Surviving Minnesota!

[scandiafowl]

Built this door for my run today. I'm darn proud! HWC for bottom 3 feet then 2x4 welded wire the rest of the way coming up shortly. My Chicks are so small I'm not too worried yet but "chicken" time seems to be as confusing as chicken math!!!!

Nice door!
I'm still debating whether to haul my friends coop down from Mora or build my own.

 

[scandiafowl]

When you hear your LGD run into the pasture where the cows and calves are, and she won't stop barking, and there's a mountain lion in the area......

LGD? Large Great Dane?

 

[duluthralphie]

Ralph that is awesome!! So when r u going to come test my birdies for showing?!! Lol glad u passed!

You want to wait until closer to showing time. The show inspection is only good for 90 days, the sale one is only good for 30.


BTW because you have your sweet smelly, stinky ugly ducks, the cost will be around 500 bucks a bird because I am not looking forward to giving your ducks a prostate exam!

 

[scandiafowl]

After cleaning the coop and other duties, a beekeeping friend invited me over to help put two queens and their colonies into their hives!

It was a pretty neat experience. Since they had no hive to protect, they were very docile. He still lent me one of his old bee suits and the mesh bonnet. He is much taller than I am, so I was waddling around like a kid playing dress up LOL

After watching/assisting with the first one, I was able to silently assist him with the second one with no directions from him. I feel really good, so far about being able to learn this aspect of animal husbandry. I've done a ton of reading, but there is nothing like first hand experience.

Chicken related because the hives are next to the poultry run

Very cool - my next project, after the second coop, is beekeeping. We have 40 acres that was used for pasture 30 years ago and has grown wild since then. Perfect for bees and I want to help rebuild the species.

 

[duluthralphie]

Yay I knew you'd do well! All that menards lumber and all. 99% of the Menards lumber is still in the truck.

I'm thinking you have a false positive. Isn't PT highly contagious to the rest of the flock. If that bird was mainstreamed others and a true PT positive surely there would be other birds affected...? I think you made the right choice off further testing personally. That is one of the reasons I decided the way I did, The whole NPIP came about because in the 30's (or early 40's) PT was running across the country killing millions of chickens. The odds of just one bird in a flock having it is extremely low. The other reason is this bird is either Bert Jr's Mother or Aunt. Bert would never forgive me if I killed his Mom! I would never dare turn my back on Bert for fear of him jumping me from behind and slashing my Throat!

BTW the Lady Vet says Bert is the biggest Chicken she has ever seen. She also said Bertha has the smallest wings she has seen on an adult chicken. I am guessing the small wings is why Bertha doesn't fly much.

No eggs today and it's snowing tonight.
Sylvia has very long toenails. She just let's Roger do everything for her. So tonight I clipped them. I think they get so long that they're difficult to use as well. The middle toe was a little thicker do I need to bring down a bigger clipper for the middle toe nails.

 

[duluthralphie]

So glad to hear things went well! I have been busy all day and this is great news to bring a close to it! Fingers crossed for your hen. So does this mean you are NPIP? Or is there more paperwork and what not?

I have a "Official Poultry Testing Agent" number now, I need to use it to send my inspection form in. I do not have the Official signed and dated Membership card and decoder ring yet. They will be coming in the mail. I assume I will get some stuff over the next couple weeks. The turkey blood must be analyzed to get the flock designation, that will take a week or 2.

It's the government so you know nothing will move fast. I applied for a lot of stuff, I figured I might as well get it all, So I am getting a flock designation, Hatchery permit, export permits, and I really do not remember what all else. I think I got all the "ratings" for the tests except the "hatchery debris" testing/gathering one. She would have given me that/showed me/taught me that one, but I would never use it. You have to have a breeding flock of over 100 hens to qualify or be required to do that test. I figured anyone with 100 breeding hens is going to either have a tester on sight or be one.

