Consolidated Kansas

[maidenwolfx80]

Welcome! I've had no loses so far-- BUT that is because no one is free ranging right now, either. The hawks have been BAD. We also have coyote and I lost a turkey this summer to a coyote.


That is exactly why I quarantine for 3 weeks-- something will pop up on that 3rd week! They will look totally fine for the first 2! Glad your roofers got you all sorted out! Can't wait to see what you're having!


My Dh and I have discussed the iPad, but have decided we can't figure out what we'd use it for. I have a nice slim laptop that I can easily take anywhere. It has a full sized keyboard on it, and I can take it with me to the coffee shop if i wish. But usually, I just take my Kindle and iTouch (MP3 player). I also do have a Smart phone that has internet and when I'm away from the house, I can read my email, check the internet and it has GPS. I don't need another "toy", I think I'm all covered. I use my Kindle, phone and iTouch constantly! And of course, I'm on my laptop alllll the time. I think the iPad and similar devices are more toys or status symbols than anything else. *shrug*

Read thru your posts and your birds are VERY ill. When we talk about using VetRX instead of meds-- it's usually because of a sneeze or a bit of congestion with NO other symptoms-- no discharge from eyes or nose. You have a very serious illness going on right now. If Duramycin is the only drug you have, I would use it on EVERYone. Not just the effected ones. Disease is transported by feather dander, sneezing, head shaking, poop, water, food and on and on... BTW, Duramycin is one of the least effective drugs, so don't worry about having them overdosed or drugging them with it. That drug binds to calcium in the body and by the time they get the effects, it has only about 1/2 power of the original drug. Once, when I was so worried about some birds I had shipped in and I had nothing else on hand-- I had started them on the Duramycin. After 3 days and NO change, I doubled the dosage keeping in mind that it could be binding with their food (which has calcium in it). (keep in mind, that was only a guess I was making) Only then did it start to make an impact, but even then, not enough to save them, I didn't believe. I finally had to to the vet and pick up a vial of Baytril and inject them for 5 days. Finally, they turned around. Baytril can cross the membrane of the brain, so if they have something that is that serious, it's about the only drug (for chickens) that will do that. I now keep Tetroxy, OxyTet, Denagard, baytril, penicillin, VetRX, Probiotic powder and a few other things on hand for poultry emergencies. Having said that-- I have NEVER had a bird have bubbles of mucus coming from their eyes or nose. That is far beyond what I've considered serious in my flock. My idea of serious is lethargy, sneezing, head shaking, and when you listen to their back/lings, an obvious upper respiratory congestion with some crackling.




Medicate them all! And do it quickly! Good luck!!! I sure hope they feel better.

Thank you for the info. So does that mean in cooked eggs the atibiotic will be destroyed? I have read that duramycin is a less intense broad spectrum antibiotic. Or can I feed them their eggs? I just hate the thought of wasting the eggs. If I have to then I will of course I just want my bird healthy. I did get my bantam EE over it wuickly and he is right as rain now. The bubbly mucus only happens for 1 day. Then it is swollen and the mucus crusts the eye shut. Not alot of sneezing going on really. You can here alittle nit of rattling when they breath not alot. I sure hope the med helps, I cant switch foods right now I am out of money 100% with 100lbs of layer ( that I didnt want in the first place) to feed to them. I will start everyone on it.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy, we didn't get a deer. Isn't it nice how much meat they provide? We really need one, or a few. We have exclusive permission to hunt on the land directly behind our property, the land owner said he doesn't let anyone else out there because our house is out there, of course we are more motivated to only shoot certain directions. I appreciate that. So my ds was out there, he's 15, and in his blind. The neighbor to the other side, he's a bit, ummmm, not so nice. He drove his truck back on his own property to the fence line where my ds was and just sat there and stared at him. Ds's blind is clearly marked out and obvious. This neighbor also had on his orange like he was out hunting or going to or something. So after my ds left, because he was a bit intimidated, he came home. He went out to take some practice/target shots and the same neighbor came and kept driving by and slowing way down and staring at him. DS at one point waived to him just to let him know he wasn't scared even though he is. I don't know what's up with him. Maybe he didn't recognize him, the last time he saw him my ds would have been quite little and now he's huge. We went down to some other property to avoid any conflict, but tomorrow we plan to go back out there but I will go with him. Last night and this evening we went out to another property, owned by our nice neighbor. Last night we saw places where the deer lay and prints, and we found an antler. Out further back we found a bigger area with lots of spots where they have been laying. Tonight, we sat where the smaller area is and waited for them to go to bed but they didn't come and it got too dark. We did see a doe when we first got there but it was too far off to get a clear shot. Of course, I'm not shooting anything, just spending time with my ds. I think tonight the wind wasn't in our favor in the position we were. I'm new to this hunting thing, this is the first year I've gone along.

