Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Let's play a game...I luv games of things like true or false...not sure anyone will wanna step up and play but hey, I can still post my answers to this in a bit...

Bantam Partridge Chantecler and a mixed assortment of chicks​

TRUE or FALSE:

Think that is enough true/false fun stuff for one posting, eh!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Wisher1000]

I'll bite (chomp chomp)

1- Incubators have better hatch rates than setty/broody female birds do.

2- "Lock down" is an internet invention that serious oldtime poultry breeders rarely EVER abide by.

3- The best breed of chicken to raise your hatchlings is the Silkie.

4- The chicken is the better poultry species to adopt hatchlings that are not her own over say ducks or geese.

5- You must only use hard boiled egg yolk from the exact same species (chicken for chicks, turkey for poults, ducks for ducklings, geese for goslings, etc.) as the babies are.

6- Hardware cloth is better suited to use for housing poultry than chicken wire in regards to predator protection.

7- Day old waterfowl that have no bird mother may swim on water immediately without any concerns to their well beings.

8- Landfowl and waterfowl both have a preen gland for oiling their feathers located on the top near the base of their tails.

9- Hatching eggs are a much better way to avoid poultry diseases than purchasing live birds of one year of age or more.

10- By watching iris colour in Golden pheasants, one may sex them far sooner than waiting for the two year old plumage to be formed to see the gender differences.

11- Setting unwashed and unsantized hatching eggs in your incubator will result in poorer hatch rates.

12- When keeping waterfowl, one does not have to have swimming water available to them all year round.

13- Exhibition Poultry from 40 years ago was of much poorer quality than poultry today in regards to suiting the Standards of Perfection, disease resistance, temperament, longevity, and productivity.

14- Smaller bantam eggs will often hatch a day sooner than standard eggs (larger eggs) in the same incubator.

15- The Standards of Perfection are not concerned with production aspects in poultry.

16- Cabinet incubators are much more reliable than styrafoam incubators.

17- You may keep a styrafoam incubator hatching at the same rates as the first hatch by sterilizing them after each hatch.

18- Both broody ducks and chickens will apply oils to their egg clutches to help raise the hatchability of their eggs.

19- Never autopsy a bird that dies without just cause as it teaches you nothing worthwhile about your flock's state of health.

20- ILT will remain contagious and transferrable to your bird flocks in the human nostril for up to 24 hours.

21- All methods of biosecurity will only result in the overall weakening of your birds, so never bother with any of the protocols because they are a complete waste of time and efforts and will ensure your coddled birds stay weak and defenseless.

22- Making money is not the only useful way to measure the benefits one enjoys by raising your own poultry and growing your own foods.

23- Setting eggs every day they are hatched and mixing up waterfowl and landfowl all in one cabinet incubator will lower hatch rates and is a method towards disaster.


1. true - I'm up in the air about this one, too many variables. If nothing goes wrong on either side, the hen would be better, but less goes wrong with a good incubator.... hard to say without more info.
2. true - absolutely
3. false* - the best chicken to raise your hatchlings is the one that incubated them, although I hear that silkies make good surrogates. I have not found that to be true.
4. true* - I think I read somewhere that geese will, but I have never had any
5. false - I would think that a yolk is a yolk is a yolk as long as the bird was getting proper nutrition
6. true - absolutely
7. false - they have no oil to keep them from waterlogging
8. true -
9. false - there are diseases that transfer through the egg as well. An older bird that has survived to adulthood is likely healthy or showing signs of disease.
10. true* - a guess, never had pheasants
11. true - they could have harmful bacteria that would flourish in the incubator. Unwashed, clean eggs are best, but washing and treating will not significantly reduce their chances of hatching.
12. true - but they should have head dunking water at all times.
13. false - (my speculations) There was a "grand age" of poultry when there were MANY more serious breeders and showing was big business. I think that just because of the sheer numbers of birds being bred and shown, not to mention that there were no commercial poultry, the quality was better overall, and certainly their production.
14. false - a guess
15. false - the standard concentrates on the qualities that can be evaluated by observation, but still expects meat birds to be well fleshed and layers to have well sprung bone to accomodate egg production. The standard may not have emphasized production as obviously in the past few decades, as it does type, but the types are "perfect" when they are best suited to production, in production breeds. The new APA Standard will be available in Feb. It will include the Marans and other breeds and varieties that are not in the current Standard. In addition there are three pages explaining the economic qualities of the Standard bred birds. This is something that the APA drifted away from over the years, but we are now putting more emphasis on those qualities.
16. true -
17. true (sanitizing) - It will be less likely that harmful bacteria will linger in the incubator if you thoroughly clean it between hatches. There are many other things that can cause declines in hatch rates.
18. true - Guessing here, but I have noticed that eggs under a broody develop a sheen that I attributed to oil from her feathers.
19. false - duh
20. true* - Another guess. Most poultry diseases are host specific, however, they can survive outside of the host for varying amounts of time. I would think in a person's nose would be a favorable environment for it to survive a short time, but it would not cause illness in that person.
21. false - eeeek!
22. true - We all know this well!
23. false - While this may not be the best way to do it, I don't think it always leads to disaster. Many small hobbysts do this with satisfactory results.

