Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[chicken grandma]

I am looking forward to those photos Swampducks!

RaZ - I am eager to hear about the meeting you are going to. Thanks for standing up for backyard farmers.

 

[Wynette]

grandma - regarding the zebra finches and respiratory issue; with chickens, once you treat them for respiratory, if they survive & recover, they are, from then on, carriers of the disease. That's why many folks dispatch those with respiratory issues. I suspect that is what happened with the finches, but of course, I'm not a vet and most definitely am not an expert. Since these are pets and it's not like you are selling hatching eggs or anything, if that finch doesn't show improvement within a day or two, I would follow the same treatment protocol you used on the first one. And...be very, very careful to wash your hands really well after. Depending on what it/they have, you could potentially carry it home to your chickens.

 

[BobBry]

Tomorrow, I will be going to Lansing to address the Ag Commission regarding proposed changes to the GAAMPs.
If you are concerned about what might in the future as far as changes, please look at the MI-RTF thread, https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...o-farm-law-what-does-it-mean/760#post_9458316

If you have anything that you would like me to say, let me know ASAP and I'll try to incorporate it. If nothing else, I can add your name to a list of BYCers who want to keep their chickens in the future.

Please PM me if I can add you to the list. I'll just say that there are X number of people who want to keep backyard chickens, no names will be used.

Thanks.
Randy Z.

Go ahead and add my name to your list of people who feel we have a right, if not a duty, to keep chickens and gardens in our yards for providing food, pleasure, and reducing transport costs of foods for our families. Bobbie L. Engler MONTAGUE

I don't have ducks but I'm curious about the best way to keep my chickens watered in the winter. This is our first year so I don't know what's the easiest. Right now I just have a hose stretched from the house to the coop but I know that won't work in winter. What do you all have set up?

i USE BASICALLY THE SAME SET UP WINTER AND SUMMER, EXCEPT IN WINTER THE BUCKET RESERVOIR IS ELECTRICALLY HEATED. the Darn caps lock. delivery tube has insulating foam wrap in winter too.

Heated dog water dishes - those work great, but beware - if you have cock birds with long wattles, they'll drag in the water & can get frostbitten due to that. The heated waterers, I haven't had that problem with, as the channel that carries the water sort of holds their wattles out of the water. But definitely, those work well & are safe, too!

I got a heated bucket, capacity about 17 qts i guess at TSupp in Muskegon. Its blue, irrelevant and worked well all last winter.


Sam,
I'm still workin on the engine break in for the boat. I'll call when done and ready for fshin.

Man, What a surprise I got when I tried to get the Mi. thread.

Viva Civility !

 

[BobBry]

I am looking forward to those photos Swampducks!

RaZ - I am eager to hear about the meeting you are going to. Thanks for standing up for backyard farmers.

I am not a farmer. I have a yard. I plant pretty much what,where, and when I want. I feel it is my right do do so. So far, so good, with that and we have lived here moren forty years. Life is and has been good to us. Can not understand the trials and tribulations some of the folks on this forum have endured. The Earth can absolutely not sustain the kinds of lifestyles many of its inhabitants espouse. I hope enough of us come to realize that before we can no longer effectively change the course we are on. ( mixed em up didn't I ) Off the soap box, Bob.

 

[chicken grandma]

Wynette,
Yes, I chose to put my small flock of 3 chickens down last Xmas because they had E. Coli in the lungs and I was told by our vet that I could not 'cure' that.
So I decided it was best for my family and the neighbors flocks if I culled those three chickens and started over.

I agree with you on the finches. I assumed this bird had/has the same bacteria as the fellow bird did last year. It is a closed aviary with none going in or out so I assume they will just live out their lives carrying whatever they are carrying. I also thought the Air conditioning might be bringing it on.
Thanks for the advice. I did not know any bacteria could travel between finch and chicken.

 

[SillyChicken]

Tomorrow, I will be going to Lansing to address the Ag Commission regarding proposed changes to the GAAMPs.
If you are concerned about what might in the future as far as changes, please look at the MI-RTF thread, https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...o-farm-law-what-does-it-mean/760#post_9458316

If you have anything that you would like me to say, let me know ASAP and I'll try to incorporate it. If nothing else, I can add your name to a list of BYCers who want to keep their chickens in the future.

Please PM me if I can add you to the list. I'll just say that there are X number of people who want to keep backyard chickens, no names will be used.

Thanks.
Randy Z.

Hey Raz.. I know I'm late, but you can add me to the list for future ref.

 

[Mish]

I am always delighted when a chicken recovers!


Here is a case for you all to ponder! I volunteer at a retirement home that has Zebra Finches. Last Summer about this time one of the finches got a respiratory infection and I called my vet. He had me bring a tiny poop sample in to the vet clinic. (I put tin foil on the bottom of the cage and when she pooped onto it, I folded the foil up and took it to the vet.) I know you all were wondering how in the world I got a poop sample from a finch!

Our vet did a gram stain on the poop and saw bacteria. I did not ask him what kind of bacteria but he gave me a Cephalesporin antibiotic to give to the finch and she recovered. The residents just loved watching me net the finch each day and then give a drop of liquid!

So this year, ANOTHER FINCH is breathing heavy! Well, first I asked the maintenance men to turn down the air conditioning in the lobby and THEY DID! They raised the room temperature from 70 degrees to about 73 degrees! Then I put a small ceramic radiant heater for birds on the cage and she seemed to like sitting by that.

But here is my question, the new vet at the clinic did not see any bacteria in the stool. So we are not giving her any antibiotic. If she gets worse I guess I will get another stool sample to him but if we cannot identify a bacteria in her stool can anyone recommend a course of antibiotic for a finch?

Thank you!

ETA: Ooops the rest of my browser just updated and I saw Wynette's post. Same thought.

 

[mrshaggie810]

Meant to tell RaZ to add me to the list too!

Slow going here...lots getting done, but nothing for the ducks yet, and now I have no idea what's for dinner...maybe Roast Husbeast if things continue the way they've been going tonight. :/

 

[Opa]

So this year, ANOTHER FINCH is breathing heavy! Well, first I asked the maintenance men to turn down the air conditioning in the lobby and THEY DID! They raised the room temperature from 70 degrees to about 73 degrees! Then I put a small ceramic radiant heater for birds on the cage and she seemed to like sitting by that.

But here is my question, the new vet at the clinic did not see any bacteria in the stool. So we are not giving her any antibiotic. If she gets worse I guess I will get another stool sample to him but if we cannot identify a bacteria in her stool can anyone recommend a course of antibiotic for a finch?

Thank you!

Oft times birds with respiratory issues benefit from a treatment of VetRX. It is sold at TSC and most feed stores, it dispensed with the supplied eye dropper. Place a drop daily under each wing

Still no eggs from my 18 week old hens. I keep holding off buying store bought but I'm running out!!!

I think it might be wise to buy eggs. I've had ISA browns start laying at 18 weeks and Welsummers not start before 28 weeks, everything else fell somewhere in between. I had an ameraucana that didn't start til the 32nd week.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

he is not eating layer feed, is he? Roosters can get gout from the calcium, since they are not laying eggs. The cure for that is feeding him cherries and discontinuing the laying feed. The cherries are a fast gout relief. Try googling "walking on hocks" perhaps...........