Maine

[buckabucka]

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]

Try not to be down on yourself, Coopchick. I don't believe you can treat peritonitis, and you had already treated for mites and worms. Sometimes birds, like people, do not thrive.
The good news in all of this, -you do not have some horrible disease creeping through your flock. And trying dry feed for a while is actually less labor intensive than fermenting. I would be tempted to mix a higher protein feed like flock raiser in with your layer feed and offer oyster shell free choice.
I only have two water dishes for 33 birds, although I do add one or two more in the summer when I am not battling ice. I used to add Avia Charge to the water on occasion and have not done that for quite a while, so I'll be putting that bit of advice to work this week when I change the water.

 

[MEMama3]

It is so gross outside! I was going to let the girls out, but...

Usually they have the option to go out with the theory they've got common sense. With my setup, they exit the pop door into a hoop atrium that is plastic covered with sand on the floor. They can go out the back of the atrium to the yard or they can go under the coop and out to another part of the yard. They like being under the coop because that has plastic too. Unfortunately, the only part of the yard that isn't flooded in slush is the sandy atrium. I have never had a flooding issue, but I'm wondering if the frozen ground is the reason.

Anyways, if I thought they'd stay in the atrium, I'd let them out, but I'm afraid they'll try going under the coop. Also, I am starting to worry that water will start flooding the atrium too if it keeps raining like this. I tossed in a head of cabbage and some BOSS, so hopefully they don't kill each other.

 

[Widget]

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!

I agree do not feel down on yourself. From your description you are doing the right things.

I did a quick search on how to put weight on chickens based on the malnourished comment. There did not seem to be an easy answer. Birds put on weight differently than other animals so it is not just a matter of adding a higher fat food. And with chickens when they do put on weight, especially fat, it goes around their organs causing problems along the way with egg laying and overall health. Some say add black oil sunflower, whole corn, Calf Manna, milk and other extras. Others mention the fermenting, plenty of fresh food, scrambled eggs and many other things. And there was the mention of breed and age affecting body type as well as free ranging. Birds that spend more time out and about are naturally leaner from all the exercise.

Another thing that I read is that even the large turkey producers like Butterball have had issues with their birds gaining weight this year. And their turkeys do not run around all day so that makes one wonder if their is an issue with feed just not having the nutrients the birds need. Reminds me of the classic Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles where the quadrotriticale grain had been poisoned and while the tribbles engorged themselves on the grain they starved to death.

 

[buckabucka]

I know the place where we got our turkey had issues with feed:

Read this before ordering
We have run into difficulty with the size of our birds for Thanksgiving. We knew last month that the Turkeys were not eating at the usual pace, and we had our feed analyzed by a laboratory in Ithaca. Turns out, our feed was not nutritious and was ground so fine that the Turkeys didn’t process what they ate. Even before the lab results came in, we switched feed suppliers, and the birds began eating at a normal pace. Eventually, most of them will grow to market weight. But probably not in time for Thanksgiving.

 

[anyasmifya]

Buckabucka~ Search on youtube for kitchener stitch. It's an invisible stitch used to join two pieces of knitted material together.

Coopchick~ Sorry to hear about your results. It is hard to take care of chickens and know exactly what is going on with them. Unfortunately, they can't tell us what is wrong. So, don't beat yourself up over it! You had good intentions and that is what matters!

Lazy~ The socks I knitted are a wool blend, a slightly stretchy yarn to snug the foot lightly.

Thanks everyone for the compliments. Youtube is very helpful to learn how to knit. It's a good hobby for the long dark evenings! I'm busy trying to make christmas presents!

 

[hancockchickens]

What an absolutely crappy day. its miserable and windy here, Downeast.

And I have always said my birds are not stupid, but I am glad I made no other claims for their intelligence. Hubby let them out into the rain this morning and now they look like drowned rats. I tried getting everyone inside but the black sex links weren't having it. Rats.

Have three birds with itty bitty patches of what looks like frostbite from this past Saturday night. It was terribly cold but I was hospitalized over night and couldn't bear to part with hubby and was too out of it to think to call my father at 2am to close them up when I finally remembered.

Should I be worried they will give the lives hypothermia out there today?

 

[CoopChick719]

Try not to be down on yourself, Coopchick. I don't believe you can treat peritonitis, and you had already treated for mites and worms. Sometimes birds, like people, do not thrive.
The good news in all of this, -you do not have some horrible disease creeping through your flock. And trying dry feed for a while is actually less labor intensive than fermenting. I would be tempted to mix a higher protein feed like flock raiser in with your layer feed and offer oyster shell free choice.
I only have two water dishes for 33 birds, although I do add one or two more in the summer when I am not battling ice. I used to add Avia Charge to the water on occasion and have not done that for quite a while, so I'll be putting that bit of advice to work this week when I change the water.

Thanks bucka! You're right about the thriving & dry feeding. I was feeding flock rasier because I had different aged birds. I have free choice oyster shell and feed their eggshells back to them. What is Avia Charge?

It is so gross outside! I was going to let the girls out, but...
I tossed in a head of cabbage and some BOSS, so hopefully they don't kill each other.

