NY chicken lover!!!!

[Pyxis]

Just went upstairs to see how it was doing...it passed.

I really hate to say this but it might be genetics. Maybe your breeders are too closely related or the rooster has a defect or something. That would also explain your low hatch rates and why you have early quitters So sorry for your loss

 

[Pyxis]

My first Sebastapol goslings are hatching!!!

all but 1 have pipped, the first one has head & 1 foot out...they are 2 days early...

I didn't notice they were piping until I was getting the hatcher to put them in ready, and I walked by the incubator & hear a "whistle" I didn't know they made that sound....so excitede  

Congrats! My four are doing great. Cookie, the oldest, has been in the house two weeks now and is sweetie. The others are coming up on one week and I think that's all the time in the house they'll get. They are adorable but they're getting stinky They are the sweetest little things. The two ganders are shy and just little sweethearts, and the geese are outgoing and very affectionate. Post pictures when yours hatch! I know you are hoping for some color so fingers crossed! I hatched one blue saddleback and three white out of my eggs.

 

[Pyxis]

So my silver speckled hemberg looks grosse! Her poop is nasty and her eye is swollen and nasty! Does anyone know what it could be or what I should do.

Do you have pictures? Is she having eye or nasal discharge or is it more like she got pecked in the eye?

 

[Lynzi777]

I really hate to say this but it might be genetics. Maybe your breeders are too closely related or the rooster has a defect or something. That would also explain your low hatch rates and why you have early quitters

So sorry for your loss

If it had been from my lavender pair I would totally agree with you because I'm beginning to wonder the same thing about that pair. But this came from my Lavender roo from Geri Godina and the Splash hen I got from a woman in MA. What makes it worse is that Splash hen hasn't laid much for me this year. That was one egg out of 7 I've gotten from her this year so I was so happy when it actually hatched.

 

[horsekeeper]

I really hate to say this but it might be genetics. Maybe your breeders are too closely related or the rooster has a defect or something. That would also explain your low hatch rates and why you have early quitters

So sorry for your loss

I wonder if you have MG in your flock. I brought home a bad strain from a swap last year and found that it affects laying and hatching. Before you all think I am an idiot

I quarantined for a couple of months and the carrier birds appeared perfectly healthy. As more of my young flock got ill with sneezing and respiratory problems I heard from others that they were having the same problems from the same seller and we came to a consensus that it was MG.

I treated with Denagard and it solved the problem. Even treated the main flock in case I had carried it to them on my clothing. This is a disease that can be spread by wild birds as well and I think that it was lurking in the laying flock. After treatment they started eating more and laying almost doubled. It is a disease where the chickens (and turkeys) can have it and show no symptoms until they are stressed, and then it crops out. One of the symptoms that you might not notice is reduction in laying and mortality of embryos and chicks.

The Denagard has no withdrawal time and it is safe to eat the birds or their eggs. The original carriers are clear now and any bird that still showed symptoms was culled, as these would be carriers. Denagard is said to eradicate the organism in many instances and there is no resistance built up. It is a liquid swine medication that is diluted in water and given for 5 days initially, then 2 days monthly until you are sure it is gone.

I'm not giving medical advice here, just recounting my experience. It devastated my turkeys and they were sick enough to die when I started treating them. They all survived except one that I lost a couple of weeks ago after it fought through the winter. I set eggs and half were fertile, which isn't bad because it was the first eggs laid by the hens and I am not sure the toms had the hang of things yet. In an MG infected flock the eggs often do not develop at all, quit in the middle, or the chicks die within a few weeks.

Just a thought, Lynzi, if yuo are not getting a lot of eggs and your hatch rate is poor.

 

[Lynzi777]

I wonder if you have MG in your flock. I brought home a bad strain from a swap last year and found that it affects laying and hatching. Before you all think I am an idiot

I quarantined for a couple of months and the carrier birds appeared perfectly healthy. As more of my young flock got ill with sneezing and respiratory problems I heard from others that they were having the same problems from the same seller and we came to a consensus that it was MG.

