Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[Bens-Hens]

We were not sure what the little Wyandotte was, male or female.

There is still a lot of little spikey combs in there. I will try get some pics up soon. Time is hard to come by at the moment, working two part time jobs while trying to keep my business afloat, be a dad, husband and train for a 100km ultra is a tough gig!

 

[vehve]

Well Ben, if anyone can do it, it's you. Stay strong!

 

[scottcaddy]

Sorry to hear that, Hope all gets better soonest!!
Scott

 

[Bens-Hens]

We lost the black Australorp yesterday morning. SPent a chunk of the day trying to figure out what it is.

With no experience, we are thinking it is Cocci. No blood in droppings, but most other symptoms are there. I never did get around to ordering that amprolium. It has been a bit of a mission to find something that is right in Perth. Our best bet was a local vet, who shut 10 minutes before we got there.

HOLD THE PHONE!

As I was typing this post, the breeder we often used returned my cal from yesterday. She has been a great help, so hopefully we are on the right path to getting this under control.

As I was saying, we did find a product as a pet store, that has the right ingredients in it, but is for 'ornamental birds' I spoke with the store owner and he said it is labeled that way due to medications for food producing birds are tightly controlled, to sell them it costs more, and is usually only sold through vet licences. He implied 'if you have done your home work you know its the same stuff'

We purchased some and have treated the birds. Major clean out yesterday, all new bedding material, today dosed with amprolium. We had another chick showing signs of being 'tired' and a bit fluffy (not that it has all that many feathers) The breeder said that product is not the strongest, but will do for now. (She sells 100g bags of amprolium so I will get there tomorrow and pick a bag up) and advised to put a drop directly on the beak of the bird showing signs.

Everyone else is spritely and bouncy like normal, but then again so was the BA we lost. Almost no warning there.

Fingers crossed we were not too late for the SLW

 

[cwrite]

Sorry to hear that Ben. It seems that chooks can go downhill so fast. Hopefully the others will be fine!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Ben the sulfa drugs aren't as effective as amprolium and yes they have a witholding period. If you order it online it will take 3-4 days to arrive and in the mean time giving buttermilk will help to reline the stomachs wall. Amprolium has no witholding period so it is safe to treat the entire flock.

http://www.littlevalleypoultry.com/poultry-medications?product_id=82

 

[scottcaddy]

Ben, you might ask OZ about what is useful in this also, he has a whole list of drugs and what they are for.
Good luck with this!
Scott

 

[Bens-Hens]

Thanks team.

The bad news is a lot of those medications available at feed stores in the states are not available here. WHile Oz is super informed I am not sure how relative it is here as the 'good stuff' is so hard to come by.

The great news is we have not lost any more chicks! We used the Coccivet on just the chicks (they are separate from the main flock who all have been healthy) for two days until I could get to the breeder and got a baggie of amprolium for $20. They got a dose of that yesterday afternoon, and I make a fresh batch every morning. Now starting day 3. Since we have the amprolium we can now give a preventative dose to the main flock too.

Mixing at the recommended 1g per litre by the breeder, I sure hope that is right as it came in an unmarked bag (I could see the bigger bag she had scooped from)

The chick we were worried about seems to have bounce back as it did not get any worse the past two day and this morning was running around all 'chick like' By our history, it will be a males SLW!

Thanks for your help

 

[K Spot]

Glad your little babies are doing better, Ben.

 

[Fancychooklady]

The dosage on mine is 30 g to 25 L of water for 5-7 days then half strength for a further 5-7 days then 1/4 strength for another 5-7 days. By dropping the dose you are helping the birds build the immunity they need. The link I gave you has the dosage on it. Just check that if is amprolium 200.