It's spring soon! But I have sick chickens...

[MoonMoon]

I’m thinking of partaking in this year’s chick season in a bit of a sadder way. I’ll just be hatching eggs and raising chicks to test out the incubator that I’m going to buy, learn how to raise chicks, and testing out color genetic theories but the end results will probably be butchered. So basically automatic broilers. The hens are laying a lot of big, good shape, fertilized, clean eggs lately and I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes raising chicks as I had with my wyandotte chicks, so I will be hatching eggs, knowing the chickens will not last.

 

[LaFleche]

Yeah if we going to cull, we will cull ALL of the chickens, but I didn't know ducks can also carry and spread the disease, too. It makes sense, now that I spent one second thinking about it. Will be a bit harder to convince culling them, though, since they live longer and won't age out laying next year, the time it's much easier to mark the older chickens as meat birds.

Wow, one year wait though? Going to be a long time till the next batch then, if I'm going to replace all. I heard most diseases doesn't pass through eggs, is this true? So...finding"trustworthy" source will be a bit hard for breeds I want, but you recommend trusty source I believe if I start my new flock all from hatching eggs, it'll likely be fine? Or I can also buy vaccinated chicks, but most likely, again, from hobby breeders because we don't have huge hatchery selling anything but industrial breeds.

The first sick bird was from a mass seller, so now I've learned to not buy from those, no matter how much cheaper their birds were.

One year is the time period I would wait as there are so many germs, bacteria, viruses etc. and depending on the conditions in which they live/survive (sunny, shady, dry, humid, wet, warm, cold etc.) I would want to be on the safer side and make use of the wait cleaning and disinfecting really well.
Do you have a pond? A pond could very well harbour lots of bacteria etc. harmful for chickens.

Buying birds at swaps and from all kinds of different/questionable origin will most certainly lead to a wealth of different strains of all kinds of harmful germs, bacteria, viruses etc. which will then come to full flourish in the new sourroundings infesting your flock and the whole area for quite a long time.

 

[MoonMoon]

One year is the period I would wait as there are so many germs, bacteria, viruses etc. and depending on the conditions in which they live/survive (sunny, shady, dry, humid, wet, warm, cold etc.) I would want to be on the safer side and make use of the wait cleaning and disinfecting really well.
Do you have a pond? A pond could very well harbour lots of bacteria etc. harmful for chickens.

Buying birds at swaps and from all kinds of different/questionable origin will most certainly lead to a wealth of different strains of all kinds of harmful germs, bacteria, viruses etc. which will then come to full flourish in the new sourroundings infesting your flock and the whole area for quite a long time.

I see...no pond, no, we don't have a pond.

I guess it’s still fine if we grow crops after all of the chickens are gone, though? I have an agreement w fam that if all of the chickens have to go, then we have to at least “profit” from the land in a different way. I guess cover crop for a year and I’ll probably start a new flock with Wyandotte, Orpington and Greenshell. This is my second time owning chickens and I didn’t research as much as I should. It was a huge mistake buying pullets from swap, yeah, but there’s not a lot of options otherwise. And I had since realized I don't want mass layers, even though 6-7 eggs a day feels satisfying. I wanted cuddly chickens as pets, and a few only tolerate me right now. Still researching official sources (like hatcheries or licensed breeders) for those breeds, I hope I don’t have to resort to buying at swaps, but there may not be much choices that wouldn’t break the bank.

Hatching eggs seems to be the safest option, it seems. Maybe a registered breeder aren’t too far away from me that vaccinates their chicks will pop up. We’ll see, they only post ads on bazar when it’s soon to be available.

 

[Loving my girls]

Same but like, "cold snap" to me is just random, very windy, very freezing cold but doesn't exceed -10°C temp...unless that's the same for you?

Omg i will never complain again !!!

-10c

 

[LaFleche]

I guess it’s still fine if we grow crops after all of the chickens are gone, though?

Yes, you can do that.

 

[LaFleche]

Omg i will never complain again !!!

-10c

Some years here in Germany we even have had cold snaps of a few weeks of -29°C with strong winds. So bring your shawl and mittens

 

[MoonMoon]

Omg i will never complain again !!!

-10c

Oh? I thought that was pretty warm compared to the surrounding area Average temps is 4°C to negative 6°C right now, cold snap is when wind start blowing for me. It can feel like negative 15°C when wind picked up! Otherwise, I love snow when they rarely but do fall, but wind ruins everything.

It’s surprising because last year’s winter/technically two years ago, was very warm. Barely any snow iirc. Last year’s summer exceeded 38°C for a few days and I kept chicks a without brooder! The temperature disparity was bogus. Average temps was 30-34°C. Then after two months of super hot weather, a huge storm roll in, toppling huge trees! Turned dry, cracked dirt to mud (My trees were literally sinking down into the garden). After so many consecutive days of raining(I feel like saying it rained for 2 weeks but I don't recall exactly), we go from weather that made me want to buy an air conditioner to heater 24/7 the electric bills are bogus now. Luckily I did not buy that air conditioner because I’d be so guilty right now! It’s not cheap!

