Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[LaurelC]

Thank you for int

You've obviously put a lot of thought into the conversion. The only thing that came to mind right away is the roofing. I would suggest you get the translucent smoke color. It lets in a lot of light but is cooler than the clear when the sun is on it. In fact, the specs I read say that more light comes in with the smoke. Hard to believe, but that's what the spec said.

If you haven't already, be sure there is PLENTY of slant to the ground so the water drains away. And use half-inch hardware cloth on the bottom 2 feet of all the fences. And an apron around the outside perimeter that's 18"-24" wide to deter any digging. You may not have seen predators, but it's just a matter of time, roaming dogs, possoms, and racoons don't follow the rules, even when we have dogs of our own.

Thank you for the input!

The area always has large spots of shade throughout the day. We have smoke roofing on a covered area in our deck, but I will definitely look into the numbers.

We have a pretty hefty slant on the area. It's probably a 1.5-2ft drop over the 12ft course of the pen.

The fencing setup is 1/2" hardware cloth on the bottom 2 feet. It's also buried a food in the ground. The only area that doesn't have an apron is the 4' door to the run, which has large pavers set into the ground. The top 4ft of pen is 2x4" welded wire mesh.

 

[LaurelC]

I agree that the no climb fencing has too much spacing. A raccoon could get it's arm inside and grab a chicken while it is asleep. That is how my cousin lost a couple of her chickens. You could cover it with 1 inch poultry netting or hardware cloth to make it safer. My entire coop is made of 5/8 inch hardware cloth and I have not had a problem with small vermin.

Good call! We stuck with 1/2" hardware cloth for the bottom 2 feet of the pen. The roosting loft area will have siding so will be protected from the outside. The pen was designed with protection against raccoons in mind when we built it for the ducks.

 

[Chickielady]

We moved the chicken tractor this afternoon, so I decided to go in the run and sit down and chat with the girls before the ground got all poopy. It was funny, I picked one up and hugged her to me to keep from flapping and petted her, stroking her back. When I let her go, she would come back close to me, examining my clothes and clucking....by petting her down her back, did she think that she had just had sex? Oh, my!

If she squatted & you patted her back (not a super light pat either) she may think that very thing ! Of course they have no idea what sex is, as we do.

 

[Chickielady]

Long, solid chicken poop - what causes it?

One of my chickens (I only have four) created a poo that was about 6-8 inches long, was coated by the normal green/white slimy poo, but inside of this "rope-like" string was obvious grass and food all braided together. It was VERY tough when I tried to pull it apart. I don't see any discussion on this and wanted to know if it is as a result of lack of grit perhaps? They all seem fine, no other incidences of it (yet) and they're all poo'ing normally now, but I just wanted to avoid something/anything if I can.

Any ideas?

Be glad it did not lodge in the crop...this dry summer weather will kill grasses, and especially wold grasses, will go to seed.
In the process the grass sends out tougher taller seed heads, and some are very hard for the chickens to tear off in smaller bits, and some birds will end up gobbling down a whole long hunk of grass like a kid eating spaghetti, and luckily yours passed it out ok.
Guinea Fowl will grab the bottom of seed head grasses & rip their beak upwards & in the process rip all the seeds off in their mouths...very cool to watch, but chickens will try & eat the whole thing.
When my pastures get dry & go to seed, I lock my chickens out of it, as they have gotten impacted before.

 

[Chickielady]

I have a 5 and a half week old pullet whose flight feathers are twisted. Is this a genetic defect or a result of poor feed? Is there anything I should know about it? I probably wouldn't cull her. But if it's genetic, I wouldn't breed her.

what breed ? I have no clue if it runs in the breed you have...I have never seen it happen !

 

[Chickielady]

My experience is the broody does everything including keeping the other hens away from her babies. So, my opinion, you don't need the special run or the special nest box (been there done that!)
What you will need to do, however, is make sure those babies can follow mom back into the coop every night.
And, really, that's it. That's the beauty of broody hens! They do everything!

I have a few hens that HATE the other hen's babies...and will pick after the babies.
Then again, I have seen full grown Cock birds nestled over warming & protecting babies...so depends on the bird.

 

[Chickielady]

I'd really like to vaccinate my chicks against Marek's when they hatch. Does anyone have a recommendation about where to buy the vaccine? I remember some posts on this thread (was it Chickielady?) about vaccinating, but I can't find them now.

I use Jeffers.
In early spring I buy all my vaccine & my eprinex and any rat poison or fly wasp larvae & all that stuff I need for the year, and have it all shipped at once. If I run out of vaccine, I buy some from pips&peeps at the poultry shows.

http://www.jefferspet.com/products/eprinex-pour-on

and

http://www.jefferspet.com/products/md-vac

 

[Chickielady]

Mine will be hatching in 6 days too -- I hope.
My flock is made up of five vaccinated one-year-olds -- so no Mareks here. I'll PM you. Thanks!

