Do you use antibiotics?

[Bossroo]

Quarantine them and cull them as soon as I can, and write it off as a loss. I don't medicate.

But that's just me.

By not medicating an ill animal is not proper animal husbandry as that is one of the surest ways to start an epidemic. I suppose if you suddenly fell very ill and your Doctor didn't provide you with any medication you will be fine with that too .

 

[Buster52]

Isolate, treat, cure, then slaughter.

Certainly, if you want to do things conventionally.

But I'm an unconventional kinda guy. More of the organic type, the way my customers prefer it.

Which is why they are willing to pay my exorbitant prices.

 

[Buster52]

I suppose if you suddenly fell very ill and your Doctor didn't provide you with any medication you will be fine with that too .

Nope. But then I don't reckon I'll be butchered at the age of 8 weeks, either.

With few exceptions, I don't place humans in the same category as chickens.

 

[chicknmania]

That was funny but I do have to agree. They're Cornish X, they're not going to have a particularly great life anyway, from what I've seen, and their future looks pretty grim regardless. So I would just put them out of their suffering and make them into stew or something. And then sterilize everything. Culling and sterilization can quickly help stop the spread of whatever it is.

We don't eat our birds, and we DO treat for illness and injury. And that's a whole different ballgame. I like chicken, just can't eat my friends.

Any animal, chickens included, should be treated with kindness and compassion. Whether or not they are like people (God forbid) should have nothing to do with it.

 

[Bossroo]

Certainly, if you want to do things conventionally.

But I'm an unconventional kinda guy. More of the organic type, the way my customers prefer it.

Which is why they are willing to pay my exorbitant prices.

.... and there you have it ... first brain wash the mindless, then gauge them !

 

[Bossroo]

Nope. But then I don't reckon I'll be butchered at the age of 8 weeks, either.

With few exceptions, I don't place humans in the same category as chickens.

Since your Cornish X are to be butchered at age 8 weeks is NO reason to not provide them with proper animal husbandry practices. That is cruel and heartless and dangerous to the people's health that you sell your chickens to.

 

[sandspoultry]

To medicate or not to medicate is up to the person raising the animal, as I said before we use the "only the strong survive" method and it works fine for us. Any weak, sickly, failure to thrive birds are culled. I have been around and/or raising poultry most of my life and I can state from my experience that with a strong bloodline illness and disease is pretty much a non issue. Also, from raising poultry and no offense meant to the OP on this thread, I know a lot of illness and disease is caused by living conditions, bringing in birds from other soucres and not feeding them properly. We have maintained closed flocks for going on about 10 years now and have used zero antibiotics in that time, the only "additive" they get is wormed twice a year. And yes in the past we have medicated and I noticed over time a decline in the overall health of the flocks, in the heat of the summer, cold of winter, after heavy hurricane rains we would loose a bird here and there. We don't have that problem anymore.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Wow! The question was whether to treat butcher birds for a sickness not the prophylactic or growth promotional levels of antibiotics.

A sick animal should be treated, not doing so violates just about all accepted standards of animal care.

If a CAFO followed the same lack of care being suggested on this thread many would be up on arms.

 

[Demosthine]

CAFOs should be banned, period. They are a large part of the reason for the large amounts of foodborne illnesses that is going around. Proper husbandry drasticly reduces or nearly eliminates the health problems we are seeing today.

Personally, I am with the more natural methods. That would include isolating the affected chickens and observing them. If they are showing clear signs of distress, then culling would be appropriate. The only time we've used antibiotics was when we were chick-sitting for a friend and it was a very important breed to her and her breeding program. She paid a good amount of money and we had lost over half of the shipment in shipment or within the first few days.

And yes, we do the same thing with the members of our human family, too. Well, not quite isolating them, but allowing the body to naturally work through the illness and develop a stronger immune system. The CDC and FDA have both said a large part of the antibiotic resistance problem originates from its overuse.


On the homeopathic note, I wonder if anyone has every given their chickens raw honey to combat an illness. It shows strong antibacterial properties and because it's a natural cure, the bacteria evolves along with the diseases in nature. Manuka honey, from New Zealand, is the ultimate cure for MRSA. Meanwhile, nearly all manmade antibiotics are virtually useless against it. Nature at it's best.

 

[chicknmania]

Culling is not cruel. Letting them go on and on while everyone argues about this, is. Everybody has their own ways of dealing with illness, and some prefer to cull, and that's fine. It's their choice. We've had sick birds that have recovered, we have a mostly closed flock but occasionally do bring in new birds from trusted sources, and we have a very healthy flock, I think. I THINK we've pretty much answered the OP's question, hehe.

Honey IS supposed to be a good natural antibiotic, but we have never tried it.