Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[BGMatt]

You can quarantine til hades freezes, but if you free range it is all for naught. Unless of course you have a forcefield dome over your property so no other life forms can enter.
Now if you never free range (including tractors) and keep your birds locked up in a coop or cage then you might succeed. Of course as always, it's just my opinion and I'm kinda use to being wrong.
PS, chickens are pretty dern hearty animals. They survive small kids, owls, hawks, dogs, coyotes, cats and other chickens. They're omivorous but are decended from raptors.

This falls alongside my line of thinking too. I never quarantined either, I figure if the bird's immune system is too weak to fight off whatever it is, then I don't want that strain anyway. Same reasons I stopped medicating birds way back when.

 

[FirewifeJess]

I live in the Greenwood neighborhood and just finished my coop. One of my neighbors has started complaining before we have gotten any chickens. They are concerned about noise and rats.Has anyone else helped smooth over their neighbors.

Thanks!

First, WELCOME!!

Second, is it legal for you to have chickens where you live? If not...I wouldn't get them. One complaint from the neighbors to someone official and you WILL have to get rid of them. If it is legal, however, your neighbors have no recourse and [COLOR=FF0000]should shut their yaps[/COLOR]. Sure you can placate them later with fresh eggs if you like, but if it's legal for you to have the chickens you intend to have, then I'd completely let go of the neighbor's objections and tell them to get over it. Just my opinion.

FWJ; a little bit harsh don't you think? This is very unlike you, perhaps you're having a bad day! It's nearly always much easier and nicer if one can be friendly to a neighbour, BEFORE resorting to the "harder" line. 

Even if it is legal to have chickens, a friendly gift of eggs can go a long way to making peace. And you never know when you might want that neighbour's help sometime. I'd much rather have friends than enemies.

Yes you are right. Trust me, I've never, ever spoken like that out loud to anyone. It was written harshly but my basic premise is the same...try to make peace, stay legal, and after that it doesn't matter what people say or do about your chickens. I wasn't intending for the person to tell their neighbors to shut up! LOL I'm the last person to confront a neighbor and usually just keep to myself. We actually bring 5-6 if our closest neighbors half a dozen eggs each at least once a quarter. Sorry about coming off so harsh though. You're right. That isn't me.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote:
I don't medicate either. The main reason I have the Special Needs cockerel in quarantine is so he can build some self confidence. He was being picked on by his male brood mates. I will prolly put him in with his companion once their pen is built in a week or two. I trust where this bird came from. Now a craigslist bird would be a different story.

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: I do understand the "pet" concept with the chickens and their owners. I think I'm a little more pragmatic about them. Prob comes from my uncles and aunts farms where they didn't even bother with a coop. These were farms in the hills of Tenn and VA and GA with plenty of hawks, racoons, oppossums, fox, feral cats, owls, etc. I just don't recall my uncles getting stressed over the "possiblity" of losing a chicken to them or them getting sick.
The chickens roosted where ever and laid their eggs the same way. It was us kids that had to go hunt the eggs every day. Of course the hens had their favorite places so it wasn't too difficult to find them. Occasionally we would miss one or two.

 

[bikerchicky]

TB

The very best way to approach this is to always care for your current flock - and then your new birds. This keeps you from taking something icky from the new birds to your current flock.


Here is where I break the rules -- I do not change my clothes or shoes when I go from the old flock to the new -- I personally don't care if I transfer an icky from my current flock to the new one - the new one will be exposed anyway once I combine them, so I don't delay. There are folks who will be shocked at my approach - so be careful

Dave

While I only have my babies, I was pondering this for when I bring new birds home. My thoughts go along with Dave. I would tend the established hens, then move to the new arrivals. This exposes the new arrivals to what the established flock has so that it is less of a shock to them. And, it keeps what the new birds have away from the established flock. My other question is....how often are you going in and out of the enclosures that you would need to go back and forth between them multiple times a day? Is it for egg gathering? Why so many times in a day? Can you estimate how many times a day you go into the enclosures?

 

[BGMatt]

I do understand the "pet" concept with the chickens and their owners. I think I'm a little more pragmatic about them. Prob comes from my uncles and aunts farms where they didn't even bother with a coop. These were farms in the hills of Tenn and VA and GA with plenty of hawks, racoons, oppossums, fox, feral cats, owls, etc. I just don't recall my uncles getting stressed over the "possiblity" of losing a chicken to them or them getting sick.
The chickens roosted where ever and laid their eggs the same way. It was us kids that had to go hunt the eggs every day. Of course the hens had their favorite places so it wasn't too difficult to find them. Occasionally we would miss one or two.

You're one up on me then. I just don't get the "pet" thing at all. I mean I guess I kind of did get it when I was first starting, but once I got educated and understood the harm I was doing by treating them as pets I got over it pretty fast. I'm not old (getting there though) but I definitely learned from the old timers. To quote my mentor, "They're just chickens!" LOL

Sounds like a fun, clean living childhood chasing down the eggs.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

You can quarantine til hades freezes, but if you free range it is all for naught. Unless of course you have a forcefield dome over your property so no other life forms can enter.
Now if you never free range (including tractors) and keep your birds locked up in a coop or cage then you might succeed. Of course as always, it's just my opinion and I'm kinda use to being wrong.
PS, chickens are pretty dern hearty animals. They survive small kids, owls, hawks, dogs, coyotes, cats and other chickens. They're omivorous but are decended from raptors.