Lizzy, do you soak your deer for a few days? I found that makes the taste much better and more mild. I thought I didn't like deer for years.

I'm sorry to hear you didn't get a deer this time and that your neighbor is causing so much trouble. The good news is that there is still time left to try again. We have a really bad deer problem around here. My husband tried to get one during muzzleloader season and was unsuccessful, but he got one on the first day of rifle season. Growing up, my dad never hunted because my mom refused to cook or eat the meat he brought home. This is the first time in the nearly five years we've been married that my husband has gone hunting and has been successful. We've either lived in a big city and didn't know anyone who owned land we could hunt on or he wasn't successful in his hunt. So, I guess the reason I mention that is to tell you that this is the first time I've had fresh deer meat to take care of. What do you soak it in? Do you have any good recipes? I wanted to make jerky and sausage out of most of the meat, but my husband is reluctant, though I'm not sure why. I'm willing to try other things too, but I haven't liked the deer meat that I have tried in the past. My husband got about 60 pounds of meet off of this deer, which is nice. It is just overwhelming for me as I've never been involved in processing so much meat before. Any recipes, suggestions, and ideas to make the meat taste better are all welcome and much appreciated!

 

[JosieChick]

I did get some good deals! I was pretty excited. I have some friends with baby cloths that I can have and I figured we would probably get a lot of baby clothes as gifts too. People love to buy baby clothes, I know I do! But I am refraining from buying anything because I am sure we will have more than enough, plus they grow so fast!

Sounds like you had a great time putting your dog run together. I don't envy you on that one. I hate putting things together.

Josie, it sounds like you got some really good deals on the baby stuff, good job! Babies grow so fast too that clothes most of the time don't get worn very long, so you can find some nice clothes once you know what sex you're having. It doesn't matter too much for awhile because they don't need much more than onesies & things like that. I have found some really nice kid's & baby clothes at garage sales. I know there aren't many right now, but there will be in the spring. I used to find really cute stuff for my granddaughter at garage sales. I also used to buy a lot of stuff for my son when he was little at used kid's clothing resale stores, they usually are picky about the quality of things & you can find some good things at them.

I'm really tired tonight, just pooped out. I had to replace 3 of the 4 bottom poles on the dog run I bought because they were rusted out. That involved taking off 12 brackets with 2 screws & a bolt each, then taking loose all the wires wrapped over the fence & pole on each one. We had to cut the new poles because they were too long too, so that took some time. Fortunately for me my DH did help me with all of it because I was really struggling with it. It's a good thing too because some of it was really challenging getting the new pole in & all the brackets back on. The bolts that came with it were barely long enough & it was a real pain to get them back on. We finally got it done though. I still need to wrap some more wire on the bottom of the fence & over the poles though, there isn't enough & then go get some chicken wire to put inside the pen all around. I'm going to use my netting I bought awhile back for the top & then get a tarp to put over that for shelter & one for the back of the run since that is the north side. It will be in a nice sheltered spot though, so it should be good. My DH just looked at me when he saw I had gotten another pen, he didn't even ask what it was for, I think he has given up on asking me what I'm doing any more. After all of that today I went over to Sunflowerparrot's & got another load of cattails. That just did me in the rest of the way!

