Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[3riverschick]

Thank you all for the great help with the frostbite They all sound like good ideas!
Best,
Karen

 

[hellbender]

I really had no idea about these facts. Good post.

Lets all have a big ol' glass!

Just having fun folks...This weather is affecting me badly.

My Naked Necked birds are taking this misery in stride but I'm having day dreams of Costa Rica.

Looking at places to live in that beautiful country on the net!

I may in fact hasten the 'attrition' of my production birds. Getting too old for this mess. It's negative 11 here at 7AM, likely a 'heat wave' compared to some places you folks are enduring...
Stay warm!!

 

[Lacy Blues]

I learned the old school European way and let mother nature take its course, my Australorp rooster has abit black on the points but nothing serious and his comb is warm when I touch it. I don't think it's worth killing a rooster when you might think it's bad but a lot of people jump to conclusion and say "cull it".. Americans are so paranoid at anything.. Just stop..

I'm not sure if this was directed toward me?

I have several roosters that are suffering from frostbite, or were actually, those issues did exactly as you describe. They turned black and fell off.

My splash boy was 5 years old (maybe 6) and his condition was worse than a little frostbite. His wattles, the first day were about an inch thick. The second day, after the wind changed directions during the night, his wattles swelled up even more til they were about an inch and a half thick. Plus his throat was swollen between his wattles. I didn't realize the first day that he probably did not eat (until evening when I clean up all the uneaten food) the next day he tried to eat but that caused his wattles to bump the side of the dish. He only tried to take 2 or 3 bites. I let him be, thinking he would be ok. I should have but didn't check on him until later in the afternoon when I found him still outside, all alone in the cold cold wind. I picked him up and he offered no resistance, not the slightest struggle.

I've been reading and hearing so much about how hardy my birds need to be and that if I'm having frostbite issues, that I need to increase ventilation. Well, I've been trying to do these things because I want my birds to be hardy and healthy and strong. I know that I probably fuss over them too much. I want them to be happy. Therefore, you can probably guess that I don't hear a little sneeze or whatever and immediately grab the hatchet. I did, however, have a respiratory thing go through my flock this past November and you better believe I culled every bird that exhibited signs... except a few. Now, I may be asking for trouble with those few but we'll see. I did not use any antibiotics for them at all. I may be wrong but I'm hoping that since they didn't get bad at all that they have a resistance to it now and are immune. I don't put any heat in my barns at all. I know I need to be harder on my flock as I don't want to have to baby them, in fact, I refuse to baby them. My barn is something of a shamble and I'm working toward making it what it needs to be. If it was already there, I probably would not have spared those few. But they don't have all that they need, in the way of shelter, and its something I cannot complete during the winter. I have plans to do it when it warms up, though it has been nice here recently, it is still winter and can change at a moment's notice. For instance, the wind kicked up late this afternoon and tonight we have rain.

Should I have brought my rooster in the house to recover? What if it happened to more than one? Where on earth would I keep more than one large rooster in my house? And what about improving hardiness? Would that help or hinder?
I guarantee you, I did not make my decision lightly.

It was very hard for me as I probably hold my flock a little too high for my own good.

I'm not paranoid and I didn't cull him to protect the rest of the flock. I did it to end his pain. Should I have let nature take its course and let him suffer til he died? I'm sorry but I can't do that. Winter was only just beginning and would only get worse and colder.

 

[gjensen]

I learned the old school European way and let mother nature take its course, my Australorp rooster has abit black on the points but nothing serious and his comb is warm when I touch it. I don't think it's worth killing a rooster when you might think it's bad but a lot of people jump to conclusion and say "cull it".. Americans are so paranoid at anything.. Just stop..

That is a pretty broad statement.

 

[gjensen]

So, it's cold in the south.
There's also record heat in Australia, Africa and even record highs in Alaska and California. Not to mention drought in CA.

Global warming doesn't nor ever did mean that it wouldn't be cold in places (or record cold for that matter)

It's GLOBAL warming - not LOCAL warming.
Global means, the average surface temperature around the globe, not around your neighborhood. If it's cold where you live, that is what's called anecdotal evidence, not scientific.
The past year was the 4th warmest year GLOBALLY, since records began in 1880.
The annual global combined land and ocean surface temperature was 0.62°C (1.12°F) above the 20th century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F). This marks the 37th consecutive year (since 1976) that the yearly global temperature was above average. Currently, the warmest year on record is 2010, which was 0.66°C (1.19°F) above average.

