Hi Everyone!

I didn't realise it has been so long again since I posted!

Wish I could keep my brain in gear! 

Well, lots of things have happened at casa Grannieannie since I spoke last.  The turkey poults are now in the big shed after it was deep cleaned and disinfected as we'd had chickens in there and I'm always wary about things like blackhead.  They are over 3 weeks now and growing rapidly!  I keep an old washing up bowl with jeyes fluid in it for me to walk in everytime I go into the turkey shed and hand sanitiser inside that I use on my hands before I handle anything in there.  I'm getting quite paranoid at the moment with so many problems going round.

 I can never get over how intelligent and inquisitve they are, although some of the things they do make you wonder if they are really thick?

Like tonight, I went in to shut them up for the night and make sure they apenty of food and water, looked around, one had been slightly pecked on his wing, so I sprayed him with UKADEX (smelly stuff!) then I noticed one was lying down under the edge of the big feeder that they aren't tall enough for yet. I lifted her out and silly girl, she had gone in head first, but couldn't reverse back out again.  She was breathing heavily and quite distressed, so I cuddled her for a while then put her on the ground.  She stood for a minute, then wandered off for some food.

Then I looked into the feeder which has wooden slats over the top which move if they try to fly onto it, and one had managed to get down inside the feeder! (bet she was hungry as she couldn't get out and the feeder is empty at the moment waiting for them to grow a bit taller!)  So I lifted her out and she wandered off to have a feed!  30 of them are going at 5 weeks old as growers, and we sold 10 day olds which leaves us around 60 to sell at Christmas.

The meat chickens are in now and are 3 weeks old too.  75 of those are going once they are off heat, which will leave us around 20 to sell at Christmas. 

The other 100  13 week old Amberlinks and Babcocks are going in 2 weeks time and someone is coming next week for the remaining 17 Goldlines.  then most of the younger Goldlines are going in another 3 weeks.

That will leave us with a few pure breeds, our new breeding stock and the layers, turkeys and meat chickens.

We won't get any more now until after Christmas.  I will be busy enough with that lot until Christmas,plus the house still hasn't been decorated since we had the builders in March/April time.

I've only got 4 of the Appenzellar youngsters and 2 of the chicks which were supposed to be Rhode Island Reds, but they are very light with even lighter rear ends, so I'm not sure if they are proper Rhode Islands.  We also have 5 young RIR chicks hatched from 12 eggs sent to me by an internet friend.  They are doing really well and are very prettily coloured!

Any girls will go to live with Bertie Wooster and his current 2 girls once they are old enough!

We recently had a respiratory infection, caught from goodness knows where, except that we have brought birds in from elsewhere this year, so maybe could have been brought in with one of them, you just don't know these days.

Apparently there are a lot of things going around at the moment, so be careful with your housekeeping!

We had 4 young silkies, the oldest Appenzellar chick and a Welsummer in together,  then I added 3 young naked necks which a friend had given me.  It was their coop that caught the infection.  I thought it was mycoplasmosis, but after talking to friends, it doesn't look like it was, as the birds didn't have the swollen sinuses and bad eyes like some say they get. 

And myco itself anyway, doesn't usually kill, but these birds were still only chicks, and we lost one of the silkies.  The other one a cockerel had already gone to a new house way before the infection.  The Appenzellar died as did one of the naked neck girls.

The others seemed to be getting better, but then the Welsummer girl went downhill and Brian culled her.  Poor thing, she was very pretty, and we were hoping she was going to be the first of our new laying flock!

Our vets are not the most experienced with poultry, but they are willing to learn and the lady vet I took one of the chickens to see was very good.  She gave me a prescription for aureomycin, which you put in their water for 5 days.  they had 2 courses of this antibiotic, and apart from the odd snuffle, they are now eating and drinking well, preening again, so fingers crossed they will all be fine.

Once I think they are well, I will deep clean their coop and the sides of their run and move it to another part of the garden.  Then I will sterilize the ground where they were to avoid any nasties living in the ground.  That piece of ground won't be used again for the foreseeable future!

We've bought ourselves a little Transit Connect van as the car is worn out poor thing, carting all the stuff it does, chickens in crates, straw, shavings, wood etc. So with the van, although only a small one, we will have more room for everything!