NY chicken lover!!!!

[Cass]

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Wonderful to hear "the rest of the story". I'm glad he is doing well. Ahh...did you want another "he"?

 

[featherz]

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Wonderful to hear "the rest of the story". I'm glad he is doing well. Ahh...did you want another "he"?

No, but I rehomed the other BO Roo to make room for this one. IF he stays nice, he can stay. Hated to think of him going through all that and ending up as dinner.

The other one that hatched is a girl.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
Wonderful to hear "the rest of the story". I'm glad he is doing well. Ahh...did you want another "he"?

No, but I rehomed the other BO Roo to make room for this one. IF he stays nice, he can stay. Hated to think of him going through all that and ending up as dinner.

The other one that hatched is a girl.

Girls are good. I hear that it is the girls that lay eggs. Couldn't prove it down here, these last few days. But hey. It's almost Christmas. What can I expect? Chickens don't lay in the winter, right?

My coop is much much calmer since I rehomed the 3 roos I had ... now I just have 3 Ameruacana roos....and one of them (Randy) is soooo sweet. I just watched him cluck and cluck until he got one of the hen's attention and then he dropped a piece of cheese in front of her. She ate it. He went back to get her another one. He really is a sweety. (This is the one I bought from Chicken Stalker at the picnic)

Now come spring I am going to sell one of the black Ameruacana roos, so I am down to just 2 roos. Then I will have space for more hens. I need more eggs. I figure if I whine enough God will hear me and come spring I'll be hip deep in eggs and taking my extra to the Food Pantry at my church every week. Given the state of the economy I am thinking eggs would be a welcome addition to what the food pantry offers. (Will also make all those sale cake mixes everyone donates a little easier to mix up and bake for the kids snacks)

 

[featherz]

I give eggs to the food bank too, but I tend to be short on cartons. I wish I had a lot of friends to give me cartons - I hate to buy them only to give them away to the food bank.

One missing chicken tonight at head count/sniff. We had a hawk overhead today but all the chickens were taking very good cover. Sad thing is I am not sure who is missing, but I THINK it's a light brahma - and she's kinda chubby to get carried off with no signs. You'd think the hawks would have picked on the chicks.. so I am hoping she's huddled under a bush somewhere thinking she wants babies. Problem is I won't be home tomorrow so the chickens will be locked up - and no way for her to get in IF she returns. Bleh. Dem's the risks you take with free ranging. We just went through the yard but no sign - maybe she'll show up in 21 days.

 

[stonykill]

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No, but I rehomed the other BO Roo to make room for this one. IF he stays nice, he can stay. Hated to think of him going through all that and ending up as dinner.

The other one that hatched is a girl.

Girls are good. I hear that it is the girls that lay eggs. Couldn't prove it down here, these last few days. But hey. It's almost Christmas. What can I expect? Chickens don't lay in the winter, right?

My coop is much much calmer since I rehomed the 3 roos I had ... now I just have 3 Ameruacana roos....and one of them (Randy) is soooo sweet. I just watched him cluck and cluck until he got one of the hen's attention and then he dropped a piece of cheese in front of her. She ate it. He went back to get her another one. He really is a sweety. (This is the one I bought from Chicken Stalker at the picnic)

isn't that just the best?! I have a few roo's who do that. Sammy my head Black Sumatra who has the most girls of all the boys, and Loverboy the Blue Sumatra roo who has 4 RIR's and 1 Black Austrolop in his harem. They both offer their grls food before they eat. A few of the younger boys are starting to do the same

 

[Cass]

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Have you told the food pantry that you could donate more if you had more egg cartons? I know that if word got out that I needed cartons at my church food pantry I would have more than I could ever use. And I will do that, if I ever run short of cartons.

 

[vmdanielsen]

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Thank you Sue. You are such a great resourse of information. That is what I understood too. I read the vaccine does not cause them to shed the virus, but the vaccinated birds can pick up Merek's and shed the virus without showing any signs of contracting the disease. The vaccine prevents the tumors - as you stated above.


I am so impressed you are sucessfully working on a resistant flock. How long have you been working on that? Do you vaccinate new birds coming in or how do you handle that?

I have been breeding chickens for 5 years, and the 1st 2 years had no problems, and then suddenly one year I have several birds come down with Mareks symptoms, although I didn't have them necropsied, because I didn't know about Mareks. Last year I sold some chicks and they contacted me that one was ill and she thought it was Mareks. Later she emailed me that the necropsy was negative for mareks. So, I'm wondering if it really wasn't Mareks that killed my birds, but I don't vaccinate for anything to try & build resistance.
I have to say, I have a friend that vaccinated for everything, that I sent a hen to for a breeding program that we are startinng. She came back here, about a month ago, and has not shown any symptoms of Mareks or any other disease that they say can shed from exposing non vaccinated birds with vaccinated birds...

I guess we will have to agree to disagree here about Mareks and the ability to get rid of it. From what I have read it is possible and my experience so far has proved to be correct.

query.... What is the survival rate w/mareks and if they survive and they are used for breeding, will one create a mareks resistant flock?

 

[happycountryhens]

vmdanielson: See this page by UCdavis http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/avian/mereks2.pdf

Birds that are naturally resistant to it can survive and if bred may pass that resistance on to the chicks.

Once the Mereks is in your coop, however, it is there for an indefinite period of time. It is spread by dander from bird to bird and wild birds can carry it from farm to farm.

Ugh. None of this helps poor Sam or the rest of the flock that died from it.

Post something funny - I need to get my mind on something less morbid. Literally.

 

[ODEY587]

what a busy start to december we had baby piegons saturday baby goats sunday this morning we awoke to find an incubator full of little quail lol whats next!

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Yea for babies odie! Congratulations!

My dh heard the egg song the other day coming from the silkie coop. I hope this mean they will be laying soon! I finally found a nice home for Mumbles so that makes me happy and sad.

Got the tractor in its winter spot and all set up. Had to herd the hens to it that night though. Its kinda like trying to catch jello falling off a plate with a fork. My dh and I were out there for 20 minutes chasing 8 crazy hens to their coop in the new spot and they kept running back to the old spot where it had been. Poor Trouble would not go in the coop cause she was so stressed about the move to the back yard. Mean Marge had to come out and cluck her back into the coop. Drama queens. Wish they would finish molting and start laying. My egg customers are chomping at the bit for eggs! Time to expand I think. Whats a few more chickens...hehehe.

Off to the pharm for more of that holiday spirit. My daughter comes home from college on wednesday and I cant wait! I hate being an emptynester! Sigh...