Rebuilding my Farm

[jbourget]

nice brooder shed

 

[Farmerboy16]

Thanks everyone.

The first batch of chicks finished hatching this morning.

I have 5 splash Marans from crfarm, 5 BCMs from Wynette, 5 Coronation Sussexs from brkuk, 4 turkens and 3 Buff Orpingtons from spydertoys
Here are the close up of the chicks.
Buff Orpingtons

BCMs

Turken

Coronation Sussex

I have 10 guinea eggs from spydertoys due to hatch next week too.

My incubator that I brought this year-

The hatcher-

 

[MissJenny]

Daron, I am so careful about bio-security -- nobody touches my birds, I touch no one else's. I have a closed flock -- the only birds that come in are one's who hatch here... and yet I ended up with an illness that nearly broke my heart. Where it came from nobody knows. Which is also, for you, the possibility that you might have brought home something from Chickenstock on your shoe, your hair, brushed against your sleeve.

I am so sorry your lost all your birds and that you must begin again -- there are greater things for you othewrwise there would be no need to learn such a hard lesson. ♥

Also -- really really cute babies!

Jenny

 

[kuntrygirl]

Very cute babies.

 

[Farmerboy16]

I am building a new coop to make feeding, watering, collecting eggs, and cleaning easier for me. What I have now is small coops scattered all over the field, and it took a lot of time to go to each coop to feed, water, and collect the eggs. So, I am building 1 breeder coop that is 20 feet wide and 60 feet long with a hallway in the middle. There will be 12 pens, and 8 pens are 8x8 ft, 2 pens are 9x8 feet, and 2 pens are 10x20 feet. The 10 pens will be for chickens, and the 2 large pens will be for the turkeys, guineas, and peafowl. I am reusing the wood from the old coops, and we have a ''lumber yard'' in the backyard, for my dad used to do construction, and always buy building stuff cheap. He would pile them in the backyard for future use, but due to his health, and the housing situation, most of the stuff just sat there. Some have rotted, or just not usable, but I have enough stuff to build the new coop without spending a cent.

I just have to buy screws, and fencing.

I will posts pictures of the coop progress.
Before the outbreak, I had over 30 breeds of chickens averaging 12 chickens per breed. So now, I have cut back to 10 breeds and plan to have average 5 hens and 2 roos per breed. I will be breeding heritage breeds, all will be non-hatchery stock.

Icelandics
Good Shepard Barred Rocks
German New Hampshire
Turken
Coronation Sussex
Splash Marans
Rumpless and Tufted Araucana
Light Brahma
White Lace Red Cornish
White Face Black Spanish

Guineas

Bourbon Red Turkeys

Peafowl

Muscovies

My peafowl are at my neighbor's, they did NOT get the disease. I had one tested for MG, and the results came back negative!

I had brought them from a breeder in August, and took them to the neighbor's before going home. I had built them this quarantine pen two weeks after I got them, cause they were outgrowing their cage.

This was taken the other day-

The youngest peas- My neighbors had named them Peepers.

 

[misslady]

I live in your area also and have heard that MG was a really big issue in the turkey industries around here this year. So you are certainly not alone! Turkeys are just ridiculously fragile compared to chickens, so that makes it a balancing act when raising different kinds of poultry together. Most strains of MG that may just make a chicken sick are a death sentence to turkeys, not to mention chickens can often pass blackhead to turkeys as well.

I appreciate you taking the time to post this, it's a good reminder to us all to practice good biosecurity. My only advice would be to house your turkeys seperately and away from your chickens if possible. Keep seperate muck boots for each coop and change your clothes and wash up with soap and hot water before going into the other coop.

Hope that helps. Best of luck to you and I wish you the best... Sounds like you are off to a great start!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Still makes me sad when I read your story. So often I see newbies and not so newbies post and ask the question if they should quarantine or not. From now on, I will copy and paste your thread in their thread so that they can read, understand and learn.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Sounds like you will have a perfect setup. I am so happy for you and your new beginning. I can't wait to see pics. Sending good vibes your way for everything you will be doing.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Quote:
Thanks for the info about the issue in the turkey industries. I had brought my first flock from a local breeder, and they were a lot a fun to raise, really liked how large they grew, and how perfect their tail coloring turned out, but their body coloring was a bit light, and wanted to find a darker bourbon red and cross with what I have. I had found an ad on craigslist on a breeder pair of bourbon reds. Drove to the farm and brought the pair. The tom was much darker in body coloring, with black lacing, just what I was looking for, but he was a bit smaller then my toms, and too much brown on his tail, I had asked the breeder where he got his turkeys from. He said Cackle Hatchery. I have brought chicks and geese from them before, and like how they turn out.
I only had turkeys for 1 year, and I had let them free range with the chickens, with no issue, until a few months ago. I had fed meditated turkey starter to the poults to prevent Blackhead, it seems to work for I did not have any Blackhead issues. Since its so hard to find MG clean turkey breeders, I had called Cackle Hatchery to see if they have MG certified clean turkey flocks. They do, however their chickens are not MG certified clean. So, I will order about 20 Bourbon Reds from them, and cull hard to the very best 2 toms and 5 hens, and hopefully find a MG certified clean breeder's stock and cross them, then work on from there.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Quote:
Thanks, I am glad to be of a help, even it has hurt me bad, I do not want people to lose their flock too.

From what I have read here, and I think that this method of quarantine is the best- When bringing new birds home, put them in the quarantine pen far from your flock, like across the yard where your flock never goes, behind some bushes, trees, etc. Then watch for any signs for two weeks, if they looks fine, then put in a cockerel or a chicken that you can sacrifice in the quarantine pen with the new birds, then wait another 3 weeks, if they good fine, then they are clear. If the sacrificial bird gets sick, then you know that the new birds are carrying a disease, and must be culled. Always feed and water the new birds last, so you will not transmit any disease if they have it, to your flock.