Nevadans?

[americanvalkyrie]

Mandy, what breeds do you have? Those are beautiful.

 

[VCfeathers]

Hey Missy,

They're all supposed to be Ameracaunas. The do all have little fluffy cheeks. The lady i got them fron doesn't seperate hers by color, and apparently after years of that her chicks are now rainbow colored. LOL. I've seen pics of her parent stock and she still has some older solid colored hens, but most of hers are now very uniquly marked as well. But all bright blue eggs and all tiny little pea combs. Some of these chicks are going to be beautiful when they grow up. I had to tell my son three times he couldn't name them until you and Sunny picked yours.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

I love the cream banding on this one ^^^^ in the middle. He/she is beautiful. They all are!

 

[chicharomirinda]

Hmmm, looks like I may need to re-order vaccine for when my new babies are old enough. If it's opened now, it for sure won't last 2 more weeks. I can give it to the hens and little kids right now, though. Sunny, did the instructions say something about giving each bird several injections over a certain amount of time? I read about coryza on a website about respiratory illnesses, and it mentioned that the vaccine is given in 4 injections over the course of a year. If that's true, we'll need to order more anyway.

Good news! The little kids passed another night of health checks! They've been on Sulmet water for two days, so tomorrow I'll stop medicating and give them vitamin/electrolyte water. They'll stay quarantined for a few more days, and if they're still doing this well after Sunday, I think it'll be ok to put them back out in the mini-coop during the day. Of course, we'll still be doing the obsessive disinfecting for at least 3 more weeks, just to be sure.

This is a preliminary happy dance, since we're not over this yet. But I see the light! Each time I looked at that gorgeous blue wheaten and thought about culling him, I got choked up.

And tonight, I was telling my husband about several friends and their desires to breed project birds. Russ looked at me apprehensively and said, "You're not thinking of breeding, are you?" I said, "No, that would mean roosters. My biggest goals are a colorful flock and a colorful egg basket." Speaking of color... has anyone ever tried isbars? I googled them, and I love the egg color. An olive egger would make an prettier egg, but I really like the mossy color. If anyone wants to try hatching them, I'll go in with you on the eggs.

I read on the manufacturer's site that you need to give 2 injections 4 weeks apart. I think it said on there to start at 5 weeks or older but I'd need to go check again. It does not recommend for laying age chickens since it will affect egg production. However, in your case, you may want to since you have had the coryza active on your property.

Glad your chicks are doing okay!

New chicks got here safe and sound. Boy were they hungry and thirsty. LOL

Very nice looking!

 

[americanvalkyrie]

I read on the manufacturer's site that you need to give 2 injections 4 weeks apart. I think it said on there to start at 5 weeks or older but I'd need to go check again. It does not recommend for laying age chickens since it will affect egg production. However, in your case, you may want to since you have had the coryza active on your property.

Well, all but the Ideal order are old enough, and the Ideal order will be 5 weeks at the time of the 2nd injection. Did the site say how much it would affect egg production? If it's 25% or less, or the drop in production is temporary, I won't hesitate to give it to my hens.

 

[chicharomirinda]

Well, all but the Ideal order are old enough, and the Ideal order will be 5 weeks at the time of the 2nd injection. Did the site say how much it would affect egg production? If it's 25% or less, or the drop in production is temporary, I won't hesitate to give it to my hens.

Here is some info. It does not say how much egg production might drop. It recommends first dose to healthy chickens at least 5 weeks old and a second one at least 4 weeks after the first and 3-4 weeks before onset of lay.
https://www.bestvetsolutions.com/files/downloads/1255039196.pdf

 

[SunnyDawn]

Hey Missy,

They're all supposed to be Ameracaunas. The do all have little fluffy cheeks. The lady i got them fron doesn't seperate hers by color, and apparently after years of that her chicks are now rainbow colored. LOL. I've seen pics of her parent stock and she still has some older solid colored hens, but most of hers are now very uniquly marked as well. But all bright blue eggs and all tiny little pea combs. Some of these chicks are going to be beautiful when they grow up. I had to tell my son three times he couldn't name them until you and Sunny picked yours.

They are considered non-standard ameraucanas or EEs in that case. Depends on who you are talking to and how anal they are. lol The only really important thing is that they will lay pretty eggs!!!

Quote:
Yep that is exactly the information I received with the vaccine. I don't know where I got 3 weeks of age from, it is 5 weeks of age. I will be keeping all the chicks separate from the older chickens from now on until they have been vaccinated twice. So yet another coop will be needed to separate the different stages of vaccination. The second dose is to be given at 9 weeks at the earliest (assuming they received their first dose right at 5 weeks) but 2 and 1/2 months to 3 months is probably how long it will be before they can be transitioned to an outside coop from now on.

Since I will be hatching chicks at least every 3 weeks for the rest of spring and the summer months I will be getting the vaccine a few more times as well. There are 2 bottles to accommodate 2 sets of vaccine. It also says that the solution can not be exposed to rubber so trying to save it is not going to work. We need to decide when we are going to do this and I suggest next weekend or the weekend after since this weekend is full already.

The bacterium does need to come to room temp slowly before administering so get some help (it will be much easier to give the shot safely if you are not trying to hold the bird as well) and get at least 1 large box to place the birds in that have already received their vaccine. Oh and there a 1,000 doses in each bottle so we have plenty left for anyone else that wants to vaccinate. Jeez you guys! Pretty soon we will be going commercial with all the great care we take to keep our birds healthy and protected!

As Elizabeth said the vaccine is for birds that are at least 7 weeks away from POL at the time of first vaccination! And Missy since it is chicks that are at most risk, and I can't find any information on if the eggs are safe to eat after vaccinating, I would not vaccinate the older hens until you can find info on how long you have to wait to consume the eggs from your girls after doing so.

I do not plan to vaccinate any birds older than the optimum times stated above. This vaccine is to protect my future flock. The older girls can be treated with medications (turns out there are several) if they come down with something rather than being vaccinated now against recommendations. This is my personal choice but you all can do your own research and do what you think is best.

So I vote for next weekend even though I have quite a few chicks that will not be old enough for their first dose yet. I am trying to squeeze all the Polish and the 2 other sets of older chicks into the time frame before they get too close to POL to administer safely.

 

[StevieNay]

If there aren't great directions associated with the vaccine, I could shoot an email to the UNR campus vet. I'm guessing he'd know the typical shelf life of a vaccine like this.

Sunny, I can pick up the vaccine whenever is most convenient for everyone to come get their doses as long as I know a day or two in advance.


Happy Friday everyone! I hope you get to enjoy the nice weather this weekend!

 

[StevieNay]

My chicks are 12 (RIR and BR) and 8 (Golden comets) weeks old now. If I'm going to vaccinate I will need to do it soon to make sure they aren't too close to laying when they get their second dose. I think my RIR and BR will be fine, but I think my Golden Comets will lay around 20 weeks, I've heard as early as 17 weeks (?!).

 

[VCfeathers]

They are considered non-standard ameraucanas or EEs in that case. Depends on who you are talking to and how anal they are. lol The only really important thing is that they will lay pretty eggs!!!

I'll go with non standards then because I know some EE's have been crossed with other breeds and get big combs or could lay any color eggs (blue, green, brown, even white). These should have no chance of those mutations as all the past generations have been Ameracaunas as well.



I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow!