Texas

[TherryChicken]

everything will be ok, just have to tell ourself they are no longer suffering. Being a good owner doesn't always mean happy endings.

 

[winteree]

if they are sneezing then I would highly recommend some advice from others. It is possible they have an infection. I am so sorry for your loss. Don't give up

yep today i took all of the chicks out of the brooder and disinfected everything with an iodine solution and put their feeders and waterier in boiling water and completely got rid of their bedding and replaced it with new dirt so i hope i covered my bases well. the chick that was sneezing wasn't sneezing today

but i did check it over to make sure his eyes and nose where OK along with the other chicks they all look OK so i hope the rest of their raising will go on with out a hitch

 

[winteree]

everything will be ok, just have to tell ourself they are no longer suffering. Being a good owner doesn't always mean happy endings.

yeah it really sucks sometimes but yeah

 

[winteree]

I was able to get some tetracycline at my feed store. I want erythramycin but not able to get it local and didn't want to wait for ship. I just made it by the cup. Not sure I got the dose right but more than enough. I also did something else. These are my chickens so took a chance. I made a stronger solution in a shot glass and put about 8ml in a diabetic syringe and gave it to her by dripping on the side of her beak. Since it is antibiotic I hope she didn't get too much. She's much better today, no snezzing no crusty nose and her eyes are open and brighter. I hate to make alot only to use a little and throw the rest away so I tried to break down the formula as small as I could. The package directions are set up to treat alot of animals not just one little chicken.
Hope yours will be ok...good that you are acting quickly. I'm checking all of mine up close today just to be sure there aren't any more.

well like my grams says a ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. i disinfected everything with iodine changed their dirt boiled their feeders and wateriers and I'm starting them on probictics, electrolytes and ACV. I would rather do the extra work now then have to bury and start new chicks.

 

[winteree]

Dang!! Mosquitoes are horrible. I told DH a few days ago...wait until the rain stops and it warms up...there will be a bug explosion and sure enough...!!! I just wanted to repot a basket I got for mother's day and I got assalted by the winged hoard! I managed to get it done and then ran for cover inside! Got way more flys around too. At least the fans in the chicken house help keep the bugs away they can't fly in the high wind...lol

yeah i hear you my parents are the same way we had to have a huge family discussion about throwing away 5 old vacuums that didn't work and old bills some of which where from over 12 years ago when we still lived in the apartments!! but on the mosquitoes we have been useing record amounts of off and cutter here because we where told after years of doing it that sleeping with the spray on your skin is bad for you so we put it on in the morning and wash it off before going to bed.

 

[bnjrob]

I can identify...both myself and DH's mom have been trying to down size. Not only do I save "stuff" just in case but I also used to love flea markets and clearance aisles. I'm not a hoarder by any means but was brought up by parents that went through the depression and so nothing was wasted and never pasted up a good deal. Just a mind set I guess.
We're looking at buying a small beef animal...have you seen the price of beef lately, (don't even mention steak) lately....sheesssh. I don't expect to process any of our birds for at leat a few months and those will be unwanted roos.Out of 38 birds we have 5 roo for sure and I think 3 of the chicks are too. So we will grow them until either they can't get along or until big enough to be worth the sacrifice.

I love being able to repurpose items. Much better than throwing things away.

We don't eat a lot of beef just because it IS so expensive. If we had our own cattle we'd probably eat more of it. If we were to butcher our roosters when they couldn't get along anymore, some of them would be dinner at 2-3 months old. We separate them by gender pretty early and that decreases some of the fighting but we have very vigorous males and some of them fight each other early and even without having females around. Very few of our males are able to live with another male after they are fully mature. We got lopsided hatches this year with more males than females so we'll be eating more this time around. Already have some runts that are going to go on the fried chicken dinner list.

 

[SlipsWife]

LOL - I have to be careful or I will save EVERYTHING, thinking "I might be able to use it for.....".  And then if I throw something out and figure out a use for it later, I always want to smack myself.  Not bad to start small.  We don't eat a ton of meat just being the two of us, but we are not even yet at the point where we can produce enough chicken for our consumption.  But it's a goal.  Too bad for your stomachs but good for the mini cows that got to be pets - LOL.  We've thought about getting some of the mini dairy cows since we don't even know how we would use all of the milk from a mini cow much less a full size one.  Haven't thought out what using a mini cow for beef would be like.  Raising and processing your own animals does take some getting used to. 

Our daughter wanted to keep the feathers, I think that's why I said no to the fat, I could see it turning into a 'save everything' fest! Lol

 

[winteree]

Our daughter wanted to keep the feathers, I think that's why I said no to the fat, I could see it turning into a 'save everything' fest! Lol

lol's when my grams killed chickens for meat she used as much of the bird she could she even turned the feathers into pillows

but chicken feathers cannot compare to duck or goose down i have to say.

 

[winteree]

I love being able to repurpose items. Much better than throwing things away.

We don't eat a lot of beef just because it IS so expensive. If we had our own cattle we'd probably eat more of it. If we were to butcher our roosters when they couldn't get along anymore, some of them would be dinner at 2-3 months old. We separate them by gender pretty early and that decreases some of the fighting but we have very vigorous males and some of them fight each other early and even without having females around. Very few of our males are able to live with another male after they are fully mature. We got lopsided hatches this year with more males than females so we'll be eating more this time around. Already have some runts that are going to go on the fried chicken dinner list.

yeah i think i see two upcoming roosters with the 5 week chicks already i guess i won't have to wait for my meat chickens in october

 

[henless]

We don't eat a lot of beef just because it IS so expensive. If we had our own cattle we'd probably eat more of it.

I have an order in for 1/2 a beef. It should be ready in a month or two. It's grass fed and should cost about $5.00 to $5.50 a lb. Which is really cheaper than what you can get at the store,
and MUCH better quality.