Michigan

[Juise]

Of course, I am hoping with everything I've got that they don't have anything serious. The really difficult decision will come if the new chicks have something and our older flock do not.

 

[snowflake]

Good morning all, been very busy around here, 400 posts behind,,,,want to wish every one a very blessed and Happy Easter, may the sun shine on your parades and Easter egg hunts,,,,, hope every one is well and chicks are thriving

 

[Opa]

I don't think even old Albert Einstein could come up with answers about poultry that would satisfy everyone. Read, listen, and finally do what ever you think best for your situation.


Be awake since 4am so another pot of coffee is on, the flag has been raised, I've checked the birds and found an old hen had succumbed overnight. Also found the heat bulb over my chicks had burnt out. Sure glad the chicks are almost fully feathered. Checked the traps and dispatched a coon that had come visiting.

Now I'm ready to get this day underway.

 

[M.sue]

Good Morning Everyone,
My hectic day begins shortly. The weather looks like it's going to be nice which I'm glad for we will be horse showing all day. Since I'll be gone for the day my mother & Aunt offered to come to over to do some last minute stuff for before our family brunch tomorrow....Bless their Hearts.

Had the little chicks outside yesterday for a few hours and they loved it. DH really needs to Speed It Up on getting the tractor finished. I'm so excited, I'll be able to use it as an extra coop if needed.

Big discussion rolling on here yesterday....after reading & trying to absorb everything my mind turned to mush.....it was last at night & there was a lot of posting going on.

.
Hope Everyone Has A Great Day!

 

[NovaAman]

Alright... I think now we have beaten the chicken, lets not get our feathers ruffled over differing opinions. We all need to do what we think is right. If someones idea is different than our own, then so be it. Its like Opa said, Olive said, CG said, Wicki, said, Juise said... ect ect ect... We all care about our chickens, being pets or for profit. We are here, being as responsible as we can be. SO, lets share information as usual.

YAY! On all the new chicks zipping and pipping. Its so funny the terms that are given to these processes.

I found a mallard egg this morning while I was delivering the condos. It was in the stones, not a nest. I almost stepped on it. Covered in frost, so I am guessing the duck laid it sometime yesterday... Just popped a squat and kept on going. I picked it up, brought it home... candled it, and then checked it out. It had the orangest (is that a word?) yolk I have ever seen, and the yolk took up nearly the whole egg! Wow.

I let all the birds out already. VERY EARLY. But, I want to take a nap here and I got home close to 7, the skies are light bright enough, figured, what the heck. THEN, Mr.Fluffers opened his big mouth in the garage and scared the pee out of my mom. LOL. Poor mom. I went and chased him out, and threw them all the left over broccoli mac and cheese. Not sure they liked the broc to much, but the noodles were gone in a blink. I heated it a bit first. Now they are all of crowing elsewhere. I hope I don't bother the old couple on the corner. I wouldn't normally let Mr. Fluff out till 9.

I have not check in to the auto-immune thing. I do not think it is that. I really think it is lack of sleep. I have not gotten more than 4 hours together a day since I started working the 3rd shift route. I just picked up another daytime press route, so I will be quitting the 3rd shift route in 2 months. I almost have my sofa paid off... And as soon as I do not have that payment anymore, then I am going to be done with the 3rd shitf job. Maybe. LOL. The pay is very nice, but my health is more important. I will be making the same with my new route that I do with the 3rd shift, but have been on 1/3 of my normal pay for 2 months now, and I need to get a little saved back up over the next 2 months as well. I want to quit when my oldest is out of school for the summer...

Anyway. I hope everyone has a nice day today. Hope the frost hasn't hurt to many fledgling plants.

 

[Olive Hill]

Juise - If the swab results will not change your course of action, why waste your time and money swabbing to begin with? By the time you send the swab in and get the results back the MG will have run its course through your flock. As I said before, mortality is low even without treatment, so you're unlikely to lose birds in the meantime. If, at that point, the swab came back positive it would not change anything for you since you have no intention of culling the carriers. So why not save your money? It's 99% likely your flock has MG. The symptoms, apparent incubation periods and the contagious nature are fairly textbook at this point. Just operate as though that's the case.