If I was not under the quarantine I could issue the certificate of origin for the 4h kids or NPIP requires to bring a bird into a flock. BTW that does not mean you can bring a bird in and skip the quarantine we use for other things, it really only applies to PT ( Pullorum-Typhoid). The turkeys are checked for that and Mycoplasma galliseptucum and Mycoplasma synoviac, I think those are bad by the length of the name of it.

I hope when the decoder ring comes and I get to use it, the message is not a simple " Drink More Ovaltine"

 

[duluthralphie]

JJ and the lady vet! Hilarious!

I'm glad it went well overall for you, @duluthralphie. So did you pass the first phase or the whole shebang?

I cannot for the life of me figure out what PT means. Not physical training...poultry tetanus? LOL I am grasping at straws. I probably would have made the same call on the Rainbow.

What a refreshing change the whole thing must have been from the usual dealings many of us have had with government organizations. Or are the NPIP inspectors from a private organization? Just curious.

Anyway, very happy for you.

They are State employees. The one spent 22 years as an army vet assigned to a navy base. I did not know there was such a thing. The other female has her own private animal clinic besides working for the state, reminded me of me with being a state employee and working another business. I am guessing she is one busy woman! The last guy had his own practice as I understand it and recently took the state job or moved to the poultry division. I am not quite sure on it, because he said he works with all kinds of animals. He lives in Princeton, I really liked him and would like to get to know him better, he was real intelligent and interesting to listen too. All three had great personalities and did not come off as "uppity". I know this is stereotyping on my part, but so many Vets seem aloof and "uppity" when I see them in their offices.

These were people I think all of us would like to sit with, talk to and pick their brains. They were not afraid. " I do not know the answer to that" when I had questions about some things. I respect that more than a bad answer. On a couple things they even said " I think, and I am not sure but..." qualifying their answers.


BTW the PT training for the chickens was strenuous on them. Bert was the only one that could get the little chicken barbell over his head 10 times.

 

[duluthralphie]

When you hear your LGD run into the pasture where the cows and calves are, and she won't stop barking, and there's a mountain lion in the area......

Where are you at that you have a Mountain Lion in your area? Togo is the capital for Mountain Lions in Minnesota is why I ask.

 

[duluthralphie]

I slept well, I did not have any "Adult Beverages" last night. I had "kids" drinks instead, I had a couple cups of hot chocolate without Schnapps in it even!

I think I was in bed well before 9. I slept well until about 2 this morning. I woke up to a Charlie horse in my left calf, the back of my femur on my left leg and the inside of my femur/groin on my right leg. I actually screamed in pain. I could not straighten one to pull the cramp out of it without making the others hurt and cramp worse. It was not fun. There was a few minutes there I thought it might be hospital time. Yep, they hurt that bad, and 3 at once has never happened before. I am still sore in all three places and am going to skip my daily 20 mile run with EJB today. This could be a lay around day.

I suppose that had to do with spending 10 hours standing on cement yesterday.

I got up a little before 5 as I was having a caffeine withdrawals, I think I was about 5 cups short yesterday. .

When I came out here to the dining room all the babies were asleep under the MHP. As soon as I sat down for coffee a massive number decided to come to the corner closest to me to stare at me.


The pictures are bad but look:





I am going to so miss them for coffee mates next year. They make the day start right. I wonder if I can get them classified as therapy chicks and have them exempted from living outside.

 

[ejb3810]

Ralphie, from this point on you will not be able to add birds to your operation unless they come from an NPIP certified flock. Is that not correct?
I know some that are NPIP certified sell chicks and birds without issuing the certificate, which complicates things.
I assume the large hatcheries are NPIP, but when they sell chicks they do not issue a certificate. How does that factor in?

Those muscle spasms are likely more the result of inadequate consumption of the proper beverages.

You paid a fee to go to the class related to NPIP, but there was no charge for the whole process yesterday? Even though one of your Tom Turkeys made sexual advances toward one of the Vets?
How many birds did you have to test? I know it was the whole flock, but what is that number?