INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[hoosiercheetah]

Just curious as to if there is a concern in Northern IN on the weasels or minks. I'm looking at alternatively housing my roo. I know weasels are small enough to get into tiny places. Just wasn't sure if we had them where I am.






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@ChickCrazed Could make it but the price isn't too bad.




http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/ausablebrandweaselboxincludesvictoreasysetrattrap.aspx

http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/ausablebrandmakeyourownweaselboxkit.aspx

You can get a screw-together kit for the same box. That site also sells steel spring traps, which I would use instead of a rat trap.

http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/duke1singlelongspringdoublejawtrapforminkandmuskrat.aspx

 

[ChickCrazed]

Just curious as to if there is a concern in Northern IN on the weasels or minks. I'm looking at alternatively housing my roo. I know weasels are small enough to get into tiny places. Just wasn't sure if we had them where I am.



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@ChickCrazed Could make it but the price isn't too bad.


http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/ausablebrandweaselboxincludesvictoreasysetrattrap.aspx

That is interesting, since they have not yet harmed my chickens I would like to re-locate the little buggers. If they kill a chicken all bets are off The only time I tried to catch the mink i saw in the barn it was the middle of our awful winter and I didn't put much effort into it. I only baited the trap once and the mice ate all the bait before the mink could get to it. I do need to try again. I did google "weasels in Indiana" and found a geographical map, all of Indiana has weasels and mink. Mink TEND to be around areas of water, but all i have is a teeny tiny little creek and we seem to have a growing mink problem.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I'm still having a lot of difficulty with the idea of keeping my new chickens in quarantine for a whole month.

Don't scold me; I'm going to do it anyway, because EVERYONE says I should. I'm taking your collective word for it.

But it doesn't make sense. An asymptomatic carrier is still going to be an asymptomatic carrier in a month, or a year. I just can't wrap my brain around it. And I have a very stretchy brain.

That is all. Martin.

 

[ChickCrazed]

I'm still having a lot of difficulty with the idea of keeping my new chickens in quarantine for a whole month.

Don't scold me; I'm going to do it anyway, because EVERYONE says I should. I'm taking your collective word for it.

But it doesn't make sense. An asymptomatic carrier is still going to be an asymptomatic carrier in a month, or a year. I just can't wrap my brain around it. And I have a very stretchy brain.

That is all. Martin.

What most people recommend is to put one of your birds in there at some point as a "sacrifice" to see if it gets sick. If your bird gets sick it points to the new bird being an asymptomatic carrier. But in most cases even an asymptomatic carrier will start to show symptoms under stress, which happens when you move a chicken to a new home.

ETA I don't do this, I don't quarantine for any longer than necessary (I am bad and usually only do 3 or 3 1/2 weeks) and don't sacrifice any of my birds because I feel bad making them go through the stress of separation and re-integration.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I'm still having a lot of difficulty with the idea of keeping my new chickens in quarantine for a whole month.

Don't scold me; I'm going to do it anyway, because EVERYONE says I should. I'm taking your collective word for it.

But it doesn't make sense. An asymptomatic carrier is still going to be an asymptomatic carrier in a month, or a year. I just can't wrap my brain around it. And I have a very stretchy brain.

That is all. Martin.

It can be a pain. Not so much though if you are isolating little chicks and they are inside the garage but the bigger ones are outside.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

I'm still having a lot of difficulty with the idea of keeping my new chickens in quarantine for a whole month.

Don't scold me; I'm going to do it anyway, because EVERYONE says I should.  I'm taking your collective word for it.

But it doesn't make sense.  An asymptomatic carrier is still going to be an asymptomatic carrier in a month, or a year.  I just can't wrap my brain around it.  And I have a very stretchy brain.

That is all.  Martin.

I dunno even the chicken chick says you can shave it down to 2 weeks. It also gives those birds time to get exposed to ant bugs at your house without getting sick and dying. Hopefully.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I feel bad making them go through the stress of separation and re-integration.

Ya, I was thinking about which chicken I'd put in with the newbies, but Solitary Confinement is already pretty crowded with three birds. I think I'll skip that step. I will do the look-dont-touch in the coop before I let them at each other. I think one of the new girls might have a dominant personality, and I'm a little concerned how she'll get along with Queen Penelope. I really don't want another one-eyed chicken.

OH!! That reminds me! Sadie the Gray chicken opened her bad eye last night, and she's still got it open today!! It looks like it's slowly healing on it's own. I didn't pick her up to look closely, but I didn't see it moving around much... and heaven knows if she has any sight in it. I'll give her some more space with it, and in a few days maybe try to see if she reacts to movement on that side. Anyway, here's hoping!

 

[CRSelvey]

I'm still having a lot of difficulty with the idea of keeping my new chickens in quarantine for a whole month.

Don't scold me; I'm going to do it anyway, because EVERYONE says I should. I'm taking your collective word for it.

But it doesn't make sense. An asymptomatic carrier is still going to be an asymptomatic carrier in a month, or a year. I just can't wrap my brain around it. And I have a very stretchy brain.

That is all. Martin.

The stress of the move does bring out all sorts of things. I have brought home chicks that had cocci but I didn't know it. When you bring home new birds, they might be more susceptible to something that is already in your dirt and its so much easier to take care of them when you don't have to treat the entire flock, or worse yet, get rid of the entire flock. When I first got my chickens, I didn't think biosecurity was that important if I wasn't breeding or showing. Now my birds are virus carriers and I have to be rigidly cautious in where I go if it involves chickens and what shoes I wear when I'm out. Its a big pain but still better than losing them all.

We have a much missed member named Old Salt who used to talk about quarantining his chickens in the car for the 45 minute drive home. He was very fortunate that all his birds were super healthy. Has anyone heard from him? I'm heading to Lebanon tomorrow for feed. I was thinking of checking in on him if nobody has.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Not too long ago, I read about someone that got two new roosters and kept them in quarantine for the full month. They appeared healthy and so they passed quarantine and were put in with the owner's flock. Less than a week later, the rest of the flock started showing signs of a respiratory disease (MG if I recall correctly).

The so-called sacrifice is the only way to know if a bird is an asymptomatic carrier. Stories like the above are the reason why I never quarantine without a 'sacrifice'. As a matter of fact, from what I gather from that story, if you aren't going to 'sacrifice' one of your birds, you might as well not bother quarantining at all! Yes, the bird might be stressed for that time, but I would much rather have one stressed bird than a flock of sick ones.

And I'm not meaning to scold anyone, of course. This is one of my causes (this and fire safety are the big ones to me). The quarantine is one of the most underrated, but still one of the most important parts of chicken keeping, and very few seem to acknowledge that fact. It's a pain in the butt at the time, but worthwhile--at least to me--to know my flock will remain healthy.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

When you bring home new birds, they might be more susceptible to something that is already in your dirt and its so much easier to take care of them when you don't have to treat the entire flock, or worse yet, get rid of the entire flock.

That part of it makes sense to me. I have been trying to get them out on the grass as often as possible, on a part of the yard my flock doesn't go near. They're out enjoying the weather today!