Minnesota!

[Cearbhael]

I am told that Turkey's are very susceptible to avian flu. Other states have had outbreaks in backyard poultry flocks, so don't be too confident you're safe. If you're in the flyway, practice good bio security and keep wild fowl separated from your flock. I would say that free ranging could be risky. I am only 14 miles from the Mississippi, and Stearns county had 2 outbreaks (again only 14 miles away) so figure I am in the hot zone. Not getting my birds this year though, got lots of work ahead of me preparing the coop, upgrading the paddock fence to be chicken safe and building enclosed runs.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Welcome Angel. Your place in Foley sounds wonderful. I googled your special birds and they are beautiful.

I think we all take measures and understand risks despite what media says. But I'm also of the notion that birds are probably far more susceptible to a disease penned up in "concentrated" conditions. My birds have been free ranging for 3 years. In their run during the winter months as they've chosen. I tell you though I saw a wood duck hen light out of our pothole next to our house and all I could think was "does she pose a threat to my flock?" But I don't think I'll change a thing on free ranging. Those birds would be fit to be tied if I did that to them this spring and summer.

Ice went out on the lake yesterday! Woohoo we have liquid water again.

 

[Dandelioness]

I am of the same opinion regarding AI and the immune system of Bogtown Chick. But we do keep an eye on things. All the cases in MN so far have been very large turkey barns, not backyard flocks. I would be interested to hear if any of the affected flocks in other states were overstocked as well.

But to each his own. I think we all need to be researching and discussing AI so we can make good management decisions and learn from each other. My feeling is that the media & govt don't really know how it spreads or how to contain it and are parroting the Chinese idea that it's spread by wild waterfowl. I'm still reading up on it, though, so don't take my word on it.

So nice to see newcomers on the thread. Lots going on here with a first incubation experiment, pet rabbit hutches, new brooders & grow out pens, and getting the garden in before my new bundle of joy arrives in June.

Have a great day, everyone! I think spring has finally spring!

 

[lalaland]

they definitely do not know how the turkey farms were infected - the question is how did the virus make it past their biosecurity? At least two of the farms, I've been told, practice pretty intense biosecurity - protective clothing, boot wash, no off farm vehicles in the "yard"..... theory is the virus was brought to the area by the migrating ducks...but there are still many many questions.

I am not doing anything differently - because I can't think of additional steps I can take! Ok, there is one thing I could do, and that is to take the farm truck to the feed store, and park it at the end of the property and use the car to ferry up the feed. That way whatever I might track with the vehicle from the feed store doesn't come onto the land where the flock goes. But....I'm not doing that. too lazy! not enough time!

My flock free ranges when I am home, and there are birds and chipmunks that eat side by side with the hens. For some reason, this flock is exceptionally relaxed and tolerant about this, previous flocks have eaten chipmunks that have come into the run. And birds are usually run off. I usually don't have much in the way of chipmunks - I have a heavy owl population and they take care of rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks.

 

[AmericanKraut]

The media says it most likely does not pose a threat to backyard flocks. Phew!

Well 21 days later at about 9:30 tonight there are two new little cream legbar chicks in the world. It was great fun watching them zip ( one we assisted.) Kids loved it and so did us adults.

Welcome to the world little ones!! Btw, I've been looking for cream legbars for the past year. Just one or two, possibly one being a roo. If you're ever willing to sell please let me know, I would pay more bucks for these lovies.

@Cearbhael the chickens you're researching and going to establish will be stunning and I truly appreciate efforts to revive and preserve older heritage rare breeds. I'm excited to see down the road!

