- Aug 15, 2013
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My 11 yr old and I really wanted chickens and there is an old coop on our property, so we fixed it up a bit and imagined our sweet little flock enjoying the sun and new run we created. We looked online for local hatchery's and also on Craigslist. We found a place that looked like a garden store of sorts from the website that was linked from CL. On arrival, it was a backyard with a whole menagerie of animals including goats, piglets, turkeys, roosters, chickens, ducks, and rabbits. The place was by no means super clean, but I have never kept chickens, what do I know?
I wish I would have listened to my initial reaction/instinct and went somewhere else, but those little piglets and pullets were so **** cute.
First Rule of Chicken Rearing - don't let your sentimental side take over and blind you from good judgement. Small animals, no matter who cute, should not be bought from places that give you even the slightest sense of the willies.
We brought ten pullets home on a Saturday. One of them kept sleeping a lot. We thought she was cute. We named her Dozer. Another one was clearly not a pullet, but an old bird. She had a case of scaly leg mites. I called the seller and she told us to bring her back and exchange her. Which we did. I didn't want mites in my new flock.
Monday morning my daughter noticed Dozer's one eye was swollen. It didn't look like a scratch to me and looked more like her sinus was swollen, but it only seemed on the one side. She wasn't interested in food the way the other birds were. We put her in a box in our bath tub and called the seller. She told us to bring her back. Within 10 hours of noticing one puffy eye, both eyes were swollen shut. So freaking sad. She was barely moving and I was giving her a syringe of medicated water to keep her hydrated.
I was getting tired of driving over to this ladies house 40 minutes away. We checked the flock one more time before going and noticed another bird was blowing snot bubbles. We decided to put her in her own box and return her too. Meanwhile, the seller had told us to get tetracycline for all the birds. Put it in their water. I didn't want sick birds. I wanted healthy birds that ate from the rich earth, had a deep litter bed and plenty of room and sun to keep them healthy with out the use of antibiotics. We dropped the two birds off and the woman wasn't even there, though she told us she would be. We went and got some cups to put water in the boxes and made sure they were in the shade. I called her a few times and she didn't call me back.
Today is Wednesday. A few of the other birds have a sticky clear snot on their beaks. It smells nasty. They are acting normal. I am assuming they are all carriers for coryza. Or that they may come down with symptoms in the next days. Should we just bring them all back?
I feel sad and angry, mainly at myself for being a dummie and getting chickens from this lady. But also that folks are out there spreading disease and not taking responsibility for it.
Is it possible to have a flock of healthy birds, or is it common to have issues in a flock?
I wish I would have listened to my initial reaction/instinct and went somewhere else, but those little piglets and pullets were so **** cute.
First Rule of Chicken Rearing - don't let your sentimental side take over and blind you from good judgement. Small animals, no matter who cute, should not be bought from places that give you even the slightest sense of the willies.
We brought ten pullets home on a Saturday. One of them kept sleeping a lot. We thought she was cute. We named her Dozer. Another one was clearly not a pullet, but an old bird. She had a case of scaly leg mites. I called the seller and she told us to bring her back and exchange her. Which we did. I didn't want mites in my new flock.
Monday morning my daughter noticed Dozer's one eye was swollen. It didn't look like a scratch to me and looked more like her sinus was swollen, but it only seemed on the one side. She wasn't interested in food the way the other birds were. We put her in a box in our bath tub and called the seller. She told us to bring her back. Within 10 hours of noticing one puffy eye, both eyes were swollen shut. So freaking sad. She was barely moving and I was giving her a syringe of medicated water to keep her hydrated.
I was getting tired of driving over to this ladies house 40 minutes away. We checked the flock one more time before going and noticed another bird was blowing snot bubbles. We decided to put her in her own box and return her too. Meanwhile, the seller had told us to get tetracycline for all the birds. Put it in their water. I didn't want sick birds. I wanted healthy birds that ate from the rich earth, had a deep litter bed and plenty of room and sun to keep them healthy with out the use of antibiotics. We dropped the two birds off and the woman wasn't even there, though she told us she would be. We went and got some cups to put water in the boxes and made sure they were in the shade. I called her a few times and she didn't call me back.
Today is Wednesday. A few of the other birds have a sticky clear snot on their beaks. It smells nasty. They are acting normal. I am assuming they are all carriers for coryza. Or that they may come down with symptoms in the next days. Should we just bring them all back?
I feel sad and angry, mainly at myself for being a dummie and getting chickens from this lady. But also that folks are out there spreading disease and not taking responsibility for it.
Is it possible to have a flock of healthy birds, or is it common to have issues in a flock?
