Still dealing with issues on my BSL. I have her on antibiotics now so she's separated from her buddies all day so that she's the only one drinking the medicated water. They don't care for that very much, but it works. About 7:00 at night I remove that waterer and let her join the flock for the night. (nothing contagious).
I've been doing a lot of reading and I'm a little bit worried that she's "one of those hatchery birds" that hit 2 years old and start falling apart. Her reproductive system seems to be the issue which appears to be the common denominator with other hatchery birds. I got her third hand before POL and I don't know how well she was raised either. She has several strikes against her -- hatchery sex link, age, never gone broody, never molted before this, continues laying thru the winter. So her system has never been given the chance to rejuvenate.
I read an interesting paper that talked about the original chickens (jungle fowl) and heritage birds. They naturally go broody about once a year and When they do they naturally stop laying, reduce their food intake dramatically which causes considerable weight loss, and causes them to molt. During this time their reproductive system rejuvenates itself. The breeding that people have done has created birds that don't go broody, don't molt heavily, and lay throughout the year. Plus we add light during the winter to keep them laying. As a result we have hens whose bodies deteriorate, without a chance to rejurenate, and end up with things like internal laying, prolapses, and tumors. This in turn causes us to worry (or freak out), treat with antibiotics, and we're often faced with watching a poor animal get very sick and suffer so they have to be "culled". And generally by that time they are so sick or emaciated that they can't be used in the kitchen. A no win for anyone.
I think this is enough for me to make a new set choices as I go forward with my chickens.
In the mean time, I'm in the worrying stage and I really don't like it. I hope I'm wrong, hope she gets better, and hope she stays healthy.
I strongly beleive one thing that makes chickens get sick is the GMO corn and soy in chicken feed (and whatever scraps are fed to them). With GMO corn, (which comprises 90% of corn produced in the USA), they found that in rats, it caused organ damage to nearly every major organ in 90 days. If it does that to rats, I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to eat it or feed it to our chickens, because I fear the same fate. Of course I have no idea what anyone else is feeding their chickens, but just tossing that out there.Still dealing with issues on my BSL. I have her on antibiotics now so she's separated from her buddies all day so that she's the only one drinking the medicated water. They don't care for that very much, but it works. About 7:00 at night I remove that waterer and let her join the flock for the night. (nothing contagious).
I've been doing a lot of reading and I'm a little bit worried that she's "one of those hatchery birds" that hit 2 years old and start falling apart. Her reproductive system seems to be the issue which appears to be the common denominator with other hatchery birds. I got her third hand before POL and I don't know how well she was raised either. She has several strikes against her -- hatchery sex link, age, never gone broody, never molted before this, continues laying thru the winter. So her system has never been given the chance to rejuvenate.
I read an interesting paper that talked about the original chickens (jungle fowl) and heritage birds. They naturally go broody about once a year and When they do they naturally stop laying, reduce their food intake dramatically which causes considerable weight loss, and causes them to molt. During this time their reproductive system rejuvenates itself. The breeding that people have done has created birds that don't go broody, don't molt heavily, and lay throughout the year. Plus we add light during the winter to keep them laying. As a result we have hens whose bodies deteriorate, without a chance to rejurenate, and end up with things like internal laying, prolapses, and tumors. This in turn causes us to worry (or freak out), treat with antibiotics, and we're often faced with watching a poor animal get very sick and suffer so they have to be "culled". And generally by that time they are so sick or emaciated that they can't be used in the kitchen. A no win for anyone.
I think this is enough for me to make a new set choices as I go forward with my chickens.
In the mean time, I'm in the worrying stage and I really don't like it. I hope I'm wrong, hope she gets better, and hope she stays healthy.
OK, my first chick hatched. It is a silver lace wyandotte. I must keep my hands off. Repeat after me. Leave it alone, do not mess with it. Others are on the way.It is so hard to not interfere. It looks up at me peeping. Pick me up. Pick me up.....
ah! another Bones fan! You are a very busy Mom!You were busy today! I was too, but had a great time as well. Can't wait to see your pics tomorrow!
Today was a bit insane. We had breakfast and did chores before 8am. Worked on school from 9-10, built the small coop and set all the chickens up in new accommodations from 10-12. Lunch, rest time, reading time, and then spent the rest of the afternoon outside with the chickens enjoying them and playing with the kids. Had a yummy soup dinner and went to AWANA with the kids, it was the last night tonight! My sister and I served ice cream to 50+ kids and a dozen adults, and let them all run wild for an extra few minutes. My kids weren't asleep until 9:30, eesh. I'm so tired! Watched my Bones from the DVR and now I'm ready to hit the hay. G'night all! Hoping tomorrow we just do school and play with chickens
