mraab
In the Brooder
Here’s my setup.
I have a quarter acre section on the back acre of my property on which to keep chickens. I have one coop and one brooder/chicken hospital (up by the house). The flock in the coop is all between 4 months old and 1 year old. They get to range over that quarter acre for several hours almost every day.
At this time, my chickens are for pets and eggs. There’s a small possibility that I might do a meat flock someday, but I won’t ever be breeding and selling chickens as a business.
Yesterday, around 2:00pm, I found my silkie rooster (six months) unexpectedly dead in the coop. No injuries or visible abnormalities. He was fine, and an hour later, he was dead. Around 4:00pm, I picked up one of my hens after she sneezed and heard her wheezing. In the next hour, I identified three others who were also sneezing. There was some gaping, but it in the 90s here, so I expected that. No one has swollen sinuses or visible drainage. Everyone spent the day out on the grass, chickening about as normal.
It seemed obvious that everyone had been exposed to whatever was happening, so I didn’t pull the sick birds out. I dosed everyone with Tylan yesterday. The worst one still looks bad today, but all the others are better. No more sneezing except from the worst one. At my chicken dealer’s advice, I’ll dose them all again today and tomorrow.
Here’s my question. I’m not breeding. I’m not selling. I’m not going after any certifications. The only chickens that leave me are roosters, and I will certainly encourage anyone who takes a surplus rooster off of me to quarantine the bird. I add new birds just to have interesting breeds around. My current flock of layers will live out a happy retirement.
Given this set of parameters, do I really need to close off this flock and say no new birds? I can’t do a separate coop and run for a permanent flock. I don’t have the space to keep it separate enough. I could probably manage a separate grow out pen for meat birds, but I don’t have room for two pastured flocks. The carrier flock would have to stay locked in its coop all the time, and I can’t bear to lock them up when they’re used to ranging. And any new birds would still have access to the outside, so they could still encounter all kinds of wild birds and sources of viruses and bacteria.
Under my particular backyard setup and goals, is there anything wrong with taking an approach of “the strong will survive”?
I have a quarter acre section on the back acre of my property on which to keep chickens. I have one coop and one brooder/chicken hospital (up by the house). The flock in the coop is all between 4 months old and 1 year old. They get to range over that quarter acre for several hours almost every day.
At this time, my chickens are for pets and eggs. There’s a small possibility that I might do a meat flock someday, but I won’t ever be breeding and selling chickens as a business.
Yesterday, around 2:00pm, I found my silkie rooster (six months) unexpectedly dead in the coop. No injuries or visible abnormalities. He was fine, and an hour later, he was dead. Around 4:00pm, I picked up one of my hens after she sneezed and heard her wheezing. In the next hour, I identified three others who were also sneezing. There was some gaping, but it in the 90s here, so I expected that. No one has swollen sinuses or visible drainage. Everyone spent the day out on the grass, chickening about as normal.
It seemed obvious that everyone had been exposed to whatever was happening, so I didn’t pull the sick birds out. I dosed everyone with Tylan yesterday. The worst one still looks bad today, but all the others are better. No more sneezing except from the worst one. At my chicken dealer’s advice, I’ll dose them all again today and tomorrow.
Here’s my question. I’m not breeding. I’m not selling. I’m not going after any certifications. The only chickens that leave me are roosters, and I will certainly encourage anyone who takes a surplus rooster off of me to quarantine the bird. I add new birds just to have interesting breeds around. My current flock of layers will live out a happy retirement.
Given this set of parameters, do I really need to close off this flock and say no new birds? I can’t do a separate coop and run for a permanent flock. I don’t have the space to keep it separate enough. I could probably manage a separate grow out pen for meat birds, but I don’t have room for two pastured flocks. The carrier flock would have to stay locked in its coop all the time, and I can’t bear to lock them up when they’re used to ranging. And any new birds would still have access to the outside, so they could still encounter all kinds of wild birds and sources of viruses and bacteria.
Under my particular backyard setup and goals, is there anything wrong with taking an approach of “the strong will survive”?
