The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Sbom on September 03, 2017, 08:30:00 pm
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Does anyone have/use their own kit?
Just seen one for sale, microscope, scales etc and it got me wondering.....
I'd like to do my own regular checks so would be interested if anyone can recommend a reliable set up and the costs?
Cheers
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Hi Sbom, The kits I saw for sale were quite expensive, so I bought a 1960s optical microscope from fleabay and put my own kit together for about £90 (https://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=78702).
That said, If you just want to buy a kit that will work straight away without any doubts, try speaking to Brunel Microscopes (http://www.brunelmicroscopessecure.co.uk/acatalog/hobby.html). They offered to put a kit together for me similar to their fish and pigeon disease kits, but with a Mcmaster slide etc. Although I didn't buy from them in the end, they were very helpful, and I'm sure you'd get good service from them.
I totally recommend it to anybody who has a scientific ish mind, and is willing to take a long term view of the cost. I've found it really useful to be able to do my own FECs, and I'm starting to get more confident in the results too (for example, our lambs were suspiciously parasite free this year, so I nipped over the fence and stole some fresh poo from our neighbour's lambs and horses.... and they were absolutely riddled! :innocent: ). I've also found it useful to be able to do a post worming or quarantine effectiveness check.
HTH! :thumbsup:
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Oh that's a classic Womble - vaulting the fence to nick your neighbour's dung :poo: :poo: :poo: :roflanim: Love it
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OK what exactly is a FEC kit?
I understand about the concept
I have a cheapie microscope, (Aldi) and tried a couple of times, not very successful (didn't recognize anything as a problem).
So what is in the kit / what do you NEED?
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Oh that's a classic Womble - vaulting the fence to nick your neighbour's dung :poo: :poo: :poo: :roflanim: Love it
Just making good use of the things that I find.
(Things that the everyday folks leave behind) :innocent: .
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OK what exactly is a FEC kit?
I understand about the concept
I have a cheapie microscope, (Aldi) and tried a couple of times, not very successful (didn't recognize anything as a problem).
So what is in the kit / what do you NEED?
The one I saw had a microscope, scales, jugs bottles and pipettes......from what I could see
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[member=2128]Womble[/member]
Do you have any tips for buying a microscope. I have everything else I need for the FECs but I haven't bought a microscope before and I'm a bit nervous about spending a bunch and missing something obvious on the specs.
Dans
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Hi Dans, as microscopes go, it needn't be anything fancy. The universal recommendation is for it to have overall magnification settings of x40 and x100. This is usually achieved by using a x10 eyepiece lens and a choice of x4 and x10 objectives (you multiply the power of the individual lenses together to get the overall magnification ).
The only other essential that I'm aware of is to have a 'mechanical stage' so you can move the slide around precisely to do the counting.
Anything beyond that (eg cameras etc) is purely down to personal preference and depth of wallet!
I also bought the cheapy plastic mcmaster slide and have found it to be fine. Everything else (e.g. the drugdealer weighscales) I bought inexpensively from Ebay. Likewise I'm just using a saturated table salt solution as the floatation liquid.
HTH! :thumbsup:
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I bought a cheap new binocular microscope on e-bay and the two eye pieces don't go close enough together for me to use it binocularly. Also, even when my OH who can use it binocularly tries, the images do not match. Its fine for one eye though. The mcmaster slide came from Womble (thanks). Other than that, I use the kitchen scales that only go down to 1g so I multiply all weights by 100 (or is it 10, can't remember). Don't tell OH about weighing sheep poo using kitchen scales. I've now bought a new tea strainer - (even I have limits) and I use a saturated sugar solution that lives in a kilner jar and grows mould between sessions. I keep lolly sticks for stirers and yogurt pots for ... well pots.
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I bought a set of these scales (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electronic-Mini-Pocket-Digital-Scale-Kitchen-Jewelery-Baking-Weight-500g-0-1g-/122638325741) from Fleabay for three quid. They work well enough, and avoid potential kitchen disasters too.
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I still use the tea strainer from the kitchen though. As long as I remember to only ever drink coffee, life is good! ;D
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I have inherited several tea strainers and as we use bags there is no problem on that one. I bought a microscope and then discovered a retired scientist who would have given me the choice of three for free. Kitchen scales are used - oops. The childs old chemistry set had test tubes and racks along with various funnels which got appropriated.
