INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

With the AI being so close to southern Indiana I am nervous! Of course I'm nervous any time I hear a sneeze while the girls are dust bathing!

Chickens are amazing healers in physical problems! I had one pullet either get caught in something or pecked to the point of a big piece of skin on the back of her head scraped mostly off. She looked like her hair piece was out of whack. I ended up cutting the whole piece off because there was no way to re-attach it. She didn't even squack or flip out while I was fixing her up. That was two weeks ago and I can hardly tell she had an injury.
Last weekend my brother's dog was home visiting and he believes a good chicken is a chicken in his mouth. He got a pullet that was on the wrong side of the fence and it had a wing and side puncture wound and some feathers pulled from its rear. I cleaned her up and now she is doing great as well!

So the physical stuff I can deal with since I basically have a small vets office in my garage due to working in an urgent care and sometimes stuff gets "expired."

thats awesome you have plenty on hand to work with.

 

[amwchickin]

My little lone chick is just over a week old! Two days of having her legs banded together and the spraddle leg is healed. I had to teach her how to drink. She slept in the crook of my neck/shoulder for two nights (I did not sleep) and then I got her some friends.

My sister's Head Start class named her Francis. (And it can be changed to Frank if needed.) today I took Francis and a couple other chicks to the class for show and tell. It was so awesome!! The majority of the kids have never seen or touched a chick/chicken. They had so many questions and were so excited about this experience. Yesterday they had a beekeeper visit with a portable bee hive. Any volunteer or person that comes in with educational material gives the program government money. So that made me happy that I was helping my sister as well.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Talked to my DH about AI tonight, he just looked at me like, you're kidding right? Its really impacted our thinking on how to protect our birds.He feels like I do, let them be chickens. If its airborne, whats meant to happen will. No way to combat that risk here. We will confine what we can but this new info out there tells me it won't help much. Am watching out for any wild waterfowl coming on our land.

I had a hard bite from one of my adopted golden comet/red production layers tonight. She did not want any part of being cooped, wanted to roost in a bush. OK, but you are 3 feet off the ground, easy picking for predators! I took her off the bush, and carried her into the coop, she promptly bit my hand.

I hate being bit, but I know why she did it.
I grabbed her beak, gave her a loud NO BITING and carried her to the roost. She tried to get me again, lol. Off the roost, grabbed her beak again. Have a hunch she is going broody. Those girls have all been 100% contained until they came here couple months ago. They are all laying huge jumbo eggs, but have noticed these hens are aggressive to people, do not like to be touched. They do not like me taking the eggs either, so they have still got a lot to learn here.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

My little lone chick is just over a week old! Two days of having her legs banded together and the spraddle leg is healed. I had to teach her how to drink. She slept in the crook of my neck/shoulder for two nights (I did not sleep) and then I got her some friends.

My sister's Head Start class named her Francis. (And it can be changed to Frank if needed.) today I took Francis and a couple other chicks to the class for show and tell. It was so awesome!! The majority of the kids have never seen or touched a chick/chicken. They had so many questions and were so excited about this experience. Yesterday they had a beekeeper visit with a portable bee hive. Any volunteer or person that comes in with educational material gives the program government money. So that made me happy that I was helping my sister as well.

I just loved this!

 

[kittydoc]

Just saw this posted elsewhere and thought I would share. (Apologies to @kittydoc , I know you're the one that usually makes these posts.)



USDA Confirms Highly Pathogenic H5N2 Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in Kentucky
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service sent this bulletin at 04/28/2015 02:10 PM EDT



CDC considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low



WASHINGTON, April 28, 2015 -- The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza (HPAI) in two wild birds, a goose and a duck, in McCracken County, Kentucky. These birds were found within the Mississippi flyway where this strain of avian influenza has previously been identified. CDC considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low. No human infections with the virus have been detected at this time.

The samples, taken from dead birds, were tested by the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia and confirmed by USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa. NVSL is the only internationally recognized AI reference laboratory in the United States. The United States has the strongest AI surveillance program in the world, and USDA is working with its partners to actively look for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets and in migratory wild bird populations.

Full Article: http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAAPHIS/bulletins/10192a7



The birds were apparently found dead in McCracken County, which borders Illinois. Still, way too close to home for some of you here. I'm printing some house rules for making contact with my hens that I will be strictly enforcing here and posting on all doors as a reminder, though we are largely biosecure as is. I think if it shows up much closer, the girls will be living inside their coop or the garage for a while... Such a shame when we're just getting some nice days and gradually warmer temps.

So I have a few questions!

1. Those of you that use Oxine, how much do you dilute it from its bottled form? How long must you wait after spraying it, if at all, to let birds into an area? Is it safe to be used around food and water sources? How do you use it for disinfecting clothes and shoes, besides having boot baths? I was thinking of keeping some diluted in a spray bottle to use, but I'm not sure how safe that would be, mainly if it gets in someone's eyes or something..?

