Notes From The Coop

10/6/2020

October 06th, 2020

I have been getting requests lately asking what to treat poultry with for this or that ailment, so it seemed like a good idea to make a picture of our basic staples. Please understand, I am not a vet, the only things I have to go by are my years of experience and my mentors sage advice when I have exhausted possibilities. Never think you know it all, none of us do :)
We all have our own ways of treating ailments certainly does not mean my way is the only way, it is just what works for me. I always encourage people to research in addition to asking for advice.
The only thing we preventatively treat for are bugs (lice and mites) I don't believe in medicating birds for no reason, in my opinion, treating for respiratory issues for one sneeze, or a crop adjustment (no you do not have gape worm, thats pretty rare!)

There are however, several things I have found to be of benefit, such as feeding yogurt with live cultures every few weeks and probiotics in their mash 2x a week. Cayenne pepper, to discourage field mice from sneaking in for a bite, just little things you can do to keep things running smoothly! As always, I am happy to help in any way I am able, and in the meantime there is a lot of good info out there, but there is also bad, make sure you ask someone with years of experience, not a newbie that didn't have poultry a year ago. It could mean the health or life of your bird or flock.

3/2/2020

March 2nd, 2020

It's that time of year that breeders look forward to the season of unveiling what they have been working all winter on, new lines, juveniles, and chicks!
Just as important as buying from a reputable breeder is selling to a reputable BUYER for us. When we decline a sale, it is for a good, legitimate reason. To some it doesn't matter where their birds end up or what happens to them. We are not those breeders.!!
As we know, there are some seriously shady "breeders" that will try to exactly duplicate your bloodline and pass it off as their own, or mass flock breed a bird they got from you and claim your lines, and some that have not a drop of your blood in their coops that claim to breed your line...
Any decent reputable breeder is happy to furnish any information you ask of them, an NPIP number (you would be shocked that some ship ILLEGALLY) if you ask for an NPIP number and get an excuse instead of an NPIP number,RUN....current day pictures of the parents if you are buying eggs (not their ad pictures). Then we have the Bad Buyer. The entitled person that will stop at nothing to get what they want. The one that nothing is too low for them to consider to get a bird, even sending in another buyer to buy your birds and then bragging about it. Or perhaps even an egg flipper who would buy your fertile eggs and resell them at a hugely inflated price (especially when that line was in the very beginning stages, with lots of culls at that time.) Who is the joke really on? At the end of the day, all of these people are on most breeders DNS, DNB lists for the level of sheisty. We breeders DO communicate and share our experiences. Again, we urge both buyers and sellers to do your research. Ask questions. Ask for pictures. Read reviews.
Do what you need to do to be assured the experience is a pleasant and HONEST interaction.
These shady characters are the absolute minority of who we deal with but definitely noteworthy if for no other reason to warn others and save them the Tylenol.

1/13/2020

What's In a Name?

When you buy a bird from Feathered Fusion Silkies, you are buying a piece of our heart...We have put blood, sweat and tears into our flock. We do not have cabinet incubators and mass breed, nor do we flock breed. Every single mating is well planned with SOP being the absolute objective. We breed ONLY Silkies. We feel that devoting our time, attention, and focus to one breed and knowing all of the ins and outs of that breed allows us to better the breed as we are able.
We selectively breed for conformation, color, and hardiness and believe in addition to this, proper nutrition is an absolute necessity in the health of your bird. What you put in to your bird plays a huge part in their overall health.
We also take Biosecurity VERY seriously. This is for the safety of our flock as well as yours. There are signs posted as well as video surveillance both in the coops in addition to the pens. We do not do Bird Swaps, Fairs etc for this very reason. So many birds are brought to these events that are not completely healthy, add stress to that, and it has the makings of a sick (or worse) flock...even with quarantine it can, and has happened. If there is a swap or fair near us we are happy to meet NEAR the venue.

Every single chick hatched lives in my (Mona) office, for a minimum of 2 weeks, not in a shed or barn, this enables me at all times, to keep an eye on growth, nutrition, and development, and they get all natural sunlight which is so often overlooked in the development in a happy, healthy chick
We are a husband and wife team I (Mona) am the food lady, pairer of birds, raiser of chicks, washer of birds etc. My husband G, is the designer and builder of coops, created custom databases for our flocks, and hauler of straw, shavings, waterers, and all things heavy. Without him I couldn't do it, that's a fact!
We take care who we sell to, and I will stand behind that 100%, if you are a flipper, or have a reputation for playing games, go buy from someone else...please. Our birds are our mission, drama and games are not
And lastly, we let our birds and the quality of our birds speak for themselves. We don't advertise "Gorgeous, Beautiful, Adorable" etc we let YOU be the judge of that. We don't sell our birds, they sell themselves.

And that in a nutshell is what Feathered Fusion Silkies stands for.......

YOUR CART

October 06th, 2020

March 2nd, 2020

What's In a Name?

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