Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

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Lacy Blues said:
Oz, I have a slightly different view of intestinal health than do most people.

I refuse to use drugs on them. I use a lot of yogurt instead. I use the unprocessed, unpasteurized 100% organic apple cider vinegar as someone suggested, in their water. Their feed is fermented with the same cultures.

There is an old adage that perhaps you have heard... "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

With your situation as it is, with a full blown outbreak, you will probably have to treat with what is immediately available. If you have goats around there, put your kitchen gal to work making yogurt to put a little in all of your animals' feed and it will go a long ways toward keeping these outbreaks to a minimum.

At times of stress (such as moving them to new coops) a day or two before you know its going to be done, increase the amount of yogurt in their diet as stress causes the bad bacteria to explode in the intestinal tract but if they had a big gut load of beneficial bacteria, the bad ones wouldn't stand a chance.

I hope I have not offended you in any way with this, if so, please know it was not my intention at all. It is just something I feel quite strongly about. Also, it may be something the common person would have better access to if a problem should develop in the future.
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I'm with you... I refuse to use antibiotics and such.. but, I eat my birds and eggs.

Oz is a breeder, and his stock is valuable in breeding... That sort of changes things, in my eyes. If I had valuable birds that I had no intention of eating, I would probably be less hesitant to throw medication at them.



My flock is currently dealing with respiratory illness... not sure what it is, or was, as they are starting to get over it.. guessing MG/CRD.. I just CAN'T justify tossing antibiotics at something that they will remain carriers of anyway. It just defeats MY purpose of having chickens: healthier eggs and meat without all the added stuff. I don't breed though. I don't sell birds. Flock is pretty well closed, save for the lone accidental rooster I rehomed last year. I purchase chicks in spring.. but they don't leave.

I totally get what you are coming from though, I feel like people stare at me like I have three eyes, when I refuse to just toss some Tylan at whatever cough they have.
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Antibiotic use is WAY out of hand in the average backyard flock. I do believe in a venture as big as Oz' he has little choice.. can't afford to have disease spread when you have so many little ones. That, and he seems to target disease, rather than broad spectrum the heck out of things
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@Lacy Blues of course you did not offend me.

In a perfect world, I would love to not give anribiotics, I was just thinking recently how great it was that I had not administered any antibiotics to my chickens in more than 4 months.

I am not sure how many birds you have. We dont have access to yoghurt. South East Asia has very few dairy resources and I am developing my own but I am a good three years from being able to "put the kitchen gal to work making yoghurt"

I currently have around three hundred that are under six weeks of age, To prevent Coccidiasis I retain about 5-10% of the rice husks in the brooder from the previous birds, They have done very well building their own resistance to the organism and I have, in the whole time I have been doing this, never had to treat for the disease. I lose about 3 percent of my chicks from hatch to around a month of age.

The outbreak is in a virgin brooder. I ran out of space after a very successful shipped egg hatch. It is only about 20 birds but contains the first turkey poults that I have ever been able to hatch. They are very important to me. Hopefully I can get this worked out in a few days.

Vaccinations will always be a key strategy.

Hopefully in a couple of gererations of locally bred birds, they develop a little strength in fighting local bugs
 
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OffGridMAMA said:
Quote: Yes it did! maybe you have a new color mutation in SFs!!!

The last egg for this lot is pipped. SOOOOOO many chicks!! SF,SFH, cochins and SPR!!!


The huge mixed breed eggs (? double yolkers) that did not fit in the bator with the others still have about a week to go.
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