"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

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I just added 4 new additions to my flock. 3 itty bitty red sex link (comets) and a beautiful Rouen drake. I'll try to post pictures soon.
 
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forgetful said:
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.
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Oh dear!! How sad. It doesn't sound like an issue with your yard if you have other healthy chickens there.
 
forgetful said:
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.
Click to expand...


Ideal Poultry in Cameron Texas. Cackle Hatchery in Missouri.
 
forgetful said:
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.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the problem is on the hatchery end. Boils? Were they on the breast at all? Was their poop green when they were dying? Did they have any breathing problems? Were there any paralysis or convulsions? Cackle has had 4 major illness traced back to them since 2010, 3 of them transmittable threw the egg to the chick. Only one of these illnesses are tested for and monitored by NPIP. Many feed stores have stopped ordering from them because of a average of 80% death rate.
 
Last few weeks a friend that works nearby has been dropping off a crate of goodies for the chicken. It's a crate of fresh squash, zucchini, eggplants, spent strawberries, 3-5 loaves of all organic whole grain breads that are at their due dates(I keep some and freeze it sometimes I get gluten free loaves :bun ). Not one unnatural ingredient in any of it.
I froze a half dozen loaves of bread for the animals maybe and chopped up veggies and fed to the birds.

I know the veggies are fine, I feed left over from our own organic gardens. But the bread...eh. I did throw 3-4 pieces out and there was a battle so I know they like it. Lol is it safe? Not as a large portion of their diets, they love the FF bucket too much but regularly given is it ok? I have a lot of it because its a foodbank rotating their donations. Friend said they wanted it so they give it to him a day or two before it expires and he doesn't eat that healthy crap he says lol so I get a crate of the good stuff! I want to use this food. Not just compost it :/

400
 
OK I need HELP!!! For the first time EVER, in all my years I've kept chickens, I have an egg eater in my flock! I started finding shells last week - thought it was because they were all piling up in the same nest, cleaned everything out, put new straw in -- nope, I'm convinced now it's happening on purpose. I found 2 eggs broken this morning. I had gathered everything last night when I locked them up for the night. No predators can get in my coop. I'm feeding exactly the same things I've always fed. The only thing I can figure is boredom since they've stayed inside during the bad weather (their choice I might add, since I always open my coop in the morning). Anybody have any opinions or experience with this? I have to go research it...

Add to that, I let them out to free range yesterday and as I was walking back to the house, heard something rushing up behind me - it was that darn Welsummer roo on the attack - that's the first time he's ever tried that. He will be gator bait this coming weekend if not sooner.

At this point I'm about ready to get rid of the whole bunch & start over!

Any suggestions are appreciated! How am I going to figure out which hen is the culprit when I'm at work all day!
 
Finding the culprit before too many others see her...you can take a couple eggs and coat them in something like a clear Vaseline? Greasy beak is guilty? I was thinking paint thinned with a Vaseline to stay damp but they might be attracted to color so bad idea lol.

Or a trail cam game cam. Baby cam...could borrow one so you don't have to buy one for one issue but webcams are cool to hook up and fairly cheap. .
TerriLaChicks said:
OK I need HELP!!! For the first time EVER, in all my years I've kept chickens, I have an egg eater in my flock! I started finding shells last week - thought it was because they were all piling up in the same nest, cleaned everything out, put new straw in -- nope, I'm convinced now it's happening on purpose. I found 2 eggs broken this morning. I had gathered everything last night when I locked them up for the night. No predators can get in my coop. I'm feeding exactly the same things I've always fed. The only thing I can figure is boredom since they've stayed inside during the bad weather (their choice I might add, since I always open my coop in the morning). Anybody have any opinions or experience with this? I have to go research it...

Add to that, I let them out to free range yesterday and as I was walking back to the house, heard something rushing up behind me - it was that darn Welsummer roo on the attack - that's the first time he's ever tried that. He will be gator bait this coming weekend if not sooner.

At this point I'm about ready to get rid of the whole bunch & start over!

Any suggestions are appreciated! How am I going to figure out which hen is the culprit when I'm at work all day!
Click to expand...
 
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I tried mustard filled eggs, pepper filled eggs, and concrete eggs. She loved the surprise! Doh. One rescued hen was determined. I gave her extra yogurt and dark greens from the garden chopped up and mixed in for a daily treat and after a week she stopped eating eggs. For her it was a deficiency. Even tho she was on a great diet others were thriving on she needed more. She would also, eat Her egg first. :/ then anothers if broken in the commotion.
 
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