Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Chook issues....
Have lost 2 chickens today, Sam my rooster had to be put down as he had a huge tumour come up in his left eye, and it had actually destroyed his eye, the only option was surgery to remove his eye....as it was quite painful for him the only option was to put him to sleep, and another one of my black Australorp's had come down with something..not sure what, but she was on her last legs, so we had her put down at the same time. So, down to 8 hens, and 2 chicks. I am going to dose them all up on oxymav B which is an antibiotic, and try to get on top of anything that might be lurking around down there. Unfortunately, this is what happens when a new chicken comes in the the flock and brings an illness with them, it just goes through the whole lot, the last couple of years has just been awful for losing chickens....I am getting close to just getting rid of the whole lot and just starting again down the track....the rule of thumb of 1 in all in is probably a good one for control of not bringing in disease to an existing flock. I have got Diesel booked in for surgery on his front legs next week, just got to ring the pet insurance company now and hope that they will cover the surgery...
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I went for a period of about 6 months recently with no chooks, after a big carpet snake moved in and decided all chooks were hers. I think it was the longest period in my adult life without chooks, and I so missed them, both for the garden work and the eggs. We bought eggs from a neighbour who has their chooks in a big, electric fenced enclosure and was managing to keep them safe from our big rural suite of predators.I thought about copying the system, but I couldn't come at having chooks enclosed in the same place - both because it's tragic to see them in a bare dirt run, and because I feared disease build up. Eventually I thought up the current design, which is a moveable, predator proof roost for night-time, when they are most vulnerable, that I move around my fenced garden beds. Best of all worlds. Chooks clean up and fertilise garden beds, get lots of greens, and the regular moving prevents diseases and parasites building up. And they can put themselves to bed, which means we can go away for a day or two. So far nothing has managed to get them. It's not a system that will suit everywhere, but it's working well for me so far.
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