Again, a most excellent post from the man in the South County: all this talk about whether lettuce is bad for chickens (as a gardener who once was opposed by the Thousand Banty Army, the opposite seems more true) makes my head spin.

I'm likely to quarantine my new roosters because I want to get to know them in close quarters; I'm unlikely to quarantine the bantams I'm getting from the same person I got Deary from, since she's been alone, inside, and them being from the same cage to begin with. If I get a whole bunch of POL pullets, they're coming together and going into a new pen.

I AM being very, very meticulous about cleaning out the I&S set-up before I move the other Wyandottes in, since it's possible that Sylvia died of something other than the Bad Stupid, and because I'm going to need to pull the cheap vinyl flooring and put down something more resiliant (I'm seriously thinking of "plywood tiles" which are made of 1/4" plywood and ten or twelve layers of exterior polyurethane varnish, cut to be laid flush in the space) and I don't want to trap germs or parasites. I got the chunky bits off the floor before it started raining too hard; the next time I get an hour of not-rain I'll drag the shopvac out and clean it up good.

 

[mikeyb]

Whoohoo, strawberry box is nearly finished. Once I get that in place I will collect some plants from a neighbor who has extremely sweet, large berries.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

I do understand the "pet" concept with the chickens and their owners. I think I'm a little more pragmatic about them. Prob comes from my uncles and aunts farms where they didn't even bother with a coop. These were farms in the hills of Tenn and VA and GA with plenty of hawks, racoons, oppossums, fox, feral cats, owls, etc. I just don't recall my uncles getting stressed over the "possiblity" of losing a chicken to them or them getting sick.
The chickens roosted where ever and laid their eggs the same way. It was us kids that had to go hunt the eggs every day.  Of course the hens had their favorite places so it wasn't too difficult to find them. Occasionally we would miss one or two.

You're one up on me then.  I just don't get the "pet" thing at all.  I mean I guess I kind of did get it when I was first starting, but once I got educated and understood the harm I was doing by treating them as pets I got over it pretty fast.  I'm not old (getting there though) but I definitely learned from the old timers. To quote my mentor, "They're just chickens!" LOL

Sounds like a fun, clean living childhood chasing down the eggs.

I tend to view the chickens in much the same way as I do the cattle: they're co-workers, and deserve respect for the jobs they do, and kindness because being unkind is bad for me. I'm into prophylactic treatment, especially anti-parasite treatment and with the cattle, vaccinations: I'm coming around to the differences between cattle and chickens having to do with reproductive potential, body size, and interspecies transmissability. On the latter point: I'd vaccinate chickens for salmonella if I could, and feed anti-coccidiosis feed to chicks because that disease CAN jump species and cause death in calves (something I know from listening to another 4-Her's demonstration over and over and over again as we proceeded from project meetings to the community club to county to district to state).

I don't like losing any animal when it's a result of a failure on my part, and need a lot of proof before I can accept it's NOT my fault. I get really frustrated when I loose breeding stock in any form: I'm a blood stock breeder at heart, and want to continue good bloodlines even if they're represented by a heifer who gets her head stuck in an eight bottom breaking plough.

But I helped slaughter my first steer when I was... maybe seven? I cleaned a hen who was diagnosed as egg bound and slaughtered before she got sick when I was five, and enjoyed the chicken and dumplings after. But I know not everyone is a farmer and try not to get snarky over these things (because being unkind is bad for me).

 

[BGMatt]

I tend to view the chickens in much the same way as I do the cattle: they're co-workers, and deserve respect for the jobs they do, and kindness because being unkind is bad for me. I'm into prophylactic treatment, especially anti-parasite treatment and with the cattle, vaccinations: I'm coming around to the differences between cattle and chickens having to do with reproductive potential, body size, and interspecies transmissability. On the latter point: I'd vaccinate chickens for salmonella if I could, and feed anti-coccidiosis feed to chicks because that disease CAN jump species and cause death in calves (something I know from listening to another 4-Her's demonstration over and over and over again as we proceeded from project meetings to the community club to county to district to state).

I don't like losing any animal when it's a result of a failure on my part, and need a lot of proof before I can accept it's NOT my fault. I get really frustrated when I loose breeding stock in any form: I'm a blood stock breeder at heart, and want to continue good bloodlines even if they're represented by a heifer who gets her head stuck in an eight bottom breaking plough.

But I helped slaughter my first steer when I was... maybe seven? I cleaned a hen who was diagnosed as egg bound and slaughtered before she got sick when I was five, and enjoyed the chicken and dumplings after. But I know not everyone is a farmer and try not to get snarky over these things (because being unkind is bad for me).

That makes a lot of sense with the interspecies stuff. Only non-poultry animals I have are dog(s) so that's not a huge concern for me, I would take more precautions otherwise. I don't wanna be misunderstood, it stresses me greatly and depresses me if I lose stock. I've almost quit so many times it's not even funny, to the point where it's almost funny. Cried myself to sleep multiple times over what I automatically assume is improper management on my part. However, I realize that if I lose a few now, the stronger genetics survive and in future generations I will lose less and less. It wasn't until I was armed with that knowledge that it became my modus operandi (spelling?).

My deepest darkest secret is I can't slaughter/butcher. I just can't. I have in the past, as both my FFA advisor and 4-H leader thought it was something us older kids should do, just so we understood and learned that part of it. But to this day I have my meat birds processed professionally.