WARNING SIGNS TO DETECT SICK CHICKEN

As a chicken owners and poultry farmer, there are some skill you should know in helping you to maintain healthy flock.
Luckily to make your job a bit easier, chickens like all animals have several warning signs to tell us when they are sick. In the beginning, those signs are subtle, but if you know what to look for you can save yourself and your chicken from loads of these sickness.

Warning Signs Of A Sick Chicken are :

Dull feathers with or without bald patches. This is an easy one to spot and can mean many different things. Hen pecking, external parasites, seasonal molting or illness should be first on your radar if you see lackluster feathers. A healthy and happy hen should have shiny thick feathers.
A dull comb and/or wattle. A healthy chicken will have a bright red comb and wattle. The comb and wattle are the extra skin above and below the head. If you notice the color is dull and the comb or wattle looks dried out it is time to look further. Illness, poor diet or overcrowded conditions can all lead to this so you will need to dig a little deeper.
Disinterest at feeding time. For me, one of the top warning signals with any animal is loss of appetite. Feeding time is the best time to look over your birds since they tend to stay at least somewhat still. If you have a bird off to the side or completely away from the flock you may have a sick bird. If it is warm out, check immediately for heat stress.
Coughing or raspy breathing. Although this is a late term warning sign it is not always a death sentence. I have had coughing hens before that recovered completely to return to the flock. The trick is to act fast to first save your hen and second keep any possible contagious illness from the rest of your flock.
Dirty back end. This one is easier on some birds than others. This year, I have all Black Star Hens and unless the mess is white I will miss it. In my case, I need to check my coop and run at every feeding. Yes, by inspecting my chicken’s poo I am able to catch any parasite problems before they become widespread. Runny is normal for some hens, but if it is different than normal or has an overly foul odor take note.
Hunched up Hen. If you notice one of your gals is hunched up, something is wrong. She is either in pain or sick. Usually, my hunched up hens are moving pretty slowly or not at all so they are a bit easier to spot.
More often than not when I pick up a hen with one or more of these symptoms I will see she is thin and weak. Chickens like most animals will hide when they are sick and unless you are watching daily you will miss the early warning signs.
So, what do you do if you have a hen with one or more symptom on this list? I always err on the side of caution. I have found that isolating the hen in question is the best and most effective way to keep my flock healthy.
Anything will do to house your sick gal, but if you need ideas you can ready my post What to Do If You Have a Sick Chicken to get tips. Once you have your hen away from the flock you will be able to inspect her more closely and decide on a plan of attack. Choosing between home care and calling on a vet all depends on the situation.
Watch your animals daily so you will notice any changes as soon as they happen. Catching things early can be the difference between life and death in livestock so keep your eyes open.
These skills are very important to chicken owners.

ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF DEATH

There are principally two kind of death and both of then come from the garden of Eden.
What is death ? Death is the opposite of life, the departure of life and the cassation of life. To humans, death is the separation of body, soul and spirit. They body goes to the grave and disintegrates; the spirit goes back to God, and the soul goes to one of two place: The soul of the wicked go to hell and the soul of the righteous to Paradise.

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF DEATH ?
  There are principally two kind of death and both of then come from the garden of Eden.
  1. Spiritual death, which means separation from God . In the garden of Eden , Adam and Eve did not die physically immediately they ate the forbidden fruit. However they were separated from God and driven out of garden of Eden . They died spiritually.

2. Physical death, which is cassation of life also originated in Eden when God killed some animals to get skins to cover Adam and Eve. The first human to die physically was Abel, the son of Adam.
Spiritual death was caused by disobedience to God . Death is the direct result of sin. In the case of physical death, the doctor may write any one of many things on the death certificate , but the real answer is SIN. Sin is the basic cause and disease is the immediate agent that God uses to execute the sentence that was pronounced on mankind in the garden of Eden.

WHAT IS THE REMEDY FOR DEATH ?

Physical death is described in various ways in the bible , for example, it is described as : sleep (john 11:11); they requiring of the soul (Luke12:20); going to a place of no return (Job 16:22); putting off this earthly house (2Corinthians 5:1); yielding up the gost (Act 5:10).

Regardless of what modern science and doctors may achieve , we are appointed to die ( Hebrew 9:27). We are born with an appointment to meet physical death. We must keep that appointment unless the Lord return soon.
However, we can avoid spiritual death simply by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and accepting Him as our Lord and saviour. Physical death can be avoided by the rapture of the Church but if we meet our appointment with death before the Lord return, there is still hope . Christ has promised to walk with us through the experience of death ( John 14:13). If you can truthfully says, " The Lord is my shepherd," then , you can not have to fear death .

