New to BYC. New to chickens. Overwhelmed!

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Ncantrell

Ncantrell

In the Brooder
5 Years
May 13, 2014
19
0
22
Michigan
Hi! Been lurking for a month or two, decided to join.

Here is a sample template you can copy and paste into your post to help the introduction juices flow:

(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?

New to chickens, got 10 adult hens from Craigslist last Friday (5/9/14)

(2) How many chickens do you have right now?

9 chickens left, one died already of an apparent worm problem. :(

(3) What breeds do you have?

2 Buff Orpingtons
2 White Leghorns
3 ISA Browns. (One died this morning)
3 Auracanas

(4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com?

Googling around for information

(5) What are some of your other hobbies?

We have a very busy homestead, gardening is my favorite

(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
Young kids, busy spouse, work as a tax preparer seasonally, we have four geese and 8 ducklings, homeschool, and have rental property, (too much to do!)

I am feeling a little overwhelmed with this new project. My daughter wanted to sell eggs, so we are trying chickens. But, it has been tricky getting the coop and yard secure, making sure everyone has enough food and water, etc. they have about 1000 square feet of yard right now.

We were going to pick up about five more Barred Rocks this evening, but since we lost a bird this morning, I am second guessing that decision. Original birds came from a very crowded and dirty barn. Probably should have passed on them, but thought they'd be alright after a week of fresh air and sunshine. Any thoughts on adding new birds at this point?


Gave the remaining birds some garlic, yogurt, and cayenne with their watermelon shell. Put some food grade DE in their pellets, and some raw vinegar in their water.

Seem to be laying okay in spite of the stress. 6 eggs a day so far.

I hope I'll be having some happy times to post about soon.

I am the type of person that likes to gather a lot of information before making a decision. I always appreciate advice freely given.

Thanks y'all!:)
 
Hello and welcome!! We homeschool too, so I totally get the busy part! I probably would not add any new hens just yet, that is just my opinion. I would try to figure out what is going on with the ones you have, and get them good and healthy first. If they did have anything contagious it would just spread to the new ones. It sounds like you are doing all the right things so far. What sort of issues are they having? You said one had a worm problem?
 
Hi Gayleyy,
The other hens seem fine. I did dust one because i think she might have mites. Her wing feathers are showing the pins part.

My husband dispatched the sick hen this morning. He mentioned worms, but I haven't caught up with him on which end showed the problem.

She took poorly almost immediately. Droopy, breathing hard, wouldn't eat or drink. I thought maybe she had a respiratory problem from the dust and ammonia in the barn she came from. The next day she wasn't breathing heavy, so I thought she might be improving, though she wouldn't walk much. We gave her water on a dropper, and my daughter got a few pellets down. Yesterday the same, but by evening she wouldn't lift her head. :(

Anyway, I think you're right. Would hate to lose any more birds, and to bring in new ones to meet the same fate, seems like a bad idea.

Any tips for getting into the swing of things between school and chores? I'm hoping that they won't need such constant attention once they all settle in.
 
images


Welcome to BYC!

So sorry about your hen. Any time you are getting birds from cramped dirty conditions, the first thing you want to do is worm them. If one if them has them, so do the rest and it is only a matter of time before you lose more.

So get yourself some Equine Safeguard Horse Wormer Paste. You can get this in the horse section of the feed store or even Walmart in the pet/horse section. Put a pea sized dolup on a tiny piece of bread and give each bird one piece. Repeat this dosage again in about 10 to 12 days. This will take care of all worms except Tape Worms. Tapes are not all that common.

If you are seeing any respiratory ailments in these birds, I wouldn't purchase any more from this breeder. MG and Coryza are some nasty infections and your birds will be carriers for life. So any new birds you add will have to go thru the surviving of these diesease. Both of these can cause death.

Good luck with your new birds. I would get them all on probiotics to help boost their immune systems as well.
 
Yes, no eating the eggs and do not feed them back to the hens either. You will need to wait 2 weeks after the last dosage before you can eat the eggs. :)
 
Okay. Heading out now. Have to get a new washing machine while I'm out. The fun never ends. Ha ha!
Boy, I think I'll start with chicks next time. But, I see that it may be necessary to worm a couple times a year, either way.
 
If you get these worms under control and are clean at your facilities, once a year is fine for worming. You can also alternate Safeguard with Wazine each year to keep the worms from getting immune. Wazine only takes care of round worms, but the are the most common of worms in poultry. But I think you need to start with the safeguard right now. You have no idea what might have been at the farm you got these birds from.

Keep us posted! :)
 
TwoCrows said:
If you get these worms under control and are clean at your facilities, once a year is fine for worming. You can also alternate Safeguard with Wazine each year to keep the worms from getting immune. Wazine only takes care of round worms, but the are the most common of worms in poultry. But I think you need to start with the safeguard right now. You have no idea what might have been at the farm you got these birds from.

Keep us posted! :)
Click to expand...

X2 TwoCrows gives great advice. They should be quarantined for at least 1 month, IMO. Some people say less, but there are some things that don't show up quickly, and it is better to keep possible serious sicknesses localized and controlled.

Only thing I want to add is, all chickens have to be wormed twice, due to the timing of new worms eggs hatching inside the chicken already. I had one rooster purchased from a show, from a professional breeder that had worms so badly, that he nearly died when we wormed him. (Worm overload.) We had to tube feed and water him, and eventually (about a week later) he recovered fully. Worms and mites are a major problem. Also, check all of heir legs and make sure no leg scales are standing up as they might have scaly leg mite. This can be controlled by dipping legs/ feet in mineral oil, or vaseline. I "floured" our chicken's legs afterward in DE. The leg mites were gone within a month and new scale skin had grown in about at 4 months. Good luck!!!
 

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