INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ellymayRans]

Well I am just beside myself! I tried to do a head count before the rain began today and I have lost 2 of my grown Black Copper Marans hens to predators this past week! A few days after I posted about my Silkie roo getting attacked by the hawk I saw what I thought to be a fox tail disappear into the woods. ..I sent my dog after it and he went far as I could hear him barking but came back empty handed. While he was chasing I was immediately walking the trail in search of a chicken hoping it dropped it..no such luck! My dog lead me to the feathers and I just found trails and clusters of them!

I don't know when the second was taken.

I have lost 4 grown birds now along with about 10 from spring hatches! This is not a good sign! This all in a matter of 2 months! My neighbor informed me she's seen the fox too and has had 2 of hers vanish..she only had 6 new ones after all hers had been picked off over this spring/summer..she's down to 4 now. I know we should pen them but I hate that!

Anyway!
Turkey Day fast approaching and I am already stressing out about getting our house in tip top shape! I normally take this week off but my coworker did and so I couldn't! That doesn't help! Soo I'm barking at every other person in the house to do their part..needless to say I'm not very liked at the moment! Lol!

 

[ellymayRans]

Oh forgot to share...as I sat in the dining room Thursday maybe I saw my Peacock with his neck all puffed out strutting towards the tree line following him was a puffed up Peahen and following her was then a puffed up Peachick...cute but I just knew there was a reason. .sure enough there flying off was another hawk!

Can't help but wonder if the animals of prey know something we don't! Bad winter coming perhaps? !

 

[kabhyper1]

I spoke to our county poultry lady, I forget what she does, but she was super nice. She is the one who knows what diseases are going around, purdue extension office gave me her number. Anyway she said there is a bacterial thing that isn't a huge deal and isn't mg going around that has respiratory symptoms. I have a hen that gets swollen eyes in dusty conditions that isn't mg. Just like us, they can get irritated mucous membranes and reactions to environmental changes. I always jump to worse case scenario, but not everything is deadly. Tylan or anothr antibiotic could still help, because the irritation could be caused by a bacteria. Anyway just thought I would pass that along. Hope she gets better soon.

 

[ellymayRans]

Headcount has me at 36 girls and 22 roos approx! I only have 9 boys I want to keep! I really need to do some processing and yesterday would have been the best day but we were so busy with the boys and their sports I just didn't have time. I may need to just find a place to take them for processing. .hmmm...

 

[Granny Hatchet]

No rattles in the breathing. No coughing or sneezing. No nasal discharge. No new birds.

I just talked with a bird friend and she suggested that perhaps they just got stressed and then sick because I moved them from a large coop into cages in a shed for the winter. I am going to add apple cider vinegar to their water this evening and keep a close eye on them.

what did you use for bedding ?? it could be mold.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: I've never had one like this before either. They usually molt in "stages" so that parts of them are covered and parts are in pins and the feathers that are there kind of keep things covered.

I actually had to bring her in last week to the hospital pen inside the house as it was obvious that the quick drop to the near single digits was just too much. I put her out again yesterday when it got in the 40s but I don't think these feathers are going to come in quick enough to be much help when it drops down into the 20s again on Monday night.

Monday low 26; tuesday high 30 and low 20...so depending on how she looks she may have to come back in which I'm trying to avoid as it will be hard to re-acclimate.

If I try to pick her up it hurts her so I've been trying to kind of "herd" her gently where I need her to go.

She is feeling much better than she was last week but she's got a ways to go to get back to par. Been giving her ground raw meat 2x/day at least and that's about the only thing she'll eat.

 

[browncow15]

Got my horizontal nipple waterers in the mail today!! Well yesterday but we forgot to get the mail I have an aquarium heater I bought last year and never used so my plan is to use it BUT it heats the water to 78* so I was thinking about putting it on the timer I already have in the coop. I figure I'll set it to come on for 30 mins every 3-4 hours during the day and take the bucket out at night. Does that sound like enough run time? I also bought a thermo cube but can I use that with the time or not?

 

[Granny Hatchet]

you think she has been molting for a while and for some other reason the old feathers just werent falling? or maybe something pulled them all at once ? I have never noticed my molt either. been 4 yrs. just feather loss from over mating.

 

[CharlemagneRoost]

I can only help a little bit. they shouldnt have swelled eyes from stress unless they are carriers all ready . the will "break out" in times of stress.  they sound nothing like mg birds and my guess would be an allergy . is there something different where you moved them to? fumes, paint cans , ect....    I hope i am telling you right but i have dealt with the mgs  and it just dont sound that way to me.

You know, the thought occurred to me that they may have had a reaction to dust in the shed. I just cleaned out the cages in there yesterday - taking advantage of the nice temps we had. And I am sure there was some dust raised in that process. So it may be as simple as that - and it would explain the fact that it is just presenting in swollen eyes with no other respiratory symptoms. I have ordered some of that dr pigeon one drop medicine for eyes. So if any more birds start having eye problems i can treat them right away.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

You know, the thought occurred to me that they may have had a reaction to dust in the shed. I just cleaned out the cages in there yesterday - taking advantage of the nice temps we had. And I am sure there was some dust raised in that process. So it may be as simple as that - and it would explain the fact that it is just presenting in swollen eyes with no other respiratory symptoms. I have ordered some of that dr pigeon one drop medicine for eyes. So if any more birds start having eye problems i can treat them right away.

I bought some straw once that made me start sneezing like mad ! pretty sure it had got wet at the store and was molded but I hope the dust is the problem. did you get stuffy when you were cleaning ?