The avian discussion with you all, good point about the concentrated farms. I agree about taking precautions as much as reasonable and not a burden or excess. The avian flu is not new and it has had affects outside of the turkey population before, maybe this strain will not. The points you've brought up here do introduce some skeptical thinking of how this did get here. It's catastrophic for the farmers that are right now having outside agencies come in and kill their entire flock, thousands of birds. Then, as some of you are saying, we do have the real issue that when we coop up thousands of birds in closed, tight quarters, unchanging what is expected. The other side of that condition I thought of is the sterility, in a sense. The very risk of buggy turkeys and slimy junk rambling around our backyard flocks, makes them exposed to such diverse bio, from all over the state and the nation, without leaving our backyards. That's then tempered by rich complex nutrients from the insects, grass, and soils from where they do live. Equals = whopper immune possibilities. Not bulletproof, and we have endless variables and risks. I kind of think of this like watching my kids in the ball pit at Chucky Cheese, where my friend runs home to get her kids in a bath with a quarter cup of bleach added and my kids play in the yard even when I had a suppressed immune system. I also have a child with severe food allergies, and although we use precaution because he is anaphylactic, we do not sterilize surfaces in our house as recommended from particles of the allergens. With seven, sometimes more if we foster, in our house we do not have illness come through even when our kids are in three different schools all with illnesses raging through the school populations. None of them. And I'm an herbalist so they don't have antibiotics in them except rarely. But who knows, and chickens aren't the same thing. Nothing is guaranteed and nothing is the same case here to there or absolutely known why always.

The contrast to backyard flocks is significant, the only commonality could be that their poultry and possibly feed sourcing depending on what you choose there. Regardless, we're all devoted to our flocks or we wouldn't be on a chicken forum lol, so we can keep an eye on it and it's going to do what it is.

 

[duluthralphie]

The media says it most likely does not pose a threat to backyard flocks. Phew!

Well 21 days later at about 9:30 tonight there are two new little cream legbar chicks in the world. It was great fun watching them zip ( one we assisted.) Kids loved it and so did us adults.

Amazing and grats!


Yours look brown, mine that died was black. Weird considering our birds are cousins..I think.

I am so confused by Creamettes and their genetics..


I have not gotten a creamette egg in 3 days. I changed to game bird feed. I talk nice to them. I praise them for being such great chickens, I give them free room and board...

And this is how they repay me...

However, on the hopefull side. I have all 7 eggs still developing, or I think they are based on my level of candling skill.

(sorry I lack the skill and memory required to make my comments in one post when it is more than a page worth of posts)

 

[AmericanKraut]

DuluthRalphie, I usually make seven posts in a row lol!

What are creamette? I have a lot to learn. And have you sang to them? Sinatra, Creedance Clearwater, Marvin Gaye, or maybe they need something really hip and current. You might have to let your pipes rip and sing your soul out?

 

[AmericanKraut]

If I sang I would get a noise ordinance grievance filed against me, even by the farmers with roos.

 

[duluthralphie]

Sunday Morning Post Part 2..

I tend to agree with the crowd here, on AI.

These are birds living in overly crowded conditions. I went on line and grabbed a line from a AP story.

"Once those birds have been destroyed, the 20 farms in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas will have lost nearly 1.1 million turkeys."



That is lots of birds in lots of states. True you can say they are on the Mississippi flyway, but that leaves more doubts than answers in my mind. Why only turkeys? Why not chickens? There are far more chicken farms in the areas than turkey..

How many of those farm have any opening in their security for a duck to walk into their barns?


I think, so take this with a grain of salt, the source of the infection will be something other than waterfowl. A common food source, a common hatchery, or even bio-terrorism. With there being no cases in chickens reported, or backyard flocks, the source being a free flying duck makes little sense to me.

To further discount my theories, I have to inform you, I am anti-big overly intrusive government. I tend to think governments first response to anything is to lie, and I know I am more lack than I should be with bio-security. My turkey tom JJ is like a dog, he greets people as they drive in the yard. He is right there to say hi when they get out of the car. Unlike a dog he does not sit, or lay down on command. Having to put him down from AI would kill me, him having to be locked up in a little pen would kill him. So I will continue to do things my way and hope for the best.



AmkericanKraut, I have 13 CL eggs in the incubator now, If BogtownChick does not have any roosters for you I might, but based on my survival record on CL chicks, there is a big IF in that statement. I plan to keep all my girls and only one or two roosters. I am actually giving the coop my chickens are in now to the CL's next winter ( along with a large covered pen).

 

[duluthralphie]

DuluthRalphie, I usually make seven posts in a row lol!

What are creamette? I have a lot to learn. And have you sang to them? Sinatra, Creedance Clearwater, Marvin Gaye, or maybe they need something really hip and current. You might have to let your pipes rip and sing your soul out?

Creamettes are a nickname for the cream legbars coined by BogtownChick and stolen by me, I like it!