The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

ok, had a call from Dr. Porter. The little roo had encephalitius, which is a marker for mareks and they rulled out two forms of viral encelphalitius and are waiting on newcastle disease test. But he believes that will be negative. No tumors but says it is the neurological form of mareks unlessi tproves to be newcastle.
some cocci, but not in excess.

He also said no to turkey litter becasue it could transmit salmonella to the flock. I wasn't able to figure out how much of a risk that is or isn't....

Hate making decisions on incomplete info.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'd take the whole salmonella thing with a huge grain of salt. There are pathogens everywhere. But, I'm woefully uneducated, and not at all qualified to even be offering an opinion. Just saying that b/c using turkey feces is "unorthodox", it won't be looked on favorably by the scientific community.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

as far as a meat grinder..I have an attachment on my Kitchenaid. It works great for meat grinding.

Quote: Thank you both, I now have lots of options.

 

[lalaland]

I'd take the whole salmonella thing with a huge grain of salt. There are pathogens everywhere. But, I'm woefully uneducated, and not at all qualified to even be offering an opinion. Just saying that b/c using turkey feces is "unorthodox", it won't be looked on favorably by the scientific community.

I know! Kind of like asking a master gardener a question - here they are trained in every kind of chemical poisonous thing you can do to your garden, so if you ask them a question, the answer invariably involves poison.

so ask a vet, ,...you get disease. its in the curriculum.

 

[delisha]

Quote:

 

[Lacy Blues]

Sorry. I missed the "Grind Together" part.

I don't have a grinder but I have a blender and I have a chopper. Hopefully that will work.

 

[lazy gardener]

I don't know about feeding that slurry to the chickens, but it sounds like a wonderful base to a fall soup.

 

[lalaland]

I've been doing grated carrots, red pepper flakes, fresh oregano, garlic, and brussel sprout leaves. Mixing it into the feed daily, not a slurry. So it was good to see Delisha's recipe and know I am on the right track, except, wow, I have been skimping on the garlic!

I know Delisha told me before that spinach is better than kale because of its nutritional content....


I was told to contact a veteran bycer about the mareks, and he told me that yes, Lacyblues is right about the turkey droppings, and also that the USDA advises against vacinating for mareks in backyard flocks!

Last night pure chaos with the sole remaining rooster deciding that two of the crested pullets shouldn't be allowed to roost in the coop. Twice, when almost everyone was in the coop, there would be a big erruption and birds flying out of both entrances, with the rooster in mad pursuit of one of the crested pullets. I finally caught him and tossed him into the empty small coop.

What is it with roosters and crested small birds? One is Angelina, who is blind in one eye and has crooked feathers and a crippled wing. I'm very protective of her. So luckily its my day off today and I think I will plan on Rooster Corful for supper this weekend. With mareks, stress is a big issue and with winter coming and the run becoming smaller because of snow....no need to put up with that!

 

[Leahs Mom]

The crested birds I've had seem to be treated differently too. Perhaps not by the rooster but by the other birds it seems. I'm with you on getting rid of him - or at least separating. When it gets cold, you aren't going to want to risk having birds isolated outside.

I've decided this winter I'm not putting up with any of that crap. Last winter was too stressful for some of the younger birds here with others keeping them outside of the house. NOT THIS YEAR.

Quote: I've heard that before too on advise against vaccination.

 

[lalaland]

Big commotion outside, found the rooster on top of a 5 yr old astrolorp hen beaking the crap out of her. Her head was all bloody. I chased him into a run, locked him in, went back to her. she hadnt moved in all the time it took me to get him into a run.

Picked her up and she has grey eyes, both of them, which is mareks. Poor baby. Put her in a kennel. She is very light weight and crop was empty. Made her a scrambled egg, which she ate voraciously, but it is clear she is blind in both eyes. could have partial vision in one eye, but that is at best.

last night she was able to get into the coop - so this vision thing must have happened this morning. weird.

I am going to cull her, she can't find food on her own, water either, and the run is way too big for her to navigate. Also, my limited understanding of mareks says she will be shedding live virus and I need to cull her for the remainder of the flock's protection.

I wonder if the rooster was trying to cull her.

I am not happy

Driving an hour and a half to pick up a bucket full of turkey poop and feathers. Not waiting for an NPIP flock. Maybe I'll expose them all to something awful.

Tonight on the roost I will check eye color on everyone.