Speckledhen's Ten Commandments of Good Flock Management

[Wynette]

I've read every single post on here, every word. And...I don't consider myself seasoned with chickens, yet I'm not a newbie, either.

I'm one of those folks who had respiratory issues and deciced to treat - mostly because I knew I could not cull. Some pulled through, some did not. I've since changed the way I believe respiratory illnesses should be dealt with.

That being said...for those of you who "cannot" cull - please, please, please consider finding a friend or neighbor who CAN do this for you. And if you can't, then you really oughtn't have poultry.

 

[speckledhen]

Wynette, you and I talked quite a bit when you were going through the health issues. Hope all is well now!

 

[Wynette]

Yep - you've always answered my questions with the utomost honesty and straightforwardness..which I greatly appreciated, and still do! So far so good with my flock!!

 

[eggchel]

My quarantining advice:

If you choose to bring new birds into your flock, after the first two weeks of quarantine, put a "sacrificial" cockerel from your own flock in with the quarantine birds for several more weeks to check to see if the new birds are carriers.
The reason for waiting two weeks is because during the first couple weeks, the new birds should show evidence of any active illness or stress induced flare up of previous illness. But, they could still be carriers, so that is when you add an expendable bird from your flock and wait 4 more weeks. You will also find out during that time whether your bird is a carrier and the new birds get sick from exposure to him.



To those of you who choose to treat your sick birds and keep them, or who have had sick birds that died, or who had to cull sick birds:

When you sell hatching eggs or birds to the rest of us, please notify us that you have had illness in your flock so that we can decide, based on the circumstances, whether we want to take the risk of importing that illness into our own flock. Even hatching eggs can carry illness into another flock.


Chel

 

[speckledhen]

When you sell hatching eggs or birds to the rest of us, please notify us that you have had illness in your flock so that we can decide, based on the circumstances, whether we want to take the risk of importing that illness into our own flock. Even hatching eggs can carry illness into another flock.

Absolutely! Thank you, Chel. I'm willing to bet that most never ask a seller if he/she has ever had illness in the flock. No one should become angry if you ask that question (though some might).​

 

[JennsPeeps]

After reading this thread I sat DBF down and wa had a talk about the girls. We decided that if one of them ever has an illness or injury that's beyond what we think we can deal with reasonably, we will cull her. As aminal owners, it's our responsiblity to manage their lives in a way that's humane, whether it's a chicken or one of our cats.

I should add that both the cats and the hens have about the same status in our household. Though the cats *are* slipping in status. The things they lay are significantly less savory than what the hens lay.

 

[ivan3]

Excellent list! The Speckled Hen has always offered good advice and, though she is no Guinea Whisperer, she knows her chickens.

I'd only like to offer up a corollary to rule #6: Periodically, check over each bird in the flock for lice, mites, wounds, etc.


*Spend at least 15min. a day, if at all possible, observing your flock(s). Sure they're cute as peeps and pullets, but the well tempered flock is downright self sufficient and regular as clockwork, it can be easy to feed and water and all's well with the world. However, many problems can be discovered/averted simply by observing their behavior for a bit.

When you do the closeup exams these sorts of tools will reveal external offenders with ease (well, my eyes aren't what they used to be):

ed: sp

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you, John. I absolutely agree about the magnifier! I spend so much time holding my girls (except lately since I broke my dang ankle and cant get down to the coops), that I'm sure I'd have something crawling on me if they had creepy crawlies. I do have to look over Zane, who is often in his dog kennel in straw to be sure he doesn't have any since he cant groom himself as well as the others. I would always look them over and dust a bit under the wings and on the tush with food grade DE. Never have had any lice or mite, except on poor Hawkeye right when he came to live here. They were taken care of by the time he got with the girls.

P.S. I miss my guineas! They were so tame and funny, but they really hated my RIR girls for some reason known only to their little helmet headed selves.

 

[sara]

So my question is this. If you see a bird with a respitory problem and cull her, at that point must you cull the entire rest of your flock? I would assume once one is visually sick it's already exposed the rest of your flock right?

 

[speckledhen]

Possibly, Sara, but then, I reckon you'd just have to observe the rest to see if they came down with symptoms and then, if they did, it might be time to sacrifice one for a necropsy. I'd rather get a possibly infected bird out of the flock ASAP, just in case it hasn't spread and then disinfect the coop, waterers and feeders well with something like Oxine.