Thank you! I hope the hypericum helps, I'm so sorry you won't have chickens after these, I know you will miss having them. I do hope the ones you have will rally and give you joy for a long time yet. My sister-in-law has had trouble with Mareks in her flock, so she has been breeding her remaining hens with her two roosters, then will get another rooster to breed with those chicks so she can hopefully develop a resistance to the disease. They are out in the chicken yard in the brooder from day 2 so they are exposed to all the bacteria etc possible, and hopefully it will work. Her first batch is doing very well, now the second batch hatched yesterday. Guess we will see how it goes! Hope it works! She believes 'mutt' chickens will be healthier and less susceptible to disease. I love your chicken air conditioning idea, I will keep that in mind to help my girls through this summer.
I think what the hypericum may do, if anything, is act as an analgesic. I want to believe it does more, but I am skeptical. Still I'm trying it because you never know.
I can't have birds for years as I only would get maybe six or even less. The virus stays active for a very long time. I don't think I would risk infecting other birds, going through this again, etc. I hope your sister is successful. She's probably right about the mutt chickens. That pretty much goes for lots of domesticated animals.