I have 3 bottles right now that I will not need until I hatch next spring, so if you were close I could sell one to you...but I am pretty far south of you.

 

[mOOf]

Hi there Washington neighbors! My name is Mary and I am brand new to chickens but loving every second of it. I'm so happy to have found BYC and other chicken enthusiast!

 

[Chickielady]

On one of the FB Washington Poultry sites it has been stated that Rock River Poultry-IOWA has shipped eggs and chicks to farms and hatcheries ( at least 4 in Louisiana) and is now in quarantine status till tests are finished and it has been said that all the folks they have been selling to is being sought also. It has been recommended to not purchase eggs, chicks from anyone, anywhere for the time being. I am just mentioning this so each of us can investigate the truth as it applies to each of us.

I assume for AI ?
It is REALLY REALLY bad in Iowa & Minnesota.
Our NPIP out here has mentioned it (AI) should "dry up" along with warmer drier weather...here's hoping !


From: Zack, Jonathan T - APHIS [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2015 11:09 AM
Lyndsay M - APHIS; Frederick, Mandi M - APHIS
Subject: HPAI Weekly Situation Report, Maps & Positive Premises 6.12.2015

Sent to the following: National Assembly, AAVLD, NPIP State Colleagues, VS All, EMLC, ICG Support Staff, LPA.

Attached:
· HPAI All Maps 6.12.15. Note Map/Figure 2 now includes Control Areas released by County
· HPAI Weekly National Situation Report, 6.12.15
· HPAI Infected Premises, 6.12.15.

HPAI Response Information

HPAI Outbreak 2014-2015 short policy and procedure guides: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/fadprep

HPAI Red Book, HPAI SOPs, HPAI education & training materials: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/fadprep

USDA APHIS HPAI Updates:http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/home/!ut/p/a1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOK9_D2MDJ0MjDz9vT3NDDz9woIMnDxcDA2CjYEKIoEKDHAARwNC-sP1o8BKnN0dPUzMfYB6TCyMDDxdgPLmlr4GBp5mUAV4rCjIjTDIdFRUBADp5_lR/?1dmy&urile=wcm%3apath%3a%2Faphis_content_library%2Fsa_our_focus%2Fsa_animal_health%2Fsa_animal_disease_information%2Fsa_avian_health%2Fct_avian_influenza_disease

USDA Avian Influenza Web Page: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=avian_influenza.html

Dear National Assembly, AAVLD, and NPIP State Colleagues –

· States which have had positive highly pathogenic avian influenza cases in commercial premises, backyard flocks, captive wild birds or wild birds: 21 (AR, CA, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, ND, NM, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA, WI, WY)

· Premises confirmed for H5 avian influenza number 230 —209 commercial, 21 backyard (The commercial total includes 8 dangerous contact premises.)
· 209 commercial premises = MN-108, IA-70, SD-10, WI-9, NE-5, CA-2, MO-2, ND-2, and AR-1
Note: The total number of commercial premises listed has increased by two due to the addition of two more MN “dangerous contact” premises (Otter Tail 4 and Pope 2) . These were designated as such several weeks ago and do not represent new positive premises.

· Commercial poultry depopulated or pending depopulation:
o Turkeys: approximately 7.5 million (0 % pending depopulation)
o Layer chickens and pullets: approximately 41.1 million (4% pending depopulation – 3.5% in NE; <0.5% in SD, IA)

If there are no further outbreaks or complicating factors to our current activities, all active depopulations will be completed within the next week.

Dr. Jon Zack sent the weekly situation report to all state veterinarians earlier today. If you did not get that email, please let me know.

Dr. T.J. Myers
Associate Deputy Administrator
APHIS Veterinary Services
Riverdale, MD


Table 1: Summary of commercial and backyard HPAI findings by State

State

Total Commercial H5 Pos. HPAI Premises

Flock Type

Premises Pending Complete Depopulation

H5 Pos. HPAI Backyard Premises

Total H5 Positive Premises (Commercial + Backyard)

