Michigan

[chicken grandma]

I believe Opa's point is that there's more than one way to skin a cat, or in this case, treat a bird and the vet isn't needed for a quick and efficient death.

I agree with that! It just seems that those of us who have been effected by MG have lost a whole lot more than one chicken. All total we have lost hundreds of chickens on this thread this year to MG. And actually hundreds to Coccidia also. My point is that if you know your flock has MG or Coccidia, then refrain from selling those chickens or swapping/ trading/ selling eggs that might carry MG. Caring about other people is a verb, an action.

 

[Olive Hill]

Wish we were ready to get started, but since we're not... for those that are getting bees this year:

Used Beekeeping Supplies -- Williamston

Bee Hives -- Leslie

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

The only way to lessen the chance of illness is to close off your flock, but there's no 100% that it would stop something from happening.

True, like Opa stated earlier, things can be brought in just by the wild birds.

 

[sarah92480]

Goodnight everybody

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

G'night sarah, sleep tight!

 

[b737drvr]

Hi everyone, I will be back in Michigan around the 19th of this month. I will be getting my baby chicks (still have not decided on what breed yet) and fixing my chickens a run and fixing up my hunting shack into a chicken coop. Work, and more work I love it.
I just can't make up my mind on breeds of chickens. Can we mix the breeds up, if I get them at the same time?
Kimmie

Yeah...my first chicks are coming later in the month and I got 3 each of 5 different breeds.

Had I known, I would have helped move the goat house for you. I helped Yorkchick a few weeks ago to move her goose chalet. A few more times of moving livestock fixtures and I might even get good at it.

I might take you up on that Raz. I am still planning to lift my coop up on cinder blocks. Just not sure when that will happen yet. We need to have about a month without rain, and then the yard might be hard enough to get the tractor close to the coop w/o sinking in.


I just got the tractor stuck in the mud again on Wednesday. Good thing I have a big 4wd truck. I usually get the tractor stuck 3-4 times a year. Maybe I need to take tractor driving lessons! Happy Easter weekend to everybody!

 

[Trefoil]

Does anyone not too far from Flint have white large fowl cochins? I would like a couple of pullets, not real choosy on age.

 

[un-named543]

I wish I had only paid $3 a bird. The color/breed I have sell for $8 to 10 per chick or 20 for adults. There are only a small handful of breeders willing to ship. I found only 2 or 3 in the US that will sell shipped hatching eggs, 3 sometimes 4 that sell chicks shipped. When you have a few hundred dollars wrapped up in chickens the vet bill for testing is worth it.

You are right if I had practiced better bio-security I may not be having this problem. My adult coop seems very healthy, active, and looks great. So I could assume that I didn't pass MG from my baby chicks to my adult coop. But would you buy chicks from me knowing that my baby chicks were sneezing and all I did was medicate them? Or maybe I should say nothing and do nothing because its common and they don't look or act sick. I'm not trying to get nasty but there are only two possibilities I got this, either from an infected person coming on to my farm or the adult chickens I purchased a few years back as my starter flock already had it. Either way the chicken owner had to know they had sneezing chickens and didn't care enough about other flock owners to find out why their flock is sneezing. Or maybe they were new to chickens and thought it was normal. Either way if we can pass along our information we can help reduce the spread.

I only told my story because somewhere somehow my chicks got this disease. If more people new to chickens knew about the disease and how to prevent the spread of it, we wouldn't be talking about it. The problem is that you hear "when you do bring new birds in don't introduce them into your flock until after a minimum of a two weeks" which is only half of the new flock introduction. The other half of that statement is: take one of your flock members and put it with the quarantined new flock for another two weeks. The new chicks/chickens may not show any symptoms of the disease until after you put them in your healthy flock.

One thing I do know is that more people are likely to buy from a flock if they know they are not getting any diseases. I also know that in order to show a bird (or sell chicks, eggs, or birds outside of Michigan) it must be NPIP certified. Some states even require MG testing before being able to ship. These laws are not to cost us extra money or inconvenience us, they were created to protect chickens from spreading deadly diseases and wiping out entire breeds/flocks.

You are soooo right on when saying you have to know if it is your existing flock giving the new ones something or the other way around.
When I got started with poultry, I had the thoughts that birds coming from a farm with sick birds were great; I'd choose the healthy looking ones, thinking I was saving them, not realizing they most likely were carriers. I thought they must have great immune systems to not come down with whatever disease this farm had and that I was actually strengthening my flock by having 'tough' birds that didn't come down with illness. It was some kind of respiratory disease there.
In some ways I still believe this, but know birds like this can never be shown or sold as they are a danger to the flocks of others. This site has taught me a lot.

 

[Chickmate]

Chickmate, I know you said you had the blue/green eggs, and the travel distance doesn't bother me so much, seeing as I am maybe a little lot crazy. (I drove how far to get those four eggs from Farmerboy last year? I do not want to say. I still think it was worth it!) But given the size of my coop, and the fact that I get attached to the chickens pretty fast, these might be my last chance for a while to get some chance of blue/green in the egg basket. With my luck, I'd probably end up with very pretty brown egg layers with Joe for a daddy instead of Warf. Who I totally could have taken home at Chickenstock last year, you don't have to remind me....

Totally understand York. Out of my four babies it looks like Joe is Daddy to three of them and Worf to one. As hard as I tried to get rid of him last year, Worf has turned into a pretty nice rooster. If one of the hens squawks he dashes to her to see what's wrong. He always finds and gives treats to them and is ever vigilant for predators. Joe does all of the same, but Joe tends to be aggressive to people and Worf is a complete gentleman to the hens and to me. Good luck finding those pretty blue eggs.

 

[Juise]

Quote:

Yeah...my first chicks are coming later in the month and I got 3 each of 5 different breeds.

Well, I still haven't managed to find any swab kits, I have looked at sooo many places. Anyone who has gotten them have any advice for me? I wanted to be able to send it out on Monday, but that depends on whether or not I find anything tomorrow. Pharmacies have failed me, so I have 2 medical supply shops to check tomorrow, and then I am not sure what to do without going online, which will take more time than I would like.

It is heartbreaking to hear the stories of the people who have lost their flocks to disease, I think it is much easier to be indifferent about it when it isn't something that has wiped out your flock. That said, my chickens are worth more to me than the $3 I paid for them as chicks, and I will not be culling the lot of them if we do have something. I will also not be showing / selling anything except possibly a few extra eggs for eating, and I will not be the person who knows they have illness in their flock and walks into the feedstore in the same shoes / clothes they wore while taking care of their ill birds. We do not have any farms anywhere near us, either. I will take every precaution feasible to prevent spreading of disease, but I am not going to kill a creature who has a full and healthy life ahead of them because they carry something that isn't effecting them. But that's just me.

Went to TSC today, and even though they had not been anywhere near the sneezy chicks or quarantine area today, I would not allow my kids to hold or pet the little chicks and ducks... but OMG I had so many pushers today, it was crazy! And it made it hard for my 4 year old, who, of course, would love to hold the chicks, when every other person wanted to pick one up and hand it to her. It was very frustrating.

This seems to be a tender subject for everyone, and everyone has their own views, but it also sounds like everyone cares and does their best in the way they see fit.