 

[perchie.girl]

Heel low:

Let's play a game...I luv games of things like true or false...not sure anyone will wanna step up and play but hey, I can still post my answers to this in a bit...

TRUE or FALSE:

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

OK, limited time today but will tackle the first two...

April 9, 2008, Hannibal holding boiled egg yolk for the Bantam Booteds she hatched
She use to bruise and break my skin defending me from even touching HER eggs - Wicked Momma!!

They even have incubators that switch to a cold cycle to mimic when the hen gets off the nest. I always toss my hens on eggs twice a day...(dwarf toss??)...in the case of Hannibal, she would set so tight she would not eat or drink and we all know the mess a henny poop of a setty hen is like...good gack!

​

Our bantam Buff Brahma line was so diligent as mommas...they would lose condition and near go to death...so I learned how to de-setty a hen (some time in a strawless wire bottomed dog crate - yeh, I abhor wire bottomed anything in creatures...but some air time on the fluffy butt soon settled her engines about bock bocking any more and dying on duty...dang diligence eh!).

​

We use to have a setting of eggs under a setty hen hatch for the Christmas/New Years seasons...when I personally had more time to ogle the babes and enjoy the hatchy moments...mid summer, oh way too many distractions...so one hen would oblige us and bring us a brood to oh and ah over...yeh, I know, totally self indulgent but after all...I am only a weak human, eh!

2. "Lock down" is an internet invention that serious oldtime poultry breeders rarely EVER abide by.

TRUE...absolutely true.

Never before the internet and these group posting and sharing situations did the term LOCK DOWN come into play. Basically what me and the oldtimers figured out...this urban misinformation happened shortly after we started to see newbies wanting to literally climb inside their incubators on hatch days. No seriously...way too out thar! So some person that I would love to box their ears for, invented this term "lock down to basically keep the MORONS OUTTA THE BATORS. This sounds very harsh of me but we all thought this was just a passing phase newbies would learn to discredit...but OH NO!

Tiny wide bill, bottom is Call Duck and top is larger sized Grey non-crested Duckling ​

Now you hear all sorts ranting about how under NO circumstances should one break the lock down. For persons like me that set eggs all weekdays and every day faithfully for little hatches thru the hatch week...get real. I open the incubator when "I" wanna, candle the eggs when "I" wanna and still get 85 to 90% hatch rates once I toss the severely cold weathered and killed eggs outta the settings.

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To hatch out exhibition Call Ducks, you sometimes hafta help them. Yeh, I have heard all the you will impeded the vigour but sorry guys...exhibition calls have NO bill and Short necks and small bods and basically we keepers of the exhibition Call Ducks HAVE to ASSIST at times. Or we would be like all the others and have NO SHOW DUCKS period. Last show I attended some years back...only myself and ONE other person had produced ALL the Calls on exhibition...every single duck there in that class was ours and ours bred and hatched. The art of hatching Calls has gone by the wayside (good Calls, not Pekin sized and shaped Calls, make a fist, that's yer adults). Now is it a good thing extinction is happening in this species of show birds...perhaps but lock down is more the culprit than the birds...since all time before the invention of this silly concept was so wide spread.


