Major Mortality rate what could be wrong with my flock? HELP PLEASE

[nuts4chickens]

Dotty- very beautifully said and by far the best advice given on this thread.

Hugs and kisses to you, Melissa! We all care about you very much!

 

[bambi]

Dotty, what wonderful encouraging words. I have been praying to know what to say to Melissa and I feel you just said it . Melissa here is the best I can do for you andit is very little but here is a hug and a prayer.

 

[CityChicker]

Religion aside, I think we all really feel for you, Melissa. I think almost anybody here would agree that your family issues trump everything else. Your sister has to be your priority. That is completely understandable. I truly hope you have someone there sharing the burden of the birds with you. Maybe your friend can help you out some with you dealing with your sister and working a new job. The only advice I can give is to take each day as it comes and be strong. At the end of the day, the birds are not nearly as significant as what is going on with your sister. I have been there having been very sick myself. I had three surgeries in less than two years and several extended hospitalizations. My brother was just amazing. He was there every step of the way, helping take care of my birds and keep things in order for me, without so much as even the smallest complaint. I can't tell you how much it meant to me. I could never repay him for what his help did for me. It sounds like you probably have a similar relationship with your sister. I can't imagine the pressure, especially with the new job and this whole situation with the birds as well. Don't feel bad at all for making the birds take a back seat if they need to. Hang in there, Melissa. We are all pulling for you.

 

[peach]

I just read this whole post, hoping to get to the final problem. I guess some things just take time. ok so most things take time. The thing I can't figure is she's had chickens for 5 yrs so it's not like her husbandry is the problem. Lot's of sales yes, I can see that route, those places carry alot of unfortunate germs. That is the nature of the sale/swap beast and quarantine probably would have been better, but whos to say how long? This is a very sticky wickit. I feel compelled to go with culling everyone, although that would break my heart as well. I cant put my old dog down and she leaks from both ends just because she is still so happy! So I feel for you there. Congrats on the job by the way. We are all pretty good scrappers when it comes down to it so I think you will be ok. Many many prayers for your sister and I do hope you have some kind of faith to lean on. I do believe there is a master plan. You are very strong and we are here for you to vent and fuss anytime. God Bless. I too am waiting and hoping for a final outcome and hope that you too can move on to a happier post on this forum...

 

[bossynbella]

Quote:
Thank you for that Dotty. Thankfully I do have Jesus. One of the things that has helped the most during this time is listening to life 101.9 the local christian music station. "Before the Morning" is a wonderful song that really describes what I am feeling, I cry everytime I listen to it.... but somehow it still makes me feel better.

I am off to work now. Another day another dollar. You know the new job is not hard and is actually kind of fun, I just wish the pay was a little bit better. Oh well.
Thanks again everyone. I will try to get on tonight to check it. Just depends on how tired I am.
Melissa

 

[rancher hicks]

Ok so I haven't lost interest, I'm just frustrated that Iowa is so far away and I can't be there to do anything. Bossynbella, if you need meds I can send some to you. I've got an unopened bottle of Sulmet and can easily get some antibiotics. Don't go without. If you give me your address I can send you some meds, priority mail and you can have them in a couple of days.

The way I see it a blanket antibiotic can't hurt and may help. I don't mean to sound like I dont' care. "His eye is on the sparrow"

Hopeing for the Best

Rancher

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

I am not particularly religious...I have my higher power and I am a good neighbor but I don't attend any church. I don't need to be saved, and I live a christian life. Or a good Jewish life, or a good Muslim life...pick one. All religions have a belief in helping those in need. The Internet hugely expanded my concept of neighbors. Melissa is my neighbor. Unfortunately she is a neighbor seven or eight hundred miles away.

I live a frugal, rather isolated life...and my income is below the poverty level....but I have ten or twenty bucks I can live without. All I need to know is where to send it. I can't be the only one.

I've followed and been involved in this thread and my belief system is such that I am compelled to do something. I can't get in my poor old Blazer and go to to help.

Melissa needs someone to help her cull her birds. It is her decision of what to do, but it appears she has decided. After she separates those she wants to cull from those she doesn't...someone needs to relieve her from the burden of actually doing it. It is bad enough to lose most of your flock...hard enough to make the decision to cull the rest...it is too hard as far as I'm concerned to have to actually chop off the heads or whatever and dispose of the remains properly. If one of us can't help...then maybe a few bucks extra will allow her to pay someone to do it.

Melissa mentioned that her final paycheck from her previous job was not even sufficient to pay her rent. So she must also be worried about that.
She has neither the time or money to be with her sister who has such a short time remaining...her sister will need support that frankly I don't know where Melissa will get the ability from to support her. I would be crushed under the burdens she is coping with.

If she is working 30 hours a week...it is possible to schedule those thirty hours as three ten hour days in the end of one work period, followed by thirty hours in the first three days of the next pay period...or six days in a row...which could be followed by the next eight days off. I very much doubt she feels OK asking a supervisor to do this for her...she has just started working there...no one asks for special privileges at a brand new job. If she had eight days off in a row...maybe she could hop a bus to go to her sister. I spend between five and six hundred bucks a month at my Walmart...they 'know' me. I'm willing to ask. Alone that has little influence but if a hundred folks emailed her supervisor...that counts. If Walmart is unwilling to do this for her...then I'm going to make that very well known. And start shopping at Kmart. This is an invasion of Melissa's privacy and I won't do anything without her permission. Chances are her supervisor is not even aware of the huge challenges she is facing.

Melissa with grace and patience has accepted our suggestions, criticisms, and comments. We are basically a bunch of strangers who have neither the right, or the privilege to dictate to her or to demand she behave in a manner we feel is the 'right' way. Yes, I realize she asked.

Quote:

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

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[bossynbella]

Again you have all been so wonderful. I know that when I get on here I will find, support, help and hope for a better outcome. I so appreciate all you have done for me and all the support you have given me.
Last night a skunk found our mama guinea and two day old keets. He killed nine of them before my husband got out there and scared it off. The skunk has been around all summer but the dogs keep him away from the garage and the other chickens. The guinea had hatched her keets in a nest across the road and with eveything else going on around here I figured if she made it through the brooding there she would be okay there with the babies. I had taken a sleeping pill last night and was out cold. My DH caught the remaining eleven and mama and put them in the garage with a heat lamp, in their own pen.
Compared to everything else thats been going on this is nothing, but it was still sad when DH told me this afternoon.

Again Thanks thanks and thanks,
I will keep you all updated as much as possible on any changes.
Melissa

 

[Winsor Woods]

Looks like Iowa chickens are having a rough go of it this year:

228M eggs recalled following salmonella outbreak

WASHINGTON — An Iowa egg producer is recalling 228 million eggs after being linked to an outbreak of salmonella poisoning.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said eggs from Wright County Egg in Galt, Iowa, were linked to several illnesses in Colorado, California and Minnesota. The CDC said about 200 cases of the strain of salmonella linked to the eggs were reported weekly during June and July, four times the normal number of such occurrences.

State health officials say tainted eggs have sickened at least 266 Californians and seven in Minnesota.

The eggs were distributed around the country and packaged under the names Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemp.

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating.

In a statement, company officials said the FDA is "on-site to review records and inspect our barns." The officials said they began the recall Aug. 13.

The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within eight hours to 72 hours of eating a contaminated product. It can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems.

Dan​