Maine

[CoopChick719]

I've had a girl that has been molting for three months. I brought her in out of sympathy from the cold, but when I put her back out on a nice day of the hen tried killing her. She reintegrated now with a full fleece coat (apron with wing cover). I peeked under yesterday and she is FINALLY getting some feathers on her. She too has taken up residence in the nest box at night.

The poor thing! I was worried that my 3 girls who sleep in the nesting boxes would be cold so I've stuffed them full of bedding. 2 of them are in 1 so that's good. Everyone seems warm enough.

Brag moment:

Cold weather is upon us and I wanted a fun project so I made a chicken egg basket.​

This is ADORABLE!! So talented!!

I have recently started to knit socks.

Love the socks! Too cute!! Very envious of you knitters!! I don't have that skill set.

 

[MEMama3]

I would love to visit Nova Scotia again, windy bay farm.

And MEMama, your egg basket is awesome! It would take me forever to make that. I have been knitting the same sweater for 18+ years (Seriously).
It is going to be a nice sweater. It is a complicated pattern and I usually pull it out once a year around Christmastime. This just might be the year I finish! The back, front, and one and a half sleeves are done.

Any of you knitters out there know how I join the pieces all together? Do I sew it with yarn, throw it on the sewing machine, or what? I have no idea why, as an inexperienced knitter, I took on such a crazy project. I was young then, so who knows what I was thinking.

Look for a YouTube video. That's how I learned. With crochet you slip stitch pieces together. I think you can do that with a earning needle, but I'm not sure.

 

[quailtrail]

Love the baskets and socks!!!!

Captain wasn't too thrilled with the snow today he got onto the front porch and wouldn't get down.

 

[buckabucka]

Thanks for the YouTube tip, MEMama! There's almost too much information out there, but I saw a good demonstration of what I want to do.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

I would love to visit Nova Scotia again, windy bay farm.

And MEMama, your egg basket is awesome! It would take me forever to make that. I have been knitting the same sweater for 18+ years (Seriously).
It is going to be a nice sweater. It is a complicated pattern and I usually pull it out once a year around Christmastime. This just might be the year I finish! The back, front, and one and a half sleeves are done.

Any of you knitters out there know how I join the pieces all together? Do I sew it with yarn, throw it on the sewing machine, or what? I have no idea why, as an inexperienced knitter, I took on such a crazy project. I was young then, so who knows what I was thinking.

Take the ferry next summer from Portland to Yarmouth... I live less than 10 minutes from the ferry terminal

 

[CoopChick719]

I received the results on my 3 necropsied birds that I brought to the UMaine Animal Health Lab in Orono. The vet at the lab also called to discuss them. I have to say I'm disappointed...in myself. Bird 1 had mites. Bird 2 had extensive severe peritonitis. Bird 3 had worms and coccidosis. All showed signs of malnutrition. I could have cried when I read that!! I ferment my feed, mix BOSS, flax seed & alfalfa pellets in with it. Let them free range when I can. They were getting leftover veggies from the local healthfood store and leftovers from our kitchen. I put ACV w/mother in their water. My husband constantly says those birds eat better than he does. I had treated everyone for mites & worms several weeks ago. Did 2 extensive coop clean outs. They said all 3 birds had undeveloped ovary and oviduct and would have probably never laid eggs.

They recommended:
1. test a fecal sample for parasites in the remaining birds
2. Don't ferment it; feed as instructed on the label. this is really important. Check your feed for freshness.
3. Add a vitamin mix to one of the waterers, follow label instructions.
4. Be sure to have enough feeder and waterer space and EXTRA so that low-ranking birds can all get feed and water simultaneous with the high-ranking ones.
5. Be sure your birds have grit/fine gravel so their gizzards can work.
6. Keep coops/housing clean, well-bedded and adequately ventilated in winter, so you don't notice an ammonia smell.
7. Get a copy of the Chicken health Handbook by Gail Damerow; useful info!
8. Weigh your birds, records results and send to the lab.

I have 2 waterers for 15 birds 1 in the pen & 1 in the coop. They said to add another one. I think I have enough feeder space with a small 2 cup dish, a 12 x 12 dish, and the 5’ gutter feeder in the pen. I also have three 7 cup PVC pipe feeders in the coop for dry feed.

Feeling kind of low!

 

[MEMama3]

I received the results on my 3 necropsied birds that I brought to the UMaine Animal Health Lab in Orono. The vet at the lab also called to discuss them. I have to say I'm disappointed...in myself. Bird 1 had mites. Bird 2 had e[COLOR=000000]xtensive severe peritonitis. Bird 3 had worms and coccidosis. All showed signs of malnutrition. I could have cried when I read that!! I ferment my feed, mix BOSS, flax seed & alfalfa pellets in with it. Let them free range when I can. They were getting leftover veggies from the local healthfood store and leftovers from our kitchen.  I put ACV w/mother in their water. My husband constantly says those birds eat better than he does. I had treated everyone for mites & worms several weeks ago. Did 2 extensive coop clean outs. [/COLOR][COLOR=000000]They said all 3 birds had[/COLOR] undeveloped [COLOR=000000]ovary and oviduct and would have probably never laid eggs. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=000000]They recommended:[/COLOR]
1. test a fecal sample for parasites in the remaining birds 
2. Don't ferment it; feed as instructed on the label.  this is really important.  Check your feed for freshness.
3. Add a vitamin mix to one of the waterers, follow label instructions.
4. Be sure to have enough feeder and waterer space and EXTRA so that low-ranking birds can all get feed and water simultaneous with the high-ranking ones.  
5. Be sure your birds have grit/fine gravel so their gizzards can work.  
6. Keep coops/housing clean, well-bedded and adequately ventilated in winter, so you don't notice an ammonia smell.
7. Get a copy of the Chicken health Handbook by Gail Damerow; useful info!
8. Weigh your birds, records results and send to the lab.