ASSISTED Hatch...

Because I do not practise LOCVK DOWN...I inspect me hatchings as they go along...found this one...

This Blue Call duckling is WAY screwed...


No bloomin way it is gonna get further...this one is screwed...leg out, wing out, bill blocked from helping it escape


There is only so much time and energies a hatchling has before it becomes a DEAD in the SHELL!



Yeh, I zipped the top and here it is ... OUT!!!


See how tired, jest laying thar but should have left it to die because I left it in lock down and not suppose to HELP EVER??!



Coming to life, squiggly and wiggly ...


Sans its prison...its use to be sanctuary its hatching egg shell
​

Packed the duckling up and into bator Buster...to dry off and recoup...like what would happen under Momma, who would and should instinctively peck or bill the encasing shell and free her babe...then warm it up and hep the down dry.

TADA! Alive and living...YAH!

When WE hafta be Mom...we HAFTA BE MOM full time ... %$^& the concept of LOCK DOWN!

The only benefit to lock down is maintaining humidity levels and any idiot would know, you do have to be careful on hatching days to help maintain humidity but a simple zit zit with warmed distilled water in the bator rectifies this tout sweet. Don't decide to candle the entire tray of eggs, I move my pippers to boxes so they hatch and don't wander all over the bator inside till I myself waddle on over and see who is dry and ready to be outta Buster the Bator.

I can cite Glenn too talking about care on humidity during an artificial incubate hatch...but not one person with decades of experience published (as in hold in yer hand type mag or book, not a blog!) this silly moronic defeating principle of LOCK DOWN! Terrible, terrible Internet fallacy and it keeps morphing way past the point of it in the first place...to keep the newbies that cause more harm than good during hatching outta the incubators. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I've seen persons post that the hatched ones are wreaking havoc with the pipping ones...for bloomin' sakes--fix the problem and OPEN the bator...remove the run a muckers to the brooder and get back to enjoying the hobby by being the interlude to fix the issues of artificially bringing forth life...but the MOM or DAD already...

I have no idea how to break this vicious cycle of lock down...do you guys??

It kills me inside that people are enthusiastically enforcing this LOCK DOWN when hatched natural babes are assisted by their very mothers to bust out eggs...for Pete's sake it makes me SO UNHAPPY!!!!

Us oldtimers, the stuff we KNEW to be TRUE is being lost at a rate exponentially huge as each one of us passes on with the knowledge we have learned over the decades we have invested in our beloved poultry hobbys. So many young'uns all fit and thinking, they know it all and that is so untrue as NONE of us know it all and by joining forces and SHARING with others what we learn, we all learn! Seem to be heading for rant mode so time to close fer now!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Wisher1000]

Tara, take heart. I am "one of those internet people" (as I was called at a poultry show, once.) I gleaned all the info I could online because it was there for the gleaning. I survived it, as did my chickens, and I have managed to work out the good info from the bad, and continue to do so. Don't lose faith that I am not the only newb that can figure it out. Those that continue in this hobby will, as well. Remember that the next generation of conservationist and breeders will likely have to do the same. They will all be learning in the age of the internet and must work it out for themselves.

BTW - I move the eggs from the incubator (auto turning) to the hatcher (no turning) when I hear the first peeps from inside an egg, usually late in day 19 1/2 or early in day 20! I never considered "lockdown" to mean hands off. Just to mean that you should stop messing with them and give them a chance to do their thing and to keep people from opening the bator too much, which in turn lets out the humidity needed to make the hatch smooth. I tell people not to help, because I think most people help too much.
I help when I can......

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

So like yesterday at 15:00, I get this savage craving for oatmeal cookies, raison and pecan ones...three hours later...yeh... good things!

Got milk?

triple batch makes about 72 cookies ​

Kookey anyone??

​

OATMEAL COOKIES

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
12 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raisons
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Sift flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl.

​

In bigger bowl, cream butter and sugar, then beat in cackle berries (yer eggs).

​

Add half flour mixture, stir well.

