Texas

[kkidsmom]

there are threads dedicated to raising mealworms. there you will find links to people who sell them. I bought mine from Amy Phillips, [email protected] I think her website is simply westknollfarm.com

Hope this helps. FYI they do get a smell if their bedding isnt kept changed, however the processed bedding contains all your eggs, so it is not like you can just dump it all out.

 

[lovingmyhens]

I raise composting earthworms and it is so easy. I bought two 5 gallon buckets from Lowes and drilled holes in bottom of one and put a few layers of newspapers in bottom, compost not fully composted such as chicken manure, scraps, etc and some compost worms and more compost. I put layers of newspapers on top and keep in shady place for summer and keep from freezing in winter. The worm eat their way to top so I keep adding stuff until full then get the wonderful compost out to use in gardens. This bucket sits inside the second one and it catches the wonderful compost tea that I use for my plants. I use the worm compost around plants and worms for chickens and fishing. It is a win win situation. I ordered the composting worms online. Once you get them you're set as they reproduce and make lots. My chickens love worms.

Can you post pictures?? I'd love to see this set up-I am quite the visual person.

 

[Brookshire11]

What happens when they turn into beetles? Don't they escape then?

Your phone is on a roll tonight! Mealworm thing, right?

Yeah, no metalworking, and no mages. Lol!

First I had no idea what she was talking about ..... Metal works...... Bahabaha... Mealworms. Now it makes since. I though I missed something some where! ROFLOL got to love auto correct.

Auto correct gets me everytime...

I've read about doing earthworms. Sounds pretty easy. Let me look....BRB. OK, here is a how to on it. I've thought about it too. I may look into it more....


Possible allergies with mealworms? No thanks. I have them bad enough. I don't need to add to it!

Thanks for the info on Mareks. I wonder if I will have all my chicks in time to vaccinate them. I need to read more about this disease. I know many people don't vaccinate at all.

A lot of places already vaccinate. Have you asked the breeder?


Hope everyone's having a good day!
It's dreary here..makes for a very unproductive day at work....

 

[GaryDean26]

Quote:
I found out that two people at the La Grange Show had Cream Legbar Eggs. The Blue-Blue ones must have been Angie Jone's eggs. She said that she won grand champion in the egg show with her Cream Legbar eggs.

I am still looking for photos of these eggs though.

 

[ThackerArrykka]

The man who has them simply says "between 6months and a year". He works with my wife and has tons of them. He's always giving/selling eggs to coworkers. All I ever talk about is chickens and gardens (I'm new to both) so my wife started asking him questions. He offered to give me a few! I'm in the process of building a chicken tractor in the evenings after work.

That's cool my first chickens where RIR that I helped take care of sadly we think a bobcat kept getting them so until my father in law could rig up the hot wire he got ride of them so then I just started getting chicks I have 3 RIR chicks not and hopefully my two RIR eggs hatch too so I'm excited and as ms jellybean said beware of the chicken math... Didn't understand it till now lol free chicks are always cool to get

 

[orumpoultry]

Uh oh. DF noticed the new chicks in the brooder... Had to whip up some bacon and eggs.

 

[A1momof3]

I've read about doing earthworms. Sounds pretty easy. Let me look....BRB. OK, here is a how to on it. I've thought about it too. I may look into it more....

I agree on the oldest. Mine is starting to get better. I think....

Possible allergies with mealworms? No thanks. I have them bad enough. I don't need to add to it!

Thanks for the info on Mareks. I wonder if I will have all my chicks in time to vaccinate them. I need to read more about this disease. I know many people don't vaccinate at all.

Like your 'bathtub'. That reminds me. When Trevor was about 2 yrs old he called lakes kack kack tubs - (Quack, Quack) - translation, duck tubs. lol! I hope I wrote that one down in his baby book.

No brainer, free chickens = go for it. Good luck to you. Beware of chicken math!

LOL Wow I didn't think you were ever coming back after you wrote BRB.

I will check that out and I think that is going to be my road. We love to go fishing and that is a win win for sure.

I raise composting earthworms and it is so easy. I bought two 5 gallon buckets from Lowes and drilled holes in bottom of one and put a few layers of newspapers in bottom, compost not fully composted such as chicken manure, scraps, etc and some compost worms and more compost. I put layers of newspapers on top and keep in shady place for summer and keep from freezing in winter. The worm eat their way to top so I keep adding stuff until full then get the wonderful compost out to use in gardens. This bucket sits inside the second one and it catches the wonderful compost tea that I use for my plants. I use the worm compost around plants and worms for chickens and fishing. It is a win win situation. I ordered the composting worms online. Once you get them you're set as they reproduce and make lots. My chickens love worms.

I also would love to see pics. I am going to try to do this, seems easy enough. Thanks for the info.

The only problem I have run into with the dust bath thing is when it rains. Mine is not sheltered and it gets soggy after a good rain. I have just gone to letting them dig up a spot in the yard and they go to town in the dirt. When it rains, they just have to wait til it dries out. oh well, chicken probs, as my daughter says.

