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It starts when you bring that chick home for the first time. If you are buying grown birds, it's the same. From the moment they step foot on your land, you think in terms of developing their environment so that it is stable. Certain conditions have been pinpointed as the cause of disease causing pathogens being able to thrive and multiply. Here are a few:
- Insulated, closed coop structures with poor air flow. For some reason, many people on this forum equate chicks/chickens with children/humans. They want those chickens to be in a toasty warm house during the colder months and they feel they will "catch" illnesses if they are not. At the very least, they won't "produce well" if you don't keep them warm. Chickens were created with their house on their backs, just like wild birds. Yes, in extreme cold climates chickens may need some extra measures but I find the healthiest flocks are those that have very ventilated and even open air housing. Also, for some weird reason, people are going by what they read in books as being the guidelines for proper ventilation when every single coop is different, according to where it is standing. Wind currents are different in every single yard, field, etc. Whereas one coop with little vents near the roofline and some near the floor just may be a well-ventilated coop, another will stand there without a single, small current coming through or flowing out of the coop....it's all relative to climate, coop, area of the coop, seasons, etc. A coop really can't have too much ventilation as long as the birds aren't subject to cold winds blowing directly on them with no way of escaping it. A coop really doesn't need insulation at all unless it is under the roof to keep out heat or hold heat in.
- Disinfectants and antibiotics being used on a frequent basis. Sure they might kill some germs, temporarily cure an illness...but they don't discriminate and the very germs they may be killing are the ones that keep the bad guys in check. The bad guys grow more quickly than the good guys, so by the time the good pathogens recolonize the environment, the bad guys have already done their damage...too late. Same with inside the animal. When you give frequent antibiotics, they kill many of the beneficial bacteria in the intestines. Before they can recolonize, the bad bacteria like shigella, salmonella, e.coli have already taken over and you have a bird that has poor digestion(I won't get into the science behind the nature of intestinal walls) and has a high concentration of harmful pathogens in her bowels....which come out and are contracted by other flock members.
- Overcrowded housing and runs. Just because the book says each bird needs 4 sq. feet, it doesn't mean that little 2 ft. x 2 ft. space is going to be a healthy amount in which to keep birds thriving. Sure, they just might live....but will they live healthy. What I see the most on here is people using that sq. ft. guide and then packing a small coop and run with birds and laughingly calling it "chicken math" when they can't stop getting more chickens. Crowding in a backyard environment is just as harmful as crowding in a commercial poultry business...too many animals all pooping and living on too small of space always makes for sick animals. No matter how many times you rake out that coop, you are still going to have a tiny run with packed soils filled with a high concentration of nitrogen, ammonia, etc., and you will also have a coop that has poor air quality due to crowding. You are going to have birds picking at each other due to crowding. You are going to have animals that are more nervous and irritable due to crowding...imagine placing humans inside a crowded space from which they cannot escape and expecting them to all "just get along". It's not going to happen. Nervous, anxious flocks are under stress and stress causes weakened immune systems. Bare skin that should be covered with feathers is an opening for infection. Pecked areas are often puncture wounds...places for infection. Poor air quality makes for respiratory problems which lead to infection. Feed and water get soiled more with feces(see paragraph above for why this could be a problem)when there is overcrowding. Chicken math? Might as well call it chicken torture if you do not have the room for those chickens to spread out and be alone, to escape from other flock members, to have cleaner soils on which to walk, live and ingest. They will get sick...it is only a matter of time.
- There...that will get you started on just a small part of how to keep a flock healthy. There are many other things that I do to keep mine healthy, but I have a garden to seed and the pretty day is calling me! I'll try to get back to it soon, though...maybe it should be on a separate thread. OR..you could just buy my book when I'm finished writing it!
