charlotte-and-the-bees
Songster
We recently got a diagnosis of Lymphoid Leukosis in the flock after losing one of our hens. I had just started switching to deep litter - changed out the sand we'd been using entirely and replaced with start of DL. But since then I've been going back and forth on doing it. I've changed out the coop fully twice in a short amount of time.
Where I'm at currently is all hens are "healthy" other than LL (no mites, lice, other illnesses). They're all presumed carriers of LL since they've grown up together and the timeline implies the LL came from the hatchery.
It seems like there's value to deep litter to control pathogens, generate heat, etc. but I also don't want to stress their immune systems out. Any thoughts?
Where I'm at currently is all hens are "healthy" other than LL (no mites, lice, other illnesses). They're all presumed carriers of LL since they've grown up together and the timeline implies the LL came from the hatchery.
It seems like there's value to deep litter to control pathogens, generate heat, etc. but I also don't want to stress their immune systems out. Any thoughts?