MARITAL INTIMACY

A crucial key to intimacy in marriage is communication.
  The intention of God for marriage is that the couple become one flesh. Marital intimacy, therefore, is the process that brings about the intended oneness in marriage, it involves bridging the gaps between the two worlds of the husband and wife until complete oneness is achieved physically, spiritually and emotionally. Oneness in marriage does not happen by default or by accident, but takes concerted and conscious effort of the two parties involved.

WHAT BRINGS ABOUT MARITAL INTIMACY?
1. Acceptance: There is no perfect human being. Therefore, the journey of marital intimacy begin by accepting the totality of your partner, including the strength and the weaknesses.
2. Agreement: It takes two to tango. Marital intimacy will be difficult to achieve with an unwilling partner. Therefore, there is a need for the couple to agree on certain values of marriage and set appropriate goals towards achieving them.
3. Service: Couples must serve each other in love and reverence to achieve the intended goal of oneness. You must make sacrifices for each other. You must celebrate, comfort, cuddle and rebuke each other in love when necessary.
4. Prioritising: If the marriage must not be hanging on the balance of marital instability, there is need to break ties with relationships and engagements that could compete for equal attention. Make out more time for each other.

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO MARITAL INTIMACY
A crucial key to intimacy in marriage is communication. Communication helps breakdown every n wall partition between a man and his wife and gives unhindered access to each other's world. Effective communication breeds trust and transparency, strengthens the cord of love and breaks the backbone of assumption and suspicious. The line of communication must be open and unambiguous on any subject, love, care, compliments, offenses, rebukes, forgiveness, aspirations, ideas. When the barrier of communication is out of the way, there is unity at the home front , thereby, paving way for love to flourish.

Lastly,  One partner might pay higher price than the other but on the whole, It takes commitment and patience of the two to arrive at ecstasy.

FACTORS AND THINGS THAT DETERMING EGG PRODUCTION IN CHICKEN

All poultry farmer wants to get the most best out of their birds and not just eggs. Farmers want happy, healthy birds. We have listed some things you can do to keep your birds happy healthy and increase eggs production..

1. Genetic pattern of the breed of hen
Maximum production of top-quality eggs starts with a closely controlled breeding program emphasizing favorable genetic factors. Sex-Links are the most productive brown egg layers be cause they are a mix of two high productive breeds. If you were to breed a very low productive chicken with a high productive chicken, the next generation would not be nearly as productive as their high productive parent. But if you were to cross a high productive breed with another high productive breed the next generation would be just as productive or more productive than there parents. You should all look out for this.

2. Hen's age at egg-laying maturity.
Although early starters lay more eggs, maturity too early results in many small eggs. These small eggs are called pullet eggs and are just as safe to eat as any other egg. The reason they are so small is because the pullet is not completely grown , as she matures and gets bigger so will her eggs bigger.

3. Resistance to disease.
Some breeds of Hen is reinforced by good sanitation and vaccination. You would never want to breed an ill chicken they could pass the illnesses down to future generations and you would have a constant battle of your hands. Always breed the healthiest chickens together the more generations and that have healthy chickens the more resistance they build up to diseases.

4. Watch out for Light control.
Light control is primary importance both during the growing and laying periods, controlled, low-intensity light can be used to delay sexual maturity until the bird's body is big enough to produce larger eggs. Today's laying hen doesn't need to depend upon the sun to tell her when laying time has arrived. Intensity and duration of light can be adjusted to regulate production in the Fall and Winter when the days are shorter.

5. Feeding.
The amount of food hen eats depends upon the hen's size, the rate of egg production, temperature in the laying house and the energy level of the feed. In general, about 4 pounds of feed are required to produce a dozen eggs. A Leghorn chicken eats about 1/4 pound of feed per day. Brown-egg layers are slightly larger and require more food. Egg quality is affected by the type feed. Shell strength, for example, is determined by the presence and amounts of vitamin D, calcium and other minerals in the feed. Too little vitamin A can result in blood spots. Yolk color is influenced by pigments in the feed. Maximum egg size requires an adequate amount of protein and essential fatty acids.

THE WORLD"S FIRST FULLY SOLAR POWERED TRAIN

Welcome the world’s first fully solar-powered train, running on a restored train line that was out of use for more than a decade.
Converting the train to solar–using a vintage vehicle built shortly after World War II–was a challenge. “We were aware that it had not been done before and wanted to push the boundaries,” says Jeremy Holmes, development director of the nonprofit Byron Bay Railroad Company, which runs the train. The route, which travels between the central business district and the northern part of the town, had advantages: At a little less than two miles long, it’s short, and the track is flat and almost perfectly straight between the stations, requiring less power than other routes might. The vintage train, which was built with aluminum fuselage in a factory that made planes during World War II, is also lightweight.

