the influenza virus, whether it be Avian ("Bird") or even human. The irony is, that with all of the "biosecurity" the major factory farms claim to practice, including requiring employees to 'shower' their vehicles driving through a special gate with an all-around car wash every time they drive in; according to a former employee of a massive operation only the laborers are required to also shower themselves with a disinfecting liquid chemical before entering the premises and afterwards change into a separate set of clothes and masks. The management personnel, on the other hand, come and visit -- not everyday of course but somewhat on a regular basis, in his experience at that particular plant it was about monthly -- and are NOT required to shower, change their clothes or wear masks. Which leads one to wonder if any of the 'bird flu epidemics' back in 2015 were caused by such management persons who perhaps unknowingly carried the virus and introduced it into those air-tight facilities of theirs, thus potentially killing their own birds - and profits. You never know, the management person(s) might have eaten chicken at a nicer restaurant, but the chicken was a CAFO chicken -- who would've tested positive for Bird Flu before butchering if it had been tested for safety, which it almost never is -- or perhaps he was traveling inside a airtight jet with someone who came from an area of the world that had avian influenza at the time; and then you can just imagine the havoc that that one person spreading germs (by breathing inside of a sealed facility) can create when filled with those poor, sick, immune-suppressed miserable creatures whose immune systems are already failing because they cannot function properly due to reckless breeding, GMOs, antibiotic abuse, growth hormones, deadly, diseased-animal-byproduct-feed, mercury and lead and other poisonous injections, etc.

While not an ideal situation, there were reports of small flocks of older breeds of purebred chickens that were kept in the vicinity of some of these CAFO operations where the CAFO flocks died of bird flu but despite the fans blowing at the neighbors' flocks, the older breeds survived mostly unaffected. (The dreaded look-who-moved-next-door and built what! scenarios.) Thankfully, I've never had to live near one of those disease-infested smelly places! But that was during the bird flu 'scare' that the media kept going on about (bear in mind some of their sponsors are pharmaceutical corporations who love all the money they make from CAFO owners and who want our sympathy for their point of view - their point of view being how much the world needs flu vaccines even though they haven't produced one decent study to prove they actually are safe and might work plus they only contain one strain of the virus when there is ALWAYS more than one strain per year).

[Getting back to Eucalyptus, hopefully the government will NOT approve the planting of Genetically Engineered Eucalyptus trees that they are planning to introduce in the Southeast soon....]

Consider an Egyptian Fayoumi chicken, for example -- hopefully raised humanely and with proper nutrition, air flow, sunlight and care. It wouldn't be bothered at all by avian influenza because there was a study done that showed they were completely resistant to it -- their immune system is so strong naturally that the virus does not take hold and multiply.

And many of the less dangerous ailments poultry owners deal with could be prevented or avoided altogether with proper ventilation and air flow, too many coops are not built with these principles in mind. There is a highly recommended book on poultry health written by a medical doctor that is a MUST-READ for ALL poultry owners, and that should be on one EVERYONE's shopping list:
Fresh Air Poultry Houses by Prince T. Woods, M.D. Here's a sample chapter:
http://www.nortoncreekpress.com/wor...es_a/fresh-air-poultry-houses-sample-chapter/

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