Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[TeaChick]

My Jersey Giant is sick again.
She got sick right after I got her two months ago and I've had a hard time getting her to gain weight and keep it on.
Now, this.
She's been coming out of the hen house slower and slower every morning for almost a week now. She's been going in earlier and earlier.
I gave her 1oz yogurt, 1/4 t echenacia, and 1 egg (w/ shell) scrambled this morning, but she only ate half of it in three-four hours.
So, I went ahead and opened the brooder to let her free range.
My hope is that she'll roost in the hen house w/ everybody else tonight.
If I can catch her in the morning, then I'll do the same thing. (Give her a chance to eat some of that yogurt mixture, then let her out in the afternoon and hope she sleeps in the hen house).
Oh, her vent is clean, her poo is exactly like yellow mustard, and she was trying to catch a roach that was in the brooder. =o\

 

[Extra Java]

Quote: I've seen pretty nice Mottled Houdan in Canada but not much here.

 

[gjensen]

The answer is literally the Standard of Perfection. One of the criteria for entrance into the SOP is that the breed differ from other breeds. When one sees true Minorcas, they are unmistakable. Minorcas are very large and very noble.

There are few breeds that offer such and clear, even blatant, lesson of standard-bred vs hatchery-bred quality. To see a hatchery-bred Minorca hen besides a standard-bred Minorca hen is two see two completely different birds. Given, once you're really versed in the SOP and your eye has been trained to see the bird through the Standard, this can be said about most breeds. However, certain breeds are rudely obvious, and Minorcas are one of them.

Once someone has seen a well bred Minorca male in person, they will never get the image out of there mind. They are unmistakable. The hatchery examples are a different story.

They are big active birds, so they need some room. But . . . if someone wanted a large active breed, that laid extra large eggs, and was eye candy as well . . . . .

 

[Lacy Blues]

My Jersey Giant is sick again.
She got sick right after I got her two months ago and I've had a hard time getting her to gain weight and keep it on.
Now, this.
She's been coming out of the hen house slower and slower every morning for almost a week now. She's been going in earlier and earlier.
I gave her 1oz yogurt, 1/4 t echenacia, and 1 egg (w/ shell) scrambled this morning, but she only ate half of it in three-four hours.
So, I went ahead and opened the brooder to let her free range.
My hope is that she'll roost in the hen house w/ everybody else tonight.
If I can catch her in the morning, then I'll do the same thing. (Give her a chance to eat some of that yogurt mixture, then let her out in the afternoon and hope she sleeps in the hen house).
Oh, her vent is clean, her poo is exactly like yellow mustard, and she was trying to catch a roach that was in the brooder. =o\

TeaChick, she might have worms. Are the droppings foamy as well as very yellow? If you think that could be the case, with her being as weak as she is, I wouldn't use a wormer on her. Rather, you can get some Ivermectic pour on. I put mine in a small spray bottle. Don't overdue it though as it will have its effect on her too. Maybe only lightly spray the skin of her abdomen in a couple of places and then wait. Let her pass some of them and get some strength back. Keep using the yogurt mixture. After about a week or so, spray her again. Hopefully you won't have to do it more than that.

While a bird is already weak, you don't want to use a wormer because it is poison and its use is a gamble as to which animal receiving it will live through it. If they're healthy and strong and you suspect worms, that is a different story. Don't use it while she's weak, even says so on the bottle.

If she doesn't go in the coop with the other hens, I'd put her in there in between a couple other hens to keep her warm. Either that or give her a spot with nice dry and deep shavings where she can sleep and be nice and warm. If you're having really cold weather like the rest of the country (except the southeastern sea board) seems to be, she'll really appreciate it.

 

[TeaChick]

TeaChick, she might have worms. Are the droppings foamy as well as very yellow? If you think that could be the case, with her being as weak as she is, I wouldn't use a wormer on her. Rather, you can get some Ivermectic pour on. I put mine in a small spray bottle. Don't overdue it though as it will have its effect on her too. Maybe only lightly spray the skin of her abdomen in a couple of places and then wait. Let her pass some of them and get some strength back. Keep using the yogurt mixture. After about a week or so, spray her again. Hopefully you won't have to do it more than that.

While a bird is already weak, you don't want to use a wormer because it is poison and its use is a gamble as to which animal receiving it will live through it. If they're healthy and strong and you suspect worms, that is a different story. Don't use it while she's weak, even says so on the bottle.

If she doesn't go in the coop with the other hens, I'd put her in there in between a couple other hens to keep her warm. Either that or give her a spot with nice dry and deep shavings where she can sleep and be nice and warm. If you're having really cold weather like the rest of the country (except the southeastern sea board) seems to be, she'll really appreciate it.

Thank you!
She went into the hen house, first one in. She stayed in the brooder almost all day though. =o\
They might have been foamy when she first pooed, what I saw wasn't foamy right then, but it looked like it could have been. It was on pine straw, so it wasn't easy to tell.

 

[Lacy Blues]

One more night of drastically cold weather here tonight and then it will warm up some! I'll be ready for that. I'm positive my birds will be ready for that. I had to cull a poor boy today... he was 4 years old and very nice bird. Got some frostbite on his comb last night. The night before, his wattles were affected and yesterday they were swollen. Today they were swollen more, about 2 inches thick at the thickest part. Between that and the frostbite on his comb, he was so very miserable. I don't think he ate yesterday and this morning he only took a couple bites because he wattles would bump the edge of his feed pan and they were hurting him. He was not a stupid bird but I think his mind was so overwhelmed by the pain he was in that he was out standing in the wind today trying to stay warm in the weak sunshine we had. We had a breeze out of the northeast last night that came right in his coop and made it so much worse. Poor boy.

He didn't struggle much so I know he was quite weak but it just hurts my heart to have to do them in for these reasons.

I quickly put together some cardboard boxes this afternoon with leaves and shavings to put the boys into tonight. I hope it will help them get through it for this winter. Before next winter I'll be building permanent boxes for them to sleep in.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Do you think dubbing him would of worked?

 

[Laingcroft]

My original birds came from Duane Urch, but that was by lucky chance, he doesn't list them for sale anymore.

Talk about the universe speaking to you...about an hour and a half after I posted the above, I went down to get the mail before feeding the crew and found the Urch price list for 2014. He's offering Mottled Houdans this year!

I'm going to place an all Houdan order and hopefully I'll get at least two decent trios to work from. Last time I ended up with four pullets from six chicks. Not much I can do with that, though my favorite girl did place BV/BB at the VPBA show (three entries total, two were mine)

 

[3riverschick]

He didn't struggle much so I know he was quite weak but it just hurts my heart to have to do them in for these reasons.

I quickly put together some cardboard boxes this afternoon with leaves and shavings to put the boys into tonight. I hope it will help them get through it for this winter. Before next winter I'll be building permanent boxes for them to sleep in.

Oh Laceyblues, I am so sorry.

I actually have my birds locked in the coops 24/7 because of the weather, sigh. Don't know what is going on with Knight and Day.

He just doesn't go in the coop at all when Sweetie is there. I think she has got him buffaloed about being in the coop with her. When I do put him in the coop, the first thing he does is mate her. Then I get no eggs from her that day. I went out the other night in 20's degree weather and there he was outside.

So now he stays inside with her till it warms up. I can't figure out if he is buffaloed or gallant (refusing to go in because he is guarding her).

Yes, I do have light on in the coop but he still stays out in the dark.

Best,
Karen

 

[Lacy Blues]

Do you think dubbing him would of worked?

Andalusians have some pretty hefty combs. As I breed them, I need to let their combs grow so I can see what they look like. By the time they're all grown up, I don't know that I would try it. I know its done on game fowl but I don't know how heavy their combs get. OEGBs don't get a heavy comb and they bleed pretty badly sometimes.

Dubbing his comb would have to have been done long ago. I think doing that today would have killed him anyway.

No, I just need to get to my goal, and this one today helped me just a little.

At least I still have 3 sons from him to choose from. One is very young still. My goal is 4 small flocks with their own sleeping boxes for winter where they can all pile in there and keep each other warm.