I have 2 waterers for 15 birds 1 in the pen & 1 in the coop. They said to add another one. [COLOR=000000]I think I have enough feeder space with a small 2 cup dish, a 12 x 12 dish, and the 5’ gutter feeder in the pen.  I also have three 7 cup PVC pipe feeders in the coop for dry feed.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=000000]Feeling kind of low![/COLOR]

Don't beat yourself up. From what I read of what you wrote, you obviously care for your birds and you do your best by them. Honestly, everything they discovered is stuff that could go unseen by the best chicken keepers. One of my poor birds (from the original four) starved herself to death and I didn't notice until she was too weak to even stand up. When I picked her up she was just skin and bones. Died in my arms an hour later. It sucks and I felt horrible, but I took the advice I'm giving you. You cared and they knew you did.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

I received the results on my 3 necropsied birds that I brought to the UMaine Animal Health Lab in Orono. The vet at the lab also called to discuss them. I have to say I'm disappointed...in myself. Bird 1 had mites. Bird 2 had e[COLOR=000000]xtensive severe peritonitis. Bird 3 had worms and coccidosis. All showed signs of malnutrition. I could have cried when I read that!! I ferment my feed, mix BOSS, flax seed & alfalfa pellets in with it. Let them free range when I can. They were getting leftover veggies from the local healthfood store and leftovers from our kitchen.  I put ACV w/mother in their water. My husband constantly says those birds eat better than he does. I had treated everyone for mites & worms several weeks ago. Did 2 extensive coop clean outs. [/COLOR][COLOR=000000]They said all 3 birds had[/COLOR] undeveloped [COLOR=000000]ovary and oviduct and would have probably never laid eggs. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=000000]They recommended:[/COLOR]
1. test a fecal sample for parasites in the remaining birds 
2. Don't ferment it; feed as instructed on the label.  this is really important.  Check your feed for freshness.
3. Add a vitamin mix to one of the waterers, follow label instructions.
4. Be sure to have enough feeder and waterer space and EXTRA so that low-ranking birds can all get feed and water simultaneous with the high-ranking ones.  
5. Be sure your birds have grit/fine gravel so their gizzards can work.  
6. Keep coops/housing clean, well-bedded and adequately ventilated in winter, so you don't notice an ammonia smell.
7. Get a copy of the Chicken health Handbook by Gail Damerow; useful info!
8. Weigh your birds, records results and send to the lab.

I have 2 waterers for 15 birds 1 in the pen & 1 in the coop. They said to add another one. [COLOR=000000]I think I have enough feeder space with a small 2 cup dish, a 12 x 12 dish, and the 5’ gutter feeder in the pen.  I also have three 7 cup PVC pipe feeders in the coop for dry feed.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=000000]Feeling kind of low![/COLOR]

Your results make me scratch my head. I'm doing almost exactly what you are, including fermenting my feed. It's clear to me that you take the best care of your birds so it's hard for me to understand why or how the necropsy turned out with the results it did ... Makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong. I've been feeding my birds fermented feed for over 6 months now but now I'm second guessing myself. Also, I noticed you said you wormed your chickens, may I ask what you used ?

 

[CoopChick719]

Thanks MEMama...appreciate it!

 

[CoopChick719]

Your results make me scratch my head. I'm doing almost exactly what you are, including fermenting my feed. It's clear to me that you take the best care of your birds so it's hard for me to understand why or how the necropsy turned out with the results it did ... Makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong. I've been feeding my birds fermented feed for over 6 months now but now I'm second guessing myself. Also, I noticed you said you wormed your chickens, may I ask what you used ?

Thanks Windy Bay! My head is just spinning! I know so many people on BYC who do ferment their feed and tout the benefits of it. The Natural Chicken Keeping Thread is full of fermenters as well as the Fermenting feed for meat birds thread. I just don't understand it!! I keep all my fermenting buckets & equipment clean and do nothing different than everyone else on those 2 threads.

To worm my flock, I used Wazine in their water. I'm not sure if you can get that in NS. Wazine only gets roundworms so 10 days later I used Ivermectin Pour-On which is swine & cattle wormer I'm using off-label for poultry. I have read elsewhere on BYC that Valbazen is the only wormer that kills all worms. I could not find Valbazen locally but did find it at Jeffers vet supply website. I'll see if I can find the worming thread for you. There's a guy on there "Dawg53" who is the worming guru.