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HelenaJean

HelenaJean

In the Brooder
9 Years
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
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Location
outback Australia
hi everyone, my name's Helena McClaman, i'm from outback Australia, i'm 17 years old and rapidly becomming obsessed with chickens!
I thought i'd better say hi, either though i've been using this wonderful site for a few days now.

I'm quite new to the whole thing, in fact, i've just brought a bunch of (what are now obviously) sick silkie's because i was too un-educated on how to identify the subtlties of disease, now my entire flock is infected and i'm wrestling with whether to cull them and start again with happy, healthy birds. Or to keep them simply because i love them to bits either though they have respiratory problems that antibiotics haven't fixed and i won't have a hope of owning a healthy bird because of infection. It's an awful decision to be faced with, so i imagine i'll be on here a fair bit, figuring things out. Any advice and/or opinions would be really appreciated.

So, tell me your name and we'll start from there!
big_smile.png
 
That really is the rottenest of luck. If they do recover, they will be carriers of whatever they have now, and any new birds you add to the flock will very likely get sick also.
There are far more experienced bird folk here that might have some more concrete advice.
Ultimately, though, it's your call.

Have you ever culled before? Or had to kill any other animals?
You might be able to find someone in the region who can help if you go that route.
I'll hope for the best for you.
 
Welcome to BYC. I just started with chickens over the summer and blogged about the process. My BYC page has links to my blog that you may find informative or amusing. Feel free to drop by!

When I first got my flock they developed fowl pox and CRD (chicken cold). Antibiotics are worse than useless with viral infections, so I relied upon supportive care and they got better on their own.

My advice is to consider the economics and stress involved with medical cures. If they cannot recover on their own, without more medical care than you are willing or able to afford, then it would be prudent to cull them.

Old timers firmly recommend culling, but I think that for a small flock (like mine) letting them ride it out is reasonable. If you have a few new sick chickens in a big flock, then culling makes a lot of sense for risk management.
 
Hello from a fellow newbie. So sorry about the sick chickies. Sure hope It works out. I'm Melissa from southern Illinois in the U.S. Welcome!!!!
 

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