***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[nnbreeder]

Good news on the chicken front! The chicks had what I believed was coccidia, but I had been treating them for what I felt was way too long, and the Corid wasn't fixing the problem. My larger chickens had diarrhea, and I had started seeing rusty poops, along with the ongoing issue with them not gaining weight, but because I'd tried the Corid already, I was thinking it had to be something else. In a conversation with Dusti the other day she mentioned it could be Corid-resistant coccidia. OMG, Corid-resistant coccidia?!?!?!?! I'd been trying to get my hands on Sulmet for forever, just to have it in my arsenal for just-in-cases, but it wasn't available in any of the feedstores around me, so she picked up a bottle for me. Now, four days later, I'm seeing a difference already! The chicks that were hunched over and flirting with the Hades roosters are all perked back up and eating! My poor flock must have been dealing with this for ages. Poor feathered babies.

Thank you Dusti!

The older birds are not as likely to get Cocci as the young ones are. I would think about using some Wazine as a wormer on them. The dosage is 1 tablespoon per gallon of water and I would use it for two days as the sole source of water. The reason to use Wazine instead of Ivermec is that it is more gentle on the system. If a bird has a heavy infestation and the wormer kills all of the worms at once they can get caught in the intestinal tract and form a toxin, killing the bird. All wazine treats is adult Round Worms so a follow-up is needed in 14 days. Withhold human consumption of eggs for 14 days after the last treatment or you can boil them up and feed them back to the birds for a boost during treatment.

By it's own admission DE is ineffective when wet as stated on the package so I have to question its effectiveness as a wormer. Crushed Red Cayenne pepper would be a better choice. if going the natural way, chickens don't have receptors for hot in their systems so they eat it just fine. Sprinkle it liberally over their feed about once a month.

 

[bardies]

Please pray for my family and I. Home as we know it may not be the same again. We've had to turn off the hot water because we think that it is running under the foundation of our house. And if that's the case, the foundation of our very home may be cracking or breaking. It will take quite a lot of money to fix that, as you may know, and we already have to work with what we have. So, in the meantime, cold showers/cold water in general.

We are very worried down here.

YIkes, that is scary. Something to consider, but yes, it costs, might be an on demand hot water heater. Maybe if you had that you could bypass those pipes under the house.

and

for you and your family.

 

[artsyrobin]

ok, guess the breed...LOL!

the guy that sent the eggs put 2 blue in the mix, one an EE and one Aracauna- so which is this little one

 

[huntseat]

YIkes, that is scary. Something to consider, but yes, it costs, might be an on demand hot water heater. Maybe if you had that you could bypass those pipes under the house.

and

for you and your family.

X 2 They even make them that fit under the sink cabinet and run off electricity. Home depot carries them for around $169.

Good luck. I lived an entire summer in college without hot water because my roommate wouldn't turn on the gas until classes started. It wasn't fun but it can be done!

 

[Chickenfan4life]

Thank you all for the thoughts/kind words.

Well, it will cost a few thousand dollars but basically we will have to hire someone and get a jackhammer to the floor, digging up the foundation of the house and repairing the house. In the meantime, we may or may not be able to live there. And it may mean rehoming some of our animals, since it's going to put us behind in money. It all depends on whether or not our insurance covers this..

 

[bardies]

OK, finally getting some silkie pictures out there. They are for sale. PM me if interested in any or would like more pictures. The older birds are Catdance breeding - beautiful birds - you should check out her website - just search for Catdance Silkies. The chicks are from a paint/black pen that is made up of birds from BetsyOK's stock.

The large white bird is definitely a roo. The large orange/porcelain with too much orange? not sure on color requirements and if he meets them or not - but he is blue underneath, and orange on top and is BEAUTIFUL regardless of 'show' quality. I THINK it is a roo. He has not crowed yet, but looks in feather style close to the splash bird, who - although the same age as all else, JUST NOW CROWED - a good 6weeks or so after the white roo. Possibly since the white roo is an early bloomer, the others have hung back a bit? Anyway... There has been no dancing or fighting yet. All are totally laid back.

The porcelain pullet has not started to lay, and I am assuming pullet just because she looks totally different in stance, head, and feathering than the others. She is available but would have to go with a boy. She hangs out mostly with the orange roo. I am making these birds available as I am not breeding for this color. I think that they are too good of birds to just let free range with my layer flock - they deserve better.

On the babies, they are 3 weeks to 5 weeks old, still kept inside a brooder, but with no additional heat. There are two partridges (no idea what color they will become) and a white. The white and smaller partridge do have the correct number of toes to be showable, I did not check the larger one, but believe that it too has the correct number of toes. Not sure about the color being a showable color or just an 'all other variety'. Their parents are nice looking - although not as big as the Catdance bunch. BUT, silkies are supposed to be bantams. Just letting you know that the lineage of the babies are different of that from the big birds. They will be priced accordingly as I have put a lot less money into the chicks than I have for the Catdance birds.

So, now, pictures! Babies first:





White baby








Younger partridge






Older partridge

Bigger birds:




White roo

This is the porc roo with the porc pullet right behind him. His butt is NOT that big!

 

[erinszoo]

Those are some beautiful silkies. I love that orangy colored one!

 

[Kassaundra]

Thank you all for the thoughts/kind words.

Well, it will cost a few thousand dollars but basically we will have to hire someone and get a jackhammer to the floor, digging up the foundation of the house and repairing the house. In the meantime, we may or may not be able to live there. And it may mean rehoming some of our animals, since it's going to put us behind in money. It all depends on whether or not our insurance covers this..

Most policies will cover damages like that only if it is a sudden onset / loss, but not if it is a leak over time. Insurance views that as a maintenance issue, and not a covered loss. But every company / policy is different and there are many add ons that may have been included when purchasing the policy.

 

[nnbreeder]

Thank you all for the thoughts/kind words.

Well, it will cost a few thousand dollars but basically we will have to hire someone and get a jackhammer to the floor, digging up the foundation of the house and repairing the house. In the meantime, we may or may not be able to live there. And it may mean rehoming some of our animals, since it's going to put us behind in money. It all depends on whether or not our insurance covers this..

If they ran copper line there could be a possibility of pulling PEX through the old lines. It drops the size but if it's doable.... Another possibility is to run Pex on the inside down at baseboard level and then build a wooden housing around it, much cheaper then what is planned.

 

[nnbreeder]

Long before PEX I plumbed in a travel trailer with plastic air line for semi trucks. It has the same basic make-up as PEX does and froze over and over with no bursts. I ran it overhead and then built a little covering out of wide base trim