While 1 degree seems inconsequential, it is cumulative.
As some say when speaking of debt - 'a million here, a million there, pretty soon you're talking real money'.
9 of the 10 warmest years in the 134-year period of record have occurred in the 21st century. Only one year during the 20th century—1998—was warmer than 2013.

According to NOAA (some may choose to ignore since NOAA is comprised of scientists that have all the measurement tools) ~~ the 10 warmest years on record:
Rank Warmest Period of Record: 1880–2013
2010
2005
1998
2013
2003
2002
2006
2009
2007
2004

That concerns me but I'm more of a data person than an anecdotal evidence person.
Just sayin'.

How far back do those records go?

 

[gjensen]

I had a young white rock cock that really tried to brood some meatie chicks of mine(54 of them!) but when they got around 3 1/2 wks he started trying to breed them. I bet an old retired rooster or a capon might be good at this, but it would really be the luck of the draw. The only reason I allowed him contact with them was because he was calling to them and was very interested, wouldn't roost and kept wanting in the brooder with them. Here's a pic or two of Mr. Mom...

Bee, I found learning about the Jungle Fowl behavior interesting and relevant to understanding what we see with our birds.

 

[cubalaya]

there is no global warming and it is not man's fault. it is a myth created by politicians to separate more money from your wallet. legal theft. is there climate change? there always has been. is there anything we can do about it? no. as God's judgements begin to be poured out on this earth, a lot of freaky things with the weather will occur. enough of this. how are everyone's chickens surviving the winter. it was 6 degrees here and still snow on the ground this morning. the cubalayas and asils are handling it just fine.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Exzactly-- most people throw the baby out with the bath water-- one fact found to be incorrect so toss out all the studies.

I read more studies than most and studies are not a perfect science either. It is rather enlightlening to write up the report for the PhD/MD's that crtique the studies for publication . . . did that a few times at summer job. ANd sat in on lots of brown bag lunches during presentations by grad students on their study project . . . I'm all in .favor of studies, but I also use my common sense.

One study looks at the amt of carbon in the ice. Using core sampling to reach deeply into the pack ice, then analize the amt of trapped carbon. THe last hundred years contains far hgher levels than any year in the past. Sorry I don't know how to find that study. I mostly remember the graph showing a nearly flat line and then the exponential spike. . . .

 

[colburg]

We seem to have veered off topic once again. While I enjoy a good political debate as much as the next fella, this isn't the place for it.

If we could please shift this debate somewhere else everyone would appreciate it.

Thanks,

BTW, is there such a thing as a chicken getting a cold? With the weather fluctuating from 15 degree nights to 80 degree days, I'm just curious if it happens.

 

[thedragonlady]

Eleven degrees here in SC this morning. All that lovely snow had started to melt yesterday, and we have black ice this morning .It is supposed to go up to 60 by this weekend. More confusion for the birds.

I have 2 big Buff Orp hens in crates, in my living room. One is the survivor of a hawk attack that ripped her throat open a week ago.She had an inch and a half rip in her throat, that I put 5 stitches in. She is healing nicely. The other is her sister, who went into a full molt last week . She is naked, but still laying every day. I think she's bucking to be a house chicken.These birds are worth saving.

My other hens are perfectly happy, and dealing well with the cold, continuing to lay up a storm. Their covered sand runs are wrapped in clear tarps, as I live on the side of a hill which faces North, and we have very strong winds.All my birds have double walled Resin sleeping boxes, if they do not live in the main run , which has an insulated large sleeping coop also. In this sort of weather I run a 100 W. bulb, 24/7, in their coops . This keeps the bedding dry, and humidity down. The boxes are bedded in straw, which is picked up every day.

The male Orps are another matter altogether. Even though my cocks have smaller combs than many Orps, those combs will freeze. If that happens, you can kiss fertility good bye for about 4 weeks, and the bird will be useless as a show bird. Any single combed cock bird is subject to frost bite at extreme temperatures, and it simply makes sense to me to prevent it. I don't think it has a thing to do with the hardiness of a bird if it gets frostbite. It is a matter of luck, and sometimes, bad husbandry.My boys stay up until the temps go above 25. The birds can't control where they live, or the weather, but I can insure their well being. Just part of good animal husbandry to me.