Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Firstchic]

I'm sorry for your loss. I'm also sorry I can't tell you what was wrong with your hen but I've been battling the same symptoms in my flock for months. Here, the head twitch/ shake is in response to noise...the sound of my voice or vocalizations from the other birds. The other symptom is chronic diarrhea.
I've sent one bird to the state lab for necropsy with mixed results. The only thing that 'might' have been a problem was E.Coli. I had a veterinarian friend do two in-house necropsies...one bird had liver damage, the other egg peritonitis. I've done at least four home necropsies finding another damaged liver with lesions and more egg peritonitis. I recently sent another bird to the state lab and am waiting for results....when I get the report back I'll let you know what I find.

So, would you rule out bird flu?

 

[Huntress78]

Quote: Yes. The first necropsy , done by the state lab, tested negative for A.I.

 

[jvls1942]

good afternoon,,

leave us not go into undue worrying,,

chickens die,, mostly from undiagnosable problems,,

your chicken seemed to go through a normal bodily functional shut down,, people do the same thing..

If a lab has a problem putting their finger on a cause, how does anyone without any medical training expect to ..

I would rule out bird flue , in this case..

to me it sounds like a digestional tract malfunction,,

If the bird was a commercial egg layer type, this type of death is normal..

IMHO

I doubt it is anything contagious,, just watch the rest of the chicks for a few days and if nothing turns up, forget it and move on..

 

[Firstchic]

good afternoon,,

leave us not go into undue worrying,,

chickens die,, mostly from undiagnosable problems,,

your chicken seemed to go through a normal bodily functional shut down,, people do the same thing..

If a lab has a problem putting their finger on a cause, how does anyone without any medical training expect to ..

I would rule out bird flue , in this case..

to me it sounds like a digestional tract malfunction,,

If the bird was a commercial egg layer type, this type of death is normal..

IMHO

I doubt it is anything contagious,, just watch the rest of the chicks for a few days and if nothing turns up, forget it and move on..

Thank you, I will heed your advice

 

[Huntress78]

good afternoon,,

leave us not go into undue worrying,,

chickens die,, mostly from undiagnosable problems,,

your chicken seemed to go through a normal bodily functional shut down,, people do the same thing..

If a lab has a problem putting their finger on a cause, how does anyone without any medical training expect to ..

I would rule out bird flue , in this case..

to me it sounds like a digestional tract malfunction,,

If the bird was a commercial egg layer type, this type of death is normal..

IMHO

I doubt it is anything contagious,, just watch the rest of the chicks for a few days and if nothing turns up, forget it and move on..

I might agree with you about not worrying if this were just a closed backyard flock for my own use but I am worried because they are sick and I cannot, in good conscience, sell or give away any adults or chicks. Would you want birds from my flock knowing that in the last five months I've lost ten out of twentyfive from the new flock I bought and a half dozen from my original flock? I bought these birds to breed and sell but nothing is leaving my property until I either find out what is wrong with them or cull the entire flock and start over.

 

[CheesePoultry]

Firstchic, sorry about your loss! It's hard, but unfortunately it does happen, despite our best efforts sometimes. I hope it's nothing contagious and that all the rest of your birds are alright.

My oldest DD's first guinea keet that hatched didn't make it out of the shell completely and died. Next keet trying to hatch was having difficulty, but she knows not to "help" it. However, DH did not heed DD's advice and could not keep away and "helped" the keet out of the shell. Poor thing had a deformed back, couldn't stand up to be able to eat or drink. DH's "help" only caused that poor bird to suffer needlessly and for DD to feel badly for it. So I said he wasn't allowed to "help" anymore hatchlings!! We have had one more keet hatch now, and it's healthy and a cute little fuzzball. I think there are 5 more guinea eggs in the bator, maybe a few more than that. We'll see if any more of them hatch.

8 yo DD got two little bunnies today for her 4-H rabbit project. One black Netherland Dwarf and a Hotot. This is the first year she can show animals through 4-H so she is excited. She paid for them with her own money. They are super cute. I hope DD has fun showing them and learns a lot. She's been spending time reading about rabbits and rabbit care, so now it's time to put all that reading into action by caring for her animals.

DH planted the last of the seeds this week. He's doing some successive planting of sweet corn ("Gotta Have It" hybrid variety from Gurney - anyone ever plant that?). I think all I need him to plant yet is cilantro. I want to make salsa, but it'll be a while until we have fresh tomatoes. Hope the weather warms up and stays warm so that peppers and tomatoes grow. Last year it never really got hot enough to get much of them.

Our fruit trees, though, had a ton of blossoms on them. Can already see little green cherries on our one cherry tree. I hope it's a good apple and pear year, too. DS has a small strawberry patch in our garden and we had blossoms on the strawberries already, too. Last year DH planted some blackberry plants and some blueberries as well. I don't know if we'll get fruit from them this year or not, though. Might have to wait another year or two.

Hello to everyone, welcome to the newbies, hope you can all get out and enjoy some nice weather today.

Angela

 

[CheesePoultry]

Oh don't know if I mentioned this or not... DD's two Silkie hens (one white, one partridge) are sitting on a huge clutch of Silkie and guinea eggs. They look rather silly, these two little bantam fuzzy girls sitting on a mountain of eggs! DD said yesterday one of the eggs was outside of the clutch. She candled it and it was infertile. Do the hens know if an egg is infertile, and did they roll it out of the pile of eggs themselves??

 

[Firstchic]

To anyone in/near (within 20 miles) of Clintonville, be able to sell me some chicks when I get my other coop ready? Would like cicks that are hardy, good eggers, and not aggressive. Any one care to inform me as to breed would be great.

My tomatoes, cabbage, pepper plants are doing great. The cold spell knocked off a few of the peppers, but they are regrowing leaves....will see how that works out. Planted lettuce and radishes yesterday, have two little rads up already.

 

[bigzio]

Just back from the meeting at Camp...plenty of events to stay busy with the next couple of months.

Sorry to hear about your project going array huntress...please keep us posted with how it's going. It sounds like the flock you brought in is the culprit, and transferred the illness to your healthy birds. Good Luck!

bigz

 

[jvls1942]

Quote: this has been hashed over many times in the past,, maybe all before you joined,,

it is not uncommon for new chickens to infect an established flock,, nor is it impossible that the established flock to infect the newbies..

I have had it happen .. each flock carries some kind of "bug" that the other is not immune to..

once it runs it's course, you go on with what you have ..
let me rephrase that, I go on with what I have,, you do what you think is best for you.

If you want a real challenge,, try raising turkey poults ..