INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ellymayRans]

I power washed the barn floor yesterday. And cleaned Big Roosty's window where he hangs out watching for hawks and anything that moves. He is acting like a kid who just got glasses and can see for the first time!

I have a Hen inside getting over sour crop.  No idea how she got it...but she did.  On Sunday night, I was starting to get worried because she continued to look weaker and weaker by the hour. I found an article online mentioning to give them red wine.  It was about 10pm and I said to my husband "I'm going to run and get some red wine" He looked at me kinda funny, then reminded me it was Sunday. Crap, thats right Indiana!  So then I said, "Are there any bars open?" Of course by now he was asking me why I wanted to drink so badly. LOL I told him it wasn't for me, it was for Penelope. 

So here is how you know you love your chickens so much , that  you are willing to go to a bar, on a Sunday @ 10pm, order a glass of red wine for your chicken.(I don't even drink red wine) My plan was to sneak it with an empty syringe full home in my purse.  I thought surely if they ask me what I was doing I would have told them it was for my sick chicken.  I'm sure they would understand! 
Turns out no bars close enough were still open.  We tried to find one that was open, but the GPS on my phone sent us somewhere totally different!  Anyways...I got back home feeling helpless and decided to try ACV and did the trick...well that and getting as much water as I could in her and massaging her crop a ton...oh and some Kefir...she is not too fond of the Key Lime Pie flavor. 

Today she is doing so much better!  She is at the back door sun bathing and preening!  One happy chicken momma!!!

Omy! I have to admit you had me laughing so hard on this one I was just about in tears!! Too funny!

 

[ellymayRans]

I have a trio of Favs coming!!! Been waiting for a Roo from the breeder I got my first faverolle hen from last year. Good news is I get two more hens with him!!
If any of you have been to the Fort Wayne's children's zoo and seen the chickens in the Indiana farm's little coop. Those Faverolles are from the same breeding I got my first hen from! So I will be breeding them hopefully this year. Pretty excited

That is great! I love my Fav and getting more soon!! Chicks should be on their way ..April hopefully! !

 

[bradselig]

These will be Salmon Fav's also. They really are a nice calm bird. And great layers

I'd love to swap some chicks/eggs with you at some point. Mine turned out to be 3 pullets and 2 cockerels. I will keep the nicest of the two cockerels and sell the other. Of course I have to see how they mature as well and hope they turn out nice.

 

[Mother2Hens]

hello i am from Greensburg Indiana i manage a farm store and have poultry items. In the near future i would like to expand my poultry business so i can hold shows and vet days in my parking lot! So if anyone is in my area and want to help come visit me. I can also order in fresh chicks! all of mine comes from Mt healthy Hatcheries.
@premiercoop

Welcome to the Indiana Thread! Please check out the links at the bottom of my post to find out more about our exceptional group!

@ellymayRans ~ So one of the Olive Eggers who has acted broody off and on has now been "on" for two days. She sits in the bottom floor of the bantam coop. Tonight at bedtime, her sister parked herself right next to Miss Broody, and we coundn't tell which one was the broody. Sisters! They looked so cute. Bonbon and little Monday have the top floor to themselves. We actually just renamed our little adorable Cochin hen from "Monday" to "Screech." It's much more fitting since she screeches like a screaming goat. She is hilarious-- tiny, fluffy, friendly--- the first chicken I've ever had who loves to be held! But, she screeches loudly, and she also attacks my gloved hand when I'm digging in the flowerbed. I don't know if she thinks that my gloved hand is another chicken trying to look for worms or what. I'm digging, trying to unearth worms for her, and then she grabs my glove with her beak and yanks on it and jumps on my hand like a psycho ninja! I think I've found my replacement for Nene's crazy personality that I've missed so much.
Easy No-Peck Remedy
The other evening, I happened to run across a great tip on BYC while searching for a totally different topic. Someone mentioned putting a little dab of Vick's VapoRub on the head of a chicken that's being pecked. When chickens peck and get Vick's on their beak, they stop. Personally, I think that a thick ointment would be yucky to have on your head. However, I happen to be using VetRx (camphor oil) on my BR's chronic scaly leg mite condition. I use a small sponge brush to apply it. I put some on a clean sponge brush and dabbed once lightly on the crests of my two Silkies before bedtime. When another chicken started to peck and smelled the camphor, she'd stop. It worked great-- I did it again tonight. I don't think the Silkies are even aware of it since it's applied so lightly just at the top of their crests. I have some Rooster Booster blu-kote type of stuff that I had gotten before for another chicken's wound, but it is sticky and smells horrible--it's for worse cases. The only time my Silkies are pecked is at bedtime squabble time, which hasn't really been a problem since spring has sprung. I just want to make sure their new pin feathers aren't plucked, and this method is easy and works well.

