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I love Arizona and New Mexico. DH and I got married in Casa Grande. We were going there to participate in a speed bike race at the Nissan Test Center south of there and decided to make it a speed bike race, honeymoon, vacation all in one. We had friends there who stood with us. I think it was over 100 degrees tht day even though it was April 3rd. We wore shorts and t-shirts. The Judge was a riot. Such fun. No stress and we got a British World Record with our speed bike and Brit pilot.:celebrate and I got a great husband:celebrate:celebrate.Now at least once during the winter I bring up Casa Grande temps, sign and pull on my heavy coat and boots and trudge through the snow to take care of the chickens.

I've had better days. I had to put one of my layers down. She was a 20 month old from my flock's first broody hatch. I called her 7 and bless her she has always been a witch of a little bird. When she was about 5 weeks old she got loose with the adults and got her neck scalped. It healed well but left her with a skin tag. I could always tell 7 because of it even if she wasn't screeching her lungs out at me.

I went out to water and noticed her pass a 100 percent clear liquid stool. Small solids in it and some undigested grain. No blood. I watched her for awhile and thought she was acting a bit strange, hanging away from the flock. One of the roosters would run over and check her on occasion but she was hanging back. I caught her and picked her up. Nothing but skin and bones. I bet she didn't weigh 2 pounds. Crop felt weird, like thick foam. I'd wormed with safe guard two weeks ago and just about to do the follow up dose so I knew it wasn't worms. I put her down and she immediately withdrew and stood in the sun with her head drawn in. That cinched it for me. I didn't want her to suffer so I let her spirit fly free. Post exam showed that she was even thinner than I first expected. No sign of moulting or even egg production. Her crop didn't feel as though it had any food in it but if felt spongy without being squishy. Weird. Never felt a crop like that before.

Thank you Mr Marek. I HATE your disease!:hit:duc
sad.jpg So sorry you are still dealing with that %$#@$%
 
Thanks Cap. When you are dealing with Marek's you would think that you would be ready to deal with this kind of stuff but you don't.

I've read where a lot of birds with Marek's are suffering from fungal infections secondary to Marek's. I just devastates their immune system. This hen was always robust. When it hit, it hit hard. Ron do you know off hand how much copper sulfate to use? I have some on hand.

I love those grippy things for opening jars. I had a church janitor show me an easy way to break the seal on a jar. You fold up a towel, turn the jar upside down, put the folded towel on the bottom of the jar and wack it with the ball of your hand as hard as you can. Make sure you have it well padded. It usually takes two thumps before you will hear the sound change. It really does loosen up the lid. You can pop it open with only a little elbow grease. I'd say it works 4 out of 5 times.


The last two girls I lost in the early spring had both succumbed to very nasty fungal infections within a short time of each other.
 
The last two girls I lost in the early spring had both succumbed to very nasty fungal infections within a short time of each other.
What are the symptoms of that? Sounds like a good thing to know.
 

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