Another Dieing Hen

[Hen Pen Jem]

Greetings DCluck,

There is so much to learn about caring for chickens. But, I think learning how to give medical care for injuries and illness, is probably the most difficult.

First, as you have already learned, diagnosing in itself is a huge challenge. A wrong diagnosis, may lead you to provide the wrong treatment. Sometimes, you diagnose correctly and the chicken still dies. This is because there are other factors to consider in the healing of a chicken, as I mentioned before.

So, whether you start with older chickens or chicks from a hatchery, chickens get sick. That's because we can't fully control the microbial world.

Of course, hatchery chicks will be a safer bet, but you should always have them vaccinated for Marek's. Practicing good bio security is also a must, in protecting your flock from disease. And, if you do bring in pullets or older chickens, always quarantine them. The minimum quarantine duration is 2 weeks. But, I don't think this is good enough. Each keeper has their own procedure. Check with your local state or county agriculture dept. to find out if Marek's is prevalent in your area.

Reading books on chicken health and care is also essential, if you don't have a vet to help you. The internet has a lot of helpful information, and, there is also a lot of inaccurate information. So a good book is a valuable resource, for a keeper, to refer to.

In the end, you will have to diagnose and treat your chickens when they get sick. If you do nothing they will get worse, or maybe die. Or, maybe they'll heal, some things are not so serious. But, if you help your chicken, they have a better chance of survival, than if you do nothing. As you become more experienced, you'll know what and when, to do things for your flock.

So, don't worry so much. Enjoy your flock and post some pictures here on BYC. We'd love to see them!

God Bless

 

[Stephanie Mitchell]

Why do people cull chickens that had infectious bronchitis? My young pullet has made a full recovery, but I haven't reintegrated her yet. I thought the point was to raise chickens with better resistance to disease, not cull the ones that could potentially become immune? Just a bug in the back of my head I've been wondering about.. as with Darwins theory, survival of the fittest. I'd like to only keep and breed the strong chickens that lived and thrived after a brush with a virus, if only to never run into it again

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

Greetings Stephanie Mitchell,

Some keepers have to cull, because they have large flocks, and it is difficult to treat all those birds.

I have been dealing with Infectious Bronchitis for going on 8 weeks now. Even after a hen recovers, there is the possibility of secondary infection, and even a relapse, which happened to two of my girls. One of my older hens, became severely ill, I am still treating her. This takes a lot of time. At one point, I was treating 5 different hens for symptoms ranging from mild to severe. Besides administering medicines, special food has to be prepared, weights have to be tracked, and hospital crates must be cleaned daily. It's very exhausting, but I have a hobby flock. They are pets, so I do it happily.

But, if you have a flock of say, 50 chickens, it would be almost impossible to treat them all, and protect the healthy hens, too.

But, I agree with you about building a strong flock. However, even though some poultry diseases like IB, have low mortality rates, the surviving chickens will be immune, but are now carriers. What you want, is the chicken that never gets sick. That chicken has immune resistance, and it's offspring will have natural immunity to the disease. I have two hens in my flock that never developed any symptoms. They are laying perfect eggs. Those two hens, have immune resistance! Unfortunately, my rooster was also infected, so I would have to breed them with a non-IB-infected rooster, to produce chickens with natural immunity.

When you return your hen to the flock, some chickens, may develop the disease. Infectious Bronchitis is a very contagious disease. It spreads by contact with the infected and their respiratory fluids, if they sneeze or even drink from waterers. It spreads even on contaminated equipment and can travel over 1,000 yards through the air! It's recommended that you not bring in any new birds for 6 months. These are all facts from books on poultry health. But, the virus can't survive more than a week off the chicken. So be sure to disinfect anything you used for your sick hen, feeder, waterer, crate, etc.

Wow, what a can of worms I opened!

These are my thoughts on Infectious Bronchitis, and, I hope your hen is better soon.

God Bless

 

[Stephanie Mitchell]

Greetings Stephanie Mitchell,

Some keepers have to cull, because they have large flocks, and it is difficult to treat all those birds.

I have been dealing with Infectious Bronchitis for going on 8 weeks now. Even after a hen recovers, there is the possibility of secondary infection, and even a relapse, which happened to two of my girls. One of my older hens, became severely ill, I am still treating her. This takes a lot of time. At one point, I was treating 5 different hens for symptoms ranging from mild to severe. Besides administering medicines, special food has to be prepared, weights have to be tracked, and hospital crates must be cleaned daily. It's very exhausting, but I have a hobby flock. They are pets, so I do it happily.

But, if you have a flock of say, 50 chickens, it would be almost impossible to treat them all, and protect the healthy hens, too.

But, I agree with you about building a strong flock. However, even though some poultry diseases like IB, have low mortality rates, the surviving chickens will be immune, but are now carriers. What you want, is the chicken that never gets sick. That chicken has immune resistance, and it's offspring will have natural immunity to the disease. I have two hens in my flock that never developed any symptoms. They are laying perfect eggs. Those two hens, have immune resistance! Unfortunately, my rooster was also infected, so I would have to breed them with a non-IB-infected rooster, to produce chickens with natural immunity.

When you return your hen to the flock, some chickens, may develop the disease. Infectious Bronchitis is a very contagious disease. It spreads by contact with the infected and their respiratory fluids, if they sneeze or even drink from waterers. It spreads even on contaminated equipment and can travel over 1,000 yards through the air! It's recommended that you not bring in any new birds for 6 months. These are all facts from books on poultry health. But, the virus can't survive more than a week off the chicken. So be sure to disinfect anything you used for your sick hen, feeder, waterer, crate, etc.

Wow, what a can of worms I opened!

These are my thoughts on Infectious Bronchitis, and, I hope your hen is better soon.

God Bless

Thank you for the reply!!