Silkie thread!

[Suzierd]

Oh, duh! LOL! I don't know why I didn't think of that, since we used a fake egg to encourage our first girl to start laying. Thanks for the reminder! Now, to find the fake egg....

Just leave a real one in for a day or two.

 

[Suzierd]

I have a canon EOS 1000D with zoom lens.

And some simply beautiful subjects.

Just Amazing! Love your pics!

 

[Suzierd]

I don't put roos together at all. When they are young they seem to get along till any girls in the juvie pen get old enough for breeding. I have had pullets get broken backs because the boys would take turns with the girls till they broke them. When I see the boys are getting frisky they are removed and separated and I just leave 1 boy in with the girls till they start to lay. Then I put them in the pen they are to go in. I also quarantine birds I get from somebody else. While they are in quarantine I go ahead and treat them for worms. After quarantine they get baths to remove any bugs they may have before they go in the pen I got them for.

Wow broken backs

that's terrible.

 

[CarsonOrps]

Just leave a real one in for a day or two.

Yeah that would work but make sure it don't break

 

[emvickrey]

Mine refuse to lay in those type of bins. You can put a small pet carrier with the door taken off or a plastic storage container like one for shoes but a little bigger but not taller. I put 2 small bricks in those. One at each end then fill it with straw. They make a nest in the middle and it won't turn over when they step on the side. I also use wicker baskets that I get at Goodwill. The ones that aren't tall but wide. I use wire to attach those to the wall or put a couple screws in the bottom to attach them to the floor so they don't tip either. I have a dog house inside one of my pens. I'm trying to get a broody to sit on eggs I have in a pet carrier instead of in the dog house so when I collect eggs I don't have to disturb her and the eggs I want to hatch. She's not going for it yet. Then I have some that will lay on the floor no matter what I put in their pen. Even with fake eggs.

 

[emvickrey]

Yea it is. I was furious. It's the last time I did alot of hatching in the winter for spring sales. Now I just hatch what I'm trying to either improve or just add to my pens. What don't make the cut gets sold. I don't have alot of problems now. When I discovered what was happening to the pullets I took all the boys out, put them in cages and took them to the auction. I hate the auction because they don't get treated the way I treat them. They get pulled out of the cages and held up by their wings and they scream. I just can't stand it. It has to hurt. But I had to get them sold unfortunately. But I haven't had to result to the auction in a few years since I stopped hatching so many. Now it's a few here and there. Then the fertility checks.

 

[emvickrey]

where do I get stuff to treat for worms? I know there's an avian animal hospital by me but no "chicken vet"

I use Wazine to worm mine. I do it twice a year unless somebody gets worms between the time I normally worm. Others use Ivermectin which is a better wormer but I don't know the dosage. The Wazine I can put in their water. It's meant to use for one day but I leave it for 3 and it does the trick. You can't eat the eggs for 3 weeks after treatment. I just take that time to either sell them for hatching or I hatch them myself. When they aren't laying is a good time to do it so eggs don't get wasted. The 2 times I worm are in the early spring and fall.

Oh, you can get wormer at any farm store. If you choose something other than Wazine get what is given to goats and/or pigs. I would think something for larger farm animals would be to strong. IDK though because I don't use it. If you have a small flock you can get wormer from your vet. I had some that I had to take to the vet this winter and he wormed them for me.

