Minnesota!

[Minniechickmama]

Scary stuff. For now mine are all locked up. Simply because they are chicks. The five week olds are in the coop until we can get the run finished (dang rain) and then they will free range when they are old enough. The babies are in the greenhouse in a huge brooder. We live up on the prairie so no water near by us. Although DH is digging now for his massive Koi pond. Is a chicken dumb enough to drown in a pond?

I don't think chickens would, but a turkey is certainly dumb enough for just about anything when they are young.

 

[Minniechickmama]

we lost 3 baby salmon faverolles last night =( I think they had a sour crop, there's one faverolle left. So sad, they were around 3 weeks or so. 2 of them died in my hand while throwing up water

That doesn't sound like sour crop. and at that age, they shouldn't be getting anything that would cause that problem.
I think you need to look at other possibilities of what might have happened to your babies. Where are you keeping them?
I aske this first because many people keep their chicks in the basement at first. In the Spring, many basements get gases like carbon monoxide or radon coming in their cement walls and floors. I asked this of a customer a couple of years ago, and it turned out the radon levels were 3 times the unaccepted level in her basement laundry room. He little BLRW chicks died as a result, but they were her canaries in the mine shaft and helped her discover an invisible killer.
I would next look at what is in the feed, or do you have wet bedding/feed that could have mold in their brooder? Is it possible they may have coccidiosis?
I just know sour crop is not something you see in chicks, so I would look further because it could be your sign that there is something else deadly in your brooding area.

 

[Cearbhael]

Ye

this is a message I received to day from Wayne Martin, u of m:
[COLOR=222222]An outdoor flock of mixed poultry (not sure, but likely a combination of turkeys and chickens) has been confirmed as having Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. There were 151 birds in the flock, located in Pipestone County. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=222222] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=222222]This is the first outdoor flock to be infected in Minnesota. So far 46 farms in 16 counties have been affected, with a loss of over 2,600,000 birds, all turkeys with the exception of the birds in Pipestone County. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=222222] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=222222]On our UMN Extension website we have a link to a page with fact sheets on biosecurity for urban/backyard poultry keepers, and for pastured/organic commercial poultry operations. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=222222] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=222222]The website is at: [/COLOR]
[COLOR=222222][COLOR=1155CC]http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/poultry/avian-influenza/index.html[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Yes, my sis told me last Sat that it had been on the news that chickens were verified as having AI in our state. I am told Turkeys are more vulnerable, but if they were sick in a mixed flock the whole flock is destroyed, including chickens, ducks, geese etc. My sis says keeping Turkey's separate probably would be irrelevant if the Turkeys got sick, all birds on the property would be forfeit. She is probably right. In the current climate they would err on the "better safe than sorry" side. I won't have Turkeys for that reason. I will settle for SuperMarket Turkey come Thanksgiving.

 

[duluthralphie]

Ye
Yes, my sis told me last Sat that it had been on the news that chickens were verified as having AI in our state. I am told Turkeys are more vulnerable, but if they were sick in a mixed flock the whole flock is destroyed, including chickens, ducks, geese etc. My sis says keeping Turkey's separate probably would be irrelevant if the Turkeys got sick, all birds on the property would be forfeit. She is probably right. In the current climate they would err on the "better safe than sorry" side. I won't have Turkeys for that reason. I will settle for SuperMarket Turkey come Thanksgiving.

Before this is through supermarket turkey will be 19 bucks a pound..


I had my first person show up here to buy hatching eggs. He wanted to see the birds, I said Nope, and explained why he seemed to understand. And he still took the eggs.

 

[holm25]

I'm starting to get scared. There was AI found in a poultry barn in the town next to us!!! Baers poultry is what its called. Do u guys think penned up birds r more likely to get it??

 

[duluthralphie]

I'm starting to get scared. There was AI found in a poultry barn in the town next to us!!! Baers poultry is what its called. Do u guys think penned up birds r more likely to get it??

I have no idea, but to me birds in close proximity would make more sense for its spread and metamorphosis into something different and/or more dangerous.

I am going to be careful with visitors and new birds, but in reality I know there is nothing I can do if it comes here. I do not know if locking up your birds would do any good, unless they were completely enclosed with a solid roof. The sad thing it is not like you lock them in the coop for a week and it is over, you would need to lock them up for years. I refuse to let my birds live like that. A short happy life is better than a long miserable life......Which reminds me I need to buy an anniversary card soon...

 

[holm25]

I agree. I am just a little scared. And happy soon anniversary!!!!

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have no idea, but to me birds in close proximity would make more sense for its spread and metamorphosis into something different and/or more dangerous.

I am going to be careful with visitors and new birds, but in reality I know there is nothing I can do if it comes here. I do not know if locking up your birds would do any good, unless they were completely enclosed with a solid roof. The sad thing it is not like you lock them in the coop for a week and it is over, you would need to lock them up for years. I refuse to let my birds live like that. A short happy life is better than a long miserable life......Which reminds me I need to buy an anniversary card soon...

It is all about perspective, and I am glad you have the sense to realize that you need to keep that perspective on your marriage. I would hate to hear the DW gave you a whack with a shovel because you didn't remember the biggest day of your lives together (before Bert and the Creamettes came along, that is )

 

[Minniechickmama]

I'm starting to get scared. There was AI found in a poultry barn in the town next to us!!! Baers poultry is what its called. Do u guys think penned up birds r more likely to get it??

Practice tight biosecurity. Don't wear shoes or clothes off your property that have been worn near your birds. Wash your hands and make sure YOU are clean before leaving and before going out to care for you flock when you return. You can't stop what Mother Nature might carry your way, but you can control what YOU carry back and forth between your flock and elsewhere. Packing birds into their coops is as dangerous for them as letting them have some space, in my opinion. If the commercial folks didn't pack them in like sardines, we wouldn't see problems like this wipe out so many birds either. It doesn't do any creature any good to confine and over-populate any space, so why anyone would think the confinement growing of livestock is a good model? It is a money decision that they gamble with. Sadly, it ends up effecting everyone else when they have a problem, not just us poultry keepers, but consumers who end up having to pay higher prices for their food.

 

[aussiegal318]

I'm not going to worry about AI. I know that I don't have a big financial investment, but I also know that the better bio-diversity, the stronger immune systems & healthier the eco systems. So many of these things happen in contained or extremely filthy areas for a couple of reasons, birds in a contained area don't have a chance to develop their immune system & those in extremely filthy areas have the immune system overloaded. Both are in the extreme of environment & both are to animal under stress. This applies to all species, including humans.