The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Sally- I had an a couple eggs I posted a few pages back that were weird looking like yours. I have no idea why either. Didn't get any replies so watching to see if they comment on yours.

Mumsy congrats !!

 

[delisha]

The Silkie is out! But I'm not sure if it pecked a hole in another egg while stumbling around like a drunken sailer or if I canT see the internal pip. Anyway, very excited.

go silkies go! They sometimes help each other out.

Sally- I had an a couple eggs I posted a few pages back that were weird looking like yours. I have no idea why either. Didn't get any replies so watching to see if they comment on yours.

Mumsy congrats !!

Sorry i did not see your eggs..


Congrats to mumsy?..what i miss again?

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I'm thinking you can pickup bacteria from opening the incubator, the door knob going into the bathroom. Camplyobactor is nasty. My sister and her 1 year old son became very ill with it from the dog pooping in the yard and even though they clean up after, it was there. I recently learned that the hand sanitizers that we all use has to be 65% or greater to work. I checked all of ours at the funeral home and they were 62%. Not good. We need to pick our battles. I should wash my hands much more than I do.

This study from the National Institutes of Health say that 60% alcohol is adequate. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3291447/

Partial quote from the article:
"To reduce infections in healthcare settings, alcohol-based hand sanitizers are recommended as a component of hand hygiene (4). For alcohol-based hand sanitizers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (5) recommends a concentration of 60% to 95% ethanol or isopropanol, the concentration range of greatest germicidal efficacy. While nonhealthcare groups also recommend alcohol-based hand sanitizers, they usually do not specify an appropriate concentration of alcohol."

One other little note: be aware that hand sanitizers (alcohol) do not kill everything... when my husband aquired a Clostridium difficile (C. dif) infection in the hospital, I learned that hand sanitizers wouldn't even touch it, only bleach would kill it.

 

[lalaland]

I think it is a little like the theory of natural chickens - you can bleach the coop weekly, remove that poop the minute it drops, sanitize the waterers, and then....your chickens have no built up immunities and can get very ill. Or....you can expose them to good and bad bacteria (putting that plug of grass into the brooder, etc) and let them build up the immune system.

People, same thing. Yes, your chickens and you can become deathly ill with some of the very lethal bacterial infections out there, no question about it. Hence some of the infectious stuff that goes on in hospitals. I am not saying practice no hygiene at all - but for people and chickens, too much can be a bad bad thing. A little dirt, good.

So cleaning up feces of your dogs? sure, wash your hands. good soap and water does wonders if you know how to use them properly.

Alcohol will kill some things, but it is not an EPA approved hospital grade disinfectant, which will kill the big bad bugs. So for example, your nail tech at a nail salon can't use alcohol to disinfect the nail tools, because it isn't strong enough.

Having said that, I still would prefer the darned chickens drank from the waterers, not the filthy pools of melting snow mixed with chicken poop!

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote: I get eggs like this from my Guineas sometimes... from different aged Hens and Pullets. They are puckered and wrinkled. I've set a few just to see what happens and so far they have all been infertile. And when I've candle them at a week into incubation, most of them have had fine cracks or obvious weaknesses in the shell (laid from the roost maybe?). I worry about those being the eggs that would blow up in the 'bator and make a huge mess, lol so now when I find this type of egg they go right in the fridge and get eaten within a day or 2. Nothing abnormal inside.

Delisha and Sally, can you guys candle your wrinkled eggs? Just curious if yours have any fine cracks like mine have had.

 

[Bulldogma]

Interesting stuff about bacteria on the hands, etc. I lean more toward the theory that light exposure to certain bad bacterias helps boost immunity. Perhaps because I used to be a very OCD hand washer... (a recovering addict??) LOL! Even as I type this the skin on my hands is cracked and dry and I have a band-aid on one finger where it cracked really deep.

That said, I'm no doctor or scientist, so take my words for what they are worth...

I have had one rumpled shell egg - we ate it. Yum!

And if anyone is interested in Part II of my Horse Trailer-to-Coop Up-cycling Project, you can see it HERE.

 

[aoxa]

Lord,, sorry you had to go through that. What are the onset symptoms? yuc

Extreme stomach pains. Felt like my intestines were contracting. How do I explain it better...? Most people get the runs, but I didn't. My bowels had stopped for almost a week before I started feeling really bad pain. I went from work to home and that night it was just like bad period cramps in terms of pain level. By 2am it was extreme. Similar to kidney stones. We went to the hospital. They gave me pain killers and ran all kinds of tests but sent me home. The next day I went back in because the pain killers weren't helping. They admitted me in there and had me on IV pain killers. It took them a couple days to find out what it was (I went to a darn teaching hospital - never again). But after antibiotics and 3 months of moderate pain in my stomach, I recovered.

It's a very common food poisoning, but I developed complications. Most people just get nauseous, have the runs and stomach pain, but it goes away after a couple days.

It's usually from rice and chicken that wasn't handled or cooked properly, but our poultry can carry it without any signs what-so-ever. It happens with meat when the feces contaminates the bird during processing.

Oh and animals can get symptoms as well. Chloe has a stomach of steel and did not have any issues, but I was babysitting and the little girl I was watching had a mild case of it as well.

 

[Sunflowergirl]

Thanks again for the review.


Where are you getting them from? You'll have to let us know how you like the various breeds after you've had them for awhile.

Well,

they are going to be hatchery birds, from Meyer. The books I have been reading say that Welsummers are a very active breed that forage very well. And, if you did not know, (I did not!), they are actually considered a light breed, although at the heavier end of the light breed.
I will keep posted after I get them.

(Knock on wood that they all survive!!!)

 

[Leahs Mom]

Don't feel like you have to

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meyer has been recommended as a good hatchery and not everyone has to have breeder stock! I just asked because I had checked around to see if anyone was raising them close enough for me to drive to pick up. I don't like the idea of shipping birds so I like to find a close source if possible. (And if they're great breeder lines - that's great too!)

I'll be looking forward to your review.

 

[Sunflowergirl]

Thanks! My first batch of chickens will be a year old in April. So, I consider myself a newbie. The only place I knew to get chickens from was TSC for chick days or a hatchery. I got my current batch from Privett. Am learning there are other options now. Still have not figured out the ropes toward getting the breeder stock like Mumsy has in her little bottom bar. Her quote intrigued me about it costs the same to feed and keep low quality chickens as it does pure breds.

Don't feel like you have to

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meyer has been recommended as a good hatchery and not everyone has to have breeder stock! I just asked because I had checked around to see if anyone was raising them close enough for me to drive to pick up. I don't like the idea of shipping birds so I like to find a close source if possible. (And if they're great breeder lines - that's great too!)

I'll be looking forward to your review.