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Add all the rolled oats, stir well.

​

Add last of flour and blend just enough to mix flour in. Mix in raisons and pecans.

​

I use a big spoon and visit with Rick whilst I make up cookie dough balls...oven heats up ready to cook.

​

Oven at 400F (200C) and cook for 10 to 15 minutes (I like ours light, so 12 minutes works on an insulated cookie sheet...no need grease sheet).

Dig in and get kooky!

I tripled the batch and yet...Rick and I still crammed one dozen or so (maybe a bit less though I did pocket three when I took the pup girls out this morn...energy foods...yes, oatmeal, breaky...weak breaky excuse??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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ANSWER: False

Silkies make horrible raisers because they are BLIND- the good ones mind you (the exhibition ones should have so much floof around their faces, they cannot see and you as the owner are never even sure what gender they are until they crow or lay an egg and even then...not so sure!

Now Silkies DO make good setting hens and Dr. Carefoot would raise up Silkie crosses as incubators (he hated artificial incubators...preferring to only raise them the natural way!). Many Silkies females are often so setty that they will incubate a golf ball if you let them...ha ha ha...but when it comes to raising a brood of babes, the Silkie is not the best breed because they cannot watch for danger, they cannot break up a donny brook if the chicks get fighting or intervene even if the chicks are being attacked...she is basically blind. Best breed we have here, bantam Buff Brahmas are our best momma chooks. All the breeds we keep are good but these ones seem the most devoted to the kids.

Glenn Drown's Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry, page 261, Chapter Incubation:

In praise of setty/broody hens. I often hear complaints from people that chicken hens go setty too often. Breeds like the Chantecler that were designed for the common folk here in Canada...there are many Chants that go setty and I LOVE that feature in many of the lines... Now not like I would like every single hen here to go setty all at once...that means NO EGGs but I DO appreciate the wonderfulness of setty hens, especially in the thick of winter...nothing could be FINER than to have at least ONE SETTY HEN per pen of egg layers. Why the heck do I want that...because at temperatures like -25C/-13F...it takes mere minutes for eggs to freeze and split! YES...horrible and there is no way I can be circling the pens constantly to collect up eggs before they split...so the beauty of a setty hen in each pen is SHE WILL SIT ON ANY NEW LAID EGGS until I make my rounds and retrieve the eggs. Voila...perfection...setty hens are worth their weight in GOLD...no not Au gold but egg yolk GOLDEN!

And besides...if'n yer chook gals never go setty...well then the next true or false statement I posted would not be relevant at all!

ANSWER: True

When a momma chicken hen is to accept or adopt other hatchlings, sneak those babes under her in the evening after it gets dark. A good sign she will adopt them is if she fluffs up and bocks to them so to encourage them to get warm under her, the big old floofy teacosy...if she pecks at them, likely she will not adopt them and she may kill them! This said a female chicken is more likely to accept them as her own than a goose, duck, pheasant or turkey hen, etc. will. We all probably have seen the clever photos of the Momma hen and HER ducklings...the only cruel thing about that is the ducklings will sooner or later grab the opportunity to go rouge and go swimming which will freak the beak of the Momma chicken. Instinct tells her that is ever so WRONG...

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Getting above zero and things are melting...makes for clean roves and it is indeed extra nice for the critters that reside outside too.

​

January 10 2016



Lacy (eating a snow cone?) is exactly eight month's old



Emmy with a frosted snoot​

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Girls having fun with Rick tossing the floppy in the Ram Pasture yesterday.

I have no idea what button I hit on my camera but kinda like the black & white effect, eh??​

Din should be good tonight...got chili in the crock a cookin'

​

Got girls to go run abouts...later, eh.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Tara, take heart. I am "one of those internet people" (as I was called at a poultry show, once.) I gleaned all the info I could online because it was there for the gleaning. I survived it, as did my chickens, and I have managed to work out the good info from the bad, and continue to do so. Don't lose faith that I am not the only newb that can figure it out. Those that continue in this hobby will, as well. Remember that the next generation of conservationist and breeders will likely have to do the same. They will all be learning in the age of the internet and must work it out for themselves.