 

[ellymayRans]

[rule]@ellymayRans
 ~ [COLOR=8B4513]So one of the Olive Eggers who has acted broody off and on has now been "on" for two days. She sits in the bottom floor of the bantam coop. Tonight at bedtime, her sister parked herself right next to Miss Broody, and we coundn't tell which one was the broody. Sisters! They looked so cute. Bonbon and little Monday have the top floor to themselves. We actually just renamed our little adorable Cochin hen from "Monday" to "Screech." It's much more fitting since she screeches like a screaming goat. She is hilarious-- tiny, fluffy, friendly--- the first chicken I've ever had who loves to be held! But, she screeches loudly, and she also attacks my gloved hand when I'm digging in the flowerbed. I don't know if she thinks that my gloved hand is another chicken trying to look for worms or what. I'm digging, trying to unearth worms for her, and then she grabs my glove with her beak and yanks on it and jumps on my hand like a psycho ninja! I think I've found my replacement for Nene's crazy personality that I've missed so much.[/COLOR]
[rule][COLOR=800080]Easy No-Peck Remedy[/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]The other evening, I happened to run across a great tip on BYC while searching for a totally different topic. Someone mentioned putting a little dab of Vick's VapoRub on the head of a chicken that's being pecked. When chickens peck and get Vick's on their beak, they stop. Personally, I think that a thick ointment would be yucky to have on your head. However, I happen to be using VetRx (camphor oil) on my BR's chronic scaly leg mite condition. I use a small sponge brush to apply it. I put some on a clean sponge brush and dabbed once lightly on the crests of my two Silkies before bedtime. When another chicken started to peck and smelled the camphor, she'd stop. It worked great-- I did it again tonight. I don't think the Silkies are even aware of it since it's applied so lightly just at the top of their crests. I have some Rooster Booster blu-kote type of stuff that I had gotten before for another chicken's wound, but it is sticky and smells horrible--it's for worse cases. The only time my Silkies are pecked is at bedtime squabble time, which hasn't really been a problem since spring has sprung. I just want to make sure their new pin feathers aren't plucked, and this method is easy and works well.[/COLOR]

That's too sweet and funny! I do adore them too. Every girl I've had loved to be loved on and they love to hop up on me or an egg basket. Funny the olive girl is broody cuz that's one thing my cochins have never done is gone broody..lol! This is one of min that was my best pal. I sent her to my aunts to live since she was frizzled and I didn't want the double frizzled gene situation with my frizzled boy. She always talked to me and rode with me or followed me every where. Sooo darn sweet!

I've got 3 of their eggs in my incubator test hatching and sent 2 with my aunt as we're participating in the Easter HAL! so excited to see what comes of them!

 

[kittydoc]

Here's an updated article on the particular status of avian influenza in Arkansas. It's being nicknamed "chicken Ebola" there because it is causing severe hemorrhaging and almost 100% death there. Different strains cause different degrees of the illness.

Worth a read: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/16/us-health-birdflu-containment-idUSKBN0MC0BN20150316

 

[ellymayRans]

Here's an updated article on the particular status of avian influenza in Arkansas.  It's being nicknamed "chicken Ebola" there because it is causing severe hemorrhaging and almost 100% death there.  Different strains cause different degrees of the illness.

Worth a read:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/16/us-health-birdflu-containment-idUSKBN0MC0BN20150316

Thanks for the post and helping keep us all informed. It's all very sad and disturbing for sure.

 

[kittydoc]

Thanks for the post and helping keep us all informed. It's all very sad and disturbing for sure.

It surely is, and you're welcome. I hope against hope it will stop before it gets here. It has to burn out eventually. It always does. But you never know that point until after it happens.

 

[kittydoc]

Remember my email about Purdue University's Poultry Extension Service? I decided to email her directly. Below is the prompt reply I received from Dr. Wakenell, its director.

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Dear Dr Kraeszig,

Thank you for your email. The thread is not accurate as we always take poultry calls. However, the poultry medical service (myself and my 2 residents, Drs. Yuko Sato and Geoff Lossie copied above) is run through the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory rather than veterinary clinical services. We provide farm visits for no charge when we have senior students (funded by the Indiana State Poultry Association) and a limited number of no cost necropsies. In addition, ISPA offers a service that tests 12 eggs per farm once a year for PT, MG and AI also free of charge. If clients wish to have live poultry examined in the clinic, they are accepted in the small animal hospital through community practice as we cannot take live animals into ADDL for anything except necropsy. I hope that this helps! I've been at Purdue for 6 years and we have a strong and active poultry medical service. PVM has the only endowed poultry residency program in the world. I'm on FMLA until mid April but my residents are carrying the service fine without me. Yes, HPAI is on everyone's mind. I was at UC-Davis for 20 years and was heavily involved with the exotic NDV outbreak and response - it was not fun. Hope that your chickens remain safe!

Take care
Pat

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So Dr. Wakenell is personally unavailable until she returns from FMLA, but if you contact her, I'm sure she will refer you to one of her two residents. You CAN get help from them without cost as long as you don't go nuts. So if you have an individual sick bird, they can be admitted WITHOUT referral through the Community Practice portion of the Small Animal Clinic. Community Practice is just what it sounds like--like your local vet, with "normal" problems that don't require a referral to a specialist. If that is necessary, it could come from within Community Practice. If you need a farm call and they have senior vet students available, they'll come do it (remember, they have to have senior vet students available in order to do this!). You can always start with a question via email or telephone. If you send an email, include as much history and specifics as you can. Most of you do that when you ask for help on BYC anyway, but occasionally I see a very vague question that is too broad to be answered without writing a book.

I hope you keep this info handy. The hardest part of getting help is knowing who or where to ask. Purdue's system is atypical compared to small animal or other livestock extension, but it makes sense I think for poultry to go through the Diagnostic Laboratory since MOST poultry are going to wind up there for necropsy. If you are losing multiple birds with the same symptoms, honestly that's the best way to go. If you have just one off bird, then it makes sense to have it seen through the Community Practice part of the Small Animal Clinic. There are always some vet students particularly interested in either wild or pet birds, if not poultry, but a bird is pretty much a bird is pretty much a bird. The veterinarian in Community Practice I presume is knowledgeable about birds, and you may luck out and also get a bonus senior student who is really interested in your bird, too!

It's a little distasteful to some to talk about it, but if you have fresh dead birds you want examined, keep them refrigerated but NOT frozen. Frozen tissue explodes all the cell and intracellular membranes, including those of many organisms, so it's just not helpful. I have kept dead cats in my personal refrigerator awaiting full necropsy before (I used to have a cats-only housecall practice). Many vets who do poultry work will do what is called a "gross necropsy," which is a visual examination of all the organs, inside and out, but generally does not include microscopic examination (called histology or histopathology) or tests for specific diseases. If you have to have a whole dead chicken in your regular fridge, first bag it tightly, preferably in a large enough Ziplock type bag without distorting the body excessively, then double bag it with something you can't see through, like a white or black trash bag. If it's important to get the answer and you can't take it into Purdue the same day, you have to refrigerate it to prevent tissue spoilage.

Here's Dr. Wakenell's contact info again:



Dr. Pat Wakenell

[email protected]

Phone: 765.496.3347

 

[Acornewell]

Thanks @kittydoc - This information is greatly appreciated!!!