A Video Message From Me - Culling Complete - Update on Post #1

[LA~Poulet]

I am so sorry for the loss of your flock-I've seen the pictures of Brownie and I can only imagine how heartbreaking that must be for you. Thank you for posting and for the reminder that really drives the biosecurity point home, for someone getting into chickens.

Thanks to this forum, I've decided against getting birds from a local poultry 'dealer' I found, who gets his birds from all over the place and shuffles them into his flock weekly. Without this forum I wouldn't have known the possible repercussions.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Thank you everyone for your compassion, kind words, and most of all
the "I won't let this happen to my flock" messages.

My PM inbox is overflowing so I'm having a hard time responding to
each friend here. I'll catch up tonight.

to all. KEEP YOUR BIRDS SAFE!!!!!

 

[Wynette]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the excellent reminder. It was nice to see you in person, on your video. Great way to present the reminder.

I know you didn't want people saying they were sorry, so I'll just:

 

[bumpershoot]

OMG. What can a person say? Nada, except Thanks. I am still very new to chickens and although I practice a certain amount of biosecurity, I doubt it's up to snuff.
I was planning on getting my flock NPIP certified. Am I correct that this can be tested for at that time as well? I will not be bringing new chickens on to this property until fall when I will hatch out some eggs, so I was thinking that that break period would be a good time to have the cert done.
I am going to bring meat turkeys from a hatchery onto the property later this month, but they will be in a separate area. Is that good enough?
Gosh, what a nightmare for you!

I am sorry and I am grateful for the warning.

 

[standardbanty]

I have gone through a similar situation involving Mareks. I had to kill a couple of birds, spend countless amounts of hours power washing and disinfecting. I now have it under control and almost gone but not certain yet.

Now I will only get eggs from trusted breeders and birds from crazy biosecurity freaks like me.

 

[briana1975]

So sorry you have to cull the whole flock. That was hard to listen to all the great chicken noises in the background knowing soon they would all be gone. I am new to chickens and I now plan on taking bio security much much more serious now. So thank you for making that video.

 

[PurpleChicken]

The last thing I want to do here is scare people. Knowing the
source of your chicks or hatching eggs and then isolating them
for several weeks will prevent most infections and/or contaminations.
Most diseases will appear in under 30 days so you will know it.

I've hatched eggs from at least a dozen BYC members and none
were infected. Brooding the chicks for several weeks was also
a form of isolation so if they turned up sick then I would have
culled the batch.

What I did was:
1-Buy a young silkie pair from a kid and his dad who had way too
many birds packed into their property and were active with 4H and
other shows. The birds were all well taken care of. He just had a
lot. AHappyChick also got birds from him that introduced Mareks
into her flock. She has gone through heck with her birds and now
vaccinates them all herself, even her hatchlings.

2-The bird noticeably sounded bad. I ignored this. Smart huh?

3-Brought them home and put them in my isolation brooder which
is in the same barn as all my chickens and almost immediately
mixed them up. Again, smart huh?

We can't avoid our flocks being infected with Cocci or Mareks from
a wild bird but we can avoid what happened to me.


Again:
1-Know the source
2-Isolate and monitor
3-Practice biosecurity when exposed to other flocks

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:

I like crazy people.

 

[Schultz]

Thank you for having the courage to share this with us. It saddens me to think of what you must be going through and what you still have ahead of you. My prayers for strength and courage have been said. It is unfortunate for anyone to have to go through anything like this, sometimes we get so excited about new birds that we tend to neglect the "rules" or we just don't have space for isolations so I hope your message gets through. I am deeply sorry for your loss but if your video can save just one flock then your loss will not have been in vain.

I do hope things look up for you!~

 

[silkieluver_07]

What are the smptoms of MG? Should we be tested for it on a regular basis?

Im also so sorry for your loss.