Only a few of mine went out into the pen this morning. I thought about opening up the playyard (small fenced in area under trees with no cover) but figured they would just get soaked if they did go out there. Plus I have to leave the pen door open for them to access so if a predator did get in they'd have full access to the coop too.
My girls do not like cabbage! I've tried given them the whole head or just pieces...nope..they turn their noses up at it.

I agree do not feel down on yourself. From your description you are doing the right things.

I did a quick search on how to put weight on chickens based on the malnourished comment. There did not seem to be an easy answer. Birds put on weight differently than other animals so it is not just a matter of adding a higher fat food. And with chickens when they do put on weight, especially fat, it goes around their organs causing problems along the way with egg laying and overall health. Some say add black oil sunflower, whole corn, Calf Manna, milk and other extras. Others mention the fermenting, plenty of fresh food, scrambled eggs and many other things. And there was the mention of breed and age affecting body type as well as free ranging. Birds that spend more time out and about are naturally leaner from all the exercise.

Another thing that I read is that even the large turkey producers like Butterball have had issues with their birds gaining weight this year. And their turkeys do not run around all day so that makes one wonder if their is an issue with feed just not having the nutrients the birds need. Reminds me of the classic Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles where the quadrotriticale grain had been poisoned and while the tribbles engorged themselves on the grain they starved to death.

Thanks Widget! And thank you for doing the search. I was searching for the same answer myself when those 3 girls started losing weight and came up with the same answers. Too much fat is not good. I was scrambling eggs, giving them buttermilk, etc. I didn't know about the Butterball situation. I find it very interesting that even the "big" guys are having feed issues. Loved that Star Trek Tribble episode!! Good reference!!

 

[lazy gardener]

On this, the day before Thanksgiving, I can say that I am somewhat thankful for the crappy weather. It is forcing me to stay inside and work on the mountain of cleaning to be done before the mountain of cooking to be done to feed a crowd of 14 tomorrow. The day will be over all too soon... both today and tomorrow. I wish everybody a happy and warm Thanksgiving. I am also thankful that my winterizing is holding up in the wind. The girls appreciate the same, I'm sure!

Quite concerning re: the poor weight gain of poultry even though they appear to have plenty to eat. My girls appear to be lacking in wt gain in spite of frequent feeding of BOSS and BOSS sprouts in addition to free feeding dry crumble. also recently started giving them some barley and hard red wheat sprouts. They were treated x 2 with Ivermectin pour on in August. No signs of mites or lice. I'm wondering if it would be wise to switch to whole grain feed after completing this new bag of crumble. Unfortunately, I'd have to buy a lot of feed to get the appropriate mix. I do know that whole grain has a very long shelf life compared to processed grain.

 

[buckabucka]

Avia Charge 2000 is a water supplement I bought from Murray McMurray.
I bought it a long time ago when I was having issues with feather picking. Here's the description and ingredients:

This All Natural trace mineral supplement is the key to animal health. It stops pecking, and improves feather durability and color, just to name a few of the benefits your birds will gain by having Avia Charge. This performance enhancer contains 70+ naturally chelated minerals, 23 vitamins & antioxidants, 22 essential amino acids, enzymes, and body & blood building nutrients. Great product for those who have laying birds and want to keep their maximum laying ability up or those of you who show your birds and want them to look their best. Everyone gains from a healthy flock and this is a way you can help insure your flock will be healthy. This water soluble powder is good for chickens, pigeons, ducks, geese, gamebirds, etc.

Ingredients: Seaweed, Hydrolized Fish proteins & oils, Plant derived enzymes, lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation extract, Citrus acid, Aspergillus niger fermentation, Aloe vera, Bacillus subitillis fermentation extract, & Garlic.

I started using it in the chick water too, although I am not sure that is an appropriate use. Initially, I bought this Durvet vitamin and electrolyte package for chick water, but it is super concentrated (good for mixing up huge stock tanks of water for livestock) and I was always worried about mixing it Inappropriately, so now I use Avia Charge exclusively. It was not cheap, but I am still on my first tub.

 

[Widget]

To say things are a bit wet is an understatement. When I got home just after noon today I let the birds out of the pen which had more standing water than dry land. First thing the ducks did was head for the horse paddock to the giant puddle that had formed there. They then spent the next 30 minutes swimming (yes it was that deep) and splashing around.

The turkeys and chickens at least had the sense to go to the run-in shelters where it was somewhat dry.

On the plus side my truck is once again maroon as opposed to the whitish/maroon it was over the weekend thanks to all the salt that had been spread on the road. And with the temperature almost to 60 today I was able to fill all the water buckets and then wind up the hose so I can move it to the basement so it will be thawed when I need it the next time.

The best news is that Homer, my Big Fluffy Dog foster, went to his forever home today. He was only here a few short weeks but I did grow attached to the old bugger. But I know he is where he is meant to be now and that is what fostering is all about. And with his leaving I can take in another foster. I pick up Peanut on Dec. 7th. He is about 50 pounds of non-fluff. He was from a hoarding case and is wary around people but once he feels safe he is a snuggle bug. He does need to gain another 10-15 pounds and is recovering from heart worm and a skin infection but is recovering nicely.