Some years here in Germany we even have had cold snaps of a few weeks of -29°C with strong winds. So bring your shawl and mittens

Yeah I heard. Not sure if shawls and mittens even help! That’s so cold!

 

[Loving my girls]

Oh? I thought that was pretty warm compared to the surrounding area Average temps is 4°C to negative 6°C right now, cold snap is when wind start blowing for me. It can feel like negative 15°C when wind picked up! Otherwise, I love snow when they rarely but do fall, but wind ruins everything.

It’s surprising because last year’s winter/technically two years ago, was very warm. Barely any snow iirc. Last year’s summer exceeded 38°C for a few days and I kept chicks a without brooder! The temperature disparity was bogus. Average temps was 30-34°C. Then after two months of super hot weather, a huge storm roll in, toppling huge trees! Turned dry, cracked dirt to mud (My trees were literally sinking down into the garden). After so many consecutive days of raining(I feel like saying it rained for 2 weeks but I don't recall exactly), we go from weather that made me want to buy an air conditioner to heater 24/7 the electric bills are bogus now. Luckily I did not buy that air conditioner because I’d be so guilty right now! It’s not cheap!

Yeah I heard. Not sure if shawls and mittens even help! That’s so cold!

We rarely have less than -2 although the summers are def getting warmer. Hence I have heat tolerant girls rather than cold tolerant.
We expect temperatures in the 40s now rather than 20 years ago when it rarely hit 30
The world is changing.

 

[BDutch]

. I heard most diseases doesn't pass through eggs, is this true?

Yes.
Im extremely carefull in buying chickens. I have a healthy flock without any of them vaccinated and want to keep it that way.
Cant have roosters, so if I want new chicks, I buy hatching eggs.

So...finding"trustworthy" source will be a bit hard for breeds I want, but you recommend trusty source I believe if I start my new flock all from hatching eggs, it'll likely be fine?

Yes.
Did you try the Peeps in Europe to get tips to buy hatching eggs? Sending eggs by mail is a possibility if you want specific breeds you cant buy where you live. Keep in mind the outcome of mailed hatching eggs can be poor.

Or I can also buy vaccinated chicks, but most likely, again, from hobby breeders because we don't have huge hatchery selling anything but industrial breeds.

Not my choice.
Still a risk for other diseases than the one or two they are vaccinated for. You cant mix vaccinated with not vaccinated.

Try to find a hobbyist who has the chickens you would like to have. Ask if he sells hatching eggs (next year/ after your flock healed).
Keep in mind that chickens who are cuddly are more vulnerable to get caught by a predator than the ones who are flighty. I would think 2x to keep free range chickens unsupervised who are cuddly (Silkies, Cochins).

The strongest chickens are old breeds not bred for shows and mix breeds from hobbyists.
Industrial hybrid chickens lay much eggs in a short time and often get sick/die young. The heritage breeds lay less, not in winter and can easily get 10 yo if not taken by a predator.

Maybe your flock is getting better by itself when they get more sunshine and there is more food to find outside. I once had sneezing chicks who all survived (took some 6 weeks to get over it) . In general survivors are stronger than chickens who had antibiotics/medicines.

In keeping my flock healthy I would give my chickens fresh food (vitamins) in winter/ hot summers if there not so much food to scratch for. Be careful with leftovers if you add salt or eat ultra processed food. Don’t use poison in the garden.

Fresh food can be something simple like grass. Check the labels on the food bags to be sure the feed you buy is fresh.

 

[MoonMoon]

We rarely have less than -2 although the summers are def getting warmer. Hence I have heat tolerant girls rather than cold tolerant.
We expect temperatures in the 40s now rather than 20 years ago when it rarely hit 30
The world is changing.

Yup, gotta love global warming (sarcasm)

Seriously though, I really like snow. I would've loved it if I don't keep chickens. My birds is prob the only reason why I'd like hot temperature and summer. It's much easier to deal with cooling the coop down, changing bedding and cleaning, and keeping water and feed supplied when it's sweating hot rather than freezing windy. I had an identity crisis after getting chickens because I wasn’t sure if I still love winter or hate winter because it made my birds miserable lol

I would’ve had turken and more thin birds like leghorns and minorca, bresse, welsummer had the weather been different! Lol
(Those breeds was available locally)
Ofc, after owning chickens for a while, I realized I don't want those flighty birds anyway, but I really like their body shape. I may just keep some next batch anyway(and they’re safer to free range, not like the idiots that was my wyandottes), and fortify my coop, but they aren’t super cuddly like I’d like.