Ultimately everyone has to make their own decisions, but just something to think about: MG only lives in the environment for 3-5 days, but its survival rate increases on hair and feathers. So a wild bird flits down into your yard and grabs that molted feather for its nest and there's a good possibility of MG being on it. Or you walk through the feed store, through the pavilion at Chickenstock, etc. and shed hair as you go after having been in your coop or holding your birds -- how many times have we seen kids with chickens up to their cheeks? women with chickens sitting on their shoulders and heads? -- and there's a good possibility you're shedding MG. It's not just about whether or not we're in close proximity to one another or other farms, because we travel and so do wild birds who migrate thousands of miles and carry the diseases they picked up in our yards with them.

 

[swampducks]

I sure could use some cups of Opa's coffee this morning, but as that much caffeine twists my stomach into painful knots I have to settle for a cup of black tea. I hope it's enough to wake me because I was awake most of the night worrying about my stupid puppy who ran off with my neighbor's escape lab, a notorious porcupine magnet and creator of mayhem at 11 pm. I had just put Ziggy out with Luna for a last minute pea and GONE.

Knowing it was futile to look for them in the surrounding swamp in the dark, I went to bed. I was still awake at 2 am, every time I started to drift off I thought I heard a noise and snapped awake. Many drugs later I managed to get between 3-4 hours of sleep before I snapped awake at 6. I looked outside and called, crawled back into bed. Even DH got up to look outside and he is not one who cares very much for dogs. I think he was doing that for my sake.

At 7:30 my neighbor called and said they showed back up muddy but otherwise fine. I think I will,not speak to Ziggy for the rest of the day. That will be easy because once I drop Luna off, I am off shopping with 2 of my SIL's and then another dinner at the farm tonight because they have to drive downstate tomorrow.

My chicks are doing great, I added another tray of water in case the quart jar runs out as I will be gone 12 hours probably. Cute little fuzz butts! Getting some wing feathers now. Amazing how fast they grow.

Y'all have a good day now and it anyone has a hint I can use for getting DH to agree to putting in a better fence, I'm all ears!

 

[sarah92480]

Well, my chickens are going to spend their first night out in their coop tonight. I feel like a nervous parent when their kids go off to college or something. I hope they do ok, and I will probably sleep like crap worrying about them tonight!! I got a bunch of straw bales last night and Im gonna put the finishing touches on the coop this afternoon and put the bedding in and then throw them in there so they get a feel for the place. They'll be outside all day today with us once I get out of work at 12. They already go to bed when it gets dark out so they shouldn't have a problem with that part. I'm so worried! Hopefully for nothing.

 

[Olive Hill]

Y'all have a good day now and it anyone has a hint I can use for getting DH to agree to putting in a better fence, I'm all ears!

Last time the neighbor down the road's dogs got loose all three came back dead and she was still on the hook for more than $20,000 in damage. Roaming dogs is no joke. Aside from the damage they cause and the likelihood they will be shot you're liable to lose your homeowners insurance when a claim does come through.

 

[chicken grandma]

Well, my chickens are going to spend their first night out in their coop tonight. I feel like a nervous parent when their kids go off to college or something. I hope they do ok, and I will probably sleep like crap worrying about them tonight!! I got a bunch of straw bales last night and Im gonna put the finishing touches on the coop this afternoon and put the bedding in and then throw them in there so they get a feel for the place. They'll be outside all day today with us once I get out of work at 12. They already go to bed when it gets dark out so they shouldn't have a problem with that part. I'm so worried! Hopefully for nothing.

Hi Sarah,
Do you know what temperature your coop is at night? Is there a way to add any supplemental heat to make the temperature change less drastic for them - to make the temperature change more gradual for the next week? Birds and reptiles need more time to adjust to temperature change and after all the work and expense you have put in to you chicks it would be good to protect your investment. How about an extention cord to the coop with a red heat lamp from the feed store? Just to bridge the jump from the 60 degrees in your house to the 30 degrees in the coop. Drop it by 5 degrees per day and you can ensure your chicks health.