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Love all the egg pictures. I always wondered how eggs were judged in competition. I have so much to learn! Before I joined this site I had no idea people showed their chickens or eggs!

My friend from Florida sent me a mixture of eggs to put under my broody. I'm curious if I will have better luck with mail order eggs under my girls compared to my homemade incubator. So since my leghorn eggs they were sitting on are on day 13 I felt bad tossing them. I wasn't sure if I let them hatch the leghorn eggs they would abandon the new eggs.....sooooo now they are in the incubator. I'm thinking I should have left them under the hens until day 18 to make less work for me but live and learn. I have chicks in the grow out box in the coop but separated from the big girls. I have chicks in the garage in a crate and now 2 different sets of eggs in the incubator and under the broody's. My chicken math is so out of controli think I need professional help! Lol
 
kada6305 said:
I went to the Elk county fair tonight...really disappointed. no poultry what so ever! Hopefully since it's the first night they will have poultry later on in the week..
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We have hd that happen before, a misprint in a brochure had us walking around forever to see chickens that had been shown 2 days before and them were gone.

We were at a fair last week that had about 40 chickens -and they had no tables, so the cages were all on the ground and hard to look at.
 
Blarneyeggs said:
We have hd that happen before, a misprint in a brochure had us walking around forever to see chickens that had been shown 2 days before and them were gone.

We were at a fair last week that had about 40 chickens -and they had no tables, so the cages were all on the ground and hard to look at.
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I hope they have some later on in the week. I really enjoy the poultry. Was going to do pox but don't think he'd do good in a cage..he's used to free ranging plus would f have a rooster to look after the hens :)
 
GM all:

A couple of questions for the more experienced...

I have two BCMs that are approaching 14wks.....I have them on the last of my grower crumble......
I have let the babies out to free range with the big girls(and boy)...but the babies run from the biggins and the six girls are really not that interested....not even the roo....
So, if I move the babies to the big pen there'd be only layer pellets...the pen is 5'x20'....I can put some logs etc in there...LisaY seemed to think it helped her situation.....

So should I buy another bag of grower (I really don't want to )and keep the babies in the grow out pen....or just toss them the big coop and let chickens be chickens....lastly if I move them is it better and night or during the day....Thanks in advance!!!
 
Would corn husks, corn silk, or cooked corn cobs hurt chickens and ducks? In a week I have lost 2 ducks and 5 chickens, not to predation. The chickens just started to loose their balance then before we knew it we would find them dead. One of my ducks I found floating in the pond and the other one was just laying on the ground. I am just totally frustrated with this, so far all of my other birds seem fine. Any idea's?
 
Stake, move them at night. Watch for injures and separate again if trouble erupts. I prefer to give grower to layers rather than latyer to growers, put calcium on the side so the layers can eat it as needed. Flock raiser is one I use.

Pachickenlover, I've neverg had an issue with corn or cobs, I think you have something else going on. Of course all of my corn is raised without pesticides or fertilizers. I'm not an expert, but it sounds like a poison or illness. Are there any other symptoms?
 
PAchickenlover said:
Would corn husks, corn silk, or cooked corn cobs hurt chickens and ducks? In a week I have lost 2 ducks and 5 chickens, not to predation. The chickens just started to loose their balance then before we knew it we would find them dead. One of my ducks I found floating in the pond and the other one was just laying on the ground. I am just totally frustrated with this, so far all of my other birds seem fine. Any idea's?
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Sounds like some symptoms of botulism. I was reading a thread on here about it a few weeks ago, under the duck area, and the person had found a duck floating in their pond, and it was very "off balance" before that. Are there wild mushrooms growing where they can eat them? According to what I read, the wild mushrooms seemed to be the cause. Just a thought from what you described.

ETA: as far as I read on the thread (I didn't finish reading it) the person did not have a necropsy done and was not positive that it was botulism. It was just suspected and they were giving another duck showing symptoms a strong antibiotic.
 