We went to see if the windows I had were going to fit in the openings again today after he put the trim on & discovered that we both messed up bigtime. The windows are 4 different sizes & evidently we only measured one, so I just decided we would use hardware cloth over the windows in the summer & put plexiglass in there for the winter. What can you do but just punt when you make a mistake like that, oh well. I will have the big windows on the ends of the coop that are crank out windows & there will be space at the top on front & back where there will be venting too. I'm going to put screen up there to keep anything from climbing up there & getting in. I'm kind of disappointed that the windows I had didn't work out, but it will be OK the other way too.

Josie Yep I got the top load LG waveforce big one. That is the one I have been wanting. Woot! I am still excited. The part I will hate it sitting down reading the instruction book. I am a hands on person and hate trying to read how to do things.
I can't wait to get ours, they are really nice washers. And huge!!!
You know I would love to come play Grandma. I did notice your MIL seemed less than excited when I was in the clinic.She is, it's weird. I don't care anymore though. I think she thinks I am going to be a pita of a mom and not listen to her advice which is true. She is very minimal nurturing with children and let them figure it out kind of person. I will be the polar opposite of that. I want to love a child as much as it needs and make sure they are safe. Maybe she'll change once baby is here. Is your Mom going to fly down to visit for a little while after the birth?? My mom is so excited. She wants to come right before the baby comes so she can see me huge and prego and then again after when we are ready for a visitor. She can't wait. My mom is the most excited out of my whole family I think. I haven't looked at your baby register yet. I need to. Have you chosen bedding or are you waiting to see what sex the baby is? You really have saved a fortune on baby items. I think it is so much more practical to buy gently used than spend a fortune on new stuff. Don't look at the registry yet! It is not done and I need to delete some stuff. We are going to register at Target too because they have some stuff for cheaper than babies r'us I actually bought a super cute pottery barn bedding set on Ebay and I love it! It is twinkle twinkle little star. I figured it could go either way for a boy or girl and if we have a girl I don't want to go nuts with pink. A lot of our stuff is gender neutral for that reason. I don't mind pink but I don't want to have a boy someday and have to buy all new stuff in a boy color!
I am a bit germ-phobic but I did go to garage sales back when I was having my boys. I lived in Okla City then. I would go to the sales in the upper crust parts of town and brought home hoards of new baby clothing with the tags still on them that had never been worn. I saved a bunch and had very nicely dressed kids. I also hit the semi-annual clearance sales in the exclusive baby shops. I got some very nice very expensive things for less than the Walmart brand. We had a carter's outlet as well and I bought tons of things there. I always like the little once piece jumpsuits for them once they got to crawling or walking. They had those snap legs and were the easiest things to get them dressed in aside from being very practical. I am a bit germ phobic too but so far everywhere I have gone the peoples houses have been way cleaner than ours!!! Plus I will wash everything before we use it and spray down toys etc with disinfectant.
I know a guy that wants some call ducks. PM me and let me know a price and I will email him. He won't want to pay too much for them I am sure so if they are show type he won't be interested. They are breeding quality, too big to be show birds but still pretty nice little birds. I will send you a pm and pics.
Mammahen just let me know and I will keep you a barred rock boy. These are some really nice birds. I just can't use 20 boys! Actually I have no idea how many I have cause many are still young.
Did you think maybe you could sell the Ipad since it is new and use the money for something you really want. Would your DH be upset?
I think it is great you are going hunting with your son. I used to go fishing with my middle son. It was a great time to spend with him. Of course after he got about 16-17 he found a fishing buddy and no longer wanted me along but I value that time. It's the only time in my life I have actually paid for a fishing license.
Well Poop I've got to go pick up those chicks.

We had an exersaucer for my youngest, we loved it and called it a poopAsaucer, when he got in it he would get very active and..... poop! If he got fussy with a tummy ache, we'd put them in the poopAsaucer and taadaaa! My friends had similar experiences/ benefits with their babies in exersaucers! He loved being up in it where he could see what his sisters were doing. Good to know!

