Stella's Social Club

[mlm Mike]

Looks like she's found a new favorite perch! Does she return to the coop at night?

She returns to the goat barn to sleep. Not our first choice, but it works. One, sometimes two Icelandics sleep in the goat barn, too.

 

[Happy Chooks]

That's a neat turkey trick!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Here is my broody Icelandic girl with her wellie babies. Can you tell she was soooooo thrilled to have me taking a picture?

 

[mlm Mike]

Here is my broody Icelandic girl with her wellie babies. Can you tell she was soooooo thrilled to have me taking a picture?

I think she wants you to pick up her chicks! I like how all the chicks are watching her.

 

[The Sheriff]

Nice pictures mlmddh and Kelly! I have been trying to see them all day but HughesNet is too slow to load pics so I only get blue question marks instead. Finally tonight I can see pics again.

 

[The Sheriff]

I wanted to share some sad stuff we are going through here. We have an outbreak of blackhead in our little flock of seven, now six turkeys. I noticed one lethargic hen three days ago. I assumed she had coccidiosis since we have had it in that yard before with chickens. I started treating all the turkeys for coccidiosis. It was two days later before the dark heads from cyanosis started showing up and the telltale bright yellow frothy stools. I researched and added gobs of cayenne pepper to their feed and went searching for the right medicine. I finally found it at the fish store as API General Cure for treating parasites in fish. It contains Metronidazole, or Flagyl when given to humans. It also has the wormer Praziquantel in it which the Merck vet manual says is ok for poultry. I gave a bolus to the really sick hen and added it to the drinking water for the others. The next morning one of my toms was too sick to move and he was being pecked alive by the others. His head was dark grey, almost black. That is the sign that the liver is so involved that they are starving for blood and begin to turn black from cyanosis. Michael put him down for me. I cried my eyes out.

Over the course of the day yesterday all of there heads turned a light grey and they just laid in the yard barely moving. The yard and coop was littered with bright yellow poop. I was surprised that any were alive today as the mortality rate is 80-100% within 3 days of the first symptoms. This morning I scrambled four eggs with 250 mg of medication and they gobbled it down. I added double the dose to their water than the day before and I gave that to them twice today. By tonight they look a lot better. Their heads are still dark but I haven't seen any fresh yellow stools. They have been a bit more active this afternoon though nothing like they were before they got sick. I have prepared myself to lose them all but pray I won't.

I read so much about people running turkeys and chickens together that I thought we would be ok. Putting them in that yard/coop after moving the chickens out was a huge mistake. Turkeys are so fragile. You can see in this picture how dark this girl's head is. Before she got sick it was white.







Thanks for taking the time to read this far. I feel like we learn from each other's mistakes which makes me a huge asset to the forum! I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Keep my babies in your thoughts please. They are so sweet. Even sick, they manage to get to me and peck my toes when I go in the yard.

 

[The Sheriff]

Today I took video of Lukka's babies. It is posted on my blog. This Lukka clone is my very favorite.




Lukka has tossed the babies to the wind and is back with Isi. I saw them on a date today so I suspect I will have a few fertile eggs available for my very best friends soon. I am keeping all four pullets and one blue cockerel from the chicks Lukka and I hatched in June. That gives me seven Icelandics all togehter. I am going to wait and not hatch anymore and see if I can get some eggs from Sigrid.




This is the cockerel I am keeping.

 

[The Sheriff]

Oh, and we have sheep now. We have no idea where we got them, they have just been here the last two days. They spend the night, poop all over my deck, eat all morning, and leave midday.




They probably heard about the treats here at the Buck 'n Run Ranch!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

LOL Love the sheep!

I am SO SORRY about your turkeys, I had a rough day today, too- had to put down 11 babies this morning I think we got MG from some auction birds that my hubby didn't quarantine.

Hard decision but as we want to hatch and sell in our area we decided not to treat. I still have several separated out for observation but may very well lose them, too. Lost my 1/24 isbar from you, two blue ameraucana, a black ameraucana, and almost all my sweet cream legbar babies. I bawled all morning doing the deed and then cried into the dishwater for a while longer as I started chores. Hubby offered to do the last two batches when he saw how rough it was for me but I told him no. If you are going to have animals you have to be willing to do the right thing for them sometimes and put them down. It was awful. I NEVER want to have to do that many again. The auction birds weren't so hard, but doing my hand hatched babies was heartbreaking!


Luckily the 3/15 Isbars that hatched later I had kept in the house and not taken out to the grower pen so they are safe. Also hatched 3 more today from another source, 2 blue and 1 black, but one blue seems very trembly all over we'll see if he makes it. Also none of the auction birds free ranged with our adults but they were housed adjacent, as MG doesn't spread well by air I am crossing my fingers they are safe.

One thing that made me laugh today- we hatched out some lakenvelder eggs we had bought just for kicks, only 2/9 hatched but one looks all wrong for lakenvelders- take a look! Big humpy head, huge nostrils, well-feathered legs and toes, and a beard? Funniest chick I have ever seen! Any guesses? The egg looked right for a Lakenvelder but the chick is all wrong so I am guessing a cross with strong genes! Yes I know he has toe problems I have a boot on him now, in the morning I may need to splint his legs, too. He had to be helped out of his shell and I don't know if this was caused by or perhaps caused the leg problem. How do you splint a feathered leg without pulling all the feathers out when you need to change the splint? I can't help saying "him" with a big beard like that!




And another fun one just because this is a social thread after all:

My little Lydia LOVED Mommy's chili yesterday! Even though my older kids (and myself) thought it was a little spicy, she just gobbled it up!

 

[drumstick diva]

OH NO break out the haz mat suits

Lydia ate spicy chilli. I remember Michael Keaton in a movie many years back about Mr.Mom or something. He fed the kids chilli and the baby's diaper just about exploded. He had to clean it up. NO chilli for babies.It was hysterical only because it was his situation not mine.