BTW - I move the eggs from the incubator (auto turning) to the hatcher (no turning) when I hear the first peeps from inside an egg, usually late in day 19 1/2 or early in day 20! I never considered "lockdown" to mean hands off. Just to mean that you should stop messing with them and give them a chance to do their thing and to keep people from opening the bator too much, which in turn lets out the humidity needed to make the hatch smooth. I tell people not to help, because I think most people help too much.
I help when I can......

That makes me feel better Wisher...

A word of advice to people that want to mix a bit of science with oldtimer good advice...get a copy of Dr. Clive Carefoot's Creative Poultry Breeding which is about 300 pages of EXCELLENT reading. That and a copy of a poultry Standard are two of the companion books for how to breed up exhibition poultry.

Yeh, that "internet person" comment floods my memories of how some of those shows are ever so less than welcoming...agh! Shows and sales. I remember observing some distasteful persons loudly discussing how to kill birds at a sale in the area where people came to sign up and get a bidding number. OK, you guys...newbies come here and some don't like to kill their birds...yikes! We cannot step up and make up for how some feel the UNwelcome mat has been put out for them but we can try to let persons know there is enough room here in the hobby for all types of ways to do things.

I am doing this true and false thing to explain the how's and why's of what I do here. Not saying it is ever the only way, but it is something that Rick and I have collected up over the 90+ years we have been playing with the birds for. I truly do not care if others do it completely different than we do so long as the birds do well and the people have fun doing it. It is always about the FUN of the hobby and the learning and sharing of the common interests! This is suppose to be FUN and there are a million ways to have fun, eh.

I do agree that people intervene too much too often and the lock down seemed to fix that problem but when people are truly led to believe in LOCK DOWN as never intervening...then that is where it has gone too far. If you mess with an egg and there is blood, too much blood flowing (use flour or corn starch to stop the bleeding) means you never waited long enough for the hatchling to give it a good go for itself. In every hatching, I would highly prefer the bird does it without intervention...that is the best...but never interfering means that some of the most exhibition type birds would never hatch out and then live for years onwards enriching our lives.

So people know...the most sturdy conformation of a domestic duck (excluding the Muscovies of course!) is the Mallard duck, that is WILD TYPE and Mallards thrive near everywhere in the world. When we humans start messing with the conformation of the Mallard to make it into say a Call Duck...we impeded the BEST FORM of a duck. By choosing short necks, tiny wide bills and all that jazz, the bill even with an egg tooth will not be able to bust outta the egg as well as the coarser ones that resemble wild type more with longer bills, longer necks and sleaker bods.

Pocket change...some of Rosy's day olds​

This even goes into breeding pen theory too...the bigger more robust Call drakes will bully the more typey conformationally correct exhibition Call Drakes...so you gotta make it idiot proof and stock your breeding pens with the better choice in Call Drakes as the coarser more Mallard ones will end up competing and winning in your breeding pens. Stack the deck in your favour or fail I guess. Physically, you choose a smaller Call Drake (but not so small he cannot breed the hen...physically tiny drakes with bigger hens can't reach to breed!) to a larger Call Hen. The bigger hens, even if they lay a bigger egg, it is not in the size of the hatched duckling overall that matters, it is in the genetics for small typey you want. I do know it use to be a practise over in say Europe like Holland to set only smallest of the eggs, but myself, I set the Call eggs from the pens I set up for breeding the best type of Calls from and small eggs get set with larger eggs and you choose to cull out the exhibition ones in adult stages...a bigger duckling compared to a smaller one, don't mean they will be big and small as adults.

Fresh duck eggs??​

In one oldtimer book, I will not mention the author, but he told in the book of waterfall to STARVE the Calls into small size...icrumba...nope, nada, our poultry is on FREE POUR and whilst the Calls are fatties, they are not just plumb but tiny too because I have lines of typey tiny Calls. No way am I starving a bird to keep the size small. You can do a bit of inbreeding in the birds you want smaller (a bit mind you) because that encourages non-hybrid vigour and non-hybrid over the top fatness too.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Perchie...ILT is...


Infectious Laryngotracheitis and is a reportable disease here in Alberta.

