Are my new birds a threat?

[greatestgrammie]

threehorses. . . . THANK YOU soooo much.
I have contacted my State Animal Health and have spoken to a guy who says he can't get out here til Thurs next week. . . gotta go attend some meeting which almost always seems to be the case with anyone who works for the State. . . my girlfriend works for the State and she is ALWAYS having to attend some meeting. . . .no wonder it takes an act of Congress to get anything done thru the State.LOL
The State Inspector I spoke with says that in our "neck of the woods" we don't have much of a problem with serious issues regarding chickens. He is even trying to tell me that perhaps our weather,the blowing dirt (our part of Texas is pretty barren and the wind does blow alot) may be causing my issues but everything I have read online in the last 24hrs has told me that chickens don't just get colds and that symptoms are trying to tell you something is wrong.
I contacted the lady I bought these birds from and NOW she says she is seeing the same symptoms. . . alittle too late now eh? The State Inspector is going to go out and inspect her birds as well.

What I am now wondering most of all is. . . . . . .
1) Will this "illness" prevent me from butchering the Cornish Jumbo's that I bought for that very reason. I have been wanting to have a FRESH fried chicken dinner just like the ones Gm'a use to make and these birds are at butcher age now. Does this virus make the meat unedible should I butcher now and before any treatment? Because of the nature of this breed I hesitate to wait any longer for butchering.

2) Should I go ahead and destroy all of my birds,disinfect my henhouses and restart a new flock? It has taken me right at 5yrs to get my flock where it is today and I just hate to think I gotta start all over again. I have some birds now that I would absolutely hate to think of getting rid of because of their demeanor and personalities. Finally have a little pullet that my grandchildren can actually reach down and pick up without having to chase her down. . .LOL

3) IF I can keep my current birds though they may always be a carrier,can I add more birds in the future and keep them from getting the virus through vaccination? Hopefully in the end I would have virus free birds and a virus free flock. I want to completely erradicate this issue.

Would it be possible for us to get online and IM each other from time to time and especially with this matter at hand?

 

[threehorses]

LOL about acts of state.

On (1), I'm not well versed in broilers and these type of things. I'd say it should. But I would definitely ask the broiler board about that. Are they about ready?

(2) No, especially not if they're just destined to be slaughtered anyway. Refer to (1). I would try to just treat the ones you plan to keep. How many would that be?
(3) First, you don't know what they have. Most flocks carry something. People just don't realize it. This could be something simple even. Just always quarantine 30 days to give all the incubation times time to come and go. Handle your broiler flock separately. You can't completely erradicate an issue that you don't know what it is.

Then you'll have other issues. That's just the nature of chickens.

And sure - I'm more easily reached by email actually, I rarely have my IM on but it's nsross1 on yahoo. I always check my email any time I can talk at all and I'm on late hours. Give me a buzz and let's see if we can't get some things figured out.