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dheltzel said:
I am looking into vaccinating next year. I HATE needles, but a friend has a "gun" to vaccinate chicks, similar to what hatcheries use. Looks like a good project for next year.
For a rather scary analysis if the vaccines, read this: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/tthis-chicken-vaccine-makes-virus-dangerous
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I only have a small flock and not plan to give my chickens to anybody else, so I don't worry about the Marek becoming a hot strain. It's quite expensive for you to vaccinate all your chicks though. I wonder if there is a way you can seperate the powder, so you can use just a small amount each time. I may not want new chicks next year, since my chickens are still young.
 
TillyPeeps said:
I only have a small flock and not plan to give my chickens to anybody else, so I don't worry about the Marek becoming a hot strain. It's quite expensive for you to vaccinate all your chicks though. I wonder if there is a way you can seperate the powder, so you can use just a small amount each time. I may not want new chicks next year, since my chickens are still young.
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There are lots of instructions for cutting the 1000 dose vaccine into pieces, but no studies to show if that actually works, or if the process kills the remaining vaccine pieces, rendering them useless, but I wouldn't know if they were usable or not. I can get an "injection gun" like the hatcheries use to speed up the process and avoid needles in their necks. Definitely adds a significant cost to the process, but once you mix the vaccine, you can vaccinate as many chicks as you can in an hour, so the first chick costs $50 to vaccinate, but the rest are basically free.

I'm not excited about doing this. I have even considered not selling chicks, just doing ducks, turkeys and guineas (all much more disease resistant than chicks). I am willing to raise 3 or 4 times the number of birds I need to allow for high losses and heavy culling, but no "keepers" want to do that, it only works for breeders. Heavy culling (either via disease attrition or selection by the breeder) is the best way to get rapid improvements in a flock. My breeder flock of Rees Legbars was 50+ pullets 4 years ago. I had replaced the roos, but still have 12 of those gals and they are still healthy and laying better now than the pullets I hatched last year! I was going to replace them this year, but decided they can stay - I want to see how old they can be and still be good layers. That heavy culling initially (probably started with 100 pullets that year and only 50 made it into the breeding pen) and years of attrition of the weaker birds and early quitters reduced me down to a fraction of the original chicks from my Rees starter flock, but these are really the "keepers" that I want to sell chicks from. I raised a bunch of late summer chicks from this group and plan to select the best looking to go back with their mothers next year and be their eventual replacements, if they are survivors.
 
dheltzel said:
There are lots of instructions for cutting the 1000 dose vaccine into pieces, but no studies to show if that actually works, or if the process kills the remaining vaccine pieces, rendering them useless, but I wouldn't know if they were usable or not. I can get an "injection gun" like the hatcheries use to speed up the process and avoid needles in their necks. Definitely adds a significant cost to the process, but once you mix the vaccine, you can vaccinate as many chicks as you can in an hour, so the first chick costs $50 to vaccinate, but the rest are basically free.

I'm not excited about doing this. I have even considered not selling chicks, just doing ducks, turkeys and guineas (all much more disease resistant than chicks). I am willing to raise 3 or 4 times the number of birds I need to allow for high losses and heavy culling, but no "keepers" want to do that, it only works for breeders. Heavy culling (either via disease attrition or selection by the breeder) is the best way to get rapid improvements in a flock. My breeder flock of Rees Legbars was 50+ pullets 4 years ago. I had replaced the roos, but still have 12 of those gals and they are still healthy and laying better now than the pullets I hatched last year! I was going to replace them this year, but decided they can stay - I want to see how old they can be and still be good layers. That heavy culling initially (probably started with 100 pullets that year and only 50 made it into the breeding pen) and years of attrition of the weaker birds and early quitters reduced me down to a fraction of the original chicks from my Rees starter flock, but these are really the "keepers" that I want to sell chicks from. I raised a bunch of late summer chicks from this group and plan to select the best looking to go back with their mothers next year and be their eventual replacements, if they are survivors.
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I have been considering to get ducks instead of chickens. But my current setup is not easy for me to change their water daily. DH will need to run a water line to the coop first. I don't think he can do it this year.
 
Lelanae said:
I thought I found someone once to take my Delaware 'roo--until the guy told me to tie his feet together for transport.(The chicken, not the man...)
I need a white hen--does anyone know of any white pullets for sale near Chester County PA?
The closest I cans find is an hour an a half away in New Jersey...near Pottstown works too since I need a fix of what Dennis is selling...
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Do you have Dennis' phone number? Thank you
 
The new chicken (that we found roaming outside by herself) is now out of the separation cage and is doing really good in the flock. She has her upper beak clipped (from before we found her). Will that grow back or will it be weird forever?

Also, now I have 14 hens. Some are going through a molt but most are not. So I should expect at least 6 eggs a day? We have not gotten more than 4 lately. Only one egg today. I have looked all over for a hidden nesting area but cannot find anything. I also check for egg shells/wet hay from broken eggs, and that does not seem to be the issue. I usually lock up the chickens for a full day or two to force them to lay in the coop but I wanted to check and see if you guys have any other ideas why this is happening?
 
FluffyButt789 said:
The new chicken (that we found roaming outside by herself) is now out of the separation cage and is doing really good in the flock. She has her upper beak clipped (from before we found her). Will that grow back or will it be weird forever?

Also, now I have 14 hens. Some are going through a molt but most are not. So I should expect at least 6 eggs a day? We have not gotten more than 4 lately. Only one egg today. I have looked all over for a hidden nesting area but cannot find anything. I also check for egg shells/wet hay from broken eggs, and that does not seem to be the issue. I usually lock up the chickens for a full day or two to force them to lay in the coop but I wanted to check and see if you guys have any other ideas why this is happening?
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How old are he hens?
 
Wezdin said:
How old are he hens?
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Most of them are rescues so I’m not entirely sure. It ranges from around 2 years old to 8 years old. The old chickens still lay pretty well. Over the summer we were getting a dozen eggs a day. Not sure why the sudden drop. I’m still thinking they have a nest somewhere outside, but I cannot find it.
 

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