I'm never gonna get an egg!!!

[chickendreams24]

Oh and I too talk to and for myself our chickens dogs cats and even the occasional wildlife.

 

[pitbullmomma]

I have sunk to an all-new low.

You guys know what I am wearing. The black Tabasco/hot pepper man-underwear, pastel Key West wife-beater, and the ever-present RCS's. Sweaty, hairy, unkempt, no bra, hair uncombed, zombie bite wound, etc.

I have this old Piney neighbor, he has chickens, my husband and I call him Amstel (because that is close to his real name and we can't ever remember it anyway). He is very nice, and talkative. I see him walking around with his chickens--who follow him like puppies--and it eats me up with jealousy. However, for the past 5 months I have had chickens, whenever I see him walking down the street or by my house, I duck him, because I have this mighty fear of biosecurity.

I am a nurse of 25 years, I am also a semi-retired veterinarian. Germs, zoonotic diseases, biosecurity. That's my jam, man. I read a bazillion books on chickening when I got into this and swore I would never have another germ-infested chicken person anywhere near my babies. When I went to the state fair to check out the chooks I incinerated my clothes and shoes when I got home (just kidding).

So I'm out back mucking around with my chooks, and my hubby is up on a ladder farting around with the gutters and I hear him and Amstel talking. Amstel's like, "Can I see your chickens?" OH GOD!!!! Not only do I look--well, indescribable, really--but, um he's a dirty old chicken Piney who got his chooks from who knows where. And then, after apologizing profusely about my hairy legs and unkempt, crazy-lady appearance, something happened.

A golden light shines down from the heavens, angels sing. I feel a warm rush of love and humanity wash over me (perhaps, I am dying?) I hand my Mille Fleur, Flower (my all-time favorite chicken, my love), over to him. "Wanna hold her?" My husband is looking at me over Amstel's shoulder with shocked google eyes, like ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME, Germ Girl?? All of a sudden, I'm like Martha Stewart. Come see my chickens! Come inside my runs! These are my million dollar Ayam Cemanis! (I tell nobody what they are for fear of getting them stolen, I just call "my black chickens" so nobody knows their worth).

It's like, holy crap, I have just found a chicken brother! It's the coolest thing ever. I don't want him to leave. I don't worry that my flock will soon start dropping dead of Mareks, twitching, moaning, reanimating like The Walking Dead, oh no, I'm like: Welcome to my world, come on in and infect us! WTF just happened? It was so cool to have someone come over and admire my chooks and talk chickens. I can't believe I handed Flower over to him and didn't make him sanitize his hands, don a protective biohazard suit, and change his shoes when he came by my chicken area.

Are my chickens all gonna die now, you think? All the other chicken people on my block seem to commingle. I am the only solitary freak who runs and hides when she sees them coming. Well not any more, Mareks Girl.

Wow. Just...wow.

 

[apryl29]

I'm noticing a pattern here.

1. Some people are having a hard time getting their hens to lay.
2. Those same people have really questionable fashion sense- at least around their chickens.
3. Is there a link between #1 and #2???

I feel like I really found my place with you guys oh, but I don't think there's any correlation between 1 and 2. I've got some girls laying and my fashion sense is pretty trashy. I have a black t-shirt that says remain calm this is a drill and has a picture of a drill on it that is covered in various shades of paint from constructing the coop earlier this year has a good-sized hole in the back and under the arm and a lot of tiny holes and questionable stains. I'm not getting dressed up to scrape up chicken crap. Hair in a bun and my only pair of jean shorts which is also covered in paint. And my pink and black cheetah print flip flops that are at least 8 years old. And I wonder why I'm single.

 

[apryl29]

I want to share with you guys this monster egg that came out of one of my Eggers this morning. The smaller egg is what they normally lay. I'm might have crossed my legs a little when I saw that one.

 

[chickendreams24]

I have sunk to an all-new low.

You guys know what I am wearing. The black Tabasco/hot pepper man-underwear, pastel Key West wife-beater, and the ever-present RCS's. Sweaty, hairy, unkempt, no bra, hair uncombed, zombie bite wound, etc.

