The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

I don't measure the (dry) milk... Just mix some in their feed. You can mix it up in the feed bag when it is 1/2 full. I add it when I see any kind of runny poops. You can feed it daily... or stop after a few days of normal poops. I use non medicated chick starter for 8 weeks.... then switch over to grower pellets I think until they are 5 months... then over to layer pellets. It seems to work here just fine.

thank you for the information. This is how WE all learn. Sharing the knowledge

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote: Some of the imported Orpingtons are selling for more than $500 each. I have seen a good show bird in other breeds go for more. It depends on how much you want for them and how much someone else wants them. A friend sold a quad of Buff Orpingtons for over $1000. The buyer kept bugging him at a show and insisted he would sell at a price. My friend priced the quad at an unbelievable price that no one would ever pay. They drove out to his farm and picked the quad up. Never price something you do not wish to sell. Someone will buy it.
You are so right. Everything has a price and out there if someone wants it bad enough....they willpay. that is great.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Okay, I need to go to bed, I am not caught up and I won't be able to but I wanted to share my Rebel Yell babies. I have Renie babies too, but they are still little and I didn't get photos of them today. So here are some of the kids out running around:

Nice lacing on the blue... One thing I had a question about is the comb color... I have some roos this yr out of my new boys that have darker pigmented combs that I am use to seeing. I believe your blue chick has the same coloration. Soo maybe it is just a faze.
How bout it Rebel can you shed some light on this?? Julie?? any of you notice this before??

Yes, I would love to hear more.

 

[pips&peeps]

From what I understand the dark pigment is from Fibromelanosis. (Fm) It causes darker pigmentation and is usually seen in silkies, but I believe it is a naturally occuring mutation.

I have seen it in ameraucanas too. If the bird is especially dark, I won't use the bird for breeding; most of the time the color is gone by the time the bird is fully mature. I haven't seen it in a cockerel though.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote: Did you just start using this? I lost the whole batch of chicks I got from you last summer to cocci. Not a one survived the first week.
With the crazy weather we have here, cocci is always an issue in the summer. That's why I try to do all of my hatching in early spring. It always seems to strike at the most inconvenient time.

 

[rockinpaints]

Did you just start using this? I lost the whole batch of chicks I got from you last summer to cocci. Not a one survived the first week.
With the crazy weather we have here, cocci is always an issue in the summer. That's why I try to do all of my hatching in early spring. It always seems to strike at the most inconvenient time.

Hi Amy, I would not generally address this on this forum but you addressed the question here so I hope it is ok to answer it here. These are the day old chicks you are referring to from July 2011:
Your message once they arrived-

"The chicks are here! I had to drive to 60 miles each way to Chattanooga because it would have taken another day- but they were worth the trip. So cute and fat! Thanks for the extras too. PLEASE let me know when you'll have some golden cuckoo chicks. Thanks!

-Amy"

The key here is that they were day olds. Chicks are not born with coccidia in the gut. They have to be exposed to it once they begin to eat, and it makes it presents at about 3 weeks weeks of age. The vaccine is excellent but as I said in an earlier forum we do not vaccinate out going day old chicks unless requested. I am very sorry for your loss of the chicks and wish you would have contacted me last year to discuss possibilities. You are welcome to PM me with any other questions that you may have.

 

[thedragonlady]

Hi Amy, I would not generally address this on this forum but you addressed the question here so I hope it is ok to answer it here. These are the day old chicks you are referring to from July 2011:
Your message once they arrived-

"The chicks are here! I had to drive to 60 miles each way to Chattanooga because it would have taken another day- but they were worth the trip. So cute and fat! Thanks for the extras too. PLEASE let me know when you'll have some golden cuckoo chicks. Thanks!

-Amy"

The key here is that they were day olds. Chicks are not born with coccidia in the gut. They have to be exposed to it once they begin to eat, and it makes it presents at about 3 weeks weeks of age. The vaccine is excellent but as I said in an earlier forum we do not vaccinate out going day old chicks unless requested. I am very sorry for your loss of the chicks and wish you would have contacted me last year to discuss possibilities. You are welcome to PM me with any other questions that you may have.

Coccidiosis is an opportunistic disease that is aggravated into activity by stress. When a chick is stressed, any exposure to coccidia will trigger a mass proliferation of oocysts (eggs) and result in severe coccidiosis if the numbers are not controled either by immunity from prior exposure, or a coccidistat such as amprolium. All shipped chicks, or newly hatched chicks going to a new home, should be fed medicated feed for at least a month until they settle into their new enviroments. I use Amprolium in the water even when I move juvenile birds into the main flock as they will be stressed for a week or so. In the fecal flotation of virtually ANY animal, you will find a few oocysts, and they are not bothering the critter. Over time the animals gain an immunity, but even so stress CAN cause them to multiply. Better to treat, rather than to be sorry, as I've always advised buyers.

 

[rockinpaints]

Great information, thank you. However, the only transmission of coccidiosis is ingestion of viable sporulated oocysts. Newly hatched chicks are not fully susceptible to infection because of insufficient chymotrypsin and bile salts in the intestines to cause excystation. (to produce the cyst stage)

This information was quoted directly form Diseases of Poultry 10th Edition by BW Calnek (excellent book) page 873. (

sorry)
Now more chick pictures....

 

[Goose and Fig]

Oh no- I wasn't saying you sent chicks with cocci- that's just common sense they aren't born with it. That's why I never thought to bring it up.
If you read the rest of my post I said we get it all the time here. Especially in summer. Especially if I have a large number of chicks at one time. Especially if its something I was really looking forward to! Murphy's law.

So how effective is the vaccine?
I have definitely had more losses in chicks that were shipped than ones that hatched at home. I just lost my whole order of mottled javas that were shipped, but only one of my own in the same outbreak.

 

[rockinpaints]

Oh no- I wasn't saying you sent chicks with cocci- that's just common sense they aren't born with it. That's why I never thought to bring it up.
If you read the rest of my post I said we get it all the time here. Especially in summer. Especially if I have a large number of chicks at one time. Especially if its something I was really looking forward to! Murphy's law.

So how effective is the vaccine?
I have definitely had more losses in chicks that were shipped than ones that hatched at home. I just lost my whole order of mottled javas that were shipped, but only one of my own in the same outbreak.

OH!

- Then yes, Coccivac is a must!

I'll PM you the breakdown and how I use it (it's long.......but easy)