Nevadans?

[chicharomirinda]

We have had no new symptoms for about a week. I think it's done it's tearing through the flock. That's the good news. The bad news is that my daughter might be out of the egg-sale business unless we completely cull and try again. We'll have to wait and see. A few days back, I only got 2 eggs, from 10 chickens. I haven't gotten that few since before I adopted the 6 from Elizabeth.

After the huge drop in egg production, I checked symptoms again. I especially researched what would cause such a dramatic drop. Infectious bronchitis was on that list, which was the first thing I suspected. The chicks that got culled ended up getting swollen faces and an odor, which is still confusing me, but all other symptoms match infectious bronchitis. All of the other chickens had no facial swelling and absolutely no odor besides regular chicken poop.

Infectious bronchitis the most contagious of all chicken diseases, and has been known to spread on the wind up to 1200 YARDS! It causes the symptoms I saw... coughing, wheezing, runny nose, bubbly eyes, sneezing. On one website, it has diagnoses photos, showing a baby chick with its beak in the air, gasping for breath. Which is exactly what I saw Dijon doing. It showed a chicken with runny eyes and nose, like Barbeque... only Barbeque was MUCH drippier.

Two things that disturbed me:
1) Some of the sources of information said that some birds may catch it, but you don't see any symptoms except if you stand really close, at night, when nobody is moving. Then you hear a bit of breathing trouble.
2) It can permanently affect egg production. Chickens can take 6 months to return to production after an outbreak, and even then, they may not produce quantity or quality they did before. This is especially true if they got sick at 2 weeks or younger, which is the age that my newest babies got sick.

So it's possible that every single one of my chickens has had it. Remember I heard wheezing/clicking from the little kids? They ended up having the fewest symptoms of all the groups. Of the babies, about 6 showed visible/audible symptoms. The minorca, turken, and RIR didn't show any symptoms at all. And out of my hens... only Barbeque has shown symptoms, and that one hen would not explain such a dramatic decline in eggs. Surely some others are dealing with it, as well, but showing no other signs.

So we'll wait and see. Right now, we can't sell or eat the eggs for at least another week. And I've informed Sahara's customers that she might be out of business for awhile. We still have to assess who's laying and who's not, and see if they even start up again. I have seen Barbeque on the nest quite a few times, but later in the day I'll check that nest and there will be nothing in there. I know Original and Tikka are laying, plus one of the australorps. And I think Shawarma the orp is laying. I haven't gotten a welsummer egg for days, and she was laying about 4 times a week before this. If they return to production in 6 months, then culling now won't do anything to improve productivity, since the new babies won't lay for about 6 months anyway. So we just have a bunch of pets, which are no longer miserable, but just not economical.

Well, that is very depressing. I hope it turns out not to permanently affect your egg production. I guess time will tell.

again! I just ordered Oxine on Amazon so I'll start using that on a regular basis.

 

[sherylreno]

Thanks Sunny, I'm glad you enjoyed the pasta.

Missy, I think you found it. I didn't read the 1200 yards thing though, ouch. I know I don't have chickens in my area but then I didn't hear Sunny's roosters either.

Sorry Tyler, I'm almost maxed out with chickens now. I'm just waiting on Sunny's cull and then I just need 2 more but I think I'll wait until next year for them.

One of my little ducklings died tonight. I knew he wasn't doing very well on the growing part. He was the one I helped hatched that I should not have done but then again, he got to live for 8 days and enjoy his family so perhaps it wasn't so bad after all. John was happy we got to be with him and watch him enjoy life for the short one he had. He never really grew at all, he looked like he just hatched all of the time so I knew he wouldn't make it but you gotta let things be sometimes. We named him LG short for Little Guy. RIP LG.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

One of my little ducklings died tonight. I knew he wasn't doing very well on the growing part. He was the one I helped hatched that I should not have done but then again, he got to live for 8 days and enjoy his family so perhaps it wasn't so bad after all. John was happy we got to be with him and watch him enjoy life for the short one he had. He never really grew at all, he looked like he just hatched all of the time so I knew he wouldn't make it but you gotta let things be sometimes. We named him LG short for Little Guy. RIP LG.

Awww, poor LG. Sorry to hear that.

 

[SunnyDawn]

ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT ANYONE OTHER THAN MR PANTS MAY BE RUNNING THE SHOW AT ANY POINT?!? Oh he would LOATHE to hear such slander! Hahaha

LOL!

My apologies to Mr. Pants! I assure you I meant no disrespect.

Picked up my meaties today from CAL Ranch. They're so adorable! You wouldn't know they were frankenchickens by looking at them.



I'm going to take a picture every week and also try and track the costs and I'll post the results here for everyone.

Awwww they are so cute!!! Hard to imagine that they will grow into such heavy birds! Can't wait to see the cost results.

I have 8 3 year old hens and one rooster that has never crowd free. Not laying at all free to someone that wants them.
Or if someone can come grab them and bring them
To the swap. They should bra nice crockpot meal.

Not sure what a nice bra crock pot meal tastes like but it doesn't sound very appetizing! Well not to me anyway.

Thanks Sunny, I'm glad you enjoyed the pasta.

Missy, I think you found it. I didn't read the 1200 yards thing though, ouch. I know I don't have chickens in my area but then I didn't hear Sunny's roosters either.

