While it is a fact that hatcheries carry birds with transmitable deseases like mg or ms, it is never right to sell a bird that is actively symptomatic. In other words, mg can be dormant or active and when active the bird will exhibit severe symptoms of ilness. What causes mg to be detrimental to the bird's health is poor hygiene (letting the bird live in a high volume of fecal buildup), tight confinement, and severe stress. Without these variables an mg carrier can live a full and productive life. As a hatchery, we always minded this rule and never deliberately sold a bird that exhibited signs of ilness. And on occasion, have had to request a refund from other breeders who have not. However, I will acknowledge that the stress of shpiping a juvenile bird or started chick may cause a bird to lose the ability to maintain mg bacterial levels at a safe minimum, hence becoming symptomatic. Stress plays a big role in the health of your birds and for this reason we have always observed the 2 sq ft per bird rule as well as other proactive health measures like suplementation with herbal and botanical products to iliminate as much of the stress factor as possible. But quiet honestly, there's only so much that can be done in a typical commercial hatchery setting to avoid birds becoming sick on occasion. Where i feel breeders and hatcheries have erred, is in their lack of transparency regarding poultry health issues.They have not readily disclosed the full liability involved in owning the typical backyard chicken for fear of discouraging the potential first time consumer. Now, as a result, the lack of transparency has come back to bite alot of us. And the issue has become almost scandalous.