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chiques chicks said:
Stake, move them at night. Watch for injures and separate again if trouble erupts. I prefer to give grower to layers rather than latyer to growers, put calcium on the side so the layers can eat it as needed. Flock raiser is one I use.

Pachickenlover, I've neverg had an issue with corn or cobs, I think you have something else going on. Of course all of my corn is raised without pesticides or fertilizers. I'm not an expert, but it sounds like a poison or illness. Are there any other symptoms?
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Sounds like botulism. It is an acute illness.

Here is an a quote from another thread: The only true treatment is an antitoxin which must be gotten from the vet. Bacitracin and streptomycin have been used with varying results. Otherwise, the treatments (flushes) are started as the onset of symptoms and are VERY harsh as they're designed to flush the contents of the stomach out to rid the body of the bacteria. Those include epsom salt treatment of the crop (immediately after exposure) or molasses flushes. Both can shock a bird like this into death. I'd think at this point it might be too late for that type of flush. But selenium treatment is indicated for it. You can get that from the grocery store. Also apparently a solution of one part potassium permanganate to 3000 parts water can be useful. Treatment thereafter is supportive - nutrition, hydration.

Does the bird have green diarrhea?

I really never ever recommend the flushes unless the bird is definitely going to die and it's a last ditch effort. Those deaths are usually sudden. Has your bird regained any function below the neck? The eating is a good sign though odd.

The paralysis is classified as "flaccid" meaning limp. Are his wings limp and floppy? The disease is nicknamed "limberneck" because when it effects the neck, the head droops uncontrollably. Then the paralysis in the body would cause inability to breath and cardiac arrest. Apparently sometimes birds do survive it. Let's hope that yours is one.

I'd more strongly suspect Marek's, or another issue such as chemical toxins. But really it still can't be ruled out without a test. Although apparently with Botulism, other than the floppiness, their feathers can easily be pulled out of their follicles. Does this apply to your bird?

Otherwise, Mareks and toxins are the other situations to rule out.

Did your bird have access to wet feed? Maggots? Decaying vegetation? Any carcass? Any stagnant water? Any weed killers or pesticides used in your place or at a neighbors that maybe washed into your place via rain? Compost piles?

Baycox is actually not an antibiotic at all. It's an anti-protazoa medicine - for cocci, etc. It's not applicable most likely.

There are other illnesses or conditions associated with paralysis - like encephalitis for example. That requires supportive treatment and anti-inflammatories, not really any 'cure' for it. There's also Newcastle's, but that's usually associated with respiratory symptoms that this guy isn't displaying.

So at this point, get him to eat. Try vitamins like Enfamil non-iron formula (you can get it at CVS apparently) 3 drops in the beak. Continue the yogurt and egg especially since he likes it. You can use babyfood applesauce in small amounts to encourage his digestive system to clean out. 1/2 a teaspoon. If he'll eat it. If his crop isn't clearly easily.

Is he drinking as well? The vitamin E is good - continue that. Obviously this is neurological and E is the vitamin for that for sure. That will be required long term if he survives.

Otherwise, just be as kind to him as you've been. You're so sweet. And at least if you lose him you know you've tried your best. The fact that he's still a live is a testament to your care for him in the last few days.

Could you please let me know how he does? Via email or here or whatever. If I don't reply on the same day or so, will you email me? Sometimes my "subscription" to the post gets dropped and I really want to follow up with you on this, please.

I'll send prayers and well wishes in the mean time.
 
I can't remember who it was talking a while back about processing their birds - I stumbled onto this while trying to do some research about who I was getting 2 RSL's from tomorrow - Eli Reiff "The poultry man". Couldn't really find any info on his chickens etc, as most of them get eaten lol

I found this article online http://www.docstoc.com/docs/40337395/Poultry-Processing-Equipment-that-Works! looks like they charge $100 to use everything for the day. I have no idea how far the people are from those that were processing their birds.
 

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