Danz,
My son slept many nights in his sister's pink hand-me-downs. I knew it was clean, comfortable and where it had been and to me that was safer than buying from strangers, have a little bit of germaphob too. He didn't know or care and it sure didn't scar him as he is 110% boy! I did get some great deals at some garage sales, but we live in rural area so great garage sales aren't abundant. This is why I bought so much stuff in gender neutral colors just in case but I am sure if its a girl we will get bombarded with pink and frilly!!! If we have a boy it will be wearing some pink and purple diapers because they were a good deal!
More chicks????

Where do you get them? I want to get some black australorps pullets soon!

I have 50 noisy, hungry and thirsty chicks. I couldn't believe every one of them arrived in perfect condition in this weather. Wow! That is a lot of chicks!
I had just one package of chick saver on hand. I went to the cabinet to pull out my bin of chick meds and knocked a bottle of betadine on the floor. Plastic bottle but the cap broke and the entire bathroom floor was covered. I had on a new pair of jeans for a change so those and my shoes are in the washer. I sure hope that stuff comes out. I will be really upset if I ruined a pair of jeans. I cleaned the floor with bleach but I fear that the grout will be permanently stained. I have the fan going but the bleach smell is burning my eyes. Oh no!!! Betadine is awful, its like blu kote. Takes forever to come out.
I also got another dozen eggs that were shipped on Monday. Nothing like late priority mail. I suppose with the holidays I should expect that. I haven't opened the box yet. Almost afraid to. These are some more white Orp eggs. If you wind up with a spare white orp roo when you are done hatching and growing out let me know. I won't be ordering any more eggs for a while now. No sense pressing my luck. I should about have all I need other than some cream legbar eggs I'll get later for some replacements. I should be sitting pretty good unless I have some great losses.
I have ton to do today. I need to get that pen finished for the new peafowl and then build more pens for the turkeys. I have to line the sides where the wild turkeys will be or they will tear themselves up. Hopefully it will warm up soon. I need to do some more cleaning in the brooder as well.
This is going to be a busy weekend. Somehow I lost a day this week so now I feel behind. No wonder I was feeling good about my progress. I have to run eggs to town again today as well.
Kansas Prairie, I ordered them from Welp hatchery. I am supposed to be a retailer for them but the owner has never sent me back the go-ahead. It's almost like he doesn't believe I am going to resale the ones I order for other people. It wasn't much of a savings anyway. Maybe 20-30 cents per bird. I have been impressed so far with the birds I have gotten from them though. But these are for me so I guess that wouldn't count any way. They don't have Austrolop but Ideal poultry does and they should be available. You won't get show quality birds from these but that doesn't mean they are all junk birds either. Both of these hatcheries and most others for that matter contract out to breeders to hatch birds for them. The only lousy birds I have gotten from them have been from overstock that didn't sell. You get a cheaper price for a reason. The nice thing about these two hatcheries is the low amount you can buy at one time.
These I got today and going to be my egg layers and my future egg layer breeders....God willing...so I don't care about quality much.
ImaFarmerNow, I love seeing projects like that go on in school. That's awesome.
Woot! just got an email that my washer is in Topeka ready to be picked up.

I wouldn't feed the eggs back to them, you will be re dosing them with antibiotics. I don't know if cooking destroys it or not. I would personally treat all birds on the property because chickens often don't show illness until they are really sick and then they die before drugs have a chance to help them. It is not worth it in my opinion to wait and see with chickens. When I have done that I have lost birds. Rattling means something has settled in their air sacs and that is not good. I would treat everyone.

Good info Hawkeye on the duramycin. I didn't know that. I will make a note about that in case I ever use it. I have some but I have a lot of other better antibiotics that I prefer so I have never used it.

Thank you for the info. So does that mean in cooked eggs the atibiotic will be destroyed? I have read that duramycin is a less intense broad spectrum antibiotic. Or can I feed them their eggs? I just hate the thought of wasting the eggs. If I have to then I will of course I just want my bird healthy. I did get my bantam EE over it wuickly and he is right as rain now. The bubbly mucus only happens for 1 day. Then it is swollen and the mucus crusts the eye shut. Not alot of sneezing going on really. You can here alittle nit of rattling when they breath not alot. I sure hope the med helps, I cant switch foods right now I am out of money 100% with 100lbs of layer ( that I didnt want in the first place) to feed to them. I will start everyone on it.

