The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Kassaundra]

I have no way to quarentine so I don't bring in birds that aren't young chicks.

I don't add any grown or teen bird to my flock, basically only add day olds but they stay in the brooder for several weeks then go to the chicken coop and live among the chickens but in their own run, and they are usually my own hatched birds so keep that in mind before jumping what I'm about to type.

I don't really get the whole "quarentine" thing, if you have a new bird that has parasites (external) you should be able to see that already, internal okay I'll give you that one, if you have a bird that is actively sick or unwell why are you bringing it home at all anyway, if you have a bird that is a carrier of some fowl disease it doesn't matter how long you quarentine as soon as she mixes w/ your flock they are now exposed.

 

[hotrodflash]

You know feet make GREAT chicken stock right?

I thought about making stock but I have no freezer space left after adding all those roosters that we halved and bagged. Next time though.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I have no way to quarentine so I don't bring in birds that aren't young chicks.

I don't add any grown or teen bird to my flock, basically only add day olds but they stay in the brooder for several weeks then go to the chicken coop and live among the chickens but in their own run, and they are usually my own hatched birds so keep that in mind before jumping what I'm about to type.

I don't really get the whole "quarentine" thing, if you have a new bird that has parasites (external) you should be able to see that already, internal okay I'll give you that one, if y,ou have a bird that is actively sick or unwell why are you bringing it home at all anyway, if you have a bird that is a carrier of some fowl disease it doesn't matter how long you quarentine as soon as she mixes w/ your flock they are now exposed.

No "jumping" here

I think the idea is that the birds there on your place have immunities to the "stuff" that is on your place.

And the birds you bring in from somewhere else have immunities to the "stuff" from whence they came.

But the "stuff" may be different from each location.

Now when you put birds A with birds B, each has to deal with whatever "stuff" the others may have been exposed to... but they haven't had the chance to build immunities to.

So if the ones that are new get a chance to acclimate to whatever is in the soil, you will be able to see if they can build immunities to live there in good health before putting them together.

Then if you take one of the resident birds and add to the new birds, you can do a test to see if it survives whatever the new ones bring. That should be a good indicator of how the rest of the established flock will do when the new are added.

Does that make sense?

 

[aoxa]

I have no way to quarentine so I don't bring in birds that aren't young chicks.

I don't add any grown or teen bird to my flock, basically only add day olds but they stay in the brooder for several weeks then go to the chicken coop and live among the chickens but in their own run, and they are usually my own hatched birds so keep that in mind before jumping what I'm about to type.

I don't really get the whole "quarentine" thing, if you have a new bird that has parasites (external) you should be able to see that already, internal okay I'll give you that one, if you have a bird that is actively sick or unwell why are you bringing it home at all anyway, if you have a bird that is a carrier of some fowl disease it doesn't matter how long you quarentine as soon as she mixes w/ your flock they are now exposed.

I think CRD or other respiratory diseases is the major reason why most quarantine..

Now I normally NEVER, ever bring in adult birds.. no exceptions.. except from one source, and thats Jamie Carson.

I will be bringing in 7 adult silkies at the end of the week. I have no where to quarantine. They will be getting a check over for external parasites, but I have seen his entire flock a few times last year.. he doesn't bring new silkies in ever.. His birds are extremely healthy, and he has a very good understanding of illnesses..

I can't pass up an opportunity like this. I have brought in chicks from him and an entire group of adult Ameraucana bantams with zero issues. I quarantined the Ameraucanas in a separate part of my barn.. They were kept separate for breeding purposes, but released in the winter.

If you are worried about CRD, it is transferable through the egg. Onset of symptoms wouldn't necessarily happen in brooder aged chicks, so you still have high chances of your original flock contracting whatever the parents of the chicks you have hatched had.. Now it's much less than introducing an adult bird, but it is still there.


Transmission:
M. gallisepticum is transmitted through eggs but organisms can also pass from bird to bird through nasal discharges and through droppings. It can also be transmitted by hands, feet and clothes of attendants of visitors. Symptoms: Uncomplicated CRD is frequently sub-clinical. When symptoms are present they are normally milk in nature and include coughing, sneezing, and a nasal discharge. In turkeys, sinuses are frequently swollen. On postmortem examination the trachea may be found inflamed and the air sacs thickened with pus. The condition affecting air sac is often referred as "air sac" disease but it is more pronounced when other factors including bacteria, complicate the original CRD infection.
The- organism has long incubation period of 10 to 30 days. Therefore only few outbreaks-seen in birds under 4 weeks old

This disease freaks me out to no end.

:S

I think the most important thing is to know where they are coming from, and that the parent flock is healthy.

I'm not going to over think this.

 

[bgallentine]

Thanks aoxa, delisha and Leah's Mom, I know that's what I'll do - research and study, then form plan. Just demoralized for the moment. I may still build my coop for 10 and just get my one bird! Thank you so much for the support and words of encouragement. It helps!

Brian G

 

[aoxa]

There is a massive forest fire here.. I am freaking out. Not anywhere near our place, but close to Jamie's house and all his animals. I can smell it here... 50 km away.

It's bringing back flashbacks.

 

[lalaland]

Justine, thats awful. Must be hard to not know if you can do anything for Jamie, and to have all those stresses and emotions coming up, and all the fears too. Hang in there!!

 

[aoxa]

Justine, thats awful. Must be hard to not know if you can do anything for Jamie, and to have all those stresses and emotions coming up, and all the fears too. Hang in there!!

Yes it's really hard. I want to go and take all of his animals home with me. I have yet to hear if it has damaged any houses. The fact that I can seriously smell it is enough to have me chocking up.

We are under a no burn order and have been for a week due to the really warm/dry conditions. This fire is man made.

 

[lalaland]

phew. Stage one of the demo/remodel is done.I that means I sorted thru tools/boxes/canning jars/gardening tools, ripped out a wall, rebulit the roosts in the current coop, opened up two windows that were boarded over, hauled a little coop up to be used as a garden shed.
Stage two is dry vacking 5 years of poultry dust and mouse droppings (yup, facial mask to be used) and then whitewashing the whole danged thing.
Stage 3 is putting up a chicken wire wall divider, and hardware cloth over the windows.
Stage 4 is setting up the brooder - it is going to be on an eye level shelf


Can't wait!

Of course, there is also gardening to be done, the coop trailer needs a new coat of roof tar, the old coop needs to be painted, and construction debris hauled ot the dump. And...kayaking....wildflower hunting.....yikes!

 

[lalaland]

Yes it's really hard. I want to go and take all of his animals home with me. I have yet to hear if it has damaged any houses. The fact that I can seriously smell it is enough to have me chocking up.

We are under a no burn order and have been for a week due to the really warm/dry conditions. This fire is man made.

There are such fools out there! I take it you are watching or listening to the news...are you safe?