June 16, 2008

 he chicks that hatched out so far are in their new digs with their 'mom'. I do not have any electric to the barns at the moment, so their 'mom' got to go with them. The remaining eggs which seem to be viable I placed under another couple willing hens to continue to incubate and I steal any other chicks which hatch and place under the 'mom'. I like using an incubator, so all of the hatch happens at the same time, on the date I specify and not so staggered like this. At this rate I could be getting 2-3 chicks a day for weeks. By next year I will have a incubator again.

I do not bring in live chickens or let anyone who has birds into my poultry barns and neither should you. I have always tried to follow what is the general recommendation about 'preventing Avian Flu'. I raise heritage birds and I do not want someone coming here and wanting to take my flock as someone within a 100 mile radius had ill birds and they want to confiscate mine. I can say that no one who owns a flock of poultry has been in my barns. As soon as anyone gets chickens who did not before, they then are not allowed into my pens anymore.

Pictures: The breeds of chickens I have. (Top) Dark Brahma rooster, (Middle) Plymouth Barred Rock hen, (Bottom) Rhode Island Red hen.

These guidelines were written by Carlyle Bennett, Terry Whiting and Glen Duizer, of the Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives - With the current concerns about diseases such as avian influenza, owners of small flocks can take simple precautions to help prevent an outbreak of disease in their birds.

The following are basic recommendations: (Everything in blue text is what I do here)

1. Buying Chicks, Poults, Birds, Eggs and Meat

   • As much as possible, obtain birds from one reliable disease free source. Chicks and poults should be obtained from a commercial hatchery. (I bring in only fertile eggs after my initial day-old chick buy)

   • Do not buy old laying hens or brooded meat-type birds from other farms. (No live chicken/turkey is brought onto the farm, only hatched here and they do not leave and come back)

   • Do not visit other farms to purchase eggs, chickens or turkeys.

   • If you plan to visit any farms with small or large flocks of poultry, ask them about the health of their birds. Do not visit farms where the birds have had health problems.

   • Do not have domestic ducks and geese on the same farm as chickens and turkeys.

2. Housing and Yard Maintenance

   • Provide feed and water in clean containers.

   • Use penning or fencing to limit the range of the birds and to restrict access by other animals, domestic and wild.

   • Do not allow access to surface water. Groom the range area to prevent the accumulation of rain water. A pond is not necessary for the health of domestic ducks and geese

   • Avoid clutter in the pen or range area. This includes trimming long grass and removing branches, leaves and other such items. Sunlight is a good disinfectant if it can reach the ground the birds are on. Removing debris also acts as a deterrent to rodents.

   • Barns that house the flock should be big enough to hold both the type and amount of birds you have, year round if necessary. (I also screen my windows. )

3. Visitors

   • Do not allow people who have had recent contact with other birds access to your flock. (Actually I don't allow anyone who has a flock into my barns).

   • It is a good idea to provide visitors with foot wear when they visit your flock. Otherwise, make sure their foot wear is clean both before and after their visit.

   • Keep the number of visits and the number of visitors to a minimum.

   • Post signs that ask people to contact you before they enter the area of your farm where you keep your birds.

4. Dead and Sick Birds

   • Dead birds should be disposed of immediately to prevent scavenging. For most small flocks, composting or burial are the simplest methods. (Mine actually go to the landfill or I would incinerate them)

   • It is important to investigate any sudden increase in sick birds or dead birds. For laying hens, a sudden decrease in egg production or shell quality is also a concern. Your local veterinary clinic can help you in submitting tissues or dead birds to the MAFRI animal pathology laboratory for testing. (I have not had any problems other than the pneumonia incident when the turkeys stayed out in the rainstorm when they were poults and I was at work.)

5. Specific Recommendations to Fancy Flock Owners:

   • Purchase birds from commercial hatcheries whenever possible. (Getting almost impossible in Canada)

   • Trade and movement of breeding stock and show stock is not recommended. If you must, please follow the following guidelines:

     • It is preferable to purchase hatching eggs and hatch the birds out on your own farm.

     • Limit the number of sources that you get birds from and the number of shows you attend (I do not show poultry anymore. Showed for a few years,  many years ago. I had Red Golden Pheasants and Royal Palm turkeys))

     • Isolate new and returning birds from the rest of your flock for 3 weeks (If a bird leaves, it never comes back onto the farm here)

     • Keep a written record of date, breed, sex, numbers of birds, location held and source of any birds moved.

      

After work today I got the long section of fencing almost done, even in the thunderstorms. I hauled 8 log poles out and got them up. I was going to continue with 8 more rails, but I ran out of 6" spikes. I have to pick some more up tomorrow. I strung out barb wire and got 3 strands up, but will add 2 more as it will continue to be a calving pasture in future years. Plus I want to be able to stick the goat out there to keep "Blossom" company. I may stick "Dixie" (the horse) out there to help get rid of some of that tall grass for a few days.

The other day I straightened out the garden side of the front pasture fence, took down the disaster of wire after that cursed steer calf of "Daisy's" had gone back & forth through it like it was a revolving door and put it back at the proper heights. I also almost did myself in by using the heaviest fence post pounder I have ever seen and slammed a 7 foot 3-4" wooden post in for a gate. I had to stand on a bucket to do it and I was pretty sure I may do some serious damage to myself if I lost my balance, but I persevered and won!

I had about 2-3 hours of sleep at best last night. The kittens stayed pretty awake most of the night and then when they finally slept, my cats started in on waking me up. I believe I shall sleep like a rock tonight. And NO! None of the kittens are mine, I am just bottle feeding them while the other people take care of the injured mother. Hopefully in 3-4 weeks they can go back to their home.