The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[speckledhen]

Sounds like it's leukosis, a cancer caused by a retrovirus, which can spread horizontally. I'm sorry, Julie. Seems like you're having a really hard time of late.

 

[1muttsfan]

This type of infection spreads both vertically in the egg, and horizontally between birds. I would take heart from this paragraph:
"The virus is not highly contagious compared with other viral agents and is readily inactivated by disinfectants. Transmission can be reduced or eliminated by strict sanitation. After the infection is eradicated, standard disease control and sanitation practices can keep chicken flocks free of the disease. "

So you can get rid of it from the environment, unlike mareks which is almost impossible to eradicate. If you did decide to get rid of your current birds and restock, I would agree to a prolonged cleaning and disinfecting.
Such a shame that this had to happen to you.

 

[speckledhen]

That's good news that it's not highly contagious.

I'm fuming at my husband. He did a boneheaded thing and hurt his back again. Rather than asking me for help, he picked up a particleboard cabinet, a low one that we had a printer on, to move it. It was full of reams of paper, too. So, just as he's feeling better from the last stuff, he hurts himself yet again. This time it was probably preventable. I was trying to quilt, but it's been raining and steamy from saturated environment and I'm also having to get birds in quickly when downpours start or let others out so they have a chance outside, etc. This place is a complete disaster outside, limbs down, piles of wet leaves, mud, just a mucky mess. The garden is completely overgrown because he never got the straw I asked him to go back and get to cover up the walkways. I can't weed that and I refuse to even try. Grrrr, men!

I'm tired of all the chickens. There are just too many. I have so many cockerels from the incubator hatch and the two broody hatches, probably a total of 18 or so that I'll never be able to find homes for, not that many. Those "spare parts" are going to have to wander the property to find their own food for extended periods during the way when they are old enough to look after themselves.

And yesterday, my cat was injured somehow during the early morning hours, between 1 and 3 a.m. The backs of his front legs are badly scraped up, he lost his flea collar, so I think he got tangled up in something and fought to get out, but what would scrape up his legs so badly? And the flea collars break away so he should not have gotten stuck that way, not normally. I used the wound spray several times on them (cats are not easy to treat, but he didn't scratch either of us) and I hope it doesn't get infected. He slept for about 24 hours and last night was back hunting again. Found half of a mouse on the sidewalk.

Finn's poor legs.

 

[getaclue]

Finn tangled with something, but not sure what. Yes, wound spray was probably the best thing to do for him. Glad he didn't try to bite or scratch you.

 

[h2oratt]

Wow I wonder what happened to that cat. Poor guy. I use vetericyn for everything.

 

[speckledhen]

Wow I wonder what happened to that cat. Poor guy. I use vetericyn for everything.

He's lost a lot of flea collars over the past few years. We've found two of them on our property. But, he's never been injured because of one and maybe it had nothing to do with the collar at all. His legs were so scraped up, I'm wondering if he was in something wooden, like a shed and scrambled to get out of a small opening. Old barn wood would scrape his legs up like that if he was trying to pull himself through to escape. The man down the hill has a couple of old buildings that look the part.

 

[1muttsfan]

Poor Finn. He's a tough little guy, but still.

 

[speckledhen]

Poor Finn. He's a tough little guy, but still.

I know. I wish he would stay inside or on our property, but he came to us as a wanderer, a hunter, a survivor and I can't change him. He'd yowl and scrabble at the doors and windows to get back out if I tried to keep him inside. Last night when he was sleeping, I found a couple more scratches on his belly just behind his front legs. You know all those old farm buildings with spaces between the horizontal rough boards like on my late grandfather's farm? I could see him trying to get through a spot like that, being trapped inside one, and getting all torn up with desperation to get back home. I can't see fencing shredding his legs that way.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would guess it's from a cat fight. Is he fixed? Poor guy.

 

[speckledhen]

I would guess it's from a cat fight. Is he fixed? Poor guy.

The wounds are under the backs of his front legs, scrape wounds. I don't think they're from a fight. He's been fixed for years, but he still fights off some cats who show up here that he doesn't seem to know. He defends his territory, fixed or not, this guy. But you'd expect face and ear wounds from a fight. Once he fought a cat all the way down the mountain and came home completely unhurt. We saw part of the fight.