Open front coop done, chicken yard in progress

[igorsMistress]

@Stiletto yes, while I actually like the way they look, I live in the desert. My fully feathered hens suffer more from the heat. Nns generally have fewer body feathers in addition to the naked necks.

Our temps at times were up to 118 F, almost 48 C, last summer. That was more extreme than usual but flirting with those temps happens a lot. I lost my 2 Australorps.

@aart thank you, I think he's a handsome guy! There are a lot of Naked Necks with bibs/bow ties that may hide the crop. They're far more common than those with clean necks like Fugs. The lady I bought eggs from that Fugs hatched out of is after him if I ever don't want him. She's hatched a lot of chicks and they all have some sort of feathering on their necks.

I hatched 13 chicks, 1 has a clean neck and it's likely a roo, very slow feathering like Fugly.

 

[igorsMistress]

Fugly looks so big compared to the little in front of him

He does, I love that pic especially!

 

[igorsMistress]

Plans to remodel yet again. I'm ditching the poop boards and changing the roost to a ladder style but removeable with only a couple of rungs. There'll be a dedicated area underneath to deep litter compost but I'm keeping the rest of the floor bare.

@aart I'll be moving my 4 week old chicks to the big coop tonight. Their little roost and bin will go in when I'm at lunch today. I have to attach some hwc to the bin so the bigs can't get in first though. Thanks for your article, you alleviated some fears!

 

[igorsMistress]

Flock update.

When we got our first chicks one was sick and died but not before making the rest sick first. Symptoms were respiratory in nature but the remaining 6 chicks pulled through. They all went out to the coop and I began monthly inspections for parasites and to make sure all were gaining weight and in good condition. I had read that they would likely be more susceptible to illness in the future.

Last summer we had lice in the coop and on the birds, wild bird issue, but were able to eliminate it and I began quarterly spraying of just the coop.

This Spring my Welsummer and EE each layed a few eggs and then quit. Another hen was laying eggs with blood inside. Then our flock leader Ruby presented with stumbling and wing paralysis. We put her down. Since then all the other hens quit laying, the roo quit crowing and only made half hearted attempts to mate. I observed eating habits both while among the flock and hidden from view.

This month on inspection when I lifted Fugly from the roost he hardly weighed anything. Not much more than the smallest of the hens at her full weight when she was healthy.

This combined with other symptoms: Fugly fell off the roost the other night and this past weekend he almost fell over while half heartedly eating scratch, staggering weight loss in all the hens even with no other symptoms other than no eggs, etc all points to Marek's to me. The food isn't bad, the chicks and quail aren't sick and the wild pigeons are certainly flourishing. The points on Fuglys comb would have a purplish hue by the end of the day indicating respiratory issues.

We put all 6 of the older flock members down Saturday night.

I'll be cleaning the coop with Virkon S and the chicks are locked out of there for now. I plan to keep the poop boards and switch to feed bags for lining for better dust management in the coop. I'll be purchasing a shop vac for just the coop to keep dust down and we are leaving the floor bare.

I'm already keeping an eye on one chick...

 

[aart]

We put all 6 of the older flock members down Saturday night.

OhNo!!! Such a bummer!!
Any chance of getting a necrospy and labs done....so you know what you're dealing with?? Did I miss something about testing/treating for internal parasites?

 

[igorsMistress]

OhNo!!! Such a bummer!!
Any chance of getting a necrospy and labs done....so you know what you're dealing with?? Did I miss something about testing/treating for internal parasites?

I wormed them in the fall and again this Spring, I'm sorry I forgot to mention that. I use the poop board so I'm very familiar with what's normal. Poops were severely reduced and some that were fresh in the yard were bright green.

I can't send for necropsy, I bought feed and groceries, then sent a large sum to my daughters car bill trying to get that off my plate. By the time I could liquidate funds I would have to freeze the bodies and that negates the testing.

I'm going to keep an eye on this little one and find a vet I can take it to for a blood draw and testing if symptoms develop. Will keep some funds set aside/have everything here for necropsy if one should need to be put down for similar symptoms.

 

[aart]

I wormed them in the fall and again this Spring, I'm sorry I forgot to mention that. I use the poop board so I'm very familiar with what's normal. Poops were severely reduced and some that were fresh in the yard were bright green.

Most worms can't be seen with the naked eye.
What did you worm them with?
Bright green poops not good....watery too?

 

[igorsMistress]

Most worms can't be seen with the naked eye.
What did you worm them with?
Bright green poops not good....watery too?

I used flubenvent to worm. Yes poop was bright green and watery. That was Fuglys and one hen. The rest seemed to have ok poops but very reduced and they'd lost weight. I even brought 2 of the hens inside to weigh them compared to last month just to be sure.

 

[N F C]

IM, so sorry to hear of the troubles with your flock.

 

[igorsMistress]

IM, so sorry to hear of the troubles with your flock.

Thanks Debby