Oregon

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote: I have a couple thoughts on this...I used to be super paranoid about Mareks, until I did a little research...yes, Mareks is not technically an airborne disease, but a lot of people consider it to be airborne, because it's released in the dander, it can be carried for miles on the wind, and it is literally everywhere. I choose to not vaccinate for it, as I would rather breed resistant birds. I have had a few birds with Mareks-like symptoms, and I have culled every one of them. I have not had them necropsied, so I do not know if this is actually what I was dealing with. I NEVER attempt to rehabilitate a bird that has ever shown any symptoms. I have discovered that people who say that they have never had a bird with Mareks either 1) vaccinate EVERYTHING, 2) they are relatively new chicken keepers, or 3) they just don't recognize it for what it is when they see it.

Mareks aside, my real concerns when showing, or bringing in new birds are infection laryngeotracheitis (ILT) and mycoplasma, basically the miriad of upper respiratory diseases known as CRD, or Chronic Respiratory Disease. IF there are sick birds directly around my birds at a show, I will quarantine those birds when I get home, BUT the way my place is set up, and my lack of space, it would be nearly impossible for me to effectively completely quarantine when I get home. Generally, I house all the birds that I show in one general area when I get home, and hope for the best. Honestly, if I ever brought anything nasty home from a show, I'd be in a world of hurt. So far so good, and continuing to cross my fingers...

Some day I will have a set up that will allow for effective quarantine, and until then, I'll keep hoping that my luck holds out...

Also, something else to consider is this...yes, there is always risks associated with exposing yourself and your birds to other people's birds, BUT MOST OF THE TIME people that go to big shows, like the one coming up next month in Salem, bring healthy birds. I've seen more sick birds at the county fair than I ever have at the bigger shows. Of course, that being said, there was an outbreak at the Stockton show last year, and a big Oregon breeder of LF Cochins lost her #1 cock bird, because she brought the bug home with her from her bantam Cochins...there's always a risk, but it has so far seemed to be minimal. Also, if you ever see a bird in a show with outward signs of illness, report it ASAP to the showroom superintendent, and demand that it be removed from the showroom at once.

 

[Sumatra503]

Quote: Either will do. But in the long run, a hen that gets egg bound is not good...it's not like a song bird that lays a few eggs and stops...unless you get out some gigantic freak egg, I would be extremely worried about her doing this repeatedly, and her quality of life...
I have had a few cases of egg bound birds over the years and none of those birds had any problems later in life. It is generally not a recurring problem for them and is usually just a hiccup in their system. If an egg is too large, has a shell too thin, or breaks inside the hen, it can cause her to become egg bound.

A dip in warm water, a bit of mineral oil, or spending an hour or so in a steamy bathroom will often help her through this.

 

[rockroadsilkies]

This is 2hot2chicken..... I got locked out of my old act.....Long story but don't have the password and sites not sending me reset emails.
I already sent a message to mods so I setup this act to wait for their reply.

Anyway, I have some silkies for sale if anyone is interested. They are from our BV, BB winning flocks
Right now I have:
5-6 Buff silkies 3-4 weeks old and looking very promising for SQ! They have All the right stuff!

I also may have some older pullets and cockerals in other colors for sale including some super lavender birds!
If anyone is interested let me know : )
I have more chicks due to hatch next week from my buff and paint pens, I set some to test fertility and it was 99% which I wasn't expecting so now I need to make some room.... : )

 

[countrybuffs]

I have had a few cases of egg bound birds over the years and none of those birds had any problems later in life. It is generally not a recurring problem for them and is usually just a hiccup in their system. If an egg is too large, has a shell too thin, or breaks inside the hen, it can cause her to become egg bound.

A dip in warm water, a bit of mineral oil, or spending an hour or so in a steamy bathroom will often help her through this.

 

[Suzierd]

This is 2hot2chicken..... I got locked out of my old act.....Long story but don't have the password and sites not sending me reset emails.
I already sent a message to mods so I setup this act to wait for their reply.

Anyway, I have some silkies for sale if anyone is interested. They are from our BV, BB winning flocks
Right now I have:
5-6 Buff silkies 3-4 weeks old and looking very promising for SQ! They have All the right stuff!

I also may have some older pullets and cockerals in other colors for sale including some super lavender birds!
If anyone is interested let me know : )
I have more chicks due to hatch next week from my buff and paint pens, I set some to test fertility and it was 99% which I wasn't expecting so now I need to make some room.... : )

Would love to see pics of your future paints! Would like a small bold girl with good type. The girls I got from you are doing great, calming down from the move and enjoying watermelon and corn on the cob today. They're starting to figure out I'm the treat lady. .
I love them, Thank you.

