INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

WORMING (Just my philosophy and MO)
-I don't worm routinely. I do observe the health of the flock and look for any signs of problems.
-I don't "guess" if they have worms and worm them. If I think there might be a worm issue I would take a stool sample in to be checked before administering any worming medication.
-I do practice preventative, natural measures to boost health and a strong immune system that helps them be strong against illness and parasite overload. This includes what I DO and DON'T feed among other things.

So far I've never wormed and haven't needed to.

-Worming medications are very hard on the system and the overall health of the bird (or any animal for that matter).

-It takes time for them to recover their health after worming....and can weaken them to the point that they are more susceptible to....overload of WORMS.

And some other illnesses.


That is why I don't worm routinely and why I'd take in a sample and only worm if they are on overload. And...if I DID need to worm them, I'd definitely start looking at my husbandry and their current living conditions to see what I need to change (which could be a host of things...and some of them are unavoidable.....but I'd sure want to know what was causing the problem to see if there was anything I could change.)

 

[Leahs Mom]

PS: Most vets do a fecal sample (even if they're not an avian vet) for a very reasonable price...usually less than $20.

 

[ChickCrazed]

I too have comingleing flocks and herds and am thinking of worming, but I don't know what to use or how to go about it. And now with the loss of 3 hens in a week, and no apparent causes I am thinking maybe bad worms??? So if you would share what you use and how you get it to them with me I would be grateful. I'm just trying to figure out why I'm losing my birds. and trying everything I can.

Have you noticed worms in the poop? If not I wouldn't think that would be the issue. With the two older hens, did you notice that they had lost weight, had changes in poop, have any goop around their faces/eyes? How did their combs/wattles look? I would start paying a lot of attention to all of the above with the rest of your birds to see if there are any symptoms you may have missed. It could just be age related and a freak accident with your younger bird.

 

[chick rookie]

Have you noticed worms in the poop? If not I wouldn't think that would be the issue. With the two older hens, did you notice that they had lost weight, had changes in poop, have any goop around their faces/eyes? How did their combs/wattles look? I would start paying a lot of attention to all of the above with the rest of your birds to see if there are any symptoms you may have missed. It could just be age related and a freak accident with your younger bird.

no I sift poop almost every day to help keep the bedding clean and the smell down, especially in the winter cause they have to be locked up so much, haven't seen any worms. I would love for it to just be old age and a freak accident it just seems odd that it happening all at once, 3 birds in 5 days, my freezer camp is getting book up and I don't like it one bit. other then the frost bite the 3 had the combs and ll were good and red and they were all acting normal, eating dusting scratching roosting, no signs of a problem at all. I don't get out as much as I do in the warmer weather with them but I am still out with them about 3 - 4 times a day cause of water. I have heated bowels but they aren't very big and I have gone out to find it empty and DRY so I check all the time, don't want my kids going without water or burning my bowel up from lack of water to heat. I had 29 birds before they all started dying on me. You wouldn't believe the amount of water they would go through.
People had me scared of Mearkes of whatever but with what others have told me and what I have read, its not that. I'm just a worry wart I hope.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@chick rookie
You can set your mind at ease if you take in a poo sample to a vet.

 

[racinchickins]

I have chain link and like its strength for keeping out large predators (dogs and coyotes here mostly). The squares are big enough that a racoon arm could easily fit to reach in, so i worry that someone will accidentally get locked out and stay too close to the fence (I worry too much) and get grabbed. The large squares also let chicken heads poke through to eat the grass around the outside, which is fine except I have visions of a dog or fox coming along and grabbing one of those nibbling heads. I am going to put chicken wire along the inside once the weather is better to try to help back up the chain link and I think all my problems will be solved.

Just a thought. You may want to use hardware cloth instead of chicken wire. It's much stronger and chicken wire can be forced and broken by raccoons.

 

[browncow15]

[COLOR=8B4513]Don't start a fire by using it outside. The directions say for Indoor Use Only.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]Maybe a Mockingbird? They are really mean to cats and dive-bomb them. So what if the cat ate its family. Mockingbirds are also aggressive to other birds. (When they're alive), you can identify them by the way their tails point upward.[/COLOR]

Interesting about the mockingbird! DH and I have been watching Game of Thrones. One of the characters picked the mockingbird to represent his house. Fits his character perfectly!

Agreed.  Build it strong and like a fort, and one can sleep easily at night.  It is easier to build it securely, tho, if you have a small flock like ours.  We only have 7 girls, but they are happy, secure girls.  For a larger flock, the security is challenging.

Anybody else wake up to 3-4 inches of global warming today???

Cock-a-doodle-do, everyone!

I'm grateful I haven't had predator problems so far! It would be EXPENSIVE to try to build Ft Knox for 30+ birds. Of course I could just quit adding birds but that wouldn't be as much fun!

I don't think we got quite that much global warming but the wind is wicked!!

 

[racinchickins]

Got up this morning and decided to check on the chickens. I normally feed and water at night, and then don't see them again until after work. But since it is snowy and blowing I thought I'd look.

I found all their pens and the entire north half of the barn had a pretty good dusting of snow, including on the backs of all the birds on their roosts. Ugh. I realized it was coming in because the wind was blowing from the North and Northeast. My barn has two doors on each side, and I always leave the Northeast door open to let light in the barn (and because the wind never blows in there....or so I thought). So a lot was coming in there, but not enough to reach the pens. The North wind was blowing right against the north side of the barn and blowing snow through the barn slats and in the pop doors of the pens.

Soooo, at 5:30 in the morning (who said chickens weren't all fun and entertainment!), I was screwing plywood onto the north side of the barn next to each set of roosts, and also putting plywood over each pop door. It definitely cut down on the drafts into the pens, and I'm not worried about closing off the pop doors, since the chickens won't go out into the poison white stuff anyway. I'm wondering if this contributed to my frostbite problems during the last cold snap. I'm hoping this helps with the coming freeze. I also closed all the barn doors, which meant I had to leave the lights on, or it stays pretty dark in the barn all day.

Back in BC (before chickens), my biggest worry was if I had clean clothes to wear to work. Now, I'm up half the night hoping they aren't freezing and then doing construction before hurrying to work. And I'm not as worried about clean clothes either.....

 

[Leahs Mom]

Back in BC (before chickens), my biggest worry was if I had clean clothes to wear to work. Now, I'm up half the night hoping they aren't freezing and then doing construction before hurrying to work. And I'm not as worried about clean clothes either.....

 

[Kiniska]

Agreed.  Build it strong and like a fort, and one can sleep easily at night.  It is easier to build it securely, tho, if you have a small flock like ours.  We only have 7 girls, but they are happy, secure girls.  For a larger flock, the security is challenging.


Anybody else wake up to 3-4 inches of global warming today???

Cock-a-doodle-do, everyone!

All right, can't help myself...
Global warming is a term to categorize climate change. It means the weather becomes more erratic and sometimes extreme. More carbon in the atmosphere more green house gases, melting polar ice caps equals more snow. I won't explain the carbon record and how far out of whack we are according to that unless you really want me to. Rant over.