YO GEORGIANS! :)

[speckledhen]

Do any of you use a little Greek yogurt due to its really high protein value? As well as digestion benefits or is it bad for chickens?

@speckledhen thank you so much!! Making a shopping list for my DH now

@livhatcher are the eggs you are incubating from your flock or did you get them somewhere? I would love to try my hand at incubating next year. Who knew chickens could become so addicting so fast. I believe I'm getting addicted faster than my chicks grow

I don't use Greek yogurt because it's too expensive. I barely buy that for myself because it's almost twice as much as the other kind. I use the cheapest plain active culture yogurt I can find. I get the big tubs of Great Value at Walmart. It's not the same as giving milk to chickens..and for that matter, raw milk is not the same as today's pasteurized, all-value-killed-off milk, either. Farmers regularly gave their cow and goat milk to their chickens.

 

[gafarmgirl]

Thank you.

 

[livhatcher]

Do any of you use a little Greek yogurt due to its really high protein value? As well as digestion benefits or is it bad for chickens?

@speckledhen thank you so much!! Making a shopping list for my DH now

@livhatcher are the eggs you are incubating from your flock or did you get them somewhere? I would love to try my hand at incubating next year. Who knew chickens could become so addicting so fast. I believe I'm getting addicted faster than my chicks grow

I bought my eggs from a few different breeders. Lessons learned all around---shipped eggs require a little TLC and extra work (see my bookmark bar with Hatching Eggs 101 and ASSISTED Hatching thread links) I'd say don't be hasty about buying eggs--it's really easy to emotionally "accept loss" when you're PayPal-ing someone money, and quite another when the eggs don't develop or have blood rings---or worse, when I had 15 bantam chicks dead in their shells at the end of my hatch. I think you either really get into the science of it and really have the drive to do it as best you can, or you toss them in the bator and wonder what went wrong. Now that I'm in the game, I 100% LOVE incubating and hatching which is great because my chicken BFF really just enjoys the breeding and raising side of it and that makes us a good team. My best advice would be to buy the best incubator you can afford, back up hygrometer and thermometer (Calibrate them!!), and investigate people from whom you believe you could get good eggs. Good luck!!!

 

[brucifer]

As some of you know some of my chicks were bitten by a rat snake a couple of weeks ago. I lost one Slikie, and several Orpingtons were bitten. We isolated a couple of BO chicks that were bitten, but it seems that they are having issues. Although they are perky, and eat and drink well, their stools have me concerned. Although their solid stools look normal, the wet stools that are normally that peanut-brittle color are now dark and red tinted. I doubt it's coccidiosis since we use medicated starter and change the water regularly. Also, none of the other chicks have this condition, and we have six brooders going right now.

Anyway, I have never had the experience before in dealing with snake-bitten chicks. I'm wondering if the bites from the snake could have introduced infection into the chicks. Anyone have any thoughts or experience with this?

 

[speckledhen]

As some of you know some of my chicks were bitten by a rat snake a couple of weeks ago. I lost one Slikie, and several Orpingtons were bitten. We isolated a couple of BO chicks that were bitten, but it seems that they are having issues. Although they are perky, and eat and drink well, their stools have me concerned. Although their solid stools look normal, the wet stools that are normally that peanut-brittle color are now dark and red tinted. I doubt it's coccidiosis since we use medicated starter and change the water regularly. Also, none of the other chicks have this condition, and we have six brooders going right now.

Anyway, I have never had the experience before in dealing with snake-bitten chicks. I'm wondering if the bites from the snake could have introduced infection into the chicks. Anyone have any thoughts or experience with this?

I just want to say that medicated starter won't prevent cocci, no matter what they say about it. In the soupy south, we battle it anyway. Not saying it is cocci, of course, but I quit using medicated when I realized it was useless and just keep Corid for when it's needed.

I am sure that a snake bite could introduce infection, yes. Just think what they bite, rats and mice.

 

[livhatcher]

As some of you know some of my chicks were bitten by a rat snake a couple of weeks ago. I lost one Slikie, and several Orpingtons were bitten. We isolated a couple of BO chicks that were bitten, but it seems that they are having issues. Although they are perky, and eat and drink well, their stools have me concerned. Although their solid stools look normal, the wet stools that are normally that peanut-brittle color are now dark and red tinted. I doubt it's coccidiosis since we use medicated starter and change the water regularly. Also, none of the other chicks have this condition, and we have six brooders going right now.