Custom curved solar panels on the roof of the train send power to a set of batteries that replace one diesel engine; the other engine is still in place and can provide backup power in an emergency. As the train brakes, it generates more electricity, like a hybrid car. At a train station, the train can be plugged in to pull more power from solar panels on the roof.

HOW TO STOP CHICKEN PECKING EACH OTHER

Many backyard flock owners often wonder what they can do to stop their hen or hens from pecking at one another, and you’ve come to the right place because we’re going to address this problem on this blog.

As a backyard flock owners you have to learn the behaviors of chickens and figure out what they are trying to tell them. Understanding chickens is crucial to stopping them from pecking each other.

Chickens spend a lot of time cooped up in the fall and winter, so they can succumb to boredom and start pecking each other. Sometimes they peck because it helps them explore their surroundings, which includes other hens that are cooped up with them. Pecking is natural, but usually this happens more often when the birds have to spend more time indoors.

The key is to understand the difference between curious pecking and pecking aggressively. The truth is that not all pecking is created equal, which means some pecking is not actually bad and sometimes it is just gentle. With that said, we have put together a few steps to help you get a step closer to getting your hens to stop pecking one another. Afterwards, you can implement this information and see if it will work for you.

A. Find Our Why They Are Pecking- The first step is to find out if there’s something that is causing the birds to peck in an aggressive manner. Create a list of questions, such as if the hens are too crowded or if they run out of water and food, as well as whether they are too cold or hot and things of that nature. Basically, you want to find out if there’s something that is stressing them out.

Once you have identified the cause of the stress, the next thing to do is to remove the problem and see if the behavior changes. Generally speaking, you want to provide your birds with at least 10 square feet of outdoor space per bird you own, as well as 4 square feet indoors. Make sure you have a adequate food and water for your chickens.

If you have added a new hen to the coop, then the other chickens may feel uneasy. Sometimes dominance is shown in order to show what the pecking order is. In most cases, there’s one or two hens who are the boss and they are the rulers of the coop. After the pecking order has been determined, the birds will usually stop pecking one another and they will live together in harmony.

B. They Take Baths Too- Keep your birds clean if you want to prevent pecking. Chickens do take baths, but probably not the kind of bath you are thinking of. They cover themselves in dirt after they dig a hole in the ground.

This is called a dust bath and it helps them keep clean, so find a container and mix a bit of wood ash, sand and natural soil. Make sure the container is at least a foot deep and two-feet long and a little over 15 inches wide. After you do this, your birds will get into it and start bathing.

Dust baths can keep mites, lice and other external parasites away. If these parasites are a problem, then use some diatomaceous earth to supplement the hens’ dust bath. Just make sure you don’t use large amounts and mix it very well because it can be harmful if your hens inhale it in large amounts. The more your hens bath, they may be less inclined to peck one another. Please share this post if you enjoy it .

WHAT MAKES A HAPPY MARRIAGE ?

To the couple planning to get married, courtship should be handle carefully.
There are seasons and time for every other facet of human endeavour, doing the right thing at the right time, in marital issues, is crucial to success. Many people have entered the institution of marriage at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons.You should be different and get it right from the onset. When you should married ?, What make a happy marriage? These questions will be addressed in this post.

  WHEN CAN YOU MARRY ?

1. Wait for a measure of financial stability, Not wealth as such bit at least some security.
2. Never marry a woman or a man with the hope of reforming or transforming him or her. Instead of reforming they may drag you to  what may affect your life, wait until any moral problems are settled, I mean when you see him or her changed .
3. Do not rush into marriage even when you lover him or her dearly. It is always advisable to know your partner sufficiently well to know his or her dislikes.
4. Wait until you are old enough to marry. Marriage is for adult and not for children because it carries heavy responsibility , it required maturity and experience.
5. Wait for strong health, marriage requires strong bodies. If  your partner is unwell to satisfy your sexual needs, it can lead to problems in the marriage.
6. Lastly, let God guide you into marriage after much prayer and seeking His will .

WHAT MAKES A HAPPY MARRIAGE ?

  This is to couple planning to get married, courtship should be handled carefully. It is a time of getting better acquainted and ascertaining whether or not they are prepared for marriage. It is very important to note that they must not take liberties one with another at this time, for they are not yet married. Avoid petting and caressing lest passion override reason and you ruin everything. Keep yourself pure or you may discover how easily love can turn to hate. Any mistake made during courtship can stamp a regrettable mark on the marriage, if it eventually holds.
  A happy and successful marriage is based on genuine heart agreement of the couple. They must be willing established a good home. They must not defraud one another, rather they should render full benevolence to each other. Genuine love is essential to a happy marriage.
Remember, Marriage is not an experiment for a short time. It is permanent. It must be based on lifetime anticipation.