If I was setting up again I would give Freecycle a try for the microscope.
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Are any of those microscopes still going Buttermilk? I'm interested and don't mind paying for one.
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Are any of those microscopes still going Buttermilk? I'm interested and don't mind paying for one.
I can ask him for you, he is one of our RDA helpers.
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Bringing this back up again... ::)
Can anyone post a link to the type of microscope that would do the job?
Sheep I understand :sheep: , microscopes I do not!! :dunce:
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I am enquiring of Brunel on the microscope so will let you know how I get on.
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Think I’ve found one on Amazon that fits the bill :thumbsup:
Researching McMaster slides now....
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Have you got a link [member=25947]Sbom[/member] ? I keep seeing some on ebay but then miss the end of the auction.
One thing that is good to have is a mechanical stage (holds the mcmaster in place and moves it around smoothly so you don't have jerky movements when counting eggs). I don't get on well with the monocular microscopes so searching for a binocular one, which seem to come up less often.
Dans
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Apex Practitioner microscope
On Amazon. Can’t do the Linky thing on iPad.
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Can anyone recommend good texts on identification and interpretation?
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https://www.rvc.ac.uk/review/parasitology/eggcount/Purpose.htm (https://www.rvc.ac.uk/review/parasitology/eggcount/Purpose.htm)
https://www.rvc.ac.uk/review/parasitology/RuminantEggs/Common.htm (https://www.rvc.ac.uk/review/parasitology/RuminantEggs/Common.htm)
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Many thanks [member=164109]davet[/member] reading the instructions reminded me of early years in lab work where some still used the mouth pipetting technique. I preferred not to since I was working with strong acids, alkaline and even cyanide. A friend of mine, not so picky and working for the water board did as it was quicker than going to look for a pipette filler, until she got distracted while mouth pipetting for a solids test on raw sewage one day.....
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Chemist (Noun): A scientist who washes their hands before going to the toilet.
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Ok I've taken the plunge and bought a new microscope. It's pricey but I can't use the ones with one eye piece. I went for this one if anyone is interested. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bresser-Microscope-40-400x-Binocular-Smartphone/dp/B01B696EBM (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bresser-Microscope-40-400x-Binocular-Smartphone/dp/B01B696EBM)
Also stumbled across this sheet which is quite clear and informative: http://web.uri.edu/sheepngoat/files/McMaster-Test_Final3.pdf (http://web.uri.edu/sheepngoat/files/McMaster-Test_Final3.pdf)
Dans
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Best place to get the Mc Master slides from?
Is one enough?
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Have you tried yet [member=25651]Dans[/member] ?
I just have and all I seem to have are lots of black flying saucers :thinking: . Think it’s “debris”
I made a sugar and salt floatation fluid and am unsure if they are bits of this undisolved
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Not tried mine yet but black flying saucers sounds like air bubbles. If you google 'air bubbles microscope' and have a look at the image results you might see something familiar. Debris would be quite angularge. Don't suppose you have a pic of your findings?
Dans
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Tried just the floatation fluid and it was clear.
Was less of them when I left the mixture to settle while.
Going to bring a sample from a friends flock to try as mine wormed more recently than theirs.
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Sorry just edited the above post. Does sound like air bubbles.
Dans
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Yep ::) . Air bubbles :-[
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Keep trying - it really is worth it. I learned about microscopes etc when working as a VN in a vet surgery, from 1991 onwards - bloods, urine, FEC - I was given a microscope and a MacMaster slide from a vets that moved to sending them away to labs - and since then I have been checking FEC for my horses, and now sheep, so that I can check prior, and after, worming to see effects, and also if I need to do additional worming. I am by no means an expert, but you don't always need to name them, or identify age, to know there is stuff there that needs dealing with, and seeing eggs of one type before you worm, and eggs of the same type a few weeks later, will suggest your regime isn't working - so you can know that either you are not using the right wormer, or the right dose. Even if you don't know which, you know it isn't working. Once you have seen a load of air bubbles, then a load of egg cells, you soon realise they are quite different. Like recognising one sheep from another - they all look like sheep to start with.
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Ok, take two...
Sample from friends lambs and I can definitely see eggs :thumbsup:
Done the calculation but can’t see a chart which tells at what level to treat...?
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If you have a look on this page at the bottom there is a guide to a low, medium and high burden epg. You could also give your vet a call, or the SQP where you buy your medicines for advice.
Dans