I have this old Piney neighbor, he has chickens, my husband and I call him Amstel (because that is close to his real name and we can't ever remember it anyway). He is very nice, and talkative. I see him walking around with his chickens--who follow him like puppies--and it eats me up with jealousy. However, for the past 5 months I have had chickens, whenever I see him walking down the street or by my house, I duck him, because I have this mighty fear of biosecurity.

I am a nurse of 25 years, I am also a semi-retired veterinarian. Germs, zoonotic diseases, biosecurity. That's my jam, man. I read a bazillion books on chickening when I got into this and swore I would never have another germ-infested chicken person anywhere near my babies. When I went to the state fair to check out the chooks I incinerated my clothes and shoes when I got home (just kidding).

So I'm out back mucking around with my chooks, and my hubby is up on a ladder farting around with the gutters and I hear him and Amstel talking. Amstel's like, "Can I see your chickens?" OH GOD!!!! Not only do I look--well, indescribable, really--but, um he's a dirty old chicken Piney who got his chooks from who knows where. And then, after apologizing profusely about my hairy legs and unkempt, crazy-lady appearance, something happened.

A golden light shines down from the heavens, angels sing. I feel a warm rush of love and humanity wash over me (perhaps, I am dying?) I hand my Mille Fleur, Flower (my all-time favorite chicken, my love), over to him. "Wanna hold her?" My husband is looking at me over Amstel's shoulder with shocked google eyes, like ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME, Germ Girl?? All of a sudden, I'm like Martha Stewart. Come see my chickens! Come inside my runs! These are my million dollar Ayam Cemanis! (I tell nobody what they are for fear of getting them stolen, I just call "my black chickens" so nobody knows their worth).

It's like, holy crap, I have just found a chicken brother! It's the coolest thing ever. I don't want him to leave. I don't worry that my flock will soon start dropping dead of Mareks, twitching, moaning, reanimating like The Walking Dead, oh no, I'm like: Welcome to my world, come on in and infect us! WTF just happened? It was so cool to have someone come over and admire my chooks and talk chickens. I can't believe I handed Flower over to him and didn't make him sanitize his hands, don a protective biohazard suit, and change his shoes when he came by my chicken area.

Are my chickens all gonna die now, you think? All the other chicken people on my block seem to commingle. I am the only solitary freak who runs and hides when she sees them coming. Well not any more, Mareks Girl.

Wow. Just...wow.

I feel like I really found my place with you guys oh, but I don't think there's any correlation between 1 and 2. I've got some girls laying and my fashion sense is pretty trashy. I have a black t-shirt that says remain calm this is a drill and has a picture of a drill on it that is covered in various shades of paint from constructing the coop earlier this year has a good-sized hole in the back and under the arm and a lot of tiny holes and questionable stains. I'm not getting dressed up to scrape up chicken crap. Hair in a bun and my only pair of jean shorts which is also covered in paint. And my pink and black cheetah print flip flops that are at least 8 years old. And I wonder why I'm single.

Okay first my chicken flip flops are cheetah print and black lol also it's not why you're single bc my DH2B has stayed with me even when I became obsessed (as he calls it) did I mention this last spring he ordered and got his own breeds. Yep that's right. Hypocrite.

Also as to the random unmentionable stains on your shirt I get it. Lol I put on a clean shirt(albeit holey and neon orange) this last week only to go outside to do chores-i know bad idea. What do I find with a quail with a bloody head so I pick it up and take it to the house for cleaning and blukote as the injury is very minor. That being said as I'm walking to the house said quail panics as quail tend to and shakes blood splatter all over me up my arm and across my face, my shirt is then patterned with deep red flecks.

Ugh why the clean shirt. Wait it gets better! Post blukoting the same quail again shakes head(don't worry it's face was covered) me well I was then also splattered with deep purple splotches Which smeared on my face and neck and flecks covered both arms. This is how my DH2B found me when he came home for lunch. He looked at me chuckled said he liked my war paint and carried the bird back outside.

I would also like to point out the lack of correlation between #1 and #2 as we have many birds that are currently laying.

