Sdwd

[PepsNick]

Rancher, I am hoping that you won't lose that chick.

I uploaded some short video clips of my cat today, Gravy. She's very sweet and alert. http://www.flickr.com/photos/53616213@N08/5398421640/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53616213@N08/5397865951/in/photostream/

 

[Serrin]

Awww Nick, she's a cutie! Looks like she might have just a touch of Maine Coon in her too.

Cetawin, I watched DeeDee at least five times this morning.

What a character! I love the way she hustles up that big butt of hers just fast enough to stay out of reach of Cheyenne!

Porch post not withstanding!

Those oats look identical to what I just bought. I'll have to look at the bag. I could have swore they said it was rolled oats.

Errrmmm...I know this is gonna sound iggerant of me, but, what is BOSS? I keep hearing y'all sing its praises, but I've never seen it in my feed store. Is this maybe a "Southern" thing?

Cyn, adorable chicks as always! Love the little cuddle ups you have in there for them too. The all look so tired, poor babies. That hatching is some pretty exhaustive work there, ya know!

Just love 'em!

Kathy, interesting article. I'd love to be able to vaccinate every single chick that ever hatches here, but it just isn't practical for me to do so. Example: GeeGee is sitting on 5 eggs. 3 are definitely developing, 2 are not. So, potentially 3 chicks, if all goes well,

The Marek's, at approximately $20 + shipping, is doable. That works out to about $8.35 per chick. Kind of pricey for mutts, but sometimes you can't put a price on love. In light of so recently loosing Lisette, I'll probably go ahead and splurge on this hatch from GeeGee and invest in protecting them against the Marek's virus. After all, they'll be the very first chicks hatched here in the way nature intended!

But sometimes, I wonder if we aren't interfering with nature by doing all of these vaccinations? What ever happened to survival of the fittest? And passing on that genetic superiority on to their progeny? Maybe Lisette wasn't fit to possibly breed in the future? And this was just nature's way of culling her out of the gene pool.

Please don't get me wrong. I loved Lisette very much, and it still hurts like h*ll every time I look at Cosette and know that Lisette isn't with us any more. But the truth of the matter is, she is the first and only chicken that I have ever lost to Marek's to the best of my knowledge. I've lost girls far younger than I thought should have died at the point of their life that they passed. Could it have been the aftermath of having fought off Marek's in its first form, only to succumb to the tumors later on?

Who knows. Could be. Could be something else entirely. Egg laying issues, some hidden disease that I was too inexperienced to recognize as being such?

.

My point here, if there is one, is that maybe we're making a mistake in vaccinating every chick we hatch. Even the experts advocate breeding for hardiness and natural resistance to Marek's and other diseases that we currently have vaccinations for. But how can we do that if we're constantly vaccinating? If birds that would have otherwise been wiped out by the disease are being vaccinated and thereby protected against the usual mortality of each disease, how do we know who could have survived without the vaccine, and who couldn't?

I'll always do whatever I can to protect my birds, and to give them the best life possible here. But somewhere, I have to draw the line. At some point I have to tell myself that my resources are finite. I try to remind myself that chickens have survived for thousands, if not millions of years before humans took a liking to them and domesticated them. They did just fine without interference from us. They'll probably be here long after we're gone.

I think I'm going to enjoy my flock to the fullest, vaccinate when and where I can afford to, and just trust to the Great Spirit for the rest of it. Sometimes I think I enjoyed my flock so much more when I didn't know about all of the unseen monsters out there, waiting to pounce on my beloved little feathered friends. Ignorance can indeed be blissful.

 

[PepsNick]

Amy, I agree with you. If a chicken of mine gets sick, I will go all the way to save it's life, but some people just don't want to deal with disease, period. I freak out thinking of all the vaccines that I can't afford, but then face the fact that I will do my best to prevent it and that's all I can do. I will treat it, but if it's too late it's too late. I would love to vaccinate for everything, I really would! But I just can't. So I will be vaccinating for marek's, cocci, and NC/IB. My current flock is really too old for me to worry about anything but IB or IC or a few rare diseases, so I'm not too worried that I'll lose them.

BOSS is black oil sunflower seeds, my girls love it.

 

[joletabey]

Amy,
BOSS is Black Oil Sunflower Seed. I feed just the hearts myself, but the birds love it and its a good protein treat.

I ponder the vaccination issue myself, and waffle all the time about doing it. It is wonderful idea in theory to breed hardy, disease resistant birds, but some diseases can wipe out a flock, so how do you decide?

 

[speckledhen]

There are six Delawares hatched now. The last egg isn't pipped so later, will candle and see if it's expired or still in the running.


ETA: the last chick is still alive in the egg. Will probably pip later today.

 

[PepsNick]

Amy, what does your coop look like? I don't think I've seen it?

 

[speckledhen]

I've been working in the WARM air all afternoon, stringing turkey wire as a backing to the old ladies' pen, which is mostly chainlink, in prep for Nugget and her younguns to move in with the old ladies. I thought the little ones might be able to get through, being half grown bantams. Ouch! I haven't done that much physical work in ages due to the weather we've had for months. I got most of it done. Tom's back is out because he fell on the deck yesterday and twisted himself up pretty good and I wanted to do something that would save him some work and pain.

Zane got out in the sunshine for the first time in weeks and weeks. He was loving it and got to visit with Gypsy. You should see that sweet boy get up on his one good leg, using his wings as crutches and trying to dance for his lady love. They are such good pals.

The last Del egg has not pipped yet. Last time one wasn't pipped by the end of Day 21, we found that it was in the wrong position in the egg and just didn't get out so we rarely wait long to check on the chick by pipping a tiny hole in the aircell end.

Had a family tragedy today. My sister-in-law and her husband found his brother dead, just a couple weeks after their mother had passed away. Won't go into the details, but he'd been dead several days. So sad. I hate for them to have that memory.

 

[joletabey]

Oh Cynthia, how awful for them - I hope at least he went quickly.

Was Tom close to him? Hugs to you both.

It was wonderful working in WARM, sunny air with no jackets, gloves, Elmer Fudd hats or big furry boots. Loved it myself.

 

[speckledhen]

I don't think Tom and I ever met that brother of Dennis's. Dennis and I are very fond of each other-he's a couple months older than me and he and Janet, Tom's little sister, have been married for many years. I just hate that they had to find him that way today. Those memories stay with you.


I think I got sunburned today! That's quite a change, huh?

 

[PepsNick]

Cyn, how horrible! I am so sorry for this- what a way for the family to find out.

71f here!