Presumptive Positive Premises (Pending NVSL Conf)
Turkey

Chicken Layer-Type

Other​

Minnesota

108

103

5

0



0

1

109

0​

Iowa

70

35

35

0



1

6

76

0​

South Dakota

10

9

1

0



1

0

10

0​

Wisconsin

9

6

2

1

mixed

0

1

10

0​

Nebraska

5

0

5

0



3

1

6

0​

California

2

1

0

1

mixed

0

0

2

0​

Missouri

2

2

0

0



0

1

3

0​

North Dakota

2

2

0

0



0

0

2

0​

Arkansas

1

1

0

0



0

0

1

0​

Kansas

0

0

0

0



0

1

1

0​

Washington

0

0

0

0



0

5

5

0​

Oregon

0

0

0

0



0

2

2

0​

Montana

0

0

0

0



0

1

1

0​

Idaho

0

0

0

0



0

1

1

0​

Indiana

0

0

0

0



0

1

1

0​

Totals

209

159

48

2



5

21

230

0​

Table 2: Detail of commercial and backyard HPAI findings

High Path Confirmation by NVSL

State

County​

AI Type

Flock Type

Comment
9-Jun

IA​

Sioux​

20

H5N2
HPAI​

Backyard--

2500 game fowl

5-Jun

MN​

Kandiyohi​

40

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

44,000 turkeys

5-Jun

MN​

Brown​

5

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

39,000 turkeys

4-Jun

NE​

Dixon​

6

H5N2
HPAI​

Backyard

4-Jun

IA​

Hamilton​

4

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

19,607 turkeys

4-Jun

IA​

Sac​

8

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

42,202 turkeys

4-Jun

MN​

Renville​

8

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

24,782 turkeys

4-Jun

MN​

Renville​

7

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Chicken

415,000 pullets

3-Jun

IA​

Clay​

2

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Chicken

1,115,689 pullets

3-Jun

IA​

Hamilton​

3

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

17,250 turkeys

3-Jun

MN​

Kandiyohi​

39

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

37,007 turkeys

3-Jun

IA​

Hamilton​

2

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

36,205 turkeys

3-Jun

MN​

Brown​

4

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

15,884 turkeys

2-Jun

IA​

Calhoun​

2

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

13,385 turkeys

2-Jun

MN​

Blue Earth​

1

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

19.358 turkeys

N/A

MN​

Kandiyohi​

38

N/A​

Commercial Turkey

dangerous contact; 7067 turkeys

1-Jun

IA​

Wright​

5

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Chicken

434,831 pullets

1-Jun

IA​

Sac​

7

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

44,287 turkeys

1-Jun

MN​

Brown​

3

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

18,289 turkeys

1-Jun

MN​

Renville​

6

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

47,843 turkeys

1-Jun

SD​

Moody​

2

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

52,000 turkeys

N/A

NE​

Dixon​

5

N/A​

Commercial Chicken

706,924 layers; dangerous contact

N/A

NE​

Dixon​

4

N/A​

Commercial Chicken

202,365 layers; dangerous contact

29-May

IA​

Hamilton​

1

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

17,353 turkeys

29-May

MN​

Renville​

5

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

29,260 turkeys + 15,000 fertile eggs

29-May

MN​

Brown​

2

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

7,333 turkeys

29-May

MN​

Meeker​

10

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

4,932 turkeys

28-May

IA​

Wright​

4

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Chicken

991,500 layers

28-May

MN​

Kandiyohi​

37

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

26,379 turkeys

28-May

MN​

Kandiyohi​

36

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

50,849 turkeys

28-May

MN​

Kandiyohi​

34

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

17,686 turkeys

28-May

MN​

Renville​

4

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

48,860 turkeys

N/A

MN​

Kandiyohi​

35

N/A​

Commercial Turkey

Dangerous contact to K-34; 22,768 turkeys

27-May

IA​

Webster​

1

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Chicken

161,200 layers

27-May

IA​

Adair​

1

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Chicken

974,499 layers

27-May

MN​

Renville​

3

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

95,309 turkeys

27-May

MN​

Brown​

1

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

46,829 turkeys

26-May

NE​

Dixon​

3

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Chicken

293,241 pullets

26-May

IA​

Pocahontas​

4

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

20,731 turkeys

21-May

IA​

Calhoun​

1

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

13,385 turkeys

21-May

IA​

Sac​

6

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

25,841 turkeys

Pending virus isolation

IA​

Buena Vista​

16

H5​

Commercial Turkey

24,395 turkeys

20-May

IA​

Sioux​

19

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Chicken

149,095 layers

20-May

IA​

Sioux​

18

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Chicken

99,376 pullets

20-May

IA​

Sioux​

17

H5N2
HPAI​

Backyard

Virus isolated -- pending

IA​

Sac​

4

H5​

Commercial Turkey

43,438 turkeys

No virus isolated

IA​

Sioux​

15

H5​

Backyard

19-May

IA​

Sioux​

16

H5N2
HPAI​

Backyard

19-May

IA​

Sac​

5

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

28,391 turkeys

19-May

MN​

Kandiyohi​

33

H5N2
HPAI​

Commercial Turkey

42,600 turkeys

19-May

MN​