South Carolina

[WestKnollAmy]

Oh hey, I worked for an Avian vet and she still hated to do anything with chickens. She was more about Parrots and Exotics than the wonderful pet chicken. I'll take my chickens over Exotics any day as mine don't try to eat my face off and have been domesticated into being pets willingly.
I know it is hard to find a vet that has much care for our beloved pet chickens. It can be costly, too. I spent enough in the past on it and try to glean some from past experiences to deal with stuff but it is often hard. Especially when migratory birds come through and bring all kinds of things.
Which is now. Every evening I get to enjoy the beauty of the Canadian Geese flying over 30-60 at a time. After all these years I still love to see it. The ducks come over occasionally and I try and spot the Indigo Bunting and others that make their way through this time of year. I still see the tiny Hummingbirds flitting around looking for food and the bats are still coming out at night for the last bugs.

It is such a fight to keep our animals healthy from unseen boogers that get dropped off from visitors flying over.

 

[monkeemakr]

Quote:
Lauren,
I'm so sorry to hear about your flock. I've had a lot of the same in mine. I was about to get a trio of Marans from Henthyme when it hit. It took about some of the turkeys first and I've lost about 8 chickens too. The only thing I could figure was a sick blue jay that was flying around erractically around the chicken shed. I've had some luck with spraying with Oxine, just misting lightly over the heads of the chickens and turkeys when they roost, and over the head of any sick ones. It seems to help, but that may just be me desperately wanting something to do that works. I haven't seen any growths or tumors, except one chick had what I thought was a tumor near the eye. He got better and it went down drastically, but I had to go out of town for 4 days and my son didn't spray, and he ended up dying, may have anyway. But it turned out to be swollen sinus (or at least I think, my first attempt at anything like this). Mine seen to have bouts whenever they have any little bit of stress. I hope both of flocks get over this, and get better. Amy is right about the vets and Clemson, haven't been able to get any help there. And right about the ducks. I love my chickens and I can't see myself ever giving up on them, but I've got to admit, the ducks lay extremely well and are practically maintenance free except for keeping their pools clean. They never seem to get sick.
Praying for you and your babies,
Deb

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
I'm so sorry to hear you're having such a time with your chickens. Hang in there, they are worth the trouble. I don't know what to tell you as I've never had this problem myself. But if it were me, I would spray everything with Oxine. It is great and it won't hurt the chickens. It's actually good for chickens with respiratory issues to spray the Oxine and it helps them recover. It would help "clean" the coop, especially if you can't move them to clean ground. That's really all I can think of to do.

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
I haven't seen my hummingbirds in about a week now. It is time for them to move on for the winter. I always look forward to seeing them again in the spring. I dreamed about goldfinches last night - haven't seen any in awhile so I don't know why they were on my mind. Yes, I'm always thinking "birds" even in my sleep!

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
Lauren,
I'm so sorry to hear about your flock. I've had a lot of the same in mine. I was about to get a trio of Marans from Henthyme when it hit. It took about some of the turkeys first and I've lost about 8 chickens too. The only thing I could figure was a sick blue jay that was flying around erractically around the chicken shed. I've had some luck with spraying with Oxine, just misting lightly over the heads of the chickens and turkeys when they roost, and over the head of any sick ones. It seems to help, but that may just be me desperately wanting something to do that works. I haven't seen any growths or tumors, except one chick had what I thought was a tumor near the eye. He got better and it went down drastically, but I had to go out of town for 4 days and my son didn't spray, and he ended up dying, may have anyway. But it turned out to be swollen sinus (or at least I think, my first attempt at anything like this). Mine seen to have bouts whenever they have any little bit of stress. I hope both of flocks get over this, and get better. Amy is right about the vets and Clemson, haven't been able to get any help there. And right about the ducks. I love my chickens and I can't see myself ever giving up on them, but I've got to admit, the ducks lay extremely well and are practically maintenance free except for keeping their pools clean. They never seem to get sick.
Praying for you and your babies,
Deb

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Oxine! I use it for everything, even to disinfect my house after someone's been sick. It is wonderful stuff. It also helped one of my hens that was stressed from raising too many babies in the summer heat. A few days of being misted with Oxine and she was back 100%.

 

[gvilledh]

Quote:
I haven't seen my hummingbirds in about a week now. It is time for them to move on for the winter. I always look forward to seeing them again in the spring. I dreamed about goldfinches last night - haven't seen any in awhile so I don't know why they were on my mind. Yes, I'm always thinking "birds" even in my sleep!

I haven't seen any hummers, either, but my goldfinches are still around. They are molting into their winter colors now, so they look kinda comical. The white-throated sparrows have arrived now. I'm sure the juncos will be here before too long. I always love seeing the winter birds come in.

 

[gvilledh]

We have some friends who live in Greensboro who are getting great joy at the thought of me with chickens. They just never imagined it. One of them was here last night and thought it would be fun to bring me a gift. He brought the Backyard Poultry magazine. I think he was surprised at just how excited I was about it! He saw it in Tractor Supply. I guess he knows now that I'm more serious about my chickens than they realized. The magazine is great!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

LOL
I have a well worn copy of the Backyard Poultry Magazine from June/July 2008. It has articles of Guineas and d'Uccles in it. My favorite one though is Feb/March as it has the absolute best Muscovy article in it!

 

[Joycats]

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I cannot be without my BYP magazine! I subscribe every year as my Christmas gift to myself and I keep everyone of them. I often refer back to them for info. It's well worth the money and I look forward to getting mine in the mail. Wish they came monthly instead of bi-monthly. I have also given them as gifts.