What did you do with your flock today?

[ValerieJ]

Oh my! They are just too beautiful
Being small they could be a good fit for me. If I'm ever 'allowed' more birds.
I'm so sorry to hear about Biscotti. She's such a sweetheart. I wonder what's causing it?
She sounds a bit like Stan in that she's not sick but not entirely 'right' either. With Stan, it's his breathing. He sounds like he smokes 60 a day. He's sounded like he had a serious respiratory infection for over a year now, even resting you can hear him wheezing and he's worse if he gets over excited or exerts himself. In all other respects he's fit as a fiddle. He's super alert, eats like a horse and has such glossy feathers. He's had every test, antibiotic and antiviral under the sun, all to no avail. Chickens sure are a mystery at times!

Can roosters get asthma? Sounds like something like that. Poor Stan.

 

[ValerieJ]

Happy New Year everybody! Let's make it a good one.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Oh my! They are just too beautiful
Being small they could be a good fit for me. If I'm ever 'allowed' more birds.
I'm so sorry to hear about Biscotti. She's such a sweetheart. I wonder what's causing it?
She sounds a bit like Stan in that she's not sick but not entirely 'right' either. With Stan, it's his breathing. He sounds like he smokes 60 a day. He's sounded like he had a serious respiratory infection for over a year now, even resting you can hear him wheezing and he's worse if he gets over excited or exerts himself. In all other respects he's fit as a fiddle. He's super alert, eats like a horse and has such glossy feathers. He's had every test, antibiotic and antiviral under the sun, all to no avail. Chickens sure are a mystery at times!

I think she just suffered from her scrambled, shipped egg. Even as a freshly hatched newborn she was squinty eyed and badly feathered. She's so beautiful and sweet...and if the temps are mild...shes healthy, happy and does a grand chicken strut...lol. Anything outside of comfortable though, and she stops moving around, and looks one step from death. All the other chickens keep strutting...but she goes half comatose.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Can roosters get asthma? Sounds like something like that. Poor Stan.

O there's a good thought worth exploring!

 

[TropicalBabies]

Happy New Year! Fun to wake up to quite.. and my tribe!

Manono is also a scrambled egg chick, or actually a messed up settings chick. She had a TON of problems but has managed to outsurvive a lot of her healthier flockmates.

Another keen observation i made is how this simple 4' something fence is keeping my girls in. Yet, at home our fence is going to be 5' ++ and fancy. It suddenly struck me as ridiculous. Oh well, it is pretty and the project makes DH happy, I am sure.

I have not made any mad dash plan to head down yet. My brain and bones aren't ready yet. It is quiet and cool with a misty rain and my kitties are chilling, Giz on my lap. Fosters seem OK with their camp out too, but sure will be happy to make it home and out of these cramped cages.

I'm sure there will be residual fireworks for another day or so...

As long as DH is ok, son is OK, animals are ok, I may try and overstay my welcome.

 

[Jenbirdee]

I helped the ducks reach their new heated rubber bucket that was a little too tall for them by stacking artificial grass squares all around it

 

[ValerieJ]

Happy New Year! Fun to wake up to quite.. and my tribe!View attachment 4018674Manono is also a scrambled egg chick, or actually a messed up settings chick. She had a TON of problems but has managed to outsurvive a lot of her healthier flockmates.View attachment 4018689Another keen observation i made is how this simple 4' something fence is keeping my girls in. Yet, at home our fence is going to be 5' ++ and fancy. It suddenly struck me as ridiculous. Oh well, it is pretty and the project makes DH happy, I am sure.View attachment 4018678
I have not made any mad dash plan to head down yet. My brain and bones aren't ready yet. It is quiet and cool with a misty rain and my kitties are chilling, Giz on my lap. Fosters seem OK with their camp out too, but sure will be happy to make it home and out of these cramped cages.View attachment 4018685
I'm sure there will be residual fireworks for another day or so...

As long as DH is ok, son is OK, animals are ok, I may try and overstay my welcome.

The chickens are beautiful! They have such a great home! And the kitties all look content in their temporary digs.

 

[Shetland lover]

Can roosters get asthma? Sounds like something like that. Poor Stan.

That's exactly what it sounds like but apparently chicken 'asthma' is not the same as asthma in mammals. What is known as chicken asthma is actually a range of bacterial and viral respiratory infections. My vet friend actually asked the lead vetinary surgeon for birds at the Royal Zoological Society if chickens suffer from asthma and she said 'no', not in the way we understand it. She did say that some parrots and parrotlets suffer from hypersensitivity disease, which causes asthma-like symptoms. The birds affected sound exactly like Stan and have a hypersensitivity to things like dust, pollen and mould. We've come to the conclusion that Stan could have a chicken form of this. I'm working on eliminating any possible environmental causes but with no discernable effect. So far, I've tried changing his bedding from dust extracted straw to hemp. I no longer use diatomacious earth at all - on any of my birds or in their various dust baths and coops. I check for mold almost obssessively (as I've noticed he's worse after cold, rainy days), made sure coop ventilation is excellent and I'm damping down any dusty areas. Apparently pesticides can be an issue too so I'm looking for an alternative to ivermectin for him. I don't know what else to try at the moment.

 

[ValerieJ]

That's exactly what it sounds like but apparently chicken 'asthma' is not the same as asthma in mammals. What is known as chicken asthma is actually a range of bacterial and viral respiratory infections. My vet friend actually asked the lead vetinary surgeon for birds at the Royal Zoological Society if chickens suffer from asthma and she said 'no', not in the way we understand it. She did say that some parrots and parrotlets suffer from hypersensitivity disease, which causes asthma-like symptoms. The birds affected sound exactly like Stan and have a hypersensitivity to things like dust, pollen and mould. We've come to the conclusion that Stan could have a chicken form of this. I'm working on eliminating any possible environmental causes but with no discernable effect. So far, I've tried changing his bedding from dust extracted straw to hemp. I no longer use diatomacious earth at all - on any of my birds or in their various dust baths and coops. I check for mold almost obssessively (as I've noticed he's worse after cold, rainy days), made sure coop ventilation is excellent and I'm damping down any dusty areas. Apparently pesticides can be an issue too so I'm looking for an alternative to ivermectin for him. I don't know what else to try at the moment.

Sounds like you've done everything possible! As for insecticides, I use Pyrethrin, which is the organic form of Permethrin. It is derived from Chrysanthemums, if I remember correctly. I use this to spray coops and have also sprayed under the wings and behind the tail of birds.

 

[Shetland lover]

I think she just suffered from her scrambled, shipped egg. Even as a freshly hatched newborn she was squinty eyed and badly feathered. She's so beautiful and sweet...and if the temps are mild...shes healthy, happy and does a grand chicken strut...lol. Anything outside of comfortable though, and she stops moving around, and looks one step from death. All the other chickens keep strutting...but she goes half comatose.

Poor girl! It sounds like her poor start in the egg has resulted in some metabolic issue. That she's here at all is a testament to your nurturing and her determination to survive. As has been suggested, some sort of climate controlled housing may help considerably. This is a link to some of the material we looked at on the commercial rearing part of the course I did. It had some good suggestions on housing modification to maintain ambient temperatures. Some of it could be scaled down, maybe?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...0QFnoECBYQBg&usg=AOvVaw3hRMpTOQ3H9RJmkR4hH6dm