 

[Suzierd]

I have a couple thoughts on this...I used to be super paranoid about Mareks, until I did a little research...yes, Mareks is not technically an airborne disease, but a lot of people consider it to be airborne, because it's released in the dander, it can be carried for miles on the wind, and it is literally everywhere.  I choose to not vaccinate for it, as I would rather breed resistant birds.  I have had a few birds with Mareks-like symptoms, and I have culled every one of them.  I have not had them necropsied, so I do not know if this is actually what I was dealing with.  I NEVER attempt to rehabilitate a bird that has ever shown any symptoms. I have discovered that people who say that they have never had a bird with Mareks either 1) vaccinate EVERYTHING, 2) they are relatively new chicken keepers, or 3) they just don't recognize it for what it is when they see it.

Mareks aside, my real concerns when showing, or bringing in new birds are infection laryngeotracheitis (ILT) and mycoplasma, basically the miriad of upper respiratory diseases known as CRD, or Chronic Respiratory Disease.  IF there are sick birds directly around my birds at a show, I will quarantine those birds when I get home, BUT the way my place is set up, and my lack of space, it would be nearly impossible for me to effectively completely quarantine when I get home.  Generally, I house all the birds that I show in one general area when I get home, and hope for the best.  Honestly, if I ever brought anything nasty home from a show, I'd be in a world of hurt.  So far so good, and continuing to cross my fingers...

Some day I will have a set up that will allow for effective quarantine, and until then, I'll keep hoping that my luck holds out...

Also, something else to consider is this...yes, there is always risks associated with exposing yourself and your birds to other people's birds, BUT MOST OF THE TIME people that go to big shows, like the one coming up next month in Salem, bring healthy birds.  I've seen more sick birds at the county fair than I ever have at the bigger shows.  Of course, that being said, there was an outbreak at the Stockton show last year, and a big Oregon breeder of LF Cochins lost her #1 cock bird, because she brought the bug home with her from her bantam Cochins...there's always a risk, but it has so far seemed to be minimal.  Also, if you ever see a bird in a show with outward signs of illness, report it ASAP to the showroom superintendent, and demand that it be removed from the showroom at once.

Thanks very much for your input, it sounds like you have been to a lot of shows with no problems. Which makes me think at least it's not real common to bring home a bug. I will continue to be careful and once I have the flock I want I'll just hatch my own, much safer. I am still scared of Mareks, now I have a mix of some birds are vaccinated some aren't. I have never had a problem like that yet and like you will continue to hope I don't. I don't understand why some people have such a bad problem with Mareks and some don't if it's everywhere? I hope and pray it doesn't come my way. I am so attached to my birds it would be extremely difficult to cull.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

The problem, in my opinion, is that so many people DO vaccinate. It creates birds that can't handle it if they come into contact with it. I had the biggest problem when I was trying to create bantam silkied Ameraucanas...lost almost every darn one of those things to Mareks-like symptoms....though I never had one single pure Ameraucana with a problem...I'm guessing it was adding the Silkie blood...those things don't last long around here, because I do not coddle my birds. I breed for strong, resistant birds, and cull hard for the weaklings. I can count on one hand the number of Silkies that I've had that were actually strong birds that didn't need a bunch of babying...

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote: Either will do. But in the long run, a hen that gets egg bound is not good...it's not like a song bird that lays a few eggs and stops...unless you get out some gigantic freak egg, I would be extremely worried about her doing this repeatedly, and her quality of life...
I have had a few cases of egg bound birds over the years and none of those birds had any problems later in life. It is generally not a recurring problem for them and is usually just a hiccup in their system. If an egg is too large, has a shell too thin, or breaks inside the hen, it can cause her to become egg bound.

A dip in warm water, a bit of mineral oil, or spending an hour or so in a steamy bathroom will often help her through this.
That's great that you've had good luck. I was speaking from a veterinary standpoint, I've never had an egg bound chicken. I've only dealt with them at work. Which is why I was telling her to watch for her to do it again in the future...

 

[OR4-hmom]

We recently had a couple move here from Mi. They were shocked to learn that the birds entered in the show at Stevenson were not required to have a health cert to get in. I guess that it is required back there, no testing after the shows, if something was discovered at the show all birds were destroyed. Since then they have learned that OR doesn't have the same problems they would encounted back there, that isn't to say we can't but with luck we will be able to keep our flocks clean.

What really gets me though is the lice/mite dusting. At our county & at state it was OK to dust a bird and then put them out with the others. Everyone we bring home from anything now gets dusted and checked over every other day. How can they let them in?

 

[Sumatra503]

What really gets me though is the lice/mite dusting. At our county & at state it was OK to dust a bird and then put them out with the others. Everyone we bring home from anything now gets dusted and checked over every other day. How can they let them in?

Sadly the rules for this are left up to the discretion of the people in charge of the show or the fair. Their belief is that if a bird is dusted, the lice will just die off and it won't be a problem. When in actuality the lice run off the dusted bird and onto the other birds not dusted.

The standards for these fairs seem to be a bit lacking compared to what they used to be. Birds are being let in dirty, sick, and full of lice instead of being sent away!

The thing that got me, though about the state fair is that one of the exhibitors had taped her birds' tails so they'd stay in the right angle and showed up with them that way. This is FAKING and is completely unethical and illegal at these shows. She was allowed to show them anyway!

Lucky I wasn't the one in charge!