Back in the day, EIGHT out of the ten Alberta poultry friends (fiends) I had, had had ILT at least once and in some cases, I know of others here that have had it SEVERAL times...eek!

The government comes in, wipes out yer birds...you may keep hatching eggs if you sanitize them...it is hugely devastating. Birds get sick, spit blood on the walls and in the case of one person, they had brought it in by bringing home a "friend's" roo for breeding--do NOT share breeding birds! This roo stood around infecting all her birds...healthy as a horse because he was a carrier and he never got ill or died from ILT...

Another friend of ours, judged a poultry show, never showed any birds OR brought any birds home but was in a hurry coming home from the show and that night...he never changed clothes OR washed his hair BEFORE doing his bird chores...yeh, two days later, all of them had ILT...he carried it in on himself! it was devastating to say the least...we told him all the lines we had gotten from him...when or if he wanted, we'd give him so he could start up again...he NEVER got back into birds again...too devastating!

What I found out from some of my friends on how they contacted it...there was a certain person that vaccinated their flock before going to shows with the Canadian version of the ILT vaccine. It makes ALL the vaccinated birds carriers (like that roo mentioned above) and these people that did not vaccinate their flocks before going to the shows (need to do one vac and booster it about 4 to 6 weeks before full immunity is had), exposed their show birds and themselves to this person's birds which were all carriers!

Out East...it is mandatory at some bird shows to have your birds vaccinated for ILT...you get some sorta tag on the birds from the people that do it...I have not got too good a handle on what is exactly done over there but I can say, ILT still happens out that way. Even with this precaution...agh!

Whilst waterfowl do not get ILT...they are jest as liable to carry it home from a show on themselves to infect your landfowl. When I showed waterfowl (which we don't do any more for obvious reasons!), I would wash them in Stone's Surgical shampoo (nfi) when we returned AND quarantine them for eight weeks in the Hay and Straw barn. NEVER EVER got ILT but hey now, nothing saying I won't flub up one day and come home with it on my person...jest sayin', eh.

Public health significance

There is no evidence to suggest that Gallid herpesvirus 1 is transmissible to humans or to other mammals. Therefore, it is considered safe to consume meat and eggs from ILT-infected birds.

How Does ILT Spread?

ILT is uncommon in commercial poultry operations in Alberta. ILT is more commonly found in hobby or fancy flocks. Adequate biosecurity is difficult in these smaller flocks as new birds are added on an ongoing basis from various sources without implementing proper quarantine.

Some exotic species, such as pheasants and peafowl, can also carry the virus and spread it to resident birds. Many species of wild birds, including crows, sparrows and pigeons, appear resistant to infection with ILT. Wild birds might act as mechanical vectors for ILT virus.

The most important means of spreading ILT is by direct contact between susceptible and infected birds. The virus can also be carried into poultry houses or other farms on contaminated equipment and vehicles, or on dirty footwear and clothing. Humans can be implicated in the spread of infection between farms.

Preventing ILT

Following an effective biosecurity plan is essential to prevent the introduction of viral diseases, including ILT, into a flock. Biosecurity plans must be continually evaluated. Commitment, dedication and persistence by all farm staff and residents are required for success.

The essential elements of biosecurity include the following:

