Sierra Mountains-Gold Country-Foothills

[harbisgirl]

As wonderful as Bradshaw feed is - I love that place and the employees! - those are really Easter Eggers, not Ameraucanas.
But the Wellies have been very nice birds. So are the Cuckoo Marans, also dark egg layers.
Oh, crud! It IS delivery day and I'm stopping there for feed on my way home from work today. Auugh!

Thanks for the tips - if I can't bet my birds I'l give the Wellies and Cuckoo Marans a try. I know nothing about chicken breeds so I'm just winging it here I made my selections just off of reading their profiles here. I chose breeds that were friendly - to people and other chickens, good layers, and good sized eggs.

 

[harbisgirl]

I have a couple of question, as I mentioned, I am new to the forum and chickens so with that said, doesn't everyone here worry about disease when buying from a bulk supplier and/or a feed store? I have never purchased my birds (or other animals for that matter) from a store where animals come in and out in bulk. I am not saying anything bad about these places, just that I don't know enough to make an informed decision, what are everyone else's thoughts? Am I being paranoid? Does everyone quarantine the new birds? I have a quarantine building for my imported and new animals, is that what I people do for all of their new chicks or birds?

That's a very good qusetion, I've often wondered the same thing. Luckily i'm starting a brand new flock so I just need to worry about this batch and not infecting an existing flock, so I haven't worried TOO much about it. I'd like to hear others thoughts on this as well

 

[sherylreno]

It's very rare to get diseases from hatchery birds, it can happen but not very often. I have a separate area for my new baby chickens. They live in my house with my baby ducks until their feathers grow in and then they go outside in another area where the flock can see them but not touch them.

 

[philter4]

It's very rare to get diseases from hatchery birds, it can happen but not very often. I have a separate area for my new baby chickens. They live in my house with my baby ducks until their feathers grow in and then they go outside in another area where the flock can see them but not touch them.

Thanks for the input, but it sounds like you quarantine your birds just with the setup you have for the chicks, that is probably a good way to do it just in case. I am still a little worried about it with so many animals who are often very stressed from shipping and moving them. How do they keep the incidence of disease down? Do day old chicks just not get sick or do they treat the them with some sort of preventative? If so what do they use?

I am asking because I used to handle animals with everything from breeding and buying other captive born all the way to importing, quarantine, and then reshipping them all over the world and it was always a concern, right now I have some very hard to find bloodlines (F1's and bloodlines back to wild birds) of my jungle fowl but I want to raise two turkeys for Thanksgiving this year and I am very afraid to introduce something that could be transferred to the other birds. My setup would not allow the turkeys to come in direct contact with the jungle fowl but my chickens free range and I have a couple of domesic guinea fowl that also free range and it is easy for them to visit the turkey pens and then go right up to the jungle fowl flight pens.

 

[sherylreno]

You have a very valid concern with your flock. All my friends who get chickens raise them indoors until they can go out once they are feathered in. I just remembered one of my friends has since made an area inside her coop where you new chicks are. She only had them just over a week when she did it. I know she's not having any issues.

Day olds from the hatchery's go from hatching straight into shipping boxes. They don't ever see or are in contact with older birds so they don't get anything. The only thing they can get would be passed through the egg which is very rare to start with. Most diseases come from people who let their hens do the hatching or has their chickies close to their flock in their brooders in the same area as the older chickens.

You should be just fine if you order from a hatchery though since those chickies. I'm getting a couple of pullets soon and those will go on the otherside of my yard away from my flock for 6 weeks at the most.

 

[philter4]

Thanks for the information and the help, I feel a little better about getting them from a hatchery because they will be isolated until they can go outside just because of their safety and this will give me the time I need to observe them and make sure they are not carrying anything that the chickens or guineas could possibly transfer. I have to say I never put much thought into a hatchery but the point about the chicks being shipped right away and never being in contact with the breeders is something I should have realized, they don't let the birds hatch or raise the chicks until sale, they are all done in incubators which would limit any exposure to disease.

 

[harbisgirl]

I GOT MY CHICKS!!! I got there around 5pm and they still had some EE's and Astrolorps. Yippee! Connie was there and she helped me. I got two Easter Eggers, one Australorp, one Orpington, one Plymouth Rock and one Rhode Island Red. I have no idea which one is which though! If you guys know who is who I would appreciate it The girls names are Lucy, Ethel, Laverne, Shirley, Miss Templeton Peck and Eggroll. I've been preparing for them for so long, I can't believe I finally have them.

 

[gryeyes]

So, harbisgirl, isn't Bradshaw Feed wonderful???

I've been going there for more than two years, and got to watch as the renovations were made to change from multitudes of the metal troughs to those nifty wall cabinets with the nipple feeders and drawers. Now there's no customer-mixed chicks from one trough to another, for one thing. The chicks are happier and healthier.

And all the employees are super.

The stock of supplies is superior to many other such establishments.

Your chicks are adorable (of course)!

 

[harbisgirl]

Yes, I loved it! I do try to shop locally when I can but I gotta say - I'll be going there from now on. Its only a few minutes from work too. Yes, they are all nice (I love how the lads carry the big stuff out to your car!) and their selection was great. I was surprised at the prices too. Nothing to complain about Definately going back to check it out in more detail - I was all kerfuffled with my bag of chicks so I couldnt linger the way I would have liked.

 

[sherylreno]

You have really pretty chicks harbisgirl! I can see Laverne is an EE and Lucy is your RIR but I can't tell that much with the other chicks.

Congratulations on your new babies!

Okay, I'm trying this again. I have 14 duck eggs in the incubator with a hatch date of 4/26. My friend is letting me borrow her other incubator in case of hatching issues again. My LG has the built in fan and I can't turn it off at all and I also placed a plastic tray with holes in it and all of this caused humidity issues. I could not get the humidity up for hatching. I was lucky I had 2 ducks make it last time. I keep looking up incubators and the Brinsea seems to be the best because it can monitor the temp and humidity much better and it has a container to hold the water in and it will pump the water in when it's needed but I can't afford one those yet! But someday, I shall save all my money from hatching out these beautiful ducks and will splurge with one of those.

I can always dream!