Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[cheeka]

ooh... Lyme... my dog had lyme last year. I saw she was not herself, wobbly, then fine, then wobbly... took her to the vet the next day... Doc thought it was a little fast to be thinking Lyme, she had only had the symptoms the night before, and of course Ruby was fine the next morning, and perfect at the vet... still, I had the quick test done, and sure enough... she was positive. Columbia County, NY, which is only 50 miles from here is the Lyme Capitol of the nation now. and it is where old bh lives. He's had Lyme FIVE times. (bh!) Ruby and I had been down about 3 weeks before she showed symptoms, and I never did find any tick... but knowing how prevalent it is, I was sure she had it.

MC, I'm so sorry about your hen. even if she wasn't a "fave", it still stinks.

I have a few super cute videos, and I still cannot figure out how to get them to load here. I guess I have to load them to youtube first, so I can create the url... I do have a youtube acct, I have one video that I made a year ago or more, my little fish, bubble surfing. ("bubble surfing krib") I'll get to it... and I never checked for eggs late in the afternoon. I forgot... when I was out earlier, the RIR's and BR's were nesting, and I didn't disturb them.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Geeez, and until byc I had heard nothing but good about earthworms!?! Those poor robins, out there every spring playing earthworm roulette! Never knowing which worm will be the one. Snif. Seriously, this fall I was collecting up the scattered pieces of slab wood to tidy up that side of the woods, and of course my roger version hen raced over to help me, constantly getting in the way to clean up all those nasty earthworms under the wood. I almost felt bad from all I've read online about parasites, then decided to forget all that and help her pig out. She's still alive with no problems. I just keep an eye out but refuse to get paranoid about what they eat. Jeepers, they can eat practically anything and they know it! Little bugggers!

 

[BullChick]

I think the more I research, the worse I am feeling about it. In my local thread someone else (Sally Sunshine) lost a girl to bumble foot this morning too. Another woman is probably going to lose her's by morning. IDK what her's has either. Sounds like mine. She turned 30 today. As she said, "Nice way to end my birthday!"
I commented this morning that I hope no one else loses a bird today. About nine years ago someone said that deaths in PA happen in 3's. Sure enough, they do. Sometimes I think it is because we are looking for it. This is a case that cannot be denied.
I am tired of looking for cures. Someone just tell me the #1 thing to use for worms, how to use it, how long to not eat the eggs, and how I know it is worms.
Then tell me if I should worry about yet another pullet making a sneezing noise. In the past year no one has died from it, and it is not all the time. It has gone away for each girl, and it is pretty much one girl at a time. We have talked about this before. We are gonna do it again! If they are quiet at night while sleeping, are we in the clear?
My new gang.

The other gang is "the Biker Chicks" I guess these can be "Brat's Angels"
My handle is Brat. IDK why! Really!!

 

[cheeka]

that is the youtube url for the first video... hope it works. give it a few minutes while the edits take place... the rooster crowing at one point is Archie... he's behind me, and not in this video.

 

[cheeka]

it works! huzzah! now it's crazy late and I'm ridiculous to think that I should still be awake... G'night all! I'll get more videos going on soon, now that I've refreshed myself on all the "how-to's"

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Geeez, and until byc I had heard nothing but good about earthworms!?! Those poor robins, out there every spring playing earthworm roulette! Never knowing which worm will be the one. Snif. Seriously, this fall I was collecting up the scattered pieces of slab wood to tidy up that side of the woods, and of course my roger version hen raced over to help me, constantly getting in the way to clean up all those nasty earthworms under the wood. I almost felt bad from all I've read online about parasites, then decided to forget all that and help her pig out. She's still alive with no problems. I just keep an eye out but refuse to get paranoid about what they eat. Jeepers, they can eat practically anything and they know it! Little bugggers!

Ignorance really can be bliss! I'm not going to be paranoid, but I think it's interesting how complex the cycles of life are and how much goes on without our even knowing. This has a good chart (and no gross pics).

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/htm/bc/tpou05.htm

 

[Wishing4Wings]

it works! huzzah! now it's crazy late and I'm ridiculous to think that I should still be awake... G'night all! I'll get more videos going on soon, now that I've refreshed myself on all the "how-to's"

Very cute! Love the cat trying to get in on the action, and the roo seemed to be trying to protect the chicks. Is the white one really always in the thick of things, or does she just stand out?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

I doubt all earthworms in all regions are carriers. Just the luck of the draw. We've had ticks and mosquitoes and have managed to avoid lyme's disease and west nile virus, both of which have made appearances in our county. Besides, if I can blame the earthworms it makes me feel better! It's not my fault!

Mommy guilt strikes again!

The idea of the ACV (the kind with the mother/live cultures) and pepper flakes and the like is that it helps keep them at optimal health, so if they do encounter virus/bacteria/parasite they are better able to fight the nasty. If your girls are good, I wouldn't do anything they don't need, but those preventatives certainly can help.