• The best prevention is to only purchase birds from a source known to be free of ILT or to maintain a closed flock (no additions from other flocks). Remember, birds can appear clinically normal, yet be infected with ILT and shed this virus to healthy resident birds if they have been stressed.
• If you do purchase birds, they should be isolated on your farm for 21 days before being mixed with your resident birds. During this time, they should be monitored for illness and properly vaccinated for ILT (see below). Strict biosecurity procedures should be in place to prevent any illnesses from spreading from these birds to other birds on your property.
• In consultation with your veterinarian, you should establish a vaccination program that protects your flock from ILT and other important poultry diseases.
• Consult a veterinarian as soon as clinical signs are observed to determine the cause of sick or dying birds. The clinical signs of ILT can mimic those produced by Avian Influenza, Newcastle Disease and Infectious Bronchitis. Early detection of highly contagious viruses is essential to minimize the impact of them on your birds, as well as those of your neighbours.
• Do not allow other people to enter your barns, especially if they have contact with other poultry. Do not visit other poultry farms or barns unless proper biosecurity precautions are taken.
• Provide clean boots and coveralls for anyone who must enter your barns or bird-holding areas.
• Restrict vehicle traffic on your farm site to specific areas away from your birds to prevent spreading contamination into your barns.
• Minimize other animals’ (dogs, cats, rodents, wild birds, etc.) access to your poultry barns.
• Prevent contamination of feed and water sources with particular attention to wild birds and animals.
• Store dead carcasses in a closed container until they can be disposed of according to the requirements of the Destruction and Disposal of Dead Animals Regulation. Also, confirm with your local authorities regarding appropriate carcass disposal (e.g. incineration, burial, compost).
• Employees of commercial farms should not have flocks of poultry or fancy birds of their own at home.
• Perform a thorough cleanout and disinfection between flocks. The ILT virus can survive for variable lengths of time depending on ambient temperature (for example, warmer temperatures reduce survivability). The virus is inactivated more quickly when exposed to sunlight or disinfectants.

Three types of vaccine are available:

1. Recombinant (rLT) vaccine – may be administered at the hatchery in 18-day-old embryos or day-old chicks. This vaccine also currently contains protection against Marek’s Disease. Vaccine virus is not shed; therefore, unvaccinated birds are not at risk. Contact your hatchery if you wish to implement this option.
2. Tissue culture origin (TCO) vaccine – administered as an eye drop to each chicken. This vaccine can be administered in the face of an outbreak to help reduce shedding of the virus. This is a live virus vaccine that will not revert to virulence and is the one currently recommended.
3. Chick embryo origin (CEO) vaccine – strongly not recommended because this vaccine virus can revert to virulence and cause severe disease in vaccinated and unvaccinated birds.

It is important to know that if you vaccinate while the birds are sick, they will still shed the virus. Vaccinating sick birds reduces their potential to shed in the future.

ILT vaccines, because they are live virus vaccines, must be kept refrigerated (according to manufacturer’s directions) to maintain their viability.
Controlling and reporting ILT outbreaks

ILT can only be confirmed by post mortem examination of the dead birds and special laboratory tests. Ante mortem (live animal) testing to confirm ILT is not available. Treatment with antibiotics is of no value because ILT is a viral infection. In most situations, early slaughter or depopulation of the flock is the best solution.

Outbreaks of ILT in Alberta must be reported within 24 hours to the Office of the Chief Provincial Veterinarian (OCPV), Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. Poultry boards, hatcheries and feed companies are notified when ILT is diagnosed, although the exact location of the outbreak is not released.

If you are registered with the Premise Identification System, you will be notified if you are within 20 km of an outbreak. This notice serves as a reminder to producers and industry to enhance the biosecurity of their flocks and to report any suspicious losses to the OCPV.

Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development currently has two programs focussed on the health of small or fancy flocks. One program is available to producers and veterinarians who wish to submit non-quota birds for non-specific disease testing. Through this program, ILT can be diagnosed, along with other diseases. An affiliated program is ILT specific and directed towards ILT outbreaks. Both programs are available no cost to the producer.

For information about Alberta’s animal health-related legislation, please see the Chief Provincial Veterinarian website.

Prepared by:
Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development

For more information:
Alberta Ag-Info Centre
Call toll free: 310-FARM (3276)
www.agriculture.alberta.ca


Source: Agdex 663-36. Revised August 2014.

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Another beauty day in the neighbourhood here...and two more of the true/false questions answered below!

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Waterfowl consuming chicken egg yolks​

Even just sprinkling a bit of hard boiled egg yolk on the waterfowl starter works​

As far as consumption of an egg yolk once hardboiled and served up as good starter food for baby birds...no real concerns but I am still betting that in minute amounts...there are differences in feeding a growing embryo INSIDE the egg. LMBO

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I do know that when cooking, duck eggs make a richer egg to add for baking than regular chook eggs but when it comes to the first meal of a hatchling as a booster, any egg will do yah!

