brought in a respiratory ailment w/ new chicks from TSC- now what!! spreading to my other chickens d

[indymom]

I don't think people other than the store employees were handling them- I could barely even see into their pen- corral gates all around the steel watering tanks and signs all over to keep the kids from sneaking thru' . I think if I had to place bets it is probably the MG mentioned because I do not smell anything. The older Roo definitely has his crow back this morning (6 am when the girls went to take their lambs out he woke the neighborhood for 20 minutes) so maybe he really is getting better.

 

[dawg53]

I went to our local feed store a week ago to pick up supplies. There was a delivery of various chicks while I was there, they couldnt have been no more that 2-3 days old. I asked the delivery driver, an older fellow, what hatchery did they come from. He stated that they came from ALL OVER and they were straight run. I might add that there had been a changeover of workers at the feed store, I knew none of them. The previous workers knew quite abit about chickens and I always enjoyed talking with them. However, these new workers knew NOTHING about them. The store clerk stated to the driver they had ordered all pullets, the delivery driver told the clerk that they WERE all pullets (he lied) and the clerk signed off for them. It was a cool morning and these chicks needed a heat lamp quickly. I took one of the workers aside and told him so, and informed him that they needed starter feed and water. He shrugged his shoulders and walked off to load someones truck up with hay. I left and headed on home.
This is a prime example of unknowledgable people at stores selling chicks (if they survive) to customers that will eventually get sick. The chicks immune systems becomes compromised leading to many different types of serious problems. I have never bought chicks/POL birds from any store, and never will for this very reason.

 

[Eggcessive]

Dawg, that was interesting. I was at TSC last week at 9 am and the mixed pullets they were selling had no water. Those waterers they sell can leak if they aren't put together properly, and I wondered how long they would have been there with no water that day if I hadn't told the manager. He had watered them earlier, but it sure was bone dry with about 50 pullets in the bin. TSC has seemed this year to make the bins off-limits to people better, at least the 2 that are nearby.

 

[indymom]

Update: After 5 days on antibiotics, no more losses. Total loss so far has bee 2/20 chicks. However 2 that started getting lethargic right after I started the medicine are still not doing well. I should just destroy them but keep hoping they will die on their own. The rest of the chicks are still sneezing/coughing occasionally but are growing. I might add that these were broilers that had been in the store 10 days- 2 weeks (employees gave differing estimates of age) when I bought them so they had that long to pick up junk from being handled by employees w/ unclean hands. My 2 adult roo's: the older one who got it first is sounding MUCH better after about 5 days on antibiotics. I will continue for a full 14 days before reintroducing to the flock. He is active, crowing normally but still very infrequently coughing. The other roo who is a day behind in his onset of symptoms is doing better too but still coughing/ gurgling occasionally. Interesting note is that I also brought home 4 "Australorps"(they look like banties) from the store at the same time as the broilers. They were 3 days old at the most. They are on the counter, the sick roo is, too (in a large dog kennel) about 1 1/2 foot away from their box, the broilers are in a box underneath and the other roo is housed at floor level across aisle from broilers. The Australorps are thus far showing no signs of sickness 9 days in. All are w/in a 10X10 ft area. Go figure! The laying flock which is outdoors is showing no definite signs of infection- maybe a little difference in the sound of their clucking but nothing concrete.