Well I need to get my butt out and water and then we are off to the doctors and the DMV. Ugh, I hate going to the DMV. Everyone enjoy the lovely day!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Thank you for the info. So does that mean in cooked eggs the atibiotic will be destroyed? I have read that duramycin is a less intense broad spectrum antibiotic. Or can I feed them their eggs? I just hate the thought of wasting the eggs. If I have to then I will of course I just want my bird healthy. I did get my bantam EE over it wuickly and he is right as rain now. The bubbly mucus only happens for 1 day. Then it is swollen and the mucus crusts the eye shut. Not alot of sneezing going on really. You can here alittle nit of rattling when they breath not alot. I sure hope the med helps, I cant switch foods right now I am out of money 100% with 100lbs of layer ( that I didnt want in the first place) to feed to them. I will start everyone on it.

You could feed it back, but just know that it will be re-dosing them a bit. But while they are already being dosed, I wonder how bad that would really be? I just toss eggs, but I don't know.

The sneezing is not nearly as serious-- it's more like "something is coming on". Whenever I hear a sneeze, I go into a bit of a panic mode and start listening to lungs and checking everyone over. You have to catch things early before you see the kind of symptoms you have. But regardless, sometimes things just sneak up on you, so don't feel like you did anything wrong. And sometimes a sneeze is just a sneeze. So I can get a bit carried away, but with my silkies I often do! LOL When I was using the Duramycin last year, I didn't want to switch off of the layer feed that had the calcium in it either, and it was over the holidays and there were several days stores were closed so I didn't have a lot of choices, and my vet was closed, too. So, that is why I doubled my Duramycin dose. I would NOT recommend that. I did it because I knew it was binding and felt that it was about half strength and tried to accommodate for that, but if you kill your birds doing it, I don't want you to blame me! LOL I did it because I felt I had nothing to lose and I was worried they were dying anyway. One of those-- oh well, if it dies, I tried, kind of thing. I would go with the dosage that the bag says to use. IF you see no improvement in 3 days, then you can reevaluate.

I did get some good deals! I was pretty excited. I have some friends with baby cloths that I can have and I figured we would probably get a lot of baby clothes as gifts too. People love to buy baby clothes, I know I do! But I am refraining from buying anything because I am sure we will have more than enough, plus they grow so fast!

Sounds like you had a great time putting your dog run together. I don't envy you on that one. I hate putting things together.



I wouldn't feed the eggs back to them, you will be re dosing them with antibiotics. I don't know if cooking destroys it or not. I would personally treat all birds on the property because chickens often don't show illness until they are really sick and then they die before drugs have a chance to help them. It is not worth it in my opinion to wait and see with chickens. When I have done that I have lost birds. Rattling means something has settled in their air sacs and that is not good. I would treat everyone.

Good info Hawkeye on the duramycin. I didn't know that. I will make a note about that in case I ever use it. I have some but I have a lot of other better antibiotics that I prefer so I have never used it.
Well I need to get my butt out and water and then we are off to the doctors and the DMV. Ugh, I hate going to the DMV. Everyone enjoy the lovely day!

Oh yuck, I hate the DMV. Bleah. We'll be spending some time at the Tag Office next week because we got me another vehicle. Finally. But we don't get it until Tuesday. I already added it to my insurance this morning, though. I'm soooo ready.

Got all of my outdoor chores done. Now i need to start some more laundry and get my shower and set my hair. It is GORGEOUS outside, ya'll!!! OMGosh, I loved being out there!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Thanks Josie. I put duramycin in the waters and some waterers with herbal tea so hopefully I see improvement soon.I am going to have to give my little chicks some too probably since they are out there near them. I guess starting with a higher dose since I have layer feed and maybe taming it down later. How may days? 5 was it?