Just in case you're interested and want to wade through 14 pages, this is a fairly comprehensive worm thread. There are some good gross-out pics too!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ts-is-not-coryza-or-crd-parasites-are-rampant

I must have missed somewhere the initial mention of the worm problem...else I'd have added my 2¢ worth. I'll just say that if you can see the parasite you have to treat for it cause too much overloaded on that chicken....needs some help. If I had a microscope I might look for signs but never have seen a worm segment in any chicken poop. Maybe since they free range all over they find natural dewormers. I know when i brought my puppies home a year or so ago I freaked out after finding a flea....and they'd been all over the place, in the coop, dust bowl....I dumped sevin in the dust bowl and coop floor....so much for chemical free....but no way I want fleas. They never became a problem and I haven't used anything else. As for internal parasites...I've never seen any inside or out...but then too, very healthy looking birds. If I did see a problem I would worm them hard and fast and by the book then fix where they came from......either that or scrap the bunch and start over. Some say individual chickens just aren't healthy and can't handle a little parasite activity....but if you go swimming with leeches you ought to pick them off your body and maybe stay out of the water.

I guess I started it because there is something wrong with my girls (super watery poos, excessive eating and drinking, low egg production) and I can't seem to find the problem except maybe worms, so I am worming them (ditto on ....so much for chemical free....). No tapeworm segments in sight and my little field microscope is not good enough for oocyst id. If you see worms in the poo (other than tape worms) then it's a pretty bad case. Hoping I've caught it early. Some individuals are worse off than others, by the evidence under the roosts each morning

, and they're almost all hatchery stock, so probably not as robust as yours. If the worming doesn't work, I figure it won't hurt too much, but I don't know what to try after that, so I'm really hoping it solves the problem.

Oh, and leeches? Creepy little suckers! shudder

I think we started talking more about it too when i got my 2 new piglets. They were in a lot of filth basically, poor babies, and I was worried since the chickens visit the pigs, we would have worm outbreaks. Filthy conditions just beg for parasites to move in

So we got them practically free, brought them home and got them into the hog pasture. Dry ground, clean hay.. they have a mudpit waller in the corner. After talking to my Dad and looking all over the internet, I figured I better just worm everyone and be safe about it, especially since I plan to bring my milking goat home this weekend!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I think the more I research, the worse I am feeling about it. In my local thread someone else (Sally Sunshine) lost a girl to bumble foot this morning too. Another woman is probably going to lose her's by morning. IDK what her's has either. Sounds like mine. She turned 30 today. As she said, "Nice way to end my birthday!"
I commented this morning that I hope no one else loses a bird today. About nine years ago someone said that deaths in PA happen in 3's. Sure enough, they do. Sometimes I think it is because we are looking for it. This is a case that cannot be denied.
I am tired of looking for cures. Someone just tell me the #1 thing to use for worms, how to use it, how long to not eat the eggs, and how I know it is worms.
Then tell me if I should worry about yet another pullet making a sneezing noise. In the past year no one has died from it, and it is not all the time. It has gone away for each girl, and it is pretty much one girl at a time. We have talked about this before. We are gonna do it again! If they are quiet at night while sleeping, are we in the clear?
My new gang.

The other gang is "the Biker Chicks" I guess these can be "Brat's Angels"
My handle is Brat. IDK why! Really!!

I realized if my guys eat dry crumble, the whole gang starts sneezing. Theres been a few times I wasn't home and my daughters fed dry feed. every one out there was sneezing. same way with the scratch. IDK if that may be whats happening? So now, i tell them to add warm water if I can't be home to feed. Usually we get back early from dialysis but there's been a couple bad rounds and its way after dark when we finally get home.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I think the more I research, the worse I am feeling about it. In my local thread someone else (Sally Sunshine) lost a girl to bumble foot this morning too. Another woman is probably going to lose her's by morning. IDK what her's has either. Sounds like mine. She turned 30 today. As she said, "Nice way to end my birthday!"
I commented this morning that I hope no one else loses a bird today. About nine years ago someone said that deaths in PA happen in 3's. Sure enough, they do. Sometimes I think it is because we are looking for it. This is a case that cannot be denied.
I am tired of looking for cures. Someone just tell me the #1 thing to use for worms, how to use it, how long to not eat the eggs, and how I know it is worms.
Then tell me if I should worry about yet another pullet making a sneezing noise. In the past year no one has died from it, and it is not all the time. It has gone away for each girl, and it is pretty much one girl at a time. We have talked about this before. We are gonna do it again! If they are quiet at night while sleeping, are we in the clear?
My new gang.

The other gang is "the Biker Chicks" I guess these can be "Brat's Angels"
My handle is Brat. IDK why! Really!!

I think sometimes there's not much you can do. Chickens do what they can to hide that they are sick so they don't make it easy for you to help them. Giving worming meds and antibiotics unnecessarily can cause immunity in what you are trying to get rid of, so it seems like the cure can cause problems too. No easy answers, I'm afraid.

As for the sneezing, I think chickens sneeze for the same reasons we do. It doesn't always mean they're sick. Mine got a bit of scratch yesterday that was dusty from being milled, and a few who were trying to pig it down made these high pitched squeaky-hoking sneezes. Kind of funny! The Brat's Angels

look good!