I treated with Denagard and it solved the problem. Even treated the main flock in case I had carried it to them on my clothing. This is a disease that can be spread by wild birds as well and I think that it was lurking in the laying flock. After treatment they started eating more and laying almost doubled. It is a disease where the chickens (and turkeys) can have it and show no symptoms until they are stressed, and then it crops out. One of the symptoms that you might not notice is reduction in laying and mortality of embryos and chicks.

The Denagard has no withdrawal time and it is safe to eat the birds or their eggs. The original carriers are clear now and any bird that still showed symptoms was culled, as these would be carriers. Denagard is said to eradicate the organism in many instances and there is no resistance built up. It is a liquid swine medication that is diluted in water and given for 5 days initially, then 2 days monthly until you are sure it is gone.

I'm not giving medical advice here, just recounting my experience. It devastated my turkeys and they were sick enough to die when I started treating them. They all survived except one that I lost a couple of weeks ago after it fought through the winter. I set eggs and half were fertile, which isn't bad because it was the first eggs laid by the hens and I am not sure the toms had the hang of things yet. In an MG infected flock the eggs often do not develop at all, quit in the middle, or the chicks die within a few weeks.

Just a thought, Lynzi, if yuo are not getting a lot of eggs and your hatch rate is poor.

I'm getting plenty of eggs now, it's just this one hen that started to lay and then stopped all of a sudden. She's not quite a year tho AND a silkie so who knows. I'm getting eggs daily from everyone else except the youngins of course and the new silkies that just arrived but should pick up laying soon. I'm putting some silkie eggs aside from my lavender pair and am going to have ke5hde try them out in his next hatch. If he is successful then I know it's something on my end. If not, it may be like Pyxis is saying where the lavender silkies I got may be too closely related.

Edited to add: Pharm asked some questions here the other day for those who are NPIP and I didn't see many responses. How would go about becoming NPIP, how much does it cost and what do they test for? Would MG be one of the tests? All the birds I got this year came from NPIP breeders. Everyone seems lively and well and there is no sneezing going on. The only times I've ever heard them sneeze in the past is when they went at the Layer mash feed too fast that I had them on last year but now I have them on pellets.

 

[marquisella]

Quote: NPIP only tests for Pullorum in New York. Its free, Unless you are planning on selling birds to people that ask for it, for a few birds its probably not worth it.

Its my understanding, and this I learned from someone who treated her flock that tested positive for MG, that it takes 6 months of Denagard treatment monthly to eradicate it. You treat the adults for a week each month, and any chicks hatched from those adults have to be treated for a week each month for 4 months in a row.

 

[marquisella]

4 goslings, looks like 3 boys & 1 girl. They are still wet so I could be wrong. They are from my white Sebastapols. I don't have any coming from the saddle back for another 2 weeks, and she was bred by the white gander, so I don't expect color to be visible, but the goslings will be split to color.

 

[Lynzi777]

NPIP only tests for Pullorum in New York. Its free, Unless you are planning on selling birds to people that ask for it, for a few birds its probably not worth it.

Its my understanding, and this I learned from someone who treated her flock that tested positive for MG, that it takes 6 months of Denagard treatment monthly to eradicate it. You treat the adults for a week each month, and any chicks hatched from those adults have to be treated for a week each month for 4 months in a row.

Oh ok, that's what I've been told before about NPIP however what if I wanted to eventually sell chicks that needed to be shipped? I think I have to be NPIP in order to do that, no? I'm not seeing the signs that Horsekeeper mentioned about MG with my birds. If anything it sounds more like what Pyxis mentioned where I have two silkies from the same breeder that may be too closely related. I got 33 eggs last week from my three ducks, 2 orpingtons and silkie hen. So the egg laying is not an issue, it's just an issue with one bird who stopped all of a sudden but she's a silkie, so it's expected I guess.

 

[Lynzi777]

4 goslings, looks like 3 boys & 1 girl. They are still wet so I could be wrong. They are from my white Sebastapols. I don't have any coming from the saddle back for another 2 weeks, and she was bred by the white gander, so I don't expect color to be visible, but the goslings will be split to color.

That's awesome! Congrats!!