Anyway, I have never had the experience before in dealing with snake-bitten chicks. I'm wondering if the bites from the snake could have introduced infection into the chicks. Anyone have any thoughts or experience with this?

Wish I had something to offer except sympathy. I know that plenty of people tout the benefits of snakes, but they are nothing this girl will ever be able to get next to. Sounds just awful. I hope the little chick poops will get better soon!

 

[brucifer]

I just want to say that medicated starter won't prevent cocci, no matter what they say about it. In the soupy south, we battle it anyway. Not saying it is cocci, of course, but I quit using medicated when I realized it was useless and just keep Corid for when it's needed.

I am sure that a snake bite could introduce infection, yes. Just think what they bite, rats and mice.

Cyn, I have the powdered Corid on hand, but I have never seen the need to use it before. What dosage do you recommend for treating chicks?

I use medicated starter as a safeguard, and my chicks haven't had cocci yet, but maybe these two do, and maybe I've just been lucky in the past. I really don't know. I just found it strange that the chicks bitten by the snake are the ones with the issue. With six brooders going and now having to quarantine these chicks, a couple of new hens, and a new cockerel, you can image what a logistical nightmare it is right now dealing with all of this. It feels like a bad day on Noah's Ark, and I can't get off the boat!

Wish I had something to offer except sympathy. I know that plenty of people tout the benefits of snakes, but they are nothing this girl will ever be able to get next to. Sounds just awful. I hope the little chick poops will get better soon!

Thanks for the well wishes, Liv. Aside from the strange stools, the chicks seem to be managing well. I just don't was a contagion spreading to other birds. Anyway, for the most part I'm sympathetic to snakes, but that rat snake caused us a lot of headaches and my wife some heartache. Lisa is still freaked that it managed to get into our house. I think she sleeps with her eyes wide open now.

 

[missy1971]

Ok I'm trying to find a breeder of Giant Brahama's for my feed store guy. He has a customer that got one from North GA so I was going to see if ya'll were familiar or knew of who it might be??

 

[speckledhen]

Cyn, I have the powdered Corid on hand, but I have never seen the need to use it before. What dosage do you recommend for treating chicks?

I use medicated starter as a safeguard, and my chicks haven't had cocci yet, but maybe these two do, and maybe I've just been lucky in the past. I really don't know. I just found it strange that the chicks bitten by the snake are the ones with the issue. With six brooders going and now having to quarantine these chicks, a couple of new hens, and a new cockerel, you can image what a logistical nightmare it is right now dealing with all of this. It feels like a bad day on Noah's Ark, and I can't get off the boat!

Thanks for the well wishes, Liv. Aside from the strange stools, the chicks seem to be managing well. I just don't was a contagion spreading to other birds. Anyway, for the most part I'm sympathetic to snakes, but that rat snake caused us a lot of headaches and my wife some heartache. Lisa is still freaked that it managed to get into our house. I think she sleeps with her eyes wide open now.

The powdered is 20% solution. Usually, I think it calls for a teaspoon in a gallon waterer since it is twice as strong as the liquid, however, I put 1 1/2 -2 teaspoons in a full gallon waterer if I'm treating. You don't have to quarantine any chicks for cocci. They'd all get the Corid, can't hurt them. If infection, you would have to give antibiotics in water, I guess. I've never had to do that for chicks, though, never had the need.

If you suspect cocci, you'd treat them all. It's just concentrated amprolium like in the medicated feed, but at a level that actually does some good. I quit using medicated feed when I was raising a lot of brooder-raised chicks and they all got cocci anyway when they hit the ground. I see less cocci if I get them on dirt much sooner, even put a pan of dirt in the brooder at the first days of life, than I did years ago. So, I quit using medicated because it messes with their B vitamins all the time they take it. B-vitamins are supposed to be in a balance and amprolium is thiamine blocker.

Ok I'm trying to find a breeder of Giant Brahama's for my feed store guy. He has a customer that got one from North GA so I was going to see if ya'll were familiar or knew of who it might be??

 

[ronnhill7]

Fabulous advice livhatcher; you're becoming a chicken-pro!