I almost lost my hen to an internal infection because the Natural and Organic remedies available to the public simply did not work against fighting off her disease. What you can buy at the feed store is pretty much snake oil in my experience which only costs you money, and delays the proper treatment of your hen's disease until you can get her to a vetrinarian who can prescribe the proper medications and stop the disease and suffering and/or death of your beloved feathered friends. Moreover, as most bacterial infections are highly contagious, if you mess around with "natural organic " cures your flock will probably get infected and most likely die before you can get them all to the vet and diagnosed properly for the correct medication.
It is sad that we can no longer get effective over the counter antibiotics for backyard chickens anymore, mainly due the abuse of these drugs by people not connected to back yard chickens. This is largely the result of food Nazis phobia of antibiotics in food. For commercially raised meat chickens, this may be valid, but it should not apply to backyard chickens as they are not typically raised for meat, just eggs. Furthermore, anybody who has had a sick hen knows they quit laying until they heal up, and that they typically will not lay for a month or so after recovering, so there is no issue with antibiotics in their eggs as the drugs are no longer in the chickens system after 30 days.
Anyone who has had to take their hen to an avian veterinarian knows it will cost about $100 for the visit, and the drugs are extra, about $35, and that is for one bird. There are no guarantees your hen will survive either, and if the disease is contagious, as most are, you can lose your entire flock. This means it is not practical for backyard chicken owners to follow the new protocols for obtaining proper and effective medications for their hens in the event of a serious life threatening disease infects one or all of their hens. This is simply legislation gone wrong and over reach when it comes to backyard chickens. Now they will mostly have to suffer and die, and possibly cause a widespread pandemic of avian/poultry diseases because most backyard chicken owners cannot afford to follow the new protocols set in place to regulate effect treatment of these poultry diseases.
The problem is that with so many backyard chicken owners, who once were able to get easy access to effective antibiotics for chickens at the local farm supply, but can't get them now, the most dangerous and deadly poultry diseases will run rampant and unchecked, and eventually spread everywhere. This will cause a pandemic for all foul, poultry, and birds, including rare and endangered species. The result will be a world wide " bird flu" pandemic just like what we experienced with Covid 19. Only this time it will not be a virus, it will be a super-bacteria. What would that do to the price of poultry at the store?
We need to work towards restoring access to effect and economical treatments of contagious and deadly poultry diseases for the millions of Back Yard poultry owners. It is the humane and responsible thing to do. In the meantime, unless your want to spend hundreds to maybe save your beloved hen/, if you don't want them to suffer of spread their disease to the rest of your flock, the only sane alternative is to put them down. To me those are not good alternatives, especially given that only a few years ago, we had access to the drugs and meds needed to control the spread of these diseases and reduce the associated suffering and deaths they cause. JMHO
It is sad that we can no longer get effective over the counter antibiotics for backyard chickens anymore, mainly due the abuse of these drugs by people not connected to back yard chickens. This is largely the result of food Nazis phobia of antibiotics in food. For commercially raised meat chickens, this may be valid, but it should not apply to backyard chickens as they are not typically raised for meat, just eggs. Furthermore, anybody who has had a sick hen knows they quit laying until they heal up, and that they typically will not lay for a month or so after recovering, so there is no issue with antibiotics in their eggs as the drugs are no longer in the chickens system after 30 days.
Anyone who has had to take their hen to an avian veterinarian knows it will cost about $100 for the visit, and the drugs are extra, about $35, and that is for one bird. There are no guarantees your hen will survive either, and if the disease is contagious, as most are, you can lose your entire flock. This means it is not practical for backyard chicken owners to follow the new protocols for obtaining proper and effective medications for their hens in the event of a serious life threatening disease infects one or all of their hens. This is simply legislation gone wrong and over reach when it comes to backyard chickens. Now they will mostly have to suffer and die, and possibly cause a widespread pandemic of avian/poultry diseases because most backyard chicken owners cannot afford to follow the new protocols set in place to regulate effect treatment of these poultry diseases.
The problem is that with so many backyard chicken owners, who once were able to get easy access to effective antibiotics for chickens at the local farm supply, but can't get them now, the most dangerous and deadly poultry diseases will run rampant and unchecked, and eventually spread everywhere. This will cause a pandemic for all foul, poultry, and birds, including rare and endangered species. The result will be a world wide " bird flu" pandemic just like what we experienced with Covid 19. Only this time it will not be a virus, it will be a super-bacteria. What would that do to the price of poultry at the store?
We need to work towards restoring access to effect and economical treatments of contagious and deadly poultry diseases for the millions of Back Yard poultry owners. It is the humane and responsible thing to do. In the meantime, unless your want to spend hundreds to maybe save your beloved hen/, if you don't want them to suffer of spread their disease to the rest of your flock, the only sane alternative is to put them down. To me those are not good alternatives, especially given that only a few years ago, we had access to the drugs and meds needed to control the spread of these diseases and reduce the associated suffering and deaths they cause. JMHO
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