Now @pitbullmomma

At the risk of sounding extremely awful and being judged I completely understand your concern. We did in fact get a Marek's diagnosis late this last spring when we mysteriously lost several birds from last December. I know they come from a healthy clean flock. We have never had any other problems other than predators and cocci. Except for one group of quarantined birds that were put down. None showed any symptoms for over a year after that group came and went. That group had a respiratory illness.

Now that being said I know many people will disagree with us but with 60+ birds many of which are pets we could not cull the whole flock, mind you the chicks DH2B ordered were on their way in the mail from the breeder and payed for when we finally got the diagnosis. The diagnostic lab forgot to contact us for over 2 months. All affected birds were humanely put down and incinerated in a home made incinerator. Terrible to have to make and do but necessary.

While we had had a few visitors before all had been disinfected before entry and shoes checked for anything resembling feces or feathers etc. We also keep entirely separate shoes for off farm.

Being that we are very rural and there are no other poultry owners within miles of us we have chosen to keep a closed flock. Again a very controversial choice and I don't want a fight.

It's been terrible. We have bought virkon S virucide and disinfectant and always spray down our shoes. Still with over 100 birds at the time of diagnosis we only lost 6-8 not bad numbers. Very devestating still but not so bad as I have thought it would/could have been considering our flock was all unvaccinated.

We did vaccinate the breeder chicks and a few others but had others already including two hatches of our own prediagnosis all have thrived and none have been symptomatic. Again this includes vaccinated and unvaccinated birds.

We feel that the Marek's must have been carried in by wild birds and must have been a low infection strain. We did have other juveniles from different groups and the same group similar and even the same ages that were not infected at all and survived. All birds that showed symptoms either died or were put down. The ones we tried to save prediagnosis there was no saving.

This is not something I would wish on anyone else and for this reason we are breeding for resistance.

The problem is that while we were being as careful as possible without taking away their freedom and zest for life I know not all poultry owners follow these practices sadly. Meaning that no matter how careful you are and where you are Marek's exists in that country and there may well have been poultry on that property before. It's a hard thing to grasp. Even harder to accept.

All we can do is try to move on and keep a closed flock.

 

[pitbullmomma]

I want to share with you guys this monster egg that came out of one of my Eggers this morning. The smaller egg is what they normally lay. I'm might have crossed my legs a little when I saw that one. View attachment 1154796

Oh that long egg!!! WTF! I just had sympathetic labor pains just looking at that picture! Ouch, her poor little vent...

 

[pitbullmomma]

All we can do is try to move on and keep a closed flock.

Oh man, Dreams, that is awful. I'm sorry. Why would anyone judge you? Everyone should be able to do their own thing. Now I'm totally freaked out that I let Amstel hold my sweet Flower and walk around the coops. I have always been crazy anal about biosecurity. I even make my chicken-sitter wear a pair of my fake Crocs when she comes over, as she has chickens too. I hope I didn't just decimate my whole flock, I would be devastated.

How do people go to poultry shows and state fairs and 4H and all that, and not be freaked out? Or is it like when I was a little kid, and we all ate dirt, stayed out till the streetlights came on with no cell phones, hitchhiked rides with strangers, and somehow emerged unscathed and healthy, with no peanut allergies? It's crazy.

Back to being a totally paranoid germaphobe~

Cindi

 

[apryl29]

How do people go to poultry shows and state fairs and 4H and all that, and not be freaked out? Or is it like when I was a little kid, and we all ate dirt, stayed out till the streetlights came on with no cell phones, hitchhiked rides with strangers, and somehow emerged unscathed and healthy, with no peanut allergies? It's crazy.

I was thinking the same thing! My daughters wanted to enter a couple of our chickens in the local fair, but by the time they decided they wanted to do it and I looked into it, I decided it was too much of a hassle to try this year, but told them maybe next year... then after reading up on here about illnesses and whatnot I decided against it. My daughters LOVE *most* of our chickens and would be devastated if one of them died.. It wasn't worth the risk to take them to the fair. We went to a local county fair and there were very few chickens that weren't meat birds. Not much of a variety of breeds either. I guess most chicken owners are super cautious too.

