"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[TerriLaChicks]

Good afternoon --- our internet was down this morning at home -- was busy bringing Malcolm home anyway & getting him settled - he's doing fine, sleeping right now (pain pill kicked in).
Just turned the chickens out & they are having a blast scratching around under the fig trees -- all those big leaves down - they do a great job of tilling it up for us!

Have a good afternoon - I'm going to go find something for lunch & take a nap!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Have a great weekend folks!

 

[PrimroseMom1]

I hear ya, growing up my maw maw and paw paw had chickens and they never dewormed them either. I guess I have parasitophobia lol. I have alot of money invested in my fowl and just dont want to lose my breeders to any illnesses. Honestly I just started using ACV this year, thinking about starting to make it myself. I have entertained the idea of using just that. I guess im trying to convince myself that ACV itself would be good enough. I also have been reading where garlic is good to

My chickens yolks are more orange when they get to free range.

I apologize if this has already been answered, I'm sometimes a bit slow on the up-take. LOL What is ACV and where do you get it??? PS my girls said to thank you for all the good advice you've given me, they are happier and healthier than ever!

 

[Cadjien_De_Louisiane]

Good morning everyone!

ACV - Apple Cider Vinegar

 

[mbmess2003]

Try and get the ACV with the mother.....usually you can find Braggs and Heinz has started offering it at Walmart

 

[kyckling66]

Hi Louisiana chicken people. I'm new to chickens and also fairly new to Louisiana. Can you tell me if you vaccinate your chickens for fowlpox, and/or anything else?

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Hi Louisiana chicken people. I'm new to chickens and also fairly new to Louisiana. Can you tell me if you vaccinate your chickens for fowlpox, and/or anything else?

I don't, but I live in a fairly isolated area, chicken-wise. In the years I've had chickens, (knock on wood) I've never had to deal with the pox issues. I do keep the coop area clean & we fog for mosquitoes plus I sprinkle sevin dust in the coop and their dusting holes out in the run.

 

[mzstre]

Good afternoon --- our internet was down this morning at home -- was busy bringing Malcolm home anyway & getting him settled - he's doing fine, sleeping right now (pain pill kicked in).
Just turned the chickens out & they are having a blast scratching around under the fig trees -- all those big leaves down - they do a great job of tilling it up for us!

Have a good afternoon - I'm going to go find something for lunch & take a nap!

I'm happy to hear Malcolm is doing good. I hope his recovery goes smoothly and he can romp and play again soon!

 

[mzstre]

Hi Louisiana chicken people. I'm new to chickens and also fairly new to Louisiana. Can you tell me if you vaccinate your chickens for fowlpox, and/or anything else?

Hello and

!!! I live near the Mississippi River and mosquitoes were TERRIBLE for us this year. Most of my flock had the dry version of fowl pox, so they should have some immunity now. I was very fortunate that none of them ended up with the wet version.

 

[mzstre]

I had pretty much made the decision not to vaccinate for anything because I really don't know anyone who has had any disease in their flocks, but I almost changed my mind a few weeks ago. I went out to feed one evening and one of my cockerels sounded like he was growling from about 10 ft away. He actually had a terrible loud crackling in his throat when he breathed. I immediately isolated him, but I was TERRIFIED of what he might have had because of the possibility of it passing to the rest of the birds. I didn't know much about the respiratory diseases that chickens get, but I did know that many of them are treatable but not curable, and that infected birds could remain carriers for life. I read everything I could that night, but my boy just didn't have any other symptoms. His eyes were bright and clear, no sneezing, no discharge or bloody exudate, no facial swelling, and no loss of appetite or decreased activity. He would only cough occasionally like he was trying to clear his throat. I thought perhaps he had a gapeworm, but he wasn't stretching his neck to breathe.

I spent 2 HOURS on the phone the next day trying to find someone to help me that could test him so I might be able to protect the rest of my flock. None of the local vets or the one in surrounding areas will treat chickens, and they had no idea what I was asking. It was like speaking a foreign language. I even called our parish 4-H office and they couldn't really help either. Our agent called and spoke to his contact at the LSU Agcenter and was told they could only really help if they did a necropsy. At that point I was willing to do just about anything. I wanted to find out what the problem was so I could vaccinate the birds that had not been exposed to the cockerel. I called the LSU vet school and spoke to their avian specialist and made an appointment with the expectation they would euthanize my boy and do a necropsy. When I brought him in, though, Dr. Tully immediately said he didn't think that was necessary. He ruled out most infectious disease because of the total lack of symptoms. My boy was spry and was eating and drinking. He ran all around their exam room and inspected everything. They ended up doing a ton of tests and such and used him as a teaching tool since they rarely see a chicken. They did an endoscopy (too funny...on a chicken?!) and found that he had an injury to his glottis and trachea that had become infected. They think he swallowed something he wasn't supposed to. Silly chicken.

I guess the point to my long, drawn out story is that now I'm back on the fence about vaccinations. So many of those respiratory diseases are very serious, and a couple of them can't be cured and from what I understand, the entire flock would have to be killed and all housing disinfected and treated before you could start over. Again...terrifying. I am hoping some of the more experienced people here can chime in and provide more information. In addition to most of my chickens being like pets, I have a large financial investment to protect.