# my worst chicken year.



## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

It started with 10 hatched silver laced polish. They all got signs of paralysis and no depth perception one by one until they were all gone. I really knew I had Marek's then.
8 months later someone sent me her very first Crele Polish eggs, 8 of them. 1 I injured with the Marek's vaccine I most likely hit his spine. 7 went out to a pen at 8 weeks. There were 5 more I hatched from someone else. And a gold laced (crele) Polish, and 4 Houdans.
One got paralysis and was so sweet that I kept her in my bedroom. 3 died overnight from suspected enteritis. 3 died from a one-eye 
infection.
So that's 8+5+1+3. 17. Hatched, 14 dead.
1 from a marek's vaccine spinal injury
-3 from suspected enteritis
-0 one pullet has paralysis but recovers after 6 weeks.
-3 from a one-eye infection 
-2 Houdan roos who crowed non stop all day all night were rehomed to someone for chicken dinner. (Marek's okay rehoming)
-1 just flipped over dead as I watched
-3 from racoon
-1 wasted away.

I have a roo and 2 hens left from that batch . Most of the rest died within a year, and 10 Polish chicks the year before.

All vaccinated except the first 10 a year before. No one really died from Marek's after the initial 10, but most probably from Marek's related immunosuppression and opportunistic microbes. 

THat was the year from hell, my husband bought me a new ax and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

THis year is coming close for other reasons. Some understandable sortof.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

Wow! One of those "I will not be depressed, I will not be depressed, I will think of the positive, I will think of the positive" kind of years.

So sorry!


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Yea I'm sure we've all had them sometimes it helps to share. I cried lots that year.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

Yep! 

But what a lovely thing, that you were healthy enough to cry about it, and not fall into self-abusive behavior. Very nice!


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

Yep seems as if bunches of us had a hard year..
I lost 1 entire chicken flock.....1 flock of Ducks and my favorite goat had to shoot two dogs and my youngest moved out on her own....now we just had 13 inches of rain....what a dayum year 2015 has been.

Whats next,..Obama declaring backyard flocks illegal due to another Avian Flu outbreak? I can see that happening.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

Yeah, there were quite a few of us that didn't have a 100% happy year but it's almost the next one so we will all chin up little buckaroos and make the most of it because that's what we chicken lovers do...right?


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

you got it!


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

jn4 said:


> Yep seems as if bunches of us had a hard year..
> I lost 1 entire chicken flock.....1 flock of Ducks and my favorite goat had to shoot two dogs and my youngest moved out on her own....now we just had 13 inches of rain....what a dayum year 2015 has been.
> 
> Whats next,..Obama declaring backyard flocks illegal due to another Avian Flu outbreak? I can see that happening.


When my daughter moved out, well I never thought I'd have empty nest syndrome. But I did.

A whole flock????? That's horrible, and a goat too! I just realized you're in s.c. . Still raining?

I think I've learned one hard lesson this year. If you have chickens , you will lose some to a predator. 8 years, never a problem, when even my neighbor had something digging under his coop, and one hen lost her head one night and he never noticed. We hear coyotes howl in the distance. Well now I'm out there building fort knox. Those horse fence panels covering 16x30 feet cost me over $500.00. But, I do know that they will be used for life whether on the pens or fencing, or anything. I'm a recycler , I use wood and stuff over and over till it falls apart.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

Yeah, I hear you.

I lost my all time favorite duck this year... The kid's favorite too.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Alaskan said:


> Yeah, I hear you.
> 
> I lost my all time favorite duck this year... The kid's favorite too.


Awww. I'm sorry too. What was special about the duck? (I know nothing about ducks).


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

She was super sweet and very dog like. She knew her name, and would respond when we called her. She would wag her tail when we gave her treats (well, all Muscovy do that), and just acted very responsive and intelligent. She was the only one that my kids would take their own money to buy different kinds of wet dog or cat food to give her as treats.

She was also our best broody, and was an excellent mother.

