We broke another high record temperature yesterday in Arizona ~!
The smoke from Cali, Oregon and Washington is finally clearing out - there were 3 birds with eye colds - we gave respiratory eye drops and started a general Respiratory treatment for 5 days. I had problems staying outside with the smoke, and sunless days.
The one problematic sick section is still having a few skinny birds - probably a left-over from the viral effects that passed through that section. They are on all natural stuffs now - I cleaned them out with the usual antibiotics a couple of times - now I will only stick with the natural stuff - sequencing through Oregano-based/Probiotics/Adeno Zap/ACV/Anti-bacterial supplements.
Lots of down feathers eveywhere, the older ones are locked down with pulled flights. We will get through a clean moult with all the crazy temperature swings - even with the August arrivals. Our acceptance period closed Aug 31 - please do not get to excited and expect us to start training now as the early OLR races are showing their videos/training flights - everyone is anxious especially with the majority of OLRs on hold/delayed due to weather and smoke. Officially our training starts in November for a Final race in January - this is a late hatch race! We will start flagging later in October.
Best regards
Quick update:
Remembering the brave heroes that sacrificed their lives 19 years ago ~!
We screwed up on the last inventory and reset the clock by accident - there are 350+ birds in loft.
We have re-started the clock - there are a few corrections needed and a few birds need to be added....
It looks like an eclipse out here with no sunlight and very eerie feeling. The smoke from the faraway fires has filtered out the sun to an orange/yellow tone and with that the temperatures have tumbled to 80's and 90's.
We hit 115 degrees on Saturday and broke another record Sunday - two days in a row breaking all-time heat records. The excessive heat warning is through Monday - Over 53 days of 110+ degrees - the hottest ever for Arizona records.
Some of the birds are going thru a massive moult in reaction to the temperature swings. Good clean moulting feed Mutine by Versele Laga, All n One grit, probiotics, ACV, Ropa B - checking on the birds 3 times daily to make sure waterers are topped up !
We delay our inventory to start Tuesday morning where it is expected to cool down to the 90's and more conducive to handling the birds. As is, by the time we change waterers, feed and clean - it is already too hot to do anything else.
Best regards ~!
We had the monsoon rain roll in for one night with 0.5" rain and some cooler termperatures for a few days.... we are back up to hopefully one last heat wave of 112-113 for the next few days.
We have started pulling flights and pox. Hand inventory will be started on Saturday group by group over a few days during the cooler part of the morning.
Not much else going on - really too hot to do anything ~!
Hot hot and hot - record breaking heat with higher than normal temps of 113+ through Friday.
We have not done any physical handling the birds, trying not to introduce added heat stress - pretty much leaving them alone - feed, water, ACV, probiotics, vitamins, Mutine moulting mix, ...
The temperatures are finally trending to be under 100 deg next week - we will do any final PMV/Pox vaccines, hand inventory of all birds in loft, updated inventory, flight pull on the intermediate groups, and continue settling of last groups. Our acceptance period is now closed.
Thank you to all the breeders for your participation.... another two months of prep before training starts in November.
The constant 110-114 degree heat of the past few days ~!! Just feed and water and leave the birds alone for the most part - there are a few entries coming in this week which will close our acceptance period. Inventory will be updated - remaining birds will be chipped, flights pulled on older ones, etc .... little by little in this heat ! We have also avoided handling birds due to the viral stuff in one of the sections.
Along with the overdue monsoon moisture comes sudden evening winds and blowing dust - so have to be very careful in settling the last groups. We will soap the wings and let out late evenings ~!
Best of luck to all
This is the last week to ship entries/replacements. If you need a few extra days beyond this - its ok as well.
We got a handle on what was going on in Group 7 - no more casualties other than the 9 birds during the initial week of sickness. Breeders have been notified. We treated with Enroflaxyn 10% for 7 days and probiiotics. The worst is past - there are a few birds that are still fluffed up and that we also have notified and give you the option to replace if you are able to - but they look like will recover as they are eating and drinking well.
We have minimized physical handling of the birds as we do not want to pass anything along so we have not done a hand inventory. Group 5-6 are still out daily. Groups 7-8 will be settled next. Any bird that was pulled at any point for sickness is still in a separate "Recovery" group. Any birds that came in last week and this week are in a new Group 9.
Soon we will have all birds merged when we finish settling.
2 weeks remaining for entries/replacements.
It has been a hot 4 days here with 117 degrees - As mentioned last update, we pulled several birds from Group 7.
There is something viral going on in Group 7 only - and with the heat it has only compounded the situation.
8 birds have died in that section over the last few days - and another 4 we will recommend replacing to the breeders.
We medicated with Enroflacin for 4 days as a precaution - realizing that viral is best treated with natural stuff, we are continuing with daily probiotic therapy. Symptoms: A combination of excess water in crop in a couple, another couple had respiratory issues, and the other 4 were just getting skinny and listless.
Best regards - not the best of news especially as we are on the last days of the acceptance period without any issues prior ~!
We are still in our acceptance period - accepting until Aug 15th (all entries and any replacements).
Partial Inventory is in process (combination of hand scan and running them thru the trap) the last 2 days - there are a few bands need to be fixed/corrected before the next clocking (AU to IF, wrong club, wrong number, intermittently working, unassigned, etc). We also have not run the last week's arrivals thru the traps yet.
Today we pulled 8 birds from Group 7 into the "Observation Bay". Hopefully this is just heat-related stress (due to temperature swings from 80 to 112). We will recommend which of those need to be replaced - as it is not fair to allow a bird to continue knowing that it will probably not make it.
As we have been saying - Any bird that has been pulled from their group - has been kept separately in an Observation Bay after recovery - so as not to mix birds and spread anything. So you will see a handful of birds show up in current inventory that originally belonged in the merged Groups 1-4 settling inventory.
After the acceptance period is over, and we have all birds settled - they will be truly "ONE" group - Right now its Groups 1-8 and Observation Bay. This is our last group - any arrivals and replacements from now thru Aug 15th will go to Group 8.
We finally got some rain puddles Friday evening - with cooler temperatures down to low 80's this morning.
Will continue with settling later this week as the winds/potential monsoon diminishes.
Chip assignment/checking Saturday/Sunday the remaining birds on property (Groups 7,8 and those that were ever in the Observation Bay) - got our electronic bands in.
Also got our 43,000 lb order of Versele Laga feed - we feed the best in the industry -
Versele Laga takes the guesswork out of it - and its dummy proof -
1. Feed Breeder Mix when breeding (Starter Mix, Traditional Breeder)
2. Feed Young bird Mix for youngbirds (Junior)
3. Feed Racing mix for racing (Champion, Gerry, Junior)
4. Feed Moulting mix during Molt (Mutine)
5. Feed Energy Mix during high fat needs, high protein needs, high carb needs (Energy Plus)
6. Feed a base Mix for economic maintenance feeding (Show Mix)