Hawkeye- I get your point, start at what they suggest and adjust at your own risk. I would never blame anyone for giving me advice, after all it is I who makes thefinal decision and I who is to blame if something goes wrong. This thing just showed up. I didnt have a period of sneezing etc. I have one hen yesterday that sneezed and coughed for a few seconds straight like she got something in her nose or something besides that no one else has been sneezing or showing any outward signs that I could have noticed. It was just open the coop to find birds with runny noses and boogery eyes. I think I will just toss the eggs. I just wondered because also duramycin loses its potency after 24 hours and you have to remake a batch so I alwasys wanted to know if that meant the drug was inactive and teh eggs could be used. Cant find an answer to that. I just hate using a drug on my chickens that is so bad that you cant eat the eggs when the eggs would only have small trace amounts in them anyway. It makes me wonder what in the world am I giving my birds?

 

[mikeksfarmer]

Maidenwolf sounds like Coreiza to me. Sp? But picked up by wild birds and birds from swap meets or auctions. In the past I thought it only came from bringing new birds into the flock from other local people, swaps or auctions. Dans enlitened me to that fact that it can come from wild birds as well. Other sites suggest that once in the flock you cant rid your self of it. Some even suggest kill burn serilize all. If were on this site we really care for our birds or our investment in them. So treat treat and treat. Again you have my prayers.

 

[Trish44]

I haven't had that much luck previously with duramycin either, I just save it now for my rabbits because it's one drug you can use on them. Rabbits are very sensitive to antibiotics & there aren't many that are safe for them. I agree if you're having symptoms like that I would treat all the birds, otherwise you will just have more outbreaks & then you could lose some birds before anything takes effect. I lost several birds earlier this year because they got sick so fast, it just spread like wildfire & these were my imported, expensive birds. I ended up spending a lot of time & money treating them. You just can't mess with these respiratory illnesses, they can be really serious. A few of my birds lost eyes due to how serious the illness was. They're recovered now, but there are at least two that I know of that have a blind eye & that is even with the powerful antibiotics I used for weeks & weeks.

Here is my pretty Marans egg I got today, it's really darker than the photo shows because the flash lightened it up, but this is the nicest one I have gotten since before they molted. The eggs lately have been paler & not as shiny, but this one is back to what they were before. When they lay they do lay nice eggs & I like adding them to my eggs I sell because people haven't seen them before & always comment on them.




It's really nice out today, I have to get out & do some more to my dog run. Everybody enjoy the weather!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I am defineately treating. I have looked up coryza SP? There are so many respiratory illnesses that fit the symptoms. It doesnt sound like it to me but I cant be positive. I am just going to treat everyone and do some intensive cleaning in the coop. "sigh" Well I will value my fresh eggs while I can. Does anyone know how long I should treat? It may have been in another post I just cant find it.
Trish the egg is beautiful. I have a welsummer laying spotted eggs too. People go nuts over them, more so than the blue EE eggs.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

JOSIE,
This one is for your DH!

COLLEGE EXAM

Bob from Youngstown,Ohio was in an advanced Biology class at Y.S.U.(YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY) and was taking his mid-term exam. The last question was, 'Name seven advantages of Mother's Milk.' The question was worth 70 points or none at all. Bob, in particular found it difficult to think of six, much less seven advantages. However,Bob thinking what he would like to write instead wrote: 1) It is the perfect formula for the child.2) It provides immunity against several diseases.3) It is always the right temperature.4) It is inexpensive.5) It bonds the child to mother, and vice versa.6) It is always available as needed. And then Bob was stuck. Finally, in desperation, just before the bell rang indicating the end of the test, he wrote: 7) It comes in two very attractive containers of various sizes and it's high enough off the ground where the cat can't get it. Bob got an A.

 

[mstng67]

I am defineately treating. I have looked up coryza SP? There are so many respiratory illnesses that fit the symptoms. It doesnt sound like it to me but I cant be positive. I am just going to treat everyone and do some intensive cleaning in the coop. "sigh" Well I will value my fresh eggs while I can. Does anyone know how long I should treat? It may have been in another post I just cant find it.
Trish the egg is beautiful. I have a welsummer laying spotted eggs too. People go nuts over them, more so than the blue EE eggs.

I ran it for 7 days this fall when i needed it just to be safe.