The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

[dawg53]

If there could be anyone to pull them through, it would be you Jules. Good luck my friend.

 

[Kassaundra]

Sorry Bee, if anyone can do it I'm sure you can.

 

[bruceh]

i am with you bee. i am all for rehab. or as you know they would have culled me. in my opinion if once a good flock you can bring it to where they will be a great flock..

we can save them, we can rebuild them, we have the husbandry , we have the patience , we can make them better than they were before, the 6 million dollar chickens...

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bee i am so sorry for your birds. i have all the faith in you.

 

[Beekissed]

Not sure if looking backward is beneficial or not -- if you think it would help, maybe you could spell out the practices that you feel led to their condition?
Lack of free ranging, probably filthy coop and run are clearly huge factors. Did you see anything else specific?
Best and warmest wishes and prayers, and thank you for helping us learn through your project.

Thank you! Good thinking! They were being kept in one corner of a huge, empty, former commercial broiler house...old style. They had constructed a frame and wire coop in this corner, approx. 10x12 ft.. Dimly lit from covered windows but no fresh air. Cement floor that had never had the feces removed in a year and a half...stunk like all get out and there was so much powdered feces that I thought it had a dirt floor! Galvanized, wall mount nest boxes that I had give them were filthy and had no nesting material. Thin roosts in a ladder construction. Dirty water. Been feeding them general stock mash that they feed hogs and sheep.

Two roosters and 18 hens were all that were left but there had been 8 more of mine originally in this flock and about 6 more of theirs. Thirty-four birds in a 10x 12 coop with no outside access. That's 3.5 sq. ft. per bird but you can see where this is inadequate for birds that never, ever go outside.

No outside run. Very dry and dusty coop.

The chickens had knobs of manure so caked to the ends of their toes that I couldn't scrape it off. Their nails were horribly overgrown and deformed.

They had originally told me that this coop was a holding area while they constructed the real coop and a large outside paddock for free ranging. Never happened.

The other parts of this building had hay storage and sheep.

Final analysis of root of problem? Poor ventilation, no sunlight, high fecal contamination of coop soils, stagnate and filthy water, dry feeds not formulated for chickens, poor roosting structure, cold, metal laying structure with no bedding, boredom, and no treatment or culling of obvious health problems. When I first brought the chickens he had a rooster with very severe scale mite infestation on his legs. He was not in the coop..was running free in the large building... and the man said they were going to kill him soon. When I returned he was living in the coop with the rest of the chickens. Still hobbling around on his grossly deformed and painful feet. First red flag that I ignored....first of many. What an idiot I am for believing people!!!! Gullible.

 

[Beekissed]

If there could be anyone to pull them through, it would be you Jules. Good luck my friend.

Dawg!!!! I missed you! Thank you and I hope you are well and getting along.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you to all you folks who offer support and good wishes! You could really, really, really be raking me through the coals right now and I wouldn't blame you one bit. How could I have let this thing happen? If I had known they would have gotten this kind of care, I would truly have just killed them myself and ate them. I didn't listen to my gut and my mind was on other things. No excuse, really.

But...now's the time to try and fix things. Anyone else out there trying to fix where management went awry?

 

[Folly's place]

I'm so sorry--- what a mess! Consider having a fecal run, or maybe worming without; maybe ivermectin to get the parasites in a few days if you're still seeing mites, etc. Sometimes drugs are good... All the best for these poor birds. Mary

 

[stonykill]

awful. Just awful. Sorry your friend ....I'm assuming friend doesn't have a clue how to raise birds. That many birds in that small a coop without outside access. I'm just sitting here shaking my head..... speechless

 

[MagicChicken]

Oh, Bee, I am so sorry! I am rooting for you and your poor birds. This story would be an informative chapter or two in your book, however it turns out. Or a book in itself. (You are still working on your book, I hope...)

 

[bruceh]

Thank you to all you folks who offer support and good wishes! You could really, really, really be raking me through the coals right now and I wouldn't blame you one bit. How could I have let this thing happen? If I had known they would have gotten this kind of care, I would truly have just killed them myself and ate them. I didn't listen to my gut and my mind was on other things. No excuse, really.

But...now's the time to try and fix things. Anyone else out there trying to fix where management went awry?

bee i may fix them birds that old farmer has i p.m'd you about . i don't know. i would hate to have to spend a month of sundays fixing these birds just have it happen again. i saw the birds. i refuse to hatch him any birds.. piss poor conditions. i would have to delouse myself 3 times before i could go near my birds.