Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote:
No. It's not much. Their egg shells were getting thin on the Nature Wise layer feed I bought them so I read Vitamin D helps with that. It did! Shells back to normal and birds seem happier. I want to just switch to Layena like everybody else on the planet, LOL! I was trying to do the "best" by buying more natural feed but seriously I think I'm done catering to the chooks. I need sanity.

Yeah, they can be frustrating. I feed mine regular chick starter/grower and offer oyster shell free choice and have a flock block( so I guess I am supplementing vitamins after all) since I have a roo and young pullets and chicks together. It is entirely possible that the batch of feed got tainted. Have you tried a new bag with different lot numbers?

I hadn't thought of that, but we've probably gone through 4 bags of feed bought in 2 different locations since the first bird died similarly to how this bird is acting now...though this one isn't as bad yet. It could easily be a yard toxin though, I'm clueless about identifying plants.

I have a "black thumb", so I just kill most everything that isn't grass or trees. I literally have grass, dandelions, pear trees and fir trees in my back yard where the chickens are. I don't even attempt to plant anything, it will die.

I can't even grow tomato plants. My DW wants a garden, but I think it will fail.

 

[Greg Richardson]

Think you have a rat problem do you?






Officials set to kill 180 million rats on Galapagos Islands

By GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press Published: Nov 15, 2012 at 8:23 AM PST

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In this Nov. 11, 2012 photo released by Galapagos National Park, park staff test equipment that will hold poisonous bait to kill rats on the Galapagos Islands, as they stand on Baltra Island.​

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - The unique bird and reptile species that make the Galapagos Islands a treasure for scientists and tourists must be preserved, Ecuadorean authorities say - and that means the rats must die, hundreds of millions of them.

A helicopter is to begin dropping nearly 22 tons of specially designed poison bait on an island Thursday, launching the second phase of a campaign to clear out by 2020 non-native rodents from the archipelago that helped inspire Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

The invasive Norway and black rats, introduced by whalers and buccaneers beginning in the 17th century, feed on the eggs and hatchlings of the islands' native species, which include giant tortoises, lava lizards, snakes, hawks and iguanas. Rats also have depleted plants on which native species feed.

The rats have critically endangered bird species on the 19-island cluster 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from Ecuador's coast.

"It's one of the worst problems the Galapagos have. (Rats) reproduce every three months and eat everything," said Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a specialist with the Nature Conservancy involved in the Phase II eradication operation on Pinzon island and the islet of Plaza Sur.

Phase I of the anti-rat campaign began in January 2011 on Rabida island and about a dozen islets, which like Pinzon and Plaza Sur are also uninhabited by humans.

The goal is to kill off all nonnative rodents, beginning with the Galapagos' smaller islands, without endangering other wildlife. The islands where humans reside, Isabela and Santa Cruz, will come last.

Previous efforts to eradicate invasive species have removed goats, cats, burros and pigs from various islands.

Pinzon is about seven square miles (1,812 hectares) in area, while Plaza Sur encompasses just 24 acres (9.6 hectares).

"This is a very expensive but totally necessary war," said Gonzalez.

The rat infestation has now reached one per square foot (about 10 per square meter) on Pinzon, where an estimated 180 million rodents reside.

The director of conservation for the Galapagos National Park Service, Danny Rueda, called the raticide the largest ever in South America.

The poisoned bait, developed by Bell Laboratories in the United States, is contained in light blue cubes that attract rats but are repulsive to other inhabitants of the islands. The one-centimeter-square cubes disintegrate in a week or so.

Park official Cristian Sevilla said the poison will be dropped on Pinzon and Plaza Sur through the end of November.

A total of 34 hawks from Pinzon were trapped in order to protect them from eating rodents that consume the poison, Sevilla said. They are to be released in early January.

On Plaza Sur, 40 iguanas were also captured temporarily for their own protection.

Asked whether a large number of decomposing rats would create an environmental problem, Rueda said the poison was specially engineered with a strong anti-coagulant that will make the rats dry up and disintegrate in less than eight days without a stench.

It will help that the average temperature of the islands is 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius), he added.

The current $1.8 million phase of the project is financed by the national park and nonprofit conservation groups including Island Conservation.

The Galapagos were declared protected as a UNESCO Natural Heritage site in 1978. In 2007, UNESCO declared them at risk due to harm from invasive species, tourism and immigration.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote: I am thinking I can set up at the show with an honor box.Then head on a road trip!! See besides 2coops I know there will be many who will be gone and they can't take ALL of their birds with them. Come to think of it maybe I need to take the trailer and big truck. Yeah me loves a shopping trip at the midnight chicken supply. You know the one, down at the corner of grab em and run!!!!

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote:
No. It's not much. Their egg shells were getting thin on the Nature Wise layer feed I bought them so I read Vitamin D helps with that. It did! Shells back to normal and birds seem happier. I want to just switch to Layena like everybody else on the planet, LOL! I was trying to do the "best" by buying more natural feed but seriously I think I'm done catering to the chooks. I need sanity.
OK I'm gonna jump in front of the bus here. Just for what its worth. I feed purina flock raiser free choice, med grit free choice and oyster shell free choice. rarely do we have an ill bird. I use minimum meds and I will NOT take a bird to a vet. I will fix it one way or another.

Also to any who may not know. Birds hide illness very well and many times when we notice they are not looking good it may be nearly too late. This goes for ALL birds.

 

[FirewifeJess]

What I wonder about is WHAT could my birds be hiding??? Clearly there's something they're getting into, but I don't know what. OR, there's an illness they are hiding perfectly. They all seem so happy and bright and energetic, I'm still getting 6-8 eggs per day from 10 confirmed layers. Wouldn't egg laying be one of the first things to stop if they were sick?

 

[KMHunter]

Quote:

She died after I posted this morning.

I'm sorry. I was hoping she'd make it.

Me too!!

 

[KMHunter]

Can anyone tell me what I should do for a bird who was perfectly happy and flying/scratching around the yard an hour ago, but is now huddled on the back porch with her eyes closed? I picked her up and brought her inside; she lay lifeless on a towel at first, breathing and making some noises; then I roller her onto her feet and she's standing but her head is drooping, eyes closed, tail down. She just sat/lay down (like roosting) on the towel and hasn't walked anywhere. What could have happened to her? There's no blood, vent is clean and looks normal, nothing feels hard in her abdomen, crop is normal.

My vet told me that most of the time with only those symptoms you should treat for cocci first for a couple of days.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: I have two!

 

[Hinotori]

Ok. We'll be at the show Saturday. Still trying to decide on the food I'm going to bring. Mom suggested I go get some styrofoam cups and spoons and take a crockpot with potato soup. I was thinking about bacon wrapped around Little Smokies. Heat them back up in the crockpot. I only have one pot, though. We'll be bringing power to make that work.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: I am thinking I can set up at the show with an honor box.Then head on a road trip!! See besides 2coops I know there will be many who will be gone and they can't take ALL of their birds with them. Come to think of it maybe I need to take the trailer and big truck. Yeah me loves a shopping trip at the midnight chicken supply. You know the one, down at the corner of grab em and run!!!!
UH.....I don't think so. I will have my eye on you!