Long story short, we have confirmed fowl cholera from a necropsy. We have 2 options cull the flock or medicate. Now my questions: 1) culling: what do we so with the bodies....bury or do we need to burn? If we cull, we will clean the environment (with what?) and leave empty (for how long?) before reintroducing new chicks 2) if we treat: we were given 3 antibiotic options: duramycin, agrimycin or sulmet. I have read mixed feedback on if you can EVER eat the eggs once the chickens are treated with these meds, is that true? We primarily have them for egg production, so if we can't eat the eggs, we will likely cull them. If we keep them, we know we may deal with re-treatment as needed bc it is likely we will end up with carriers and never be able to fully eradicate it. Also, can fowl cholera be transferred to humans? We have a 20 month old and I am pregnant, neither of us have been near the chicks or area since they started showing signs of illness. My husband has been handling them with gloves, washing up and changing clothes after each time he has dealt with them. Thanks for any input.
I would cull personally. They would reinfect others coming in so you could not bring others into your flock and from what I read treatment does not erradicate it. They can relapse when treatment is ended. Better to get a fresh start. Others with more experience would have to comment on cleaning and time lapse. We had birds that were separate from the flock fall ill and we cleaned their entire enclosure and run with bleach. Opened it up to bake in the summer sun and then still did not use it for a year. Then we moved it to new ground. I am paranoid though so.. As far as you personally I just would not risk it. Bleach bleach and more bleach.