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

[Pyxis]

First, I'm sorry you have to deal with that. It surprises me that it was the guineas. They are usually more disease resistant, or so I thought. Someone I knew once joked that you can't kill a guinea with a .22, meaning disease bullet-proof.

I have always free ranged my flocks, always. That's over 12 years now. I don't put out bird feeders to get wild birds to hang around, but every year, phoebes build nests on my house and wrens sometimes build theirs on the old coop in the back. So far, no illness that I know of was in any of those wild birds. Generally, I think they go off and die (probably in those big chicken warehouse operations, LOL)

The guineas, sadly, were asymptomatic carriers - they themselves never showed any signs of the disease, but they had no problem infecting my chickens with it. I'm just glad that of the diseases, it was coryza, because coryza doesn't affect waterfowl, thank goodness.

 

[speckledhen]

The guineas, sadly, were asymptomatic carriers - they themselves never showed any signs of the disease, but they had no problem infecting my chickens with it. I'm just glad that of the diseases, it was coryza, because coryza doesn't affect waterfowl, thank goodness.

That is always the problem with carriers. You can't see the disease lurking in there. I didn't know Coryza doesn't affect waterfowl; learned something new. I know nothing about waterfowl, but now I do!

 

[Pyxis]

That is always the problem with carriers. You can't see the disease lurking in there. I didn't know Coryza doesn't affect waterfowl; learned something new. I know nothing about waterfowl, but now I do!

They're pretty disease resilient The only common respiratory disease they can get is Mycoplasma. They also can't get Marek's.

 

[getaclue]

I think it was on another thread that I posted this, but when we were looking at houses to buy, we went to one that the lady had goats, and chickens. The chickens were free ranged, but there was a coop on the property. I talked about her chickens, but she seemed very reluctant so say much about them. I mentioned that I have Black Australorps that I show.

FINALLY she divulged that her flock had Coryza, and the vet had been out twice over the last few months to treat them. I was flabbergasted. Her neighbors had chickens, and they had expressed concerns too, asking her to please put them in enclosed runs so as not to contaminate their flocks. The nieghboring children were not allowed to go onto her property.

When it came time to look at the coop, we declined, since she had a couple hens in there undergoing treatment. No thanks! When we left, and came home, we took our clothes and shoes off in the garage, went straight in to take showers. The clothes, and shoes went into the washer, and along with the soap, I added a little bleach to disinfect them. Then I went out to totally disinfect the car. When I finished, once again, I washed my clothes, and took another shower. I was not about to contaminate my flock, if I could help it. All my efforts paid off, since my flock didn't get it. That's another reason I won't wear anything but "coop shoes" around my flock. I know she goes into the feed store to buy feed. That's one good reason I like where I get my feed, is that they go in the back to get the feed, and don't let people in there, so the bags are not as likely to get contaminated.

Yes, you are right about many of the animal swap meets being cesspools. I've been saying for years that there are more and more unscrupulous livestock breeders, and when they should be culling, they'll go sell sick livestock at the swaps, rather than take a loss on their sick animals. While the majority tend to be fine, all it takes is that one, or two exceptions to mess up entire flocks.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, you are right about many of the animal swap meets being cesspools. I've been saying for years that there are more and more unscrupulous livestock breeders, and when they should be culling, they'll go sell sick livestock at the swaps, rather than take a loss on their sick animals. While the majority tend to be fine, all it takes is that one, or two exceptions to mess up entire flocks.

You're right, for sure. And how much money can they possibly be making? Not much, really. I think I remember you telling us that story about the house hunting. I look for chicken coops on properties I search online. If it has one, I keep looking, no matter how nice the house is or how great the buy is.
I may never find what I'm looking for. There is still the option of building a small, elderly-friendly house on my other lot. The problem is that I'd be next to the property I'd loved and built up to what it is now. If my family would buy my house as a vacation home, that might not be so bad, but I don't know if any of them can afford it except maybe Sherry, Tom's oldest younger sister. The pasture lot is not really wide, but it's a really nice lot. I could put a privacy fence down both long sides, to divide it from this one, and from the bottom lot, Lot 8, that will have a tiny vacation house on it when Mark Kephart finds time to build it for his daughter and son-in-law.

This is the lot, 9A, the pasture lot. Lot 5 and 9B were assembled to make one 2.22 acre lot and sold as such, so this is an old plat map. Our perimeter fence surrounds the entire thing and goes across the line between 9B and 9A. The barn is actually on what used to be 9B.

 

[speckledhen]

I just sandwiched an extra long bed runner for a friend of mine, 124" long, pre-quilting, which will draw it up a tad. It's about 35" wide with a large scale rust colored paisley. I had to add to the length of the backing (though it was 3 yard length of 108" quilt backing) and even "Frankenstein" the batting.
Glad I got this folding table! Sure comes in handy, though I need some bed risers still to raise up the height more.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hey...
What do you all use as chick feeders? Would like to see what you use and why you like/dislike it.

I've changed my feed type since my last batch of chicks so I don't need to use the kind I did before. I'm hoping for something that helps avoid waste. I have some good ideas, but do want to see what others like/love.

 

[speckledhen]

Hey...
What do you all use as chick feeders? Would like to see what you use and why you like/dislike it.

I've changed my feed type since my last batch of chicks so I don't need to use the kind I did before. I'm hoping for something that helps avoid waste. I have some good ideas, but do want to see what others like/love.

I have none that I love. They're all wasters, as far as I'm concerned. I guess I just consider that the cost of raising chicks now.


Oh, I commented on this video so I'm sure I'll be lambasted all over the place for it. This "natural remedies" lady bugs me at times. I'm all for herbs but chickens don't get colds, darn it. I think this is her husband.

 

[1muttsfan]

You troublemaker

 

[speckledhen]

You troublemaker

That's me, no doubt about it. I'm all about no nonsense and truth, no misleading people.