Fuzzy's Notes

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fuzzybutt love

fuzzybutt love

Crowing
13 Years
Jul 30, 2011
3,862
103
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Michigan
While roaming around BYC i often come across really great info on health and breeds, but since i read so much i then lose it!

I am making this thread so that when i answer questions i have a place to go where all my info is saved in one spot.

If you are reading this i hope that you find this as helpful as i did :)

This is not intended to be a writing thread!
Please don't write here!!! Pm me if you want a quick link to keep for easy access, or want to discuss something!
It makes it harder to keep things in order and i have to scroll through conversations!

Thanks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/fuzzys-notes
 
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Hatching Notes
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4681694_a-chick-hatch.html

i found this thread, this gal is a crazy note taker! She did a good job of documenting what to do with shipped eggs
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/704328/diary-notes-air-cell-detatched-shipped-eggs

this thread is for the little giant incubation specifically, there are threads for different kinds of incubators to troubleshoot the kinds of glitches each one has
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/601352/little-giant-incubator-tricks


**How to calibrate a thermometer, Quote "Marty", little giant thread:

"every thermometer is different. You can test them, though, to find out how far off they are. Get a glass of ice, and put in just enough water to reach the top of the ice. Put in your thermometer for 2 minutes. AT that time, it should read 32 degrees. Anything higher or lower is how far off you are. Just go mark the idea temp with a marker on your thermometer, and your all set. Its a food safety technique"
*********************************************************************************************************************************
How to calibrate a hydrogometer, Quote "C Mom" little giant thread
"To calibrate a hygrometer you will need:

1/2 cup table salt
approximately 1/4 cup water
coffee cup
hygrometer
large resealable freezer bag

Place 1/2 cup of salt in the coffee cup, and add the water. Stir for a bit to totally saturate the salt. The salt won't dissolve in this amount of water; instead, the salt should have the consistency of wet sand.

Carefully place the cup containing the salt/water mix in a resealable plastic bag. Place the hygrometer in the bag, away from the cup of salt and water. Note: make sure none of the salt/water mix comes in direct contact with the hygrometer, or the hygrometer may be damaged. Completely seal the bag.

Place the sealed bag aside at room temperature for 8-12 hours. Pick a location free of drafts, out of direct sunlight, and away from heating or cooling vents. The temperature should be fairly constant.

After being in the sealed bag for 8-12 hours, check the reading of the hygrometer. It is best to read it while still in the bag, since if your house air is dry the reading may go down quickly once you take the hygrometer out of the bag.

The relative humidity in the sealed bag with the salt/water mix should be 75 percent.

If yours is the adjustable type, adjust the screw or setting so that it would have read 75 percent. You will have to do this very quickly, or remember how much you need to adjust the setting (e.g. for mine, it read 72 percent when it should have been 75 percent, so I would need to set it ahead by 3 percentage points). You may want to put the hygrometer back in the bag for another 8 hours to double check your adjustment.

If yours is not adjustable (like mine), simply make a note of how "off" your hygrometer reads. If it reads below 75 percent, you will need to add the difference to your actual readings. If your hygrometer read above 75 percent on the calibration, you will need to subtract the difference from your actual reading. Here are some examples to help:
Case 1: after sitting in the bag for calibration, my hygrometer read 72 percent. It should have read 75 percent, so the difference is 3 percent. I will now add 3 percent to the readings I take on the hygrometer (e.g. in a tank) to get the actual relative humidity.
Case 2: after calibrating in the bag, a hygrometer read 80 percent. It should have read 75 percent, a difference of 5 percent. I would have to subtract 5 percent from readings when using the hygrometer to get an accurate relative humidity.

Remember: always give a hygrometer about 2 hours to stabilize before taking a reading, as changes in the relative humidity may take a while to register accurately on a hygrometer."

**Checking the progress of the hatch, adjusting humidity according to development
http://www.poultryconnection.com/quackers/aircell.html
Copied:
"The air cell should get larger the longer they are set. Were these eggs shipped? If so, the air cells could be on the side, making it difficult to find it. Also, since you say that some of them are blue, that would also make them more difficult to see.

You can actually kind of judge how 'far along' the egg is by the size of the air cell.....

candlingsl8.jpg

Candling pics
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261876/chicks-are-here-egg-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

The Actual Hatch

For my last hatch, i set a dozen eggs. 4 didn't develop, and only 2 of the remaining ones didn't make it. This is my set-up
*I put a tiny pint jar in each of the corners, to hold heat evenly.
*I cut the top off the egg carton, so that there were half-cups. Big end up on the eggs, and let them set for 24 hours before incubating. I turned on the 'bator and let it come to temp while i was waiting for the eggs to "settle".
*I calibrated the thermometer, and set it into the bator to come to temp. I cut 2- 2x4 inch sections of egg carton material to set into the 2 jars in the front, so that later when i put the water in through the top holes, they would help to boost the humidity. Calibrated hydrogometer.
*Next day i set the eggs in the bator, and did nothing for 24 hours. The warming unit on the top of the bator is in a "U", so i put the carton long ways to each side of the "U", and put the hydrogometer in the top of the "U". Put in 2 old fashioned thermostats, bulb at each end. No turning, no fussing with temp. Just let them come to temp :) I put a couple Tb water in the groove to start, no more as i was doing a dry hatch. Taped the thing shut, to hold temp and humidity better, lessen the odds of me messing with things.
*Started "turning." the next day. I propped an end up, turned eggs end-to-end instead of side-to-side. (I figured it was more natural temp-wise that way). "Turned" once at noon, 3, and 6 pm to start. Started out incubating with both plugs in, and used each of the plugs and sometimes a towel over top of the bator to adjust temps up and down, used an air conditioner to keep room temp steady when it fluctuated too much.
* I only opened twice, for the 1 week and the 2 week candle.
* A couple days before day 18 i started turning more, and on day 18 I bumped the humidity up to 60% I put an inch of water in each of the 2 front mason jars, through the little lid holes, and waited to see what the reading was. Later in the day i squirted water into the grooves on the bottom of the bator to get the correct humidity. (I suggest waiting to see where it is reading before dumping it all in at once, so you don't drown them with too high a humidity!!!)