This is why I was thinking about putting a area in the coop for this as well as what ever they dig up out side. I plan on doing the DL so I would have to put it in like a small plastic kiddy pool. Has anyone done that? How did it work?

I found out that two people at the La Grange Show had Cream Legbar Eggs. The Blue-Blue ones must have been Angie Jone's eggs. She said that she won grand champion in the egg show with her Cream Legbar eggs.

I am still looking for photos of these eggs though.

Did any of your Tyler breeders have chicks?

 

[jajeanpierre]

Ya'll were talking about Mareks disease, have ya'll read the thread about it on the front page?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq


A paragraph from the article:

"When should I vaccinate?
Marek's vaccinations should be administered to chicks that are less than 36 hours out of the egg. Within 24 hours is recommended. This is to give the undeveloped immune system the proper amount of time to build resistance to the harmless MDV-3.
Most hatcheries will vaccinate day-old chicks for you. The cost of vaccination is typically less than $0.30 at the time of writing. It is even less at some hatcheries.
You can vaccinate your hatched chicks at home within this 36-hour period, but all proper vaccination procedures must be followed in order to guarantee an effective vaccination. Always follow all pharmaceutical guidelines offered by the manufacturer of the vaccine.
Chickens that were not vaccinated by 36-hours-old should never be considered “properly vaccinated” and should not be sold or traded under the pretenses that they were vaccinated for Marek's."


Such a small time frame for being "properly" vaccinated.

This article was not written by a vet, but by a lay person.

Below is an copy of an email sent to one of the vets who works for the manufacturer of the vaccine. I will take the manufacturer's vets' opinion on the effacy of the vaccine long before I'll take the opinions of a lay person.

CFL refers to the vaccine available to small flock owners. The more effective vaccine that hatcheries use must be stored and transported in liquid nitrogen, which only the really big hatcheries will be able to afford to do. The ASAP refers to birds that are being exposed to an outbreak, not a healthy flock showing no signs of disease.

There seems to be a 21 day withdrawal period for Mareks--I will contact the manufacturer again to verify.

As it was explained to me by the manufacturer's vet, the successful immunity for Mareks is a race between vaccine-acquired immunity and the disease-producing virus found everywhere in the environment. It's about who gets the upper hand in the bird first. Mareks is everywhere, and the vet I spoke to didn't think it was of much value to vaccinate my adult birds as he was sure they had already been exposed and probably had immunity. He also said it wouldn't hurt and suggested a double dose for the older birds. Also, the vaccine doesn't actually prevent infection but makes the infection less deadly. I believe the vaccine prevents the paralysis aspect of the disease but not the tumor formation. I'm not 100% sure of the last statement about the tumor formation--I just can't remember what was said--vaccination might mitigate that as well.

From: Cookson, Kalen
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2013 6:14 PM
To: Stehman, Susan
Cc: Schaeffer, Jon
Subject: Re: Inquiry 2013-US-

Susan,

All birds everywhere should be vaccinated for Marek's--preferably in the hatchery--regardless of the perceived threat of challenge. That being said, in case the older birds have somehow not yet been exposed they should go ahead and vaccinate all of them ASAP. It can't hurt them and it could help. Also, CFL is the least effective of the vaccines (but most practical for backyard producers), so while I can't technically recommend more than a single dose per bird, a 2-5x dose wouldn't hurt and may help establish a quicker immune response--especially if vaccine isn't completely consumed within 45 minutes of rehydration.

Thanks,
Kalen Cookson, D.V.M, M.A.M., Dipl. ACPV| Senior Technical Services Veterinarian
Zoetis | Global Poultry | 963 Hawk Creek Trail, Lawrenceville, GA 30043| Mobile:678.576.8093 |[email protected]
Visit Us: zoetis.com/poultry

 

[lovingmyhens]

Does anyone know of a place close to Houston where I can get almost laying chickens? I do not want chicks, as cute as they are, because I don't want to wait long for them to lay. Wabash, in Houston, has only 1 week old chicks.
Any suggestions?
Are there places online that deliver 2-3 juveniles?

 

[jajeanpierre]

My BCM's are shipping on Monday. I hope they do alright. This is the first time he has shipped chicks. Any pointers I should give him. I've only shipped seahorses and did them with FedEx overnight. Not quite the same. I think he is close enough to me that they should arrive on Tuesday, Wednesday for sure!

They need to be shipped on day of hatch BEFORE they have had anything to eat or drink. Their metabolism is such that they can survive several days without food and water as long as they don't eat anything. There needs to be enough chicks, don't know the number but would think at least 6 to 10, to be able to generate enough heat. The seller should also by law have a certification to be free of Pullorum-Typhoid, but I don't think the post office ever check for that. There are special boxes for mailing chicks. The seller should be investigating how to get the chicks to you safely.