MJ's little flock

[RoyalChick]

That's a very interesting question. I don't know whether resistance is genetic or acquired. I would have thought acquired, but I really don't know. In any case, I'm not in a good place for roosters. He would have to wear one of those no crow collars and that doesn't seem fair to me. Also, my next door neighbours work shifts so, even crowing muted by a no crow collar might be too much for them. Certainly one of the resistant hens (Mary maybe) could go and visit a rooster, but she would become very stressed from leaving her home and from meeting a rooster.

I also don't really understand what Mark was saying about growing a crop to reduce the bacteria in the run. But it makes sense that turning the top layer deep under and bringing fresh soil up would be healthier for new hens.

One thing Mark said that might be interesting is that we could test for exactly which bacteria, but in any case, it was going to be one of the big three E Coli, Salmonella, or one other that I don't recall with confidence, maybe he said Staphylococcus. And the antibiotics we've been using are the right ones for those three, although creepingly ineffective. I've been given a large amount of powdered clavulox with instructions for mixing and dosing for Janet, with no conversation about it. I think that's a silent hint for me to try a big dose on Janet. I'm mulling that over.

I genuinely do think waiting for this flock to gradually die out, then correcting the environment the best I can, then hatching fresh chicks who won't carry harmful bacteria might be the best path for a reset. It'll still take years and years for my hen friends to die out (I hope).

In time those fresh chicks will be hens who can hatch out other eggs.

And I told Mark I would support the current hens the best I could, and that includes proper treatments when they get sick or injured, and continuing the special diet for those with dodgy livers.

But once they're gone, it'll be time to rejuvenate the environment the best I can and start with healthy chicks. Then hope for the best.

Sorry for writing so much about it and being inattentive to other people's problems. This bacterial problem is taking up my chicken thoughts.

@BY Bob I think I've worked out how to flush bleach through the misting system, but I may just take it down and throw it out.

I don’t understand it either. It sounds like leaving the land fallow every seven years as advocated in the Bible, only for animals.
Strange.
Some plants have anti microbial activity but I never heard of sunflowers being that way.

 

[rjohns39]

Good evening folks

 

[MaryJanet]

I don’t understand it either. It sounds like leaving the land fallow every seven years as advocated in the Bible, only for animals.
Strange.
Some plants have anti microbial activity but I never heard of sunflowers being that way.

Thanks for providing the terminology. I used the terms antimicrobial plants to find an informative paper. The author is speaking of ingestion, not gardening, and of humans, not chickens, but it's a start.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC88925/

I haven't yet turned to the databases. Or Google Scholar.

Mark said crops like corn and suflowers and hay suck nutrients from the soil in a way that would be beneficial to future chickens on that soil. Something like that. He always packs so much detailed information into our very short conversations, I rarely take it all in. He assumes people can keep up with him, and I can't, which gives me an important lesson to hold on to wrt conversations with inexperienced thinkers in my own field.

Before talking to him, my own thinking was that well-established turf would provide a barrier between chickens and bacteria, but if chickens live on it all day long, it won't be long before there's none left.

 

[MaryJanet]

Since talking to him yesterday, I have learned that sunflowers are good environmental remediators of radioactivity, lead, and some other nasties, which is very interesting. They were used to do some cleaning up after Chernobyl and Fukushima.

 

[Shadrach]

Is that what people are trying to do when they choose heritage chickens? Most of what I see reveals people are interested in pretty birds, and reducing the suffering of the species doesn't factor in.

You're probably right unfortunately.

 

[LozzyR]

Since talking to him yesterday, I have learned that sunflowers are good environmental remediators of radioactivity, lead, and some other nasties, which is very interesting. They were used to do some cleaning up after Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Wow, I’m going to start planting lots of sunflowers!

 

[Shadrach]

Why do higher-up hens do that?

I believe it's to do with ensuring the best genes go forward. I think it's based on if they managed to get to be senior then they have a record of proven health etc.

 

[MaryJanet]

You're probably right unfortunately.

When I first got Mary and Janet, I myself was interested in telling one chicken from another and one chicken's eggs from another's. I had looked at the ISA pullets at the fodder store and couldn't tell them apart. So I got a big black chicken with white eggs and a little brown chicken with brown eggs.

These days, my confidence wrt chickens has grown and I don't need such markers any more.

 

[MaryJanet]

Wow, I’m going to start planting lots of sunflowers!

@ManueB said they don't compost well because of their stalks, but I don't know if she is shredding them first. I thought if I got a shredder, they might compost faster. You might already have a shredder!

 

[RoyalChick]

Since talking to him yesterday, I have learned that sunflowers are good environmental remediators of radioactivity, lead, and some other nasties, which is very interesting. They were used to do some cleaning up after Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Fascinating. I had no idea.