Washingtonians

[Chickielady]

The chlorine solution that ChickieLady informed me of is really working! Princess Buttercup was up on her legs this evening, actively pecking at dry crumbles, and she'd try to walk, take about three steps and then fall over. At least she isn't giving up! She's plucky!

Also, she's no longer opening her beak over and over trying to breathe.

I had to cover her up and make her box completely dark in order for her to stop clucking and go to sleep...I'll keep her out of the coop until she can completely walk again, I have a feeling my other 19 birds will cull her on their own if she is out there. Also, I don't know how much longer she's contagious for. No other birds are showing any symptoms. I'm starting the solution in their water tomorrow.

COOL !!! And you are still using an antibiotic ?
Fingers Crossed !

 

[Chickielady]

Is this tilapia or something else?

Gotta be salmon !

RW has connections !

 

[Chickielady]

What were Princess Buttercup's symptoms again? All my birds are adjusting well (Finally!!) to having Princess around, but they all have watery poops; increasingly watery. NO other symptoms. Currently then whole flock of 10 is on Durvet Vitamins and Electrolytes supplement in their water and about a Tbsp. of yogurt/each once a day. Watery poop seems to be getting worse, but no blood or diarrhea, more like caecal poops + normal poops both with tons of excess water. Should I do the bleach solution too, even though there's no respiratory symptoms?

The watery poops are a symptom of colibacilliosis.
It will be a solid glob, with alot of what looks like pure water surrounding each glob.
It can make birds dehydrated fast.
I use the solution at 1 T per gallon EVERYDAY.
I add 2 T per gallon if any are sick.
I have had birds get bad diarreah from dairy products, my experience & opinion is that poultry does not have a digestive system to properly digest dairy products, including yogurt and kefir (tried both)
A little bit of cottage cheese now & again and they also got the diarreah.
A good person to consult (if she has time) is pips&peeps, she recommends & uses Oxine in her water.
I do what WSU recommends, I use the solution they told me to use & it worked.
So I do it, everyday.

 

[Chickielady]

And that is just another part of why I wear the bandana !

 

[Chickielady]

I first noticed that she was trying to walk out of the coop and kept falling over and using her wing as support. This was on Friday morning. I picked her up and she was stretching her neck out and gasping for breath, and little bit of snot was coming out of her nostrils. When I got her into a box, she would lay on her side and couldn't support herself at all. She was in the box all day and night and didn't poop until Saturday morning. I had to dip her beak into the water (sulmet at the time) and food dishes. I started her on the chlorine solution Friday evening around 10:30 pm, by dipping her beak into it and also her food, for about 15 minutes.

My girlfriend's daugher wants to be a Veterinarian, so she's been really helpful in keeping Buttercup warm, cuddling with her, feeding her and dipping her beak in the water several times over the course of yesterday and today. This morning is when Buttercup finally started to squak and feeling better. She's more alert, can hold her head up and move it around, doesn't stretch her neck out. Whenever Megan would put her down on her pillow and leave the room she would start squaking for her. Pretty cute! Her poops were super watery and a dark mustard color. Her last poop still had water but there was more solid and white to it. And boy is it stinky. She is still squaking - I had to put her out on the porch for tonight because she wasn't letting any of us sleep. I covered up her box with a towel so that it's dark, hopefully she'll go to sleep and get some rest tonight. Her box is next to the peachick brooder, which has the heat lamp on it.

So whenever I held her, I would tuck her feet under her and put them flat on my hand - her toes were always curled up & I would have to manually flatten them out for her to sit on my hand. I noticed that she could put weight on one leg, but whenever I tried to get her weight on the other leg (left), she would lose her balance and drop her wing. When she was sitting on both feet in my hand, both of her wings would droop. HTH FireWifeJess!

Hopefully she does not have anything nueral going on.
But Marek's does not just happen in one day, it goes slowly...getting worse week by week.
Usually by the time people realize without a doubt that it is Marek's, they also realize that ALL their birds have been exposed.
Poultry can have Marek's for weeks before you notice stumbling & uncordination in them, it is a very sad thing to happen.

 

[Chickielady]

I'd wait on the predator proofing until you come here and see what VF did on our run; it's awesome and MUCH easier than what you just said. It's just a hardware cloth apron all the way around the run so that nothing can dig under. Super easy and since predators aren't smart, they don't think to back up 12" and dig under away from the run. Dummies

We have that as well.

 

[Chickielady]

I would not have done that to those birds. They were too good of quality. I also found out after I had sold that everybody who had shown from that line placed very well.

Oh well The new birds should do EVEN BETTER !

Great to hear you are finally gonna show your birds !!!

 

[Chickielady]

I hear ya about opening the gate. I think it would be cheaper and easier to do the apron idea, but bury it a few inches deep. The description I read to put the wire in concrete seems like a lot of work to me, not to mention the added expense of the concrete. Also, maybe you'd only have to bury the apron in just the part to let the gate open. (Not sure that last sentence made sense).

Dave

We have ours (hardware cloth on the pnes) buried 12" in the dirt and the mink went right under it.
So we dug the dirt back up & poured concrete in it, dry, easy to do with the shovel...then sprinkled water on it & covered it back up the next day with the dirt.
The big free range "pasture" fence is "no dig" and "No Climb" 2x4 feild fencing, which we have seen now the mink can squeeze through....

The green plastic fencing area is the chick grow out pen...still has "no dig" on the bottom, bird net on top.


This was 2 years ago, and now grass has grown up on the no dig wire.


We cut the 2x4 fencing in strips, at a sharp angle with cutter, and tacked it to wood posts to deter any climbing...it is very sharp and so far has worked really well.
But the mink can go through the 2x4 fencing you see on the left, with no hardware cloth or smaller fencing attached.
So can other critters, rats & birds.
Luckily, if a mink does go in that pasture area (on the left) they cannot catch a chicken unless it is cornered, such as IN a pen or IN a coop.
Looks like a prison camp here.

 

[Chickielady]

I finally caught up !
DH is home from dropping Jack off at the new Vet office.
I am sure this will require an anesthesia to remove his new whiskers..............so there goes all my savings for the lumber this month !

Me thinks it is a good idea to keep Jack IN one of the pens at night, so he does not fraternize with the wildlife at night.

Well I better go get to work.
I have lots to do today cuz I slothed all day yesterday.
Gotta gut a coop bedding & replace, and clean the chicken tractor out, the corn balls are messy !!!

Inside the tracto'r "house" I have laid down a sheet of EDPM (pond liner) which is like inner tube material.
So I just pick up all 4 corners & heft the crud into the wheel barrel, lay the pond liner back down & add fresh shavings.
Even still, 25 corn balls make alot of poo, and so has to be changed every other day or they get they keels sore.
The butterballs are pretty bald & spend alot of time laying down & digesting.............

Just heard on the weather channel we will have record lows tonight (great) at 43 degrees here on the coast/Aberdeen area.
Might be far colder up from here.

CR don't put your long underwear away just yet !

 

[SadieSue]

ARGGGH !!!!!!!!!!!!

Jack had a few extra whiskers this morning.
he was chained to his dog house, and still we have never seen a porcupine here except the dead one on the road 2 weeks ago.

DH is driving Jack around now to the referral vet.
Poor guy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

he was really hurting !

Oh NO!!! Poor guy - I hope he and DH find help this morning! So are the quills barbed? Is that why they can't be pulled out? Criminey, I just wouldn't have any idea what to do.