Michigan

[Farmerboy16]

Thanks again Nancy.

I did a little research about swabbing-

Quote-
Samples to collect
Swabs should be collected from affected organs,
tissues and exudates for mycoplasma culture. In poultry,
the samples can be taken from live birds, recently dead
animals or carcasses frozen soon after death. There has
been only limited success isolating M. gallisepticum from
the frozen carcasses of house finches. In live poultry and
other birds, swabs can be taken from the choanal cleft,
oropharynx, esophagus, trachea, cloaca and phallus. At
necropsy, samples can be collected from the air sacs,
trachea, nasal cavity and infraorbital sinus. Aspirates can
also be taken from the infraorbital sinuses or joint
cavities. In addition, M. gallisepticum can be cultured
from dead in-shell embryos, chickens or poults that have
broken the shell but failed to hatch, and embryonated
eggs. Tissues or swab samples can be transported in
mycoplasma broth. Samples should be sent to the
laboratory as soon as possible and kept chilled with an ice
pack.
Similar samples can also be used for PCR. One
commercial test kit uses the material directly extracted
from swabs. Serum samples should be collected from the
flock for serology.



I want to have the eggs tested too, to see if MG is still viable after dipping in Tylan for incubating.



I agree Nancy! Hillbilly Hen needs to open a hatchery!!

 

[Chickmate]

Juise - I was at MSU yesterday, and it was very informative all around. There were many different topics that we didn't have time to discuss, but we were able to walk away with a lot of documentation. Most of the positions they were voicing, are primarily intended for commercial farmers or farmers that will be taking their poultry to shows and fairs. Their primary focus is the prevention of various diseases and ensuring that diseases aren't spread through physical transportation (to fairs, other farms, etc.). For the average backyard chicken farmer (that's me), many of their concerns don' t really apply or their control methods aren't used. A lot of what was discussed was very informative, but will not be practically applied for small flock farmers. Yes, we could implement many of these bio-security measures and they would be very sound practices. But if we have no intentions of showing or selling our birds, then it would be over-kill. However, I will now be smarter about how I introduce new chicks to my flock (where I purchase, if they are testing the hens, are they vaccinating, etc). I certainly don't want to bring in something unknown, and potentially impact my small flock.

The one thing to consider: If you let your birds free-range, then all of this goes right out the window. Unless you have a very controlled free-ranging environment, where other bird species and other animals cannot contaminate the area, then your birds will be exposed to outside influences the moment they step out of their pen. It would be devastating to the backyard farmer if some disease appeared and wiped out their flock, but more so from an emotional perspective as opposed to financial / economical perspective. I took away from this a lot of good content, but will only probably apply a small portion of what I learned. Knowledge is good!

John.

Hello Chickenhawk and welcome! So glad to have you on the thread. I'm happy to hear you say this as I was thinking I might be the only one not vaccinating all my chicks and following their strict bio-security measures. I do not show and aside from bringing a few roosters to Chickenstock, I don't sell any of my chickens. I have hatched a few of my own eggs under a broody and don't plan on bringing anything into my flock besides vaccinated chicks from a hatchery. Well, at least that's my plan. We'll see how it goes come Chickenstock . . . .And I do free-range, so as you said, all the precautions go out the window.

I cautiously crack the door open, and there are all five chickens gathered on the front step. . . . .

Great story, Juise!

Juise - love the telling of your in house chicken, very funny!

On the bag of medicated chick starter I have it says to use it until they are 8 weeks then switch to nonmedicated.

Well, my bag of medicated chick starter says to use the medicated till they are 8-10 weeks old and then switch to flock raiser, but it also says to refer to the tag sewn on the bag for more specific instructions regarding switching them over. I picked the bag up to read the tag and found out half of it was pecked away by little beaks!

So tonight when I got home I decided to check to see where the four babies are sleeping since I know Mama has resumed roosting with the other chickens. I thought they were still sleeping in the dog crate, but nope! All four were up on the roosts with the big girls and boys! Yay! Now I can take the dog crate out and get my coop back to normal. Oh wait, they're six weeks old now and I need to start weaning them off the medicated starter. How do the rest of you keep the adults out of the chick food so they get to eat some?

 

[NovaAman]

Had a sentinel carrier get killed this morning on m-40 on his way into Holland to deliver. He was hit head on by another car whose driver fell asleep at the wheel. The young man would drive from plainwell... An hours drive, just to earn a living 7 days a week... Just messed up...

 

[M.sue]

Wow I've been doing a lot reading. You guys really know how to chat. A lot good information there.

Congrats to all the new chick owners and those hatching!!

When it was time to switch my chicks over to layer feed I gradually did it. It wasn't by already knowing what CG learned and shared with us, it was by choice of not wanting to waste feed. I had left over medicated chick feed from a 50 lb bag when it was time to switch them over and decided it was too expensive to waste. I weened them off the chick feed like I weened my children off formula when they were old enough to start drinking milk. Of course the rations weren't as Dr. Fulton suggested, I just kept adding a little more of the layer feed till all the chick feed was gone. I was worried that I wasn't doing the right thing being a newbie at chickens but I figured if we ween humans off medication and stuff it can't hurt the chickens.

Silly Chicken....I still can't figure out the pic problem. No I'm not using Netscape.....I'm using Google Chrome. Like I previously posted, I never had a problem earlier even when they did the switch over on the formats. Thanks for your input anyway, I'll eventually figure it out.

Nova....sorry to hear about the of loss of the carrier. So sad when stuff like that happens. As for the earache and your little guy showing no signs, our pediatrician told us that usually the infection doesn't bother the child, it often goes unnoticed until the pressure in the ear starts to build (causing the pain). My son was notorious for showing no symptoms/fever of being ill or having an earache.


Well gotta go. I've got one off to school, one to take to the doctors (sore throat) and I have some chickens that need a little attention.
Everyone have a good day even though it's rainy & gloomy!

 

[RBahmer]

Silly Chicken....I still can't figure out the pic problem. No I'm not using Netscape.....I'm using Google Chrome. Like I previously posted, I never had a problem earlier even when they did the switch over on the formats. Thanks for your input anyway, I'll eventually figure it out.

I have that problem also. I use Google Chrome or Safari and the only way I can post pictures is by going back and using Internet Explorer. IE is slower than the others but it's the only way I can post a picture.

 

[Opa]

Quote:
Since I switched to Firefox I've had absolutely no problems.

 

[babigyrl22]

All 14 she hatched out for me are pullets. Even the Delaware's are all pullets except for 1. HH has the touch LOL.

Now that's some great hatching there HH! She definately has the touch.

 

[SillyChicken]

I also use fire fox and have no issues.

The weather was wonderful yesterday wasn't it! Nice to open some windows and air out the house for once!

 

[RBahmer]

I also use fire fox and have no issues.

The weather was wonderful yesterday wasn't it! Nice to open some windows and air out the house for once!

Never tried fire fox. Will have to check it out.

 

[M.sue]

Guess I'll have to use one of the other when uploading....I do like Google Chrome and yes it's way better than IE. Can't figure it out, can post in a reply box but can't up load to an album.......It's gotta be the system and not person the person at the keyboard!! lol

Good Day Ya'All