Advice on culling to creating good, strong breeding stock. Am I a monster?

[Hannahnic14]

Any birds that sound sick gets culled here and only time i ever had that problem was buying other peoples sick birds now i will only buy from hatcheries and not grown birds. Since for me its not worth treating when stress bring it right back out again. So breeding for better immune is a waste of time.

Makes sense, thanks! I've also never had a problem with good hatchery chicks, only grown birds from backyard breeders!

 

[Folly's place]

We have barn shoes, barn boots, and barn coats and gloves. None of these items leave our farm unless washed first! And things worn at friend's farms aren't worn here. Only chicks hatched here, or from very good hatcheries, come here.
Also, we do have wild bird feeders out fairly often, away from places our chickens visit. Twice in thirty years we had a sick wren show up at a feeder, and we pulled the feeders inside for three weeks, and kept our flock inside for two weeks, when no more sick birds appeared. The first one was killed (and eaten ) by one of our dogs, and the second hit a bad snowstorm the day after I saw it.
According to Dr. Fulton at MSU, likely those wild birds had MG, and would have died within a couple of days. Nothing to have hit the flock!
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

And people with a few pets are often more than willing to manage illnesses in specific birds, including those vet visits.

Mary, I don't know if you saw it but on another thread within the last week or two on this general topic someone said they really enjoyed caring for "special needs" chickens and were planning on breeding some in hopes of getting more. Not my thing at all but it takes all kinds.

we don't want sick weak birds and as harsh as that sounds its what fits our end goal with our birds.

And that's what counts, your goals. Not mine, Folly's, Mrs.K's, or anyone else's. One of my main goals is meat, not eggs like you, but eggs are a nice side benefit. I also play with genetics but that's mainly for fun. I select which birds get to breed based on my goals. But I also remove any that appear sick or deformed (not many of those at all) and I remove behavioral problems. Don't let them breed. That way I get a flock that suits me.

I haven't read this whole thread and I'm not going to. I'm not sure what has been covered. You might contact your county extension office on Monday and see what it takes to get a necropsy in Tennessee. That's where they cut a dead bird open to try to determine what killed it. Find out cost, how you store the dead bird, and when you take it and where. That's sometimes good information to have.

 

[RubelliteRose]

So upon further research with tn state agriculture, they only accept livestock with a vet referral. I don't have a vet for my birds so this is the plan:

Do check the surrounding states as well. I have only briefly looked into necropsy services as good to know info, but as far as I can tell in my state of VA, a necropsy costs $90 ( $40 if grant money is available) and is only available for residents. Maryland, however, looks like they will accept out of state poultry for only $24 ($12 in state). I guess Maryland realizes that diseases don't respect state lines.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Young chicks from a hatchery may well be OK, (Please correct me if this is wrong, I need to learn too), but if I can just walk in, so can everybody else who may be spreading something on their shoes or clothes.

I believe the big name hatcheries don't allow visitors to wander about without taking some biosecurity precautions, so even if you're going to pick up chicks directly from them, they might just hand you your order instead of having you walk around the facility. (I don't know for sure, no hatcheries anywhere near me to verify this against).

Feed stores on the other hand, yes technically people can walk in wearing whatever they just came from their farm in, though a good store will manage the chick area so only employees handle the chicks, to minimize contact.

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

I believe the big name hatcheries don't allow visitors to wander about without taking some biosecurity precautions, so even if you're going to pick up chicks directly from them, they might just hand you your order instead of having you walk around the facility. (I don't know for sure, no hatcheries anywhere near me to verify this against).

Feed stores on the other hand, yes technically people can walk in wearing whatever they just came from their farm in, though a good store will manage the chick area so only employees handle the chicks, to minimize contact.

That place was in easy driving distance, and I liked not having to worry about shipping stress. Picking them out was great. I got to physically examine the chicks and pick the ones I liked. They closed in May and never reopened. Too bad, with a few changes (meaning implementing biosecurity) it would have been a real asset to have them around. They had a great selection of breeds, too.