To top it off, she was our favorite color and super pretty.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

Here are some photos of her, each photo is with a different clutch.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

She was super pretty. Muscovy are my favorite ducks of all time, they have the most interesting personalities. Even if they are not so nice, they are all different. I'm so sorry for your loss.


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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

So sorry. Hugs for all.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

jn4 said:


> Yep seems as if bunches of us had a hard year..
> I lost 1 entire chicken flock.....1 flock of Ducks and my favorite goat had to shoot two dogs and my youngest moved out on her own....now we just had 13 inches of rain....what a dayum year 2015 has been.
> 
> Whats next,..Obama declaring backyard flocks illegal due to another Avian Flu outbreak? I can see that happening.


How's your rain situation?
I'm sorry about your loss. I just don't have the words to make you feel better. I guess that's called beyond words.

Obama won't be taking any of my guns. Personally I think the state of florida and probably texas would refuse.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

Thanks so much. I tried a few kinds of "regular" ducks once and was not impressed. The Muscovy though are lovely. The girls make the most wonderful trilling peeps.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Alaskan, that is one beautiful duck! They do make diapers for them, LOL. What cute little ducklings!

I know Casportpony is heavily into ducks. Have any pictures?


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

seminolewind said:


> How's your rain situation?
> I'm sorry about your loss. I just don't have the words to make you feel better. I guess that's called beyond words.
> 
> Obama won't be taking any of my guns. Personally I think the state of florida and probably texas would refuse.


Rains gone now....the most damage runs a little south of us by 45-50 miles...and goes from the Mountains all the way down to Charleston. We are doing fair here....flooding not to awful but bad enough.
They had to close a 75 mile stretch of interstate I-95 down east due to the flooding, its opened back up now. So far 13 Dams have broke and several Levies down towards Charleston and the surrounding counties in the lowlands. 
They claim 4 or 5 small towns and communities are completely cut off except by boat now. Many roadways and bridges are washed out and several thousand homes have been submerged or nearly so.

Its bad thats for sure...even with all the Hurricanes we historically get, this has been the most wide spread damage ever to the State since Sherman and the union army burnt thru S.C. during the war,..or so the local media says.. Obama has declared it a FED. Emergency zone and there are National Guard troops from Georgia N.Carolina and Tenn. here now to help with the rescues. 
So far the death total stands at 19.....and this evening news says a dozen or more dams are in jeopardy of failing,..the fatalities may go higher. 
Columbia (State Capitol) got 21 inches of rain in 11 hours,..Charleston and other coastal cities and towns ,somewhere around 24 to 26 in. in the same time period.
The worst is still to come.......all the rain and flood waters coming down from the mountains has nowhere to go........ its gonna be ugly for a while yet.
....................................
Yep on the guns...here in S.C. we wont surrender either....we didn't in 1861 at Ft. Sumter and we won't this time either...


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

That" alot of water. And people dying. I've been to SC Charleston once and along the walkway on the edge of town.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

I can't imagine 24 inches dumping on Charleston like that. Boggles the mind.

I used to live in Galveston during hurricanes and all of that impressive flooding, bt after the giant hurricane of 1900 Galveston actually rebuilt the entire city so that the entire place is sloped and drains. Point being, yes, the water can at times reach a full story high, but it recedes pretty quickly too.

I think S.C. Is lots more swampy, so all of the water gets stuck there for longer... So much harder to find some stable high ground and just wait for it to go away.

Also dams.... I have seen what busted dams can do... And that scares me silly. I would never live in a spot like that.

Funny though, I would never live on a flood plain, or on a cliff, but 
I live within spitting distance of a volcano. NOT, lava flow distance.... Just spitting. And yes, I have been spat upon.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

I guess that make me stupid too..... -sigh-

Hard to find a totally safe spot.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Oklahoma keeps the guns,too! I'm afraid that the fight is on if they try to take them!


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I think there are many people who will not give up their guns. I feel that any criminal can get a gun illegally. So why would I be penalized for buying one legally? I think that me having a gun levels the playing field.


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