2. Does anyone happen to know what symptoms Guinea fowl exhibit when infected? I'm keeping an eye out for any symptoms whatsoever in my birds, but I have no idea of what to look for in the Guineas. They are probably the least likely to be exposed to wild birds because they are in a fully enclosed aviary with a solid roof, but I want to know what to look for just to be safe.

3. And any suggestions for deterring wild birds? I'm mostly unconcerned because I don't often see wild birds in the chicken yard, just the occasional flyover. However, a female cowbird has recently taken up attacking her reflection in our windows, and she likes to perch on the netting over the duck yard between her attacks. I would rather not have to use deadly force, but will if there are no other suggestions.


Thanks in advance for any replies.

Pipd, don't kill the cowbird. Songbirds have not been implicated in the spread or transmission of AI in this epidemic, though occasionally they get sick. It's vastly more common for the wild ducks and geese to be responsible than songbirds.

Those of you who have dogs may find them handy for running off wild ducks and geese, though if you already have domestic waterfowl in your flock AND have dogs, most of you will have trained them not to bother birds.

Guineas haven't yet been reported as catching H5N2, but they are on the list of susceptible domestic species, and I would think the signs and symptoms would be about the same. If laying, lowered egg production a day or two before lethargy, which happens a day or two before death. 90-100% die within 48 hours of multiple organ failure. Interestingly, I just read that sometimes domestic ducks can be infected with AI and not become ill, like their wild counterparts, but that's not necessarily a good thing.

If I had a mixed flock of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and/or geese, I would TRY to segregate them by species. At minimum, I would try to keep the waterfowl away from the chickens and turkeys, and not share any feeding, watering, or other equipment. If you can, have separate sets. If you can't, use a general disinfectant like Virkon S (or maybe Oxine--I am not as familiar with it). Household bleach diluted 1:32 (one ounce of bleach per quart of water) works in a pinch, but it should be rinsed off after being allowed to sit on hard surfaces for about 5-10 minutes. Bleach is corrosive to metals at high concentrations. Using MORE than 1:32 doesn't help, and may hurt you and your birds.

Turkeys are 100X more susceptible to H5N2 than chickens, which is why more of them have died than chickens. Still, if there's enough virus in an area, chickens will get it, too. If you have turkeys and other poultry, at minimum try to separate your turkeys. Even if you have to do it half-assed, try leave as much space as possible between your turkey housing and your chicken housing, as long as it is predator proofed. If your turkeys and chickens share a common wall that is solid, that's probably OK. If part of that wall is chicken wire or hardware cloth, then that's not good enough. The good thing is that the temperatures are reasonable enough that fully feathered birds don't need much in the way of special or insulated housing if you have to literally wing it.

Pipd, I'd say your guineas are the safest since they are confined at all times.

I have done three things so far to prepare. One is to put up bird netting everywhere. The other is to keep Virkon S on hand (I bought a bottle of 50 tablets, each of which makes 16 oz. of disinfectant, on Amazon.com--they also have powders for larger amounts of solution). I was thinking about isolating my most valuable chickens in the garage, but if one ever gets AI, I believe they are going to destroy every bird on the property, so that wouldn't help. Sigh. I never let anyone onto our property for biosecurity long before AI became an issue, and at minimum everyone with poultry should do this NOW if you haven't already started. Pipd is sure right about that.

Thanks for the heads up, Pipd. I think we've all known that it's only a matter of time before it's in Indiana. I'm sure there are infected wild birds here already.

 

[kittydoc]

So the physical stuff I can deal with since I basically have a small vets office in my garage due to working in an urgent care and sometimes stuff gets "expired."

OK, I am putting on my "regular person" hat instead of my veterinarian hat, which would get in trouble for saying this. Most medications, except liquids that had to be reconstituted with water right before use, will be effective for a year or so after the expiration date. Powdered medication, injectable medication, capsules, pills, and ointments would generally keep about a year past their expiration dates. If a drug needs to stay in the fridge, keep them in the fridge.

The big exception is stuff like Clavamox (which someone asked me about on another thread recently). That's an oral antibiotic medication that is reconstituted right before use which does not keep more than 10-14 days, even in the fridge. It's useless after that. Some liquids which come as clear liquids to begin with, like clindamycin drops, keep a long time at room temperature. It's the stuff that you mix up at the last minute that you really have to pitch after 10-14 days. It's just no good.

Now, if a powder, capsule, or pill smells worse than usual, or has a sharp or acrid odor, it's gone bad and should be discarded. Most communities have events a couple of times a year for people to pitch expired meds. In my town, there is a permanent spot open 24/7 at the police station for this, which is awesome. Don't flush them down the toilet or pour liquid meds down the drain. Don't throw them in the trash if you can avoid it, but that's better than putting them into the septic or sewer system.

