The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[cmom]

cmon
I love that white chicken !!! I hope to get some of those in about a month !!! I gotta get a grand kid or two on the ground first so I can sit home and chicken sit with them grandbabies


Phil

She is a Rose Comb Rhode Island White. These are more of her hatch mates. I have more in other pens.

 

[Matt1616]

So Matt, That fellow that always sets up on the corner, Raymond Phillips, has Reese descendants?

Alieda

P.S.
A few years back I bought some eggs from a guy in Lake City that supposedly had I believe he said were birds from the Reese line, but when I hatched out the eggs they looked more like Production Reds.

Aleida, I have had a hard time getting the exact background of John Roberts LF Reds. From what I have gathered from John they have Reese and Rademacher in them. They are not pure Reese or pure Rademacher which is why we call them the Roberts line.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
Thanks Matt. Alieda

 

[BGMatt]

Okay Fred. Who on here has HRIR other than myself in Canada? Also I'd be willing to take care of the shipping from USA or pick up when you have eggs available.

If you come down to any of the shows in Washington State, you shouldn't have a hard time finding something to take back, in egg form or bird form. Quite a few breeders from Canada come down to our shows.

 

[Rancher3535]

Quote:

I believe I found out why I was having so much infertility in one of my RIR pens---mites!! I treated all my chickens not too long ago and now I have to go at it with a vengeance. Having a lot of birds is work enough, but when there are problems like mites, it can become overwhelming. I am going to have to cut way back, and cut out a couple of breeds. This is just exhausting and depressing

In about 8 straight years of raising chickens, this is my first experience with this nasty pest. Here are my Mohawk/Reese RIRs in the pen that didn't appear to have any mites (but got treated anyway).

I usually dust or vivermek once a year. Rarely have to deal with them but this year just about lost 2 birds to the dang mights. I had checked them when I thought they were coming down with something and did not see anything. A week later they were crawling all over. Went through all 150 breeders with dust and going to do it again this week and next as well as changed the straw and shavings in their pens. I had used Ivermek in the fall but guess I needed to do it a couple of times.

So I feel your pain on the fertility when you set 100 eggs and only a few are fertile, something has to be going on.

 

[monnie662]

Just got to keep it all straight, that's all.

There ain't nothing like a calendar. Someone said at the start of 2014 I was at the bank do you need a calendar and I said yes with big blocks and they go in the barn to keep up with all the critters out there. And your info will be very helpful since I am working with 4 pullets and trying to keep eggs fresh and fertile. thanks

 

[monnie662]

I usually dust or vivermek once a year. Rarely have to deal with them but this year just about lost 2 birds to the dang mights. I had checked them when I thought they were coming down with something and did not see anything. A week later they were crawling all over. Went through all 150 breeders with dust and going to do it again this week and next as well as changed the straw and shavings in their pens. I had used Ivermek in the fall but guess I needed to do it a couple of times.

So I feel your pain on the fertility when you set 100 eggs and only a few are fertile, something has to be going on.

Are you putting the ivomec on them or giving it to them by mouth? My wildlife rehab friend "doctors" the wild birds by putting it on them. Just curious. I fight the nasty little things too think you have them under control and bam there they are again.

 

[Rancher3535]

Are you putting the ivomec on them or giving it to them by mouth? My wildlife rehab friend "doctors" the wild birds by putting it on them. Just curious. I fight the nasty little things too think you have them under control and bam there they are again.

I use cattle pour-on 3-4 drops with an eye dropper for large fowl usually works 2-3 on bantams. You can us inject able and when I do that it is 1/2cc per gallon. I go back and forth on it dust Ivermek if you use the same thing over and over I think they get immune to it. I would rather go light with the Ivermek than heavy.

 

[Rancher3535]

OK guess I am a little slow on this system.

I get this note about Ovation but what the heck it is and why?

Just someone read it? Someone made a comment back? Or what?

Love this site but dang it can be confusing and complicated at times.

If someone could send me a PVT of explanation that would be great!

 

[desertmarcy]

I usually dust or vivermek once a year. Rarely have to deal with them but this year just about lost 2 birds to the dang mights. I had checked them when I thought they were coming down with something and did not see anything. A week later they were crawling all over. Went through all 150 breeders with dust and going to do it again this week and next as well as changed the straw and shavings in their pens. I had used Ivermek in the fall but guess I needed to do it a couple of times.

So I feel your pain on the fertility when you set 100 eggs and only a few are fertile, something has to be going on.

This is my first experience dealing with mites. You can read all you want online, but dealing with the problem gives you first hand experience. I am not a happy camper. This has made me reevaluate what I am doing here. I have too many breeds I am working with, too many birds. I think, for now at least, I will farm out my Buff Rocks and New Hampshires. I lost my NH male anyway, probably was the mites that did him in, but he just was never right after getting here. And the numbers of infertile eggs from him---like you said, there was something going on. I set 189 eggs from him, out of 9 pullets and exactly 6 were fertile. Of those, 4 hatched. Very small chicks, but they are doing okay.

The Sevin dust is not cheap when you need to treat a lot of birds. I have already spent $60 on Sevin dust. I decided to try dunking them in a Permethrin solution. Mixed according to directions (1/4 cup per 3 gallons) with warm water in a 5-gal bucket and dunked them up to their head. If they had active mites, they stayed in it longer and I used my gloved hand to work the butt feathers, make sure all saturated before taking them out. They were miserable for a little while until dry, but they all look fluffy and no worse for wear this morning. However it is low humidity and warm here, so I can get away with treating them like that whereas most climates that wouldn't work so well without blow drying them. Then this morning, I picked up one of the New Hampshire hens I had just treated yesterday afternoon, and saw live mites! I know they can crawl back on, but I thought that solution would have a residual effect. I am really depressed over this. One of my best RIR hens from Matt1616 had them bad and she was just sitting in a corner looking half dead so I had to isolate her. I don't know if she will make it or not, but that is the pen that only had 50% fertility, so either the male was not breeding them all (he only had 6) or the hens had the mites and were infertile.

Dusting once a year is not going to get rid of them if you have them around. I believe their life cycle is just 4 days. I just ordered some Ivomec Eprinex (eprinomectin) from Jeffers because it is said to work a bit better than ivermectin. Says no slaughter or milk withdrawal, so guessing maybe don't have to worry about the eggs, but don't really know. I want something that has a residual effect so they don't just get back on. I, too, have two big pens that need to be raked down to the earth. A lot of work for one person.

Edited to add, when dunking them, I changed the 3 gallon dunk solution every 10-12 birds or so depending on how dirty it was getting. Usually by that time, the level in the bucket was getting too low anyway.