- Sep 17, 2012
- 13
- 1
- 24
I've lost a couple of birds for no apparent reason, I just went out to feed and they were toppled over, dead where they'd slept.
Now I went to put them in the coop, and there's a meat bird that's walking around drunkenly, with a wobbly neck. She's somehow looking like a cross between a snake being charmed out of a bottle and a drunken sailor.
From my searches, it looks like Mareks or Wry neck. I'm feeding layers crumbles from IFA, which are theoretically nutritionally complete, but what do I know?
Since it's just a meat bird, I am not going to great lengths to save it - I could just butcher it tonight. But since it's acting weird, I'm not sure whether it's safe to eat or not? I could just gve it to the dogs, but I hate giving them prime, home raised meat.
The other question is - since these are commercially bought (from IFA and Cal-Ranch) - were they vaccinated? Or not, since they were destined to be meat birds?
I didn't put the sick bird in the coop with the others. They were free range until tonight, but I got worried about a storm coming in so I cooped them up. I assume they've all been exposed, possibly since I bought them... so is there anything to do to protect the rest? I don't really want to vaccinate them, since they're close to a good age to process. What would you all do? I also especially want to protect my 9 laying hens.
Thanks,
-Wendy
Now I went to put them in the coop, and there's a meat bird that's walking around drunkenly, with a wobbly neck. She's somehow looking like a cross between a snake being charmed out of a bottle and a drunken sailor.
From my searches, it looks like Mareks or Wry neck. I'm feeding layers crumbles from IFA, which are theoretically nutritionally complete, but what do I know?
Since it's just a meat bird, I am not going to great lengths to save it - I could just butcher it tonight. But since it's acting weird, I'm not sure whether it's safe to eat or not? I could just gve it to the dogs, but I hate giving them prime, home raised meat.
The other question is - since these are commercially bought (from IFA and Cal-Ranch) - were they vaccinated? Or not, since they were destined to be meat birds?
I didn't put the sick bird in the coop with the others. They were free range until tonight, but I got worried about a storm coming in so I cooped them up. I assume they've all been exposed, possibly since I bought them... so is there anything to do to protect the rest? I don't really want to vaccinate them, since they're close to a good age to process. What would you all do? I also especially want to protect my 9 laying hens.
Thanks,
-Wendy
