"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[foreverlearning]

Crackednut, how is Lucy doing?

 

[Michele A]

No birds yet. I have a stand-alone carport that we are in the process of converting...gonna start building sometime in the next couple of weeks Got some awesome ideas off this site!

 

[Ron Skekel]

This is one project I did today,.

 

[forgetful]

Has anyone had luck with ordering chicks? It seems that whenever I do, I get such heavy losses. I ordered 27 chicks from Cackle in August- 5 buff cochin bantams, 5 cuckoo marans pullets, a cuckoo marans cockerel, 5 golden laced wyandotte pullets, a golden laced wyandotte cockerel, and 10 black silkies, and I'm now down to a pair of buff bantam cochins, three gold laced wyandottes, and three black silkies. I did have three cochins, but one of my dogs managed to grab one through the fence last night. All I have left is feathers. :/ The marans all died off from I don't know what. One of the wyandottes developed a huge swollen lesion on its eye, which I ended up popping and draining. I'm surprised it still can see. All of my previous birds have thrived, but not these. For what I spent, I haven't gotten a lot out of it, and looking back it has really discouraged me. It seems all the hatcheries are so far away from here.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Has anyone had luck with ordering chicks? It seems that whenever I do, I get such heavy losses. I ordered 27 chicks from Cackle in August- [COLOR=333333]5 buff cochin bantams, 5 cuckoo marans pullets, a cuckoo marans cockerel, 5 golden laced wyandotte pullets, a golden laced wyandotte cockerel, and 10 black silkies[/COLOR], and I'm now down to a pair of buff bantam cochins, three gold laced wyandottes, and three black silkies. I did have three cochins, but one of my dogs managed to grab one through the fence last night. All I have left is feathers. :/ The marans all died off from I don't know what. One of the wyandottes developed a huge swollen lesion on its eye, which I ended up popping and draining. I'm surprised it still can see. All of my previous birds have thrived, but not these. For what I spent, I haven't gotten a lot out of it, and looking back it has really discouraged me. It seems all the hatcheries are so far away from here.

You lost 20 since August and only one by a predator (dog)? I am so sorry, how sad! Before getting more, I would check out the yard. Is there something growing there that is toxic, or something sprayed in the yard, or something in the feed??? I am no expert, but that sounds like a very high fatality rate not related to a big predator problem. What do y'all think? You got them 7 months ago? If they died at 5, 6, or 7 months, it might not be a problem of the hatchery. The experts on here need to comment.

 

[forgetful]

Most of the chicks died before they reached two months old. I kept them separated from my established flock, which only sees casualties from predators. The chicks just seemed so weak, and I was constantly fighting illness. They didn't leave their brooder until I was down to 10. The marans dropped like flies. It's been a while, but the illness made them have lesions filled with stuff and they looked cold and miserable before dying. A lot of them had swollen faces, ears, nostrils, etc. It was August, so it wasn't from the cold. I tried medicating, cleaning their living area, and things would clear up before they'd be hit with it again. My personal flock was never sick in that time. The recent death just reminded me of how many I have lost and brought the issue back up. I've raised chicks from tractor supply and those I've hatched on my own with no problem. Are there different precautions to take with shipped chicks? I thought you just had to watch them for the first few days a little more closely than normal chicks.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Has anyone had luck with ordering chicks? It seems that whenever I do, I get such heavy losses. I ordered 27 chicks from Cackle in August- [COLOR=333333]5 buff cochin bantams, 5 cuckoo marans pullets, a cuckoo marans cockerel, 5 golden laced wyandotte pullets, a golden laced wyandotte cockerel, and 10 black silkies[/COLOR], and I'm now down to a pair of buff bantam cochins, three gold laced wyandottes, and three black silkies. I did have three cochins, but one of my dogs managed to grab one through the fence last night. All I have left is feathers. :/ The marans all died off from I don't know what. One of the wyandottes developed a huge swollen lesion on its eye, which I ended up popping and draining. I'm surprised it still can see. All of my previous birds have thrived, but not these. For what I spent, I haven't gotten a lot out of it, and looking back it has really discouraged me. It seems all the hatcheries are so far away from here.

In all my years of raising having chickens, I have ordered chicks only 3 times and I did not have any losses at all.

Sorry to hear about your losses.

 

[foreverlearning]

Quote:
The eye thing might be either fowl pox or some sort of parasite (some burrow in near the eye). We would need a symptoms list to figure it all out. You are right that is a lot for not having a predator problem. How did you get the coop? New, used or built and if built were any parts used before? Anything sprayed on the ground? Are any other animals getting sick? What is your treatment schedule and what do you use? Free range or pen? Litter and clean out schedule in the coop. If you are on a boil advisory do you give the chickens the untreated water? When we know more we can pinpoint the questions and get it all figured out.

 

[MicheleC]

I've ordered from Ideal Poultry with great success, they always send extras, and are easy to contact if there is a problem. One order was a few chicks short and was refunded immediately for them, no questions asked. Chicks always seem healthy.

 

[forgetful]

Kuntrygirl, where did you order from? Are there any hatcheries close by Louisiana?


To forever learning-
Thank you for the help. I've had my own flock for several years now. I built four pens about eight years ago, and they have been well used before my order came in. It's a simple tin, hardware cloth, and timber pen to protect from wind and rain but give air flow on hot summer days. My own flock is healthy and I can't recollect any illnesses. I have and do sprinkle diatomaceous earth in their coops and in their feed, but not for newly hatched chicks. Once they are large enough to go in their pens, they start to receive it. Since the pens are rather open, I use pea gravel, which gets hosed down every week and a fresh layer added when it gets yucky. No problem for years with it.

My own flock free ranged and slept in the pen at night, but we started getting severe casualties due to a coyote problem and were left with only 1 rooster. Neighbors have given us about five more roosters, which free range completely outside the coop area. They aren't allowed access to the coops at all. I live on a farm, and the coop is within a pen/yard with the barn and stables. We'd had a few eggs in the incubator at the time of the wipeout, so we rebuilt to a meager 10 hen, 1 rooster flock that was kept penned constantly. No contact with the rooster group, who get picked off by predator occasionally, or get new additions from neighbors who bring birds. We don't mind them, since they break up manure in the pasture, but I don't allow contact for risk of the unknown. We don't spray anything because the grass is used for cattle and we rely on the chickens to eat larvae.

The pens are set up so that there is one large pen by itself, and another long pen with two square pens beside it. The isolated pen was where I keep my hens and roo, and the three pens grouped together hadn't been used since we lost all our birds. That's where I kept the ordered chicks' brooder and eventually let them live. The chicks came from Cackle and all seemed lively. For the first week they were fine, then they started getting sick with the boils, and I got cautious. I made triple sure I was keeping my flock and theirs separate from each other, and I put save-a-chick in their water, which comes from hose- the same water source for our horses/cattle/dogs/chickens. They were already on medicated chick starter, which I decided to use since they were shipped. When I noticed a bird getting sick- and only one or two would be affected at a time- I would separate it from the others in a 'sick pen.' It would get the save-a-chick and medicated feed, plus a little bottle of something I can't remember. It was a supplement or something. Three or four days later it would die. I made sure to clean the brooder and sick pen before, and after all breakouts. It really brought me down after eight or so died, and more would get sick.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can tell you.