 

[chickendreams24]

Okay first my chicken flip flops are cheetah print and black lol also it's not why you're single bc my DH2B has stayed with me even when I became obsessed (as he calls it) did I mention this last spring he ordered and got his own breeds. Yep that's right. Hypocrite.

Also as to the random unmentionable stains on your shirt I get it. Lol I put on a clean shirt(albeit holey and neon orange) this last week only to go outside to do chores-i know bad idea. What do I find with a quail with a bloody head so I pick it up and take it to the house for cleaning and blukote as the injury is very minor. That being said as I'm walking to the house said quail panics as quail tend to and shakes blood splatter all over me up my arm and across my face, my shirt is then patterned with deep red flecks.

Ugh why the clean shirt. Wait it gets better! Post blukoting the same quail again shakes head(don't worry it's face was covered) me well I was then also splattered with deep purple splotches Which smeared on my face and neck and flecks covered both arms. This is how my DH2B found me when he came home for lunch. He looked at me chuckled said he liked my war paint and carried the bird back outside.

I would also like to point out the lack of correlation between #1 and #2 as we have many birds that are currently laying.

Now @pitbullmomma

At the risk of sounding extremely awful and being judged I completely understand your concern. We did in fact get a Marek's diagnosis late this last spring when we mysteriously lost several birds from last December. I know they come from a healthy clean flock. We have never had any other problems other than predators and cocci. Except for one group of quarantined birds that were put down. None showed any symptoms for over a year after that group came and went. That group had a respiratory illness.

Now that being said I know many people will disagree with us but with 60+ birds many of which are pets we could not cull the whole flock, mind you the chicks DH2B ordered were on their way in the mail from the breeder and payed for when we finally got the diagnosis. The diagnostic lab forgot to contact us for over 2 months. All affected birds were humanely put down and incinerated in a home made incinerator. Terrible to have to make and do but necessary.

While we had had a few visitors before all had been disinfected before entry and shoes checked for anything resembling feces or feathers etc. We also keep entirely separate shoes for off farm.

Being that we are very rural and there are no other poultry owners within miles of us we have chosen to keep a closed flock. Again a very controversial choice and I don't want a fight.

It's been terrible. We have bought virkon S virucide and disinfectant and always spray down our shoes. Still with over 100 birds at the time of diagnosis we only lost 6-8 not bad numbers. Very devestating still but not so bad as I have thought it would/could have been considering our flock was all unvaccinated.

We did vaccinate the breeder chicks and a few others but had others already including two hatches of our own prediagnosis all have thrived and none have been symptomatic. Again this includes vaccinated and unvaccinated birds.

We feel that the Marek's must have been carried in by wild birds and must have been a low infection strain. We did have other juveniles from different groups and the same group similar and even the same ages that were not infected at all and survived. All birds that showed symptoms either died or were put down. The ones we tried to save prediagnosis there was no saving.

This is not something I would wish on anyone else and for this reason we are breeding for resistance.

The problem is that while we were being as careful as possible without taking away their freedom and zest for life I know not all poultry owners follow these practices sadly. Meaning that no matter how careful you are and where you are Marek's exists in that country and there may well have been poultry on that property before. It's a hard thing to grasp. Even harder to accept.

All we can do is try to move on and keep a closed flock.

Oh man, Dreams, that is awful. I'm sorry. Why would anyone judge you? Everyone should be able to do their own thing. Now I'm totally freaked out that I let Amstel hold my sweet Flower and walk around the coops. I have always been crazy anal about biosecurity. I even make my chicken-sitter wear a pair of my fake Crocs when she comes over, as she has chickens too. I hope I didn't just decimate my whole flock, I would be devastated.

How do people go to poultry shows and state fairs and 4H and all that, and not be freaked out? Or is it like when I was a little kid, and we all ate dirt, stayed out till the streetlights came on with no cell phones, hitchhiked rides with strangers, and somehow emerged unscathed and healthy, with no peanut allergies? It's crazy.