I used a clean mustard style bottle to get the water into the tiny holes.

day 21!!!



Egg autopsies, for those that didn't make it. Sad, but helps to fine tune your process so that you don't make the same mistake twice :(
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/363717/eggtopsy-what-happened-to-my-egg-graphic-pictures
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491421/shrink-wrap-vs-sticky-chick

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/res24-00.html
 
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My Project




Here's cookie compared to her momma. Notice the similarity in shortened body shape, thick neck hackles and carrying the neck "short" ( they have normal length necks but carry them hunched into their thick hackles), wide head and big noses, long butt fuzz)
 
Worms and Lice!

Lice
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=472405

Worms
http://healthybirds.umd.edu/Disease/Deworming%20Birds.pdf
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=576036&p=1


Leg Mites, (how i do it)

For leg mites i mix 1 part permethrin with 1 part partially melted vasaline.
The only hesitation i have is the dosage, since that is for a big bird. For such a tiny banty i would use only 1 part permethrin to 2 parts vasaline, see if that works first.
The day before i do it i wash the legs, smear plain vasaline up into the scales, and let it soften (If it's a bad case) Then the day of i take a toothpick and GENTLY pick as much of the mite crud out of the scales as i can without hurting (again, if it's a bad case where the scales are raised) This helps the meds penetrate better.
Then i go to treating, smear the medicated vasaline UP into the scales on the whole leg, toes and all. This treatment not only smothers the mites, it kills them on contact. I have done it on new birds, and it seems to work in one treatment! You can do it again in a week if it makes you feel better :) Another option would be to use olive oil instead of the vasaline, that may be better for the showing since it won't be as sticky.

This hen's scales were all standing straight up, this is a month after the treatment. All but a couple scales had layed back down, it took a bit of time for them to lay flat again because of how bad it had been. :( There are instructions that come with the bottle for making poultry spray, if you have wood roosts i would spray them as well just to be sure the little buggers are really gone.



Bumblefoot
 
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Chicks, Diseases and helps
**Spraddle

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/41693/spraddle-leg-splay-leg-treatment-instructions/30

http://www.2ndchance.info/spraddle.htm

**Shipping stress/ not as vigerous
Make sugar water. About a spoon in a glass of water is good. Pour the water into a clean pop bottle cap (Carbonation will explode them!) and dip the beak in. Make sure to not put the water level to where the nose holes are! Quickly tip bird back, chickens tip their beaks straight up to swallow. Keep dipping until you feel a little bubble where their gullet is; top left looking at them. :)

Do this the first day, off and on until you see them drinking on their own. Drinking is more important than eating at first, especially if you hatched your own. New hatchings don't need to eat or drink the first 3 days. Eating before drinking can lead to constipation!

If you have a special needs chick that isn't eating well, mash some crumbles with a spoon into a fine powder. wet it to an almost drippy paste with warm water, and dip to feed same as above. A little yoghurt or oil in the feed will help in the event the chick is constipated :)

You must provide sand if you feed anything but crumbles, they need it to break down the food in their gizzards
 
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Disease, diagnostic help
A must-have! Very helpful to have on hand and covers every subject related to chicken care:
********** http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Health-Handbook-Gail-Damerow/dp/0882666118 ****************

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/toc_200000.htm
http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/diseases_poultry_diagnosis_symptoms.pdf
http://www.apa-abayouthpoultryclub.... SYMPTOMS FOR DIAGNOSING POULTRY DISEASES.pdf
http://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-diseases/
COCCIDIOSIS Some sites say they are killed by extreme cold (below zero) High heat (above 104) and dryness. Dryness is key because they need the moisture for the spores. Spores are viable for re-infection within 24 hours. The best way to get immunity is from several minimal exposures; a sudden exposure to too much (i.e. large flock's worth of droppings) will permanently scar large portions of the intestines. SO disinfect at least every 24 hours while bird is developing immunity. Bleach will disinfect at 1 cup per gallon water. (Also kills mycoplasma). Depending on which type of cocci the bird is infected with and how many it ate at once will determine the severity. Some types with overexposure will kill quickly or permanently scar intestines severely. Whew. (but in a clean run establishment this is more rare)
That was all the technical stuff. Not trying to scare anyone! Just putting out the info in case anyone gets into a spot. There were meds recommended too; this mostly came off "poultry keeper . com," written by a vet.

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart
http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/solutions.html

Disease, dosing charts
http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/solutions.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-ultimate-medicine-dosing-chart
http://www.xtremegamebirds.com/Dosage Chart.html
 
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