Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[jvls1942]

good nice summer morning,
we have chicks hatching like pop corn. 57 eggs in there, so many chicks running around it is impossible to count .

I really appreciate the large type, firstchic. my eyes are so bad that it takes me so long to read when the print is small.

I have an easy day today, the lawn is all mowed, and the garden is all weeded.

I was going to do some mowing under the oak tree behind the garage, but that was nixed.. the raspberries are spreading all over back there
the "grass" is about 3 feet tall. I might mow along the edges of the berries.

......jiminwisc.....,

.

 

[bigzio]

Jim, it works really well to add a piece of black rubber hose that is used for car repairs on your duster....you must have some of that laying around in the right diameter....you then can aim it with fabulous results....I have prolly a 8" piece on mine.

bigz

 

[jvls1942]

Jim, it works really well to add a piece of black rubber hose that is used for car repairs on your duster....you must have some of that laying around in the right diameter....you then can aim it with fabulous results....I have prolly a 8" piece on mine.

bigz

good afternoon,

there are about 30 chicks hatched already..

thanks Brent, I thought of doing that, and I do have lots of different sizes of tubing around here.. but I found an easier way. I gave Annie a hand flour sifter and she did the whole patch. all I had to do was follow her and add the DE to the sifter when it went empty..

dogs are barking, i better go see
I'm back. it was the mail girl.
she loves Frankie. and Frankie allows her to get out of her car..

........jiminwisc..........

 

[chickendreams24]

I've sent a whole bird for necropsy by the state, prepped and sent by my local vet, cost was around $140...$35 vet, $105 state. The state did not do a full panel test and did not give me a satisfactory answer as to what was wrong. I then took another live bird to another vet (a personal friend of mine who is on the state list of avian vets). He took blood from the live bird and sent it to the state...I'll have to see if I can find the cost tomorrow might have been $65. He put the bird down and did a necropsy for me at no charge. I think he made recommendations to the state lab as to what to test for and they came back with a diagnosis of Mycoplasma Synoviae. The symptoms my birds had/have is chronic diarrhea which causes egg peritonitis and the hen dies or they are weakened, get impacted crops and die. I have put some down due to fly strike also caused by the diarrhea. The other main symptom they have is the head shake...mine seem to do it in response to noise like if the cocks crow or I talk to them.

I had the birds, that brought the disease here, quarantined for 8 weeks but did not do a good job of it I guess as my original flock became infected. I'm pretty sure it was from not changing my shoes between coops. I don't remember how long it took to infect the old flock....maybe 10-12 weeks? 

Because you don't know what you're dealing with it's hard to say if you should save or cull. I culled 70 birds, cleaned the coops and let them sit idle for a couple months while I got some hatching eggs to start over. Hatched 7 last fall and bred them this spring...hatched 40 chicks. I'll be butchering everything off again this fall as they all have the head shake/diarrhea. I plan to clean/disinfect everything again this fall and let it all sit birdless over winter to see if the cold will kill the disease off....I'm guessing they may have been infected by the contaminated ground around the coop or maybe my compost pile.

Some just cull sick birds and bury the dead when it happens but I enjoy breeding a good bird and this summer the enjoyment is not there because some of them are sick again. I just had to cull one of breeder hens for egg peritonitis... did a home necropsy and she was just filled with infection. She was the best typed hen I've ever had and I'm quite disappointed at this setback. So depending on what might be going on with your flock you might just cull and/or breed for resistance, cull/clean and start over, or maybe vaccinate. There are many pros and cons to each choice...the decisions will need to be what's best for you.
Good luck!

Thank you for your response.

Crappy day here. Decided to cull the birds today as they were getting worse and we are very afraid for our existing flock. So down 7 birds. Plus last night two birds were missing and they haven't come home. A slw hen and a buff silkie chick. Night before last DH2B saw the fox again but the flock was already locked up. Ugh I'm so disgusted I could scream. DH2B and his father were here working outside all day yesterday and saw nothing. The flock was never upset or on alert.

On top of that we have also been informed by a neighbor that he's been finding wolf tracks in his driveway and has had pictures analyzed.

So down 9 birds today with many more hanging in the balance.

Can anyone tell me if you can eat a bird that has a respiratory illness? Obviously not if it's being treated but otherwise is it safe? If our flock comes down with this we may cull but would rather not waste them, unless it's unsafe. That being said the ones from today we would not have eaten as they were quite sick.

All I can do is hope and wait. Any idea how long we should wait before we can start to hope we're in the clear?

 

[chickendreams24]

Also if any more of our flock become infected we will be sending out for a necropsy, but we didn't want to hold onto these ones any longer and risk it.

 

[Daethen]

Also if any more of our flock become infected we will be sending out for a necropsy, but we didn't want to hold onto these ones any longer and risk it.

Sorry you are having so many problems.

 

[Firstchic]

Hey Jim and all
First, is there a way to save the font size. Everytime I have to post it goes back to 10 so I have to go to 20 and Bold.

We have a Barred Rock, I think she is fairly old. The lady down the road gave her to us along with some other hens when we first started out. We have had her about a year. We call her Waddles cause that is how she walks. The lady got her from another friend and she did not know if she was hurt at birth or latter. Anyway, her waddle and come are very pale. Has been for about a week. I picked her up to night...she was laying in the coop leaned up against the feeder and did not move when I bend down to pick her up. She has an egg, but it feels soft around it. I think that is good....not sure. Her butt is somewhat nasty, but, with all those feathers, I expect that, I guess. Any ideas? Oh, BTW, I took her to the run and she stands on her own without wavering. I put her by the water and she did a good deal of drinking.

 

[jvls1942]

Hi all,

Firstchic, I do the same as you, click size and hit "20" for font size.
If there is a way to hold it, I don't know it..
I don't use the Bold anymore.. I forget it half the time anyway

I called Jordan and told him he could come get his chicks on Sunday. they should be all done hatching by then.. it looks like about 80% of the eggs are hatched already..

got the tractor battery charged up to 100% again, I disconnected the neutral cable until I can figure what is draining the battery.. there is a short somewhere. it shows up on the charger..
I suspect the on off pull switch. I am going to get a keyed switch and see if that helps any.. if not, then I will go searching for the short .
any ideas are welcome..
I completely rewired the tractor a couple of years ago, so I am pretty sure it is not in the wires.. It was fine until a few weeks ago.. .

.......jiminwisc........

 

[Daethen]

Anyone looking for some black frizzle cockerels? Absolutely adorable.

 

[mophead]

Jeebus I thought I was waking to the apocalypse this morning. Weather forecast says wind gusts up to 25 mph but it was MUCH higher than that when the front came through.

Sorry to hear about diseases, foxes, and other troubles.