Back to being a totally paranoid germaphobe~

Cindi

I was thinking the same thing! My daughters wanted to enter a couple of our chickens in the local fair, but by the time they decided they wanted to do it and I looked into it, I decided it was too much of a hassle to try this year, but told them maybe next year... then after reading up on here about illnesses and whatnot I decided against it. My daughters LOVE *most* of our chickens and would be devastated if one of them died.. It wasn't worth the risk to take them to the fair. We went to a local county fair and there were very few chickens that weren't meat birds. Not much of a variety of breeds either. I guess most chicken owners are super cautious too.

Hi guys thank you for your kindness. It seems that we either got extreme kindness and understanding or judgement.
It seems a misconception that Marek's will wipe out the entire flock yes it can in certain strains. I actually spoke to the breeder we ordered DH2B'S chicks from and he said that he doesn't vaccinate bc he feels that they will be exposed to it anywhere they go no matter where on some level or another so he breeds for health and vigor which translates to immune health so although he never had any problems with symptomatic birds and never found anything in his flock he assumed they had been exposed at some point. While I have no idea if this is accurate with wild birds having it and possibly carrying it it seems likely to me that it's all over and we just don't know it. Of course this is just a theory.

Some people say mixing an unvaccinated flock and vaccinated flock is a nuke waiting to go off after all my reading I felt it was safe. There have been no repercussions thus far.

Some people I'm sure felt very strongly that we should replace our whole flock but how do you systematically wipe out over 100 birds. While we do raise and process extra cockerals every year I'm not unfeeling. 20 or so of these birds are our pets and what we call our "lifers" meaning they'll live their natural lives out here unless they are suffering or have no quality of life. These birds are irreplaceable.
The rest of our flock, well we can't afford to replace them all at once. We care about them all and they all get the same care and treatment destined for the pot or a lifer.
We don't have the time to process them all ourselves and don't have the money or desire to ship birds even a mile down the road that could be carriers. Yes there is a processing plant two miles down the road, but that's expensive and has to be booked months in advance.

Some accounts that I've read said we may have to have no poultry on the land for up to 3-4 years to be sure it's safe! I can't kill my pets, but then not to have chickens for that long. I think I'd be in a padded room. Like most of us here with our hairy legs and yucky chore clothes our pets and yes our chickens too are our therapy. I can't imagine not having their personalities nor the eggs. Ew store bought eggs.

It's been such a hard decision wanting to do what's right for my flock and what's right for the wildlife and the area. It's so true that no where is safe from Marek's but don't live in fear for your flock bc that's no way for them to live. Or you. That being said although I love poultry shows I wouldn't have shown my birds even before the Marek's bc I know that there's that chance. I thought about it. I think they're amazing but it could have been something worse something passed through the egg(from generation to generation) something that my whole flock had to be culled.

Enjoy your chickens, enjoy life, enjoy the world and the wonder and beauty of it but don't be afraid to be a little careful. Remember that like the rest of our pets chickens do have feelings and they(most pets) live much shorter lives than us. All we can hope is those lives are as wonderful as they can possibly be.

One of the reasons we keep chore clothes is if we go to the fair or anywhere that could potentially have something we spray our shoes before and after, change our shoes as soon as we get home and usually change into chore clothes or roll up our pants. I also walk around with my pant legs rolled up at fairs because I'm shortish and the legs tend to touch the ground.

More later guys canning green beans.

 

[apryl29]

I couldn't imagine having to cull my whole flock and it's only 14 birds. We had one that was offed by a coyote b/c I didn't do a head count and 1 got left out. I never told my kids that it was my fault, they were devastated & would never forgive me. Then we had a buff orp that was supposed to be a girl, but turned out to be a boy. I found him a new home where he'd get to breed (lucky boy!), and months later my kids still tell me how much they miss him and wonder how he's doing. Recently several of my birds started sneezing. No other symptoms, just a sneeze here and there. I know it could be bad, and they could be life long carriers, but I can't bring myself to consider culling any of them, esp since they all seem healthy otherwise. Even my slightly aggressive cockerel has gotten a respite, I sectioned a spot off for him and he is by the rest of the flock, not w/ them & he doesn't get to free range, but he does have a nice big space outside. People told me I should cull him, but I think just keeping him in his own space had been a good compromise that lets him live. I considered taking to be processed, but I just can't bring myself to kill him just b/c he's a jerk.