Bantam duck eggs - from East Indies to Australian Spotteds ​

Higgins Rat Ranch Waterfowl Eggs
Top: 2 American Buff Goose eggs
Middle: 3 Silver Appleyard Duck eggs
Bottom: Left; 2 Production Rouen Duck eggs AND on the right, 3 Dutch Hookbill Duck eggs​

Dunna forget to add yer shiny marbles to entice the new hatchlings to take a peck/billing of the food and water, eh!

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And stash this info about using hard boiled egger yolk in your toolkit...If'n you EVER come home with babe birds and have no bag of starter on hand (we always have at least one bag of waterfowl, chicken and turkey starter...most feed stores will let you down at the beginning of the season, "What, you want starter? We have not ordered that in yet!" AGH!). Recall you can get by with hardboiled egg yolk till you can get some proper bird bird starter crumble. And NEVER EVER use medicated starter or feed for waterfowl...harms their reproductive systems and sometimes outright kills them. Do not let the dolts at the feed store convince you otherwise...that chook start is jest fine for turks or waterfowl. Because it is not going to give them the start they deserve...you ever see a turkey living in the swamp...a duck in the jungle...or a chook in a pond...get real peoples!

Nothing but the best to get yer little blighters off to the good start they deserve!



6) Hardware cloth is better suited to use for housing poultry than chicken wire in regards to predator protection.

ANSWER - True

Rick and I have watched birds of prey hit the hardware cloth full tilt, bounce off unhurt and without their intended victim...a sunning pheasant!

Like there is NO wire on the Cabin...hardware cloth is awesome!​

Two of my least favourite wires...stucco wire that punchers eyes and busts at the welds and chicken wire! USELESS and dangerous to us here​

Chicken wire barely keeps in chickens so is a disaster in the making when tested by the fox, the family dog/cat or hawks, etc. Stucco wire will bust at the welds and can and has injured bird eyes here. So we prefer not using it. Some people get by using it jest fine, we have not!

Only concerns regarding hardware cloth, never get the hardware cloth constantly wet as the chemicals used to coat it can leach into the area where your birds live and poison them. Sort like the canary in the mine shaft, birds are more sensitive to noxious chemicals.

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Coupla more photos I have on my 'puter in regards to how much us humans alter the domestic birds from wild type.

DAY OLDS: This is a Call Duck compared to an Australian Spotted (very wild type shaped duck)

Center of photo...Aus Spotted on left, Call duck on right


Call on left / Spot on right


Call on left / Spot on right​

The wild type (mallard shape) Australian Spotteds are bigger and more likely to bust outta eggs without difficulty being closer to the Mallard conformation than say the Call Duck.

We do very well when we show our East Indies​

I have five different strains of East Indies, another bantam duck but again more shaped like the wild ancestor the Mallard...I have had East Indie day olds still wet with bits of their egg shell on them snarking down duck starter.

Reserve in Breed​

Larger than Call Ducks, the East Indie Duck has a more Mallard like Standard ​

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Here's some visuals on the books I have been mentioning...

Dr. Clive Carefoot's AWESOME book

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The two standards...Standards of Perfection

American Poultry Association


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American Bantam Association​

And Glenn's book that I love to quote...

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No financial interest or $ gain in mentioning these books...jest spreading the GOOD WORDS to help guide us in our wonderful poultry hobbies, eh!


Bit of humour during the season...had like two sets of deer run across the road in front of the bus this morn...they are on the move!

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And something to keep us warm...inside our innards that is!

The Higgins' Bird Yard...

EMPTY



And OCCUPIED??​

Not quite ready for spring to get sprung...got gardening seeds to order and such...but sometimes the WHITE time needs to have one reminded there is a GREEN time not too far in the future, eh?!

Jan 12 2016 - the Lovely Lacy

This morn, entertained the gals by tossing them a hunk of birch bark...

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Who got the bark?

Emmest! She wanted the bark more so she could DEbark it!

Pine Grosbeaks (I believe that is what these are?) in a spruce tree (and why there is a pile of cones under this spruce fer the Emmest to lay on).

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Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[drumstick diva]

could it be a Pine Siskin? I know that name from somewhere but, have never seen what they look like.