- May 11, 2013
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^ Yes indeed.
I typed up a whole big long reply a few days ago in response to what was posted by NHNanna and Blackbirds13, but then my laptop pooped out and I lost it. :/ So, here are my revised thoughts ...
As someone who has experienced disease outbreaks in another species, I can tell you first-hand that it is NOT fun. (Not that anybody thought it would be a walk in the park ..!) It is, as poster BlacksheepCardigans has stated from her sad experience, absolutely heartbreaking. Additionally, it is miserable to go through with an established group of animals that have been your pets for years, to wake up each day wondering which ones of your favorite animals will be sick or dying that day. Because of this, I knew that, if faced with the knowledge that my brand-spanking-new chicken flock was definitely harboring a pathogen, I was going to cull. This decision would have been made partially because I would be unable to sell birds, and partially because I might risk transmitting the disease to other flocks (despite taking all possible precautions). It was made primarily because, if I had the chance to avoid the devastation of a disease outbreak before getting too attached to my new birds, I was going to do it.
I was very, very lucky in that this did not end up being necessary. However, with these new birds, I was prepared to do it if the results had been positive.
Alllllllll of that having been said .......
SerenityNH/Angie's story drives home the reality of how difficult it really is to avoid certain diseases, especially with large groups of animals. Indeed, even while I was gearing up to cull my current flock, I did question whether it was really worth the heartache in light of the fact that hatchery birds are known to occasionally come with MS/MG. All of my replacement birds would have come from a hatchery, so how could I have been sure I didn't cull all for nothing? I couldn't, and I don't. I didn't have to cull, thankfully, but as I have added a few more healthy-looking hatchery birds since then, for all I know, my flock could now be infected. 1Chick Magnet is absolutely right in that you can easily spend all of your time tearing your hair out thinking about all of the potential sources of disease.
At the end of the day, I think the most sensible course of action is to exercise as much caution as you reasonably can, both with regards to acquiring and transmitting disease -- but don't drive yourself insane over it, either. For now, I am quarantining new arrivals to monitor for health before introducing to my established flock, and I will be extremely cautious as to what sources I buy from. (Indeed, I'm afraid I will most likely avoid the swaps from now on -- it was a really fun experience, but IMO, it is just too risky a source of livestock.) However, I am not going to limit myself too harshly at this point in my flock's development, because to do so would be prohibitive to obtaining the genetics and the birds that I want. If, at some time in the future, the flock that I have become deeply attached to tests positive for a disease that is essentially or literally endemic, and, in my flock, sub-clinical, then I'll have another really hard decision to make. It might be the same decision that I was prepared to make before, but then again, it might not be. If, at that theoretical future point, I chose not to cull, I would make every effort to insulate the rest of the work from my infected flock. That would mean not only not selling, obviously, but also wearing designated "contaminated" clothes and shoes to work with my infected flock, and voluntarily quarantining myself entirely from other flocks and flock owners. It would be a pain in the butt, but I might very well feel that it was worth it to avoid having to kill the birds that had become my pets.
These aren't easy questions to grapple with ... It isn't as cut-and-dried as something like FMD or avian influenza, but it's still a devastating disease to many.