Just a little info some may find useful. This past winter I thought I had an outbreak of Mereks. It turned out to be worms. One died on it's own and I put the other 2 down trying to stop the infection while waiting for the necropsy report. After the report came in I took the 4th one that came down with the same symptons to the vet. He wormed him, treated him for brain swelling which was a shot of steroid and gave him antibiotics in case he was sick. Thats when he told me that he had somebody bring him in a chicken that was thought to have Mereks and after the necropsy report came in it turned out to be worms. The necropsy report from my pullet said it had pneumonia. It showed no signs of it. I had tried to cure it myself with tetracyclene, then corrid and it ended up dying. I had my house hen come down sick. She showed some signs of Mereks and of another illness called Ulcerative Enteritis. So I treated her for the UE and she got better. Her symptoms where depression, egg laying stopped and her skin, beak, earlobes legs, feet and toes turned white. Powder white. And she did not want to be touched. She didn't show any paralysis though. The treatment was Duramyacin. She is fine now and is back to her normal loving self. She don't lay eggs regularly anymore but I don't sell or eat her eggs anyway. She isn't fertile and her eggs are very small. She has a deformity to one side of her face and I don't want to pass it on to any offspring so she has been my house hen for 5 years now. Sometimes she gets a room mate when I have lack of space and if it's a boy that needs a place to hang out till he's old enough to breed I make sure he is removed as soon as he starts wanting to breed. The boy that was saved from what I was thinking was Mereks has been her room mate since winter but he hasn't shown any interest in her for breeding so far.

So before anybody culls thinking their birds has Mereks just isolate them and treat for worms.

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

I have a canon EOS 1000D with zoom lens.






And some simply beautiful subjects.

What beautiful pics What color is this silkie?

 

[Suzierd]

where do I get stuff to treat for worms? I know there's an avian animal hospital by me but no "chicken vet"

Your feed store will carry wormer. Valbazen in the cattle section works great for chickens and kill all worms. 1/4 cc for bantys and Silkies.
Dose again in 10 days.

 

[Brunsy26]

I use Wazine to worm mine. I do it twice a year unless somebody gets worms between the time I normally worm. Others use Ivermectin which is a better wormer but I don't know the dosage. The Wazine I can put in their water. It's meant to use for one day but I leave it for 3 and it does the trick. You can't eat the eggs for 3 weeks after treatment.  I just take that time to either sell them for hatching or I hatch them myself. When they aren't laying is a good time to do it so eggs don't get wasted. The 2 times I worm are in the early spring and fall. 

Oh, you can get wormer at any farm store. If you choose something other than Wazine get what is given to goats and/or pigs. I would think something for larger farm animals would be to strong. IDK though because I don't use it. If you have a small flock you can get wormer from your vet. I had some that I had to take to the vet this winter and he wormed them for me.

Just a little info some may find useful. This past winter I thought I had an outbreak of Mereks. It turned out to be worms. One died on it's own and I put the other 2 down trying to stop the infection while waiting for the necropsy report. After the report came in I took the 4th one that came down with the same symptons to the vet. He wormed him, treated him for brain swelling which was a shot of steroid and gave him antibiotics in case he was sick. Thats when he told me that he had somebody bring him in a chicken that was thought to have Mereks and after the necropsy report came in it turned out to be worms. The necropsy report from my pullet said it had pneumonia. It showed no signs of it.  I had tried to cure it myself with tetracyclene, then corrid and it ended up dying.  I had my house hen come down sick. She showed some signs of Mereks and of another illness called Ulcerative Enteritis. So I treated her for the UE and she got better.  Her symptoms where depression, egg laying stopped and her skin, beak, earlobes legs, feet and toes turned white. Powder white. And she did not want to be touched. She didn't show any paralysis though. The treatment was Duramyacin. She is fine now and is back to her normal loving self. She don't lay eggs regularly anymore but I don't sell or eat her eggs anyway. She isn't fertile and her eggs are very small. She has a deformity to one side of her face and I don't want to pass it on to any offspring so she has been my house hen for 5 years now. Sometimes she gets a room mate when I have lack of space and if it's a boy that needs a place to hang out till he's old enough to breed I make sure he is removed as soon as he starts wanting to breed. The boy that was saved from what I was thinking was Mereks has been her room mate since winter but he hasn't shown any interest in her for breeding so far.

So before anybody culls thinking their birds has Mereks just isolate them and treat for worms.

Thanks for all the help! I've never wormed any of my silkie(4 of them now 5) but I think I'm going to start soon. I only have one vet near me and it's an avian vet. Do you think that would cover chickens? I really don't want to have to drive 2 hours to get to one but I would if I really really had to for a sick bird.