NY chicken lover!!!!

[marquisella]

Npip is a Country wide mprogram for testing for Pullorum disease. In NY, the testing is free, they come & take a blood samle, and on the spot, can tell if any of your chickes are infected. The US mail does not require a certificate to ship birds, but, some state regs say that they require it for birds shipped innto their state. I have shipped birds practically all over the US and never have had a problem, although I am NPIP certified, I don't bother with providing proof unless the buyer requests it.

The down side, if there is one, is that once you have your birds tested, you are put into the State's database as having chickens. If ever anyone within 10 miles of your place has one of the diseases that they "depopulate" for, you birds will also be depopulated as a precaution.

If you show birds, all shows require proof that the birds you enter are Pullorum tested. I do, so I have to have them tested yearly.

Also, once you have a NPIP certificate, it requires you to only purchase eggs or birds from other NPIP tested flocks. If they find out you purchased from non tested flocks, they could take away your certification.
Vaccination is an individual choice. I don't vaccinate my chickens. I prefer to breed for immunity. The thing you have to be careful about with vaccinations, is if you bring home a bird that has been vaccinated, say for Mereks, and you do not vaccinate your birds for Mereks, some say, that that bird will shed the Virus and infect the other birds in your flock. I'm not sure if that is true, but just to be safe, I prefer to think it is, just to avoid it if it is true.

MyHennyHens - your ducklings are adorable!

This many sound like a dumb question and I'm sure I can search my question on here but everytime I do that I get overwhelmed with all the info and reading and terms I've never even heard of before. So here goes, I got my three chicks from someone in town and I'm not sure if she vaccinates her birds or not but I keep reading about mareks vaccine and NP-something testing. Will I have to get this done even with a small flock of 5-6 birds? And how do I know if my chicks have already been vaccinated unless it's not something you do until they're a little older? Probably should have looked into this a little earlier.

*Nevermind, I just read somewhere that if they were to be vaccinated it would have to be at a day old? Since I got them at 3 days old and up I wouldn't have been the one to do it. I'll have to email this woman and ask her if they are vaccinated or not just out of curiosity.

 

[Henicillin]

I have four chicks now, but the Leghorn is still sitting tight. Fingers crossed that he/she didn't die in the egg somehow!

I did have to move Mama and her crew, hatched and unhatched, to a new box on the floor of the coop and gate them off. I caught my SS hen in the box with Mama and the chicks this morning. When I removed her and put her on the floor, although I had checked her, she had managed to hide three of the four babies tucked in her wings. As soon as she stood up, she shook the poor things out of her wings and onto the floor, and tried to herd them underneath the boxes. I retrieved them and gave them back to Mama, at which point the crazy SS followed, actually grabbed one in her beak despite the protests of the broody, and tried to take off with it. I rescued it (cursing the SS roundly and booting her out of the coop for her trouble - fortunately, the baby is fine) and blocked off the box temporarily to hold them in while I sorted out the new space.

The nest boxes are built in rows of three, and can be moved, so I moved the top tier that no one except one of the Leghorns ever uses and put it on floor level. When the boxes are shoved back against the wall and screened off, there's about ten inches of space between them and the screen. I moved Mama and the kids down there, put in a chick feeder and waterer in the extra space, and secured them with a baby gate and some boards. It's ugly, but it's secure, and the BO settled right in. When the SS came back in and heard the chicks, she stood outside the gate making a ruckus and looking for a way in to get to those chicks, but she's out of luck. We have a lot of screen and fencing, so we're going to pen off part of the playroom for Mom and the kids, as I don't trust that Sussex at all. She doesn't appear to want to kill them - she seems like she wants to steal them for her own. Nope - sorry, bird. Go fully broody and then we'll talk.

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

Hi guys, I creep around this thread a lot, but I was wondering what you thought about this:
I have a few 8 week old EE's from an order that I split with another family. They ended up getting 2 roos, so far mine are behaving and looking like girls...I offered to trade a pullet for a roo (crazy I know). Even though they haven't been together in 6 weeks how much of a problem will I have reintroducing the roo in with my girls? Everyone is 8 weeks old.

 

[happycountryhens]

Framac: Congratulations on your incubator. Soooo cool. I'm sure you will love it once you get it tweeked. I have worked with veterinarians who went to school in the carribian (Ross) and found them to be smart and sensible....a pleasure to work with.

Off to pick up some roadside landscape timbers that were being thrown out but are still good. Heh...heh..heh. (Rubs hands together).

Then to let the chickies out to the temporary fencing area for the afternoon.

Have a good one!