Sorry Tyler, I'm almost maxed out with chickens now. I'm just waiting on Sunny's cull and then I just need 2 more but I think I'll wait until next year for them.

One of my little ducklings died tonight. I knew he wasn't doing very well on the growing part. He was the one I helped hatched that I should not have done but then again, he got to live for 8 days and enjoy his family so perhaps it wasn't so bad after all. John was happy we got to be with him and watch him enjoy life for the short one he had. He never really grew at all, he looked like he just hatched all of the time so I knew he wouldn't make it but you gotta let things be sometimes. We named him LG short for Little Guy. RIP LG.

Oh! Poor LG. He was such a cutie!

I have got to get these hens sorted out! I'm just so overwhelmed right now with everything else that's been going on! Oh I don't think I told you all. We have to move again!!! The house we are currently renting is in foreclosure. The good news is, I think we already found a place! The new house is much nicer but the property isn't as nice as here. Same amount of acreage just not as nice a plot. Still have a decent view though from one side of the house anyway and there is much more living area.
The current house is a tight squeeze for us and 2 other people. So entertaining is really difficult. The new place has a huge kitchen (a big plus for me) and a really big living room. Now I can finally have you all over for a BBQ!!! Well if we get it!

Although with our new knowledge of bio security we will all be practicing more careful methods of visiting each other.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

LOL!

My apologies to Mr. Pants! I assure you I meant no disrespect.

Awwww they are so cute!!! Hard to imagine that they will grow into such heavy birds! Can't wait to see the cost results.

Not sure what a nice bra crock pot meal tastes like but it doesn't sound very appetizing! Well not to me anyway.

Oh! Poor LG. He was such a cutie!

I have got to get these hens sorted out! I'm just so overwhelmed right now with everything else that's been going on! Oh I don't think I told you all. We have to move again!!! The house we are currently renting is in foreclosure. The good news is, I think we already found a place! The new house is much nicer but the property isn't as nice as here. Same amount of acreage just not as nice a plot. Still have a decent view though from one side of the house anyway and there is much more living area.
The current house is a tight squeeze for us and 2 other people. So entertaining is really difficult. The new place has a huge kitchen (a big plus for me) and a really big living room. Now I can finally have you all over for a BBQ!!! Well if we get it!

Although with our new knowledge of bio security we will all be practicing more careful methods of visiting each other.

When you move, pretty pretty please call on us for help! I'm a big woman, married to a big man, with two big kids. And we could even bring over our "other child" Mark, who falls somewhere in the middle of man and kid, but he can carry a few boxes or something. And they're so often helping me with my work that I don't have many times to teach them about helping others when they need it, just for the sake of human kindness.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Does anyone on this thread make their own cbeese? I think that's what I want to learn next. I already do yogurt, and my sister does paneer.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Missy have you completely ruled out coryza? It causes massive facial swelling and is known for its foul odor. It is also a resperatory infection and sounds pretty darn close. On the other hand I am glad that your girls are on the mend. Poor Sahara though! what a yucky life lesson, sheesh

As far as cheese is concerned the only reason we had those stupid goats was to make cheese. I did look into it and it seems pretty simple. I bet you could even get your hands on some local animal milk!

Sunny CONGRATS! I know moving sucks but i could tell you werent truly happy with that house anyways. But geeze you are the moving queen now


Sheryl Im sorry to hear about your duckling. RIP lil' guy.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Missy have you completely ruled out coryza? It causes massive facial swelling and is known for its foul odor. It is also a resperatory infection and sounds pretty darn close. On the other hand I am glad that your girls are on the mend. Poor Sahara though! what a yucky life lesson, sheesh

I'm not completely ruling it out, because that first batch had the facial swelling. But since the others didn't get it, that's what's confusing me. I guess it doesn't matter much now... whatever it is, it's something that they get immune to but can be carriers of.

 

[chicharomirinda]

sheryl So sorry to hear about LG. You did the best you could for him in his short life.

can't believe you're moving again, Sunny! That is a lot of work with all the chicken coops, etc.

well, I have a busy day ahead at work. Lots of issues on a grant proposal. I was blissfully in denial all weekend but now it's monday.

 

[gaited horse]

LOL!          My apologies to Mr. Pants!  I assure you I meant no disrespect.         


Awwww they are so cute!!!  Hard to imagine that they will grow into such heavy birds!  Can't wait to see the cost results.    


Not sure what a nice bra crock pot meal tastes like but it doesn't sound very appetizing!  Well not to me anyway.     :/


Oh!  Poor LG.  He was such a cutie!         

I have got to get these hens sorted out!  I'm just so overwhelmed right now with everything else that's been going on!  Oh I don't think I told you all.  We have to move again!!!  The house we are currently renting is in foreclosure.  The good news is, I think we already found a place!  The new house is much nicer but the property isn't as nice as here.  Same amount of acreage just not as nice a plot.  Still have a decent view though from one side of the house anyway and there is much more living area. 
The current house is a tight squeeze for us and 2 other people.  So entertaining is really difficult.  The new place has a huge kitchen (a big plus for me) and a really big living room.  Now I can finally have you all over for a BBQ!!!   Well if we get it!        Although with our new knowledge of bio security we will all be practicing more careful methods of visiting each other.

Funny Sunny. Look I made a ryme! I have no clue how bra got in that post. Its hard to type on the iPod.