Bandaging material, suture, etc., keeps much longer than the expiration date as long as it has not been opened. Latex gloves will fall apart eventually from aging. Nitrile gloves are more durable.

I have no idea why I turned this comment into a lesson on expiration dates! I need to go to bed. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

[kittydoc]

I got this message today from Nifty Chicken, the BYC owner. Apparently this is a good thing, except I'm really bad at math, so I'll just take his word for it. Anyone want to enlighten me? Did anyone else get this message? I hate compliments in the form of math story problems. lol I'll take it, even if I don't fully understand it.


"Hello!
As many members of BYC know, I'm a huge geek and I LOVE me some data / numbers. Well, one thing I do from time to time is look at the members that are getting the most “Ovations” and I was pretty impressed with what I saw!

So, out of literally hundreds of thousands of members, your name was in the top 0.05% (yes, that’s 1/20th of one percent!!!)with the most ovations received in the past few months!
I wanted to congratulate you and say "GREAT JOB!!!"

"

I got it, too! It's nice to get recognition from our peers on here. Thanks to everyone who has ever given me an ovation!

 

[kittydoc]

@ChickCrazed OK, just clarify for me what exactly you bought. Are the eggs all black/lav splits? What colors were the parents?

Lavender genetics are easy. It is an autosomal recessive (unlike chocolate, which is a sex-linked color gene).

Black/black = black

Black/lav is a split and looks black, but carries one copy of the lavender gene.

Lav/lav = lavender

If all these eggs are black/lav splits, then ALL will look black. Bred together, you would get 25% pure regular black, 50% black/lav splits, and 25% lavs. Unfortunately, you can't tell blacks apart from black/lav splits, so most people don't do this breeding.

If they are all splits, then try to buy a few lavs. Breeding a black/lav split to a lav gives you half black/lav splits and half lavs. That's what I did this year with my Orps because my lavs all came from a lav to lav breeding, and you don't want to do that more than 2-3 generations in a row. You want to breed back to black/lav splits periodically because there is a semi-lethal gene close to the lav gene that results in very poor tail/rear feathering, and if you breed lav to lav too many times in a row, you are more likely to get two copies of that bad plumage gene and get ugly birds that are also not as well protected from winter weather. Next year, I'll breed only lav to lav.

This is pretty much true for all lavs (the plumage issue), I believe. My understanding is that the lavender gene was introduced into other breeds from Ameracaunas (I think).

 

[kittydoc]

exactly 50%

incubator 7 lav 4 black
broody all 3 hatched out black

Lavs: 5 have tail feathers. One has a stubby tail. One has no tail.
Blacks: Only 2 of the blacks have tails. Many have no tail feathers at all & those also have smaller wings.

Not sure if slower feathering will equal male or if it's due to the coloring.

That's cool! It's nice when math works. Just remember all the blacks are splits that carry lavender.

I don't hold stock in feathering to guess at gender with Orps. I've been fooled enough times that I mostly look to behavior and posture to identify cockerels early on (then wait for combs/leg thickness to confirm). With Cogburn's chicks, it seems like there is always a chick in every group that is very "manly," usually a bigger chick, too, that is the first one to pop its head out from under the brooder heater, or the first to move forward and investigate things, etc. Most have been black, too. That's probably just coincidental.

 

[ChickCrazed]

@ChickCrazed OK, just clarify for me what exactly you bought. Are the eggs all black/lav splits? What colors were the parents?

Lavender genetics are easy. It is an autosomal recessive (unlike chocolate, which is a sex-linked color gene).

Black/black = black

Black/lav is a split and looks black, but carries one copy of the lavender gene.

Lav/lav = lavender

If all these eggs are black/lav splits, then ALL will look black. Bred together, you would get 25% pure regular black, 50% black/lav splits, and 25% lavs. Unfortunately, you can't tell blacks apart from black/lav splits, so most people don't do this breeding.

If they are all splits, then try to buy a few lavs. Breeding a black/lav split to a lav gives you half black/lav splits and half lavs. That's what I did this year with my Orps because my lavs all came from a lav to lav breeding, and you don't want to do that more than 2-3 generations in a row. You want to breed back to black/lav splits periodically because there is a semi-lethal gene close to the lav gene that results in very poor tail/rear feathering, and if you breed lav to lav too many times in a row, you are more likely to get two copies of that bad plumage gene and get ugly birds that are also not as well protected from winter weather. Next year, I'll breed only lav to lav.

This is pretty much true for all lavs (the plumage issue), I believe. My understanding is that the lavender gene was introduced into other breeds from Ameracaunas (I think).

Both Marans and Silkied Ameraucana eggs I am getting are out of a lavender roo over black split to lavender hens. So it sounds like I should get half splits and half lavs. I am so excited!!! I really hope I can get at least a pair to hatch of each!!!!!

Thank you for taking the time to explain it!!! I really hope I get a chance to work with these as projects!