 

[greymane]

Been away for a bit, but to update...my quail hatch went pretty well. I had ten of my own eggs and 20 others (jumbos). Only one of mine hatched, but I think I know where I went wrong there. 12 of the 20 jumbos hatched. I don't think that is too bad for my first try with these. Of the ones that didn't hatch, seven were duds, four partially developed and six were fully developed, but never hatched (including two pips). I don't think it was a humidity issue as I was truly impressed with how well the incubator held temp and humidity.

The chicks are just over a week old now and I have learned that they are excellent jumpers. Had them in a 14 inch deep brooder. (Hint: 14 inches ain't enough!)

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Hi guys, I creep around this thread a lot, but I was wondering what you thought about this:
I have a few 8 week old EE's from an order that I split with another family. They ended up getting 2 roos, so far mine are behaving and looking like girls...I offered to trade a pullet for a roo (crazy I know). Even though they haven't been together in 6 weeks how much of a problem will I have reintroducing the roo in with my girls? Everyone is 8 weeks old.

They are still young enough where I don't think it would be a problem to reintroduce. I've done this and haven't had a problem. Good luck

 

[Cass]

Npip is a Country wide mprogram for testing for Pullorum disease. In NY, the testing is free, they come & take a blood samle, and on the spot, can tell if any of your chickes are infected. The US mail does not require a certificate to ship birds, but, some state regs say that they require it for birds shipped innto their state. I have shipped birds practically all over the US and never have had a problem, although I am NPIP certified, I don't bother with providing proof unless the buyer requests it.

The down side, if there is one, is that once you have your birds tested, you are put into the State's database as having chickens. If ever anyone within 10 miles of your place has one of the diseases that they "depopulate" for, you birds will also be depopulated as a precaution.

If you show birds, all shows require proof that the birds you enter are Pullorum tested. I do, so I have to have them tested yearly.

Also, once you have a NPIP certificate, it requires you to only purchase eggs or birds from other NPIP tested flocks. If they find out you purchased from non tested flocks, they could take away your certification.
Vaccination is an individual choice. I don't vaccinate my chickens. I prefer to breed for immunity. The thing you have to be careful about with vaccinations, is if you bring home a bird that has been vaccinated, say for Mereks, and you do not vaccinate your birds for Mereks, some say, that that bird will shed the Virus and infect the other birds in your flock. I'm not sure if that is true, but just to be safe, I prefer to think it is, just to avoid it if it is true.

Thank you for all this info. I know I wasn't the one who asked, but I learned a lot from your info and appriciate the time you took to type it all out. (and I am still not going to get NPIP Certified...mostly cuz of "database" thing....if they were to come here and say we have to kill your birds cuz your stupid neighbor has an illness I would cry until I dried up and blew away)

BUT, if they DO "depopulate" your birds do you get compensated or do you just get *crewed by the government ?

 

[Cass]

Thanks Cass. I will have to make something for them to hide under. Being the first chicks that will have hatched under a first time broody and in the group, I am sure there will be some adjusting going on. I dont think Little Man would hurt them but he has his moments and might inadvertantly do so. This is all new for me so she and I will be learning together!

Your rooster won't be the problem....it'll be the hens. I had one chick (4 days old) CRUSHED by the other hens trying to MOTHER IT. Sheesh....just go broody already and hatch your own and maybe by the time yours hatch you will have mastered sitting on something fragile without crushing it.

My poor silkie. She is a wonderful broody, a great momma, but has terrible luck keeping them alive once they hatch. Out of 7 eggs she has brooded she has had ONE chick survive to adulthood and all but one hatched. (I only give her 2 or 3 eggs at a time, she's a tiny little thing and I don't want her losing sleep trying to cover a half dozen eggs at once)

A friend of a friend had 27 eggs under one hen and claimed her fertility rates/hatch rates were really low...only had 9 hatch. DUH!!! How about putting 10 eggs under the hen next time, probably wind up with more chicks that way. I got eggs from her and ALL 4 of mine hatched. She wanted to know my secret. Hmm....LOL

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Thank you for all this info. I know I wasn't the one who asked, but I learned a lot from your info and appriciate the time you took to type it all out. (and I am still not going to get NPIP Certified...mostly cuz of "database" thing....if they were to come here and say we have to kill your birds cuz your stupid neighbor has an illness I would cry until I dried up and blew away)

BUT, if they DO "depopulate" your birds do you get compensated or do you just get *crewed by the government ?

I think the government would stick it to you in this case. Not fair but when are they ever.

 

[featherz]

My broodies are still sharing the chicks. It's so cute, they sit right on the coop floor with the food and water between them and the chicks just run from one to the other.

I am not NPIP either and don't plan on it. But I don't show or sell hatching eggs (except occasionally to local people). I don't vaccinate either, I prefer breeding to immunity as well. Had a bit of fowl pox, considered vaccinating, but almost all recovered and now they are immune (or so I am told).