Hatching eggs and disease transfer

[phishless13]

Hello anyone and everyone. So my question is if i hatch eggs and add chicks to my flock can diseases be spread that way or is it only when adding already grown or hatched birds from another flock? I am using medicated starter/grower...

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are very few diseases that can be spread by hatching eggs. Pullorum is one but if you get your hatching eggs from an NPIP source you take care if that worry. Off the top of my head Pullorum is the only one I can think of but I’m sure there are one or two others. Still, NPIP hatching eggs are about as safe a way as you can go.

Getting day old chicks from a hatchery is also a very safe way to go. On very rare occasions you do hear of a certain hatchery having problem, such as Mt. Healthy with Salmonella, but other than Mt. Healthy I haven’t heard of any major hatchery having any problems with this for years. I don’t hesitate to add hatchery chicks.

Medicated feed has no relationship to this. It is used to lessen the likelihood of a coccidiosis outbreak but will not prevent anything.

 

[CanuckBock]

Hello anyone and everyone. So my question is if i hatch eggs and add chicks to my flock can diseases be spread that way or is it only when adding already grown or hatched birds from another flock? I am using medicated starter/grower...

Yes, most definitely you may spread diseases to your current flock thru hatching eggs. There are many issues to be concerned about when acquiring hatching eggs.


From the Chicken Health Book by Gail Damerow, page 215:

:
Diseases Transmitted to Eggs

There are many infectious organisms that can be transferred from the hen to the egg that may cause the egg to die. In some cases, the infectious organism may infect the egg, yet the embryo may continue developing, and may even hatch, carrying the organism at hatch time. If an organism is passed from an infected hen directly into an egg, and then into the developing embryo, this is called vertical transmission. The term vertical transmission is also used to describe transmission of an infectious agent from a parent to an egg during fertilization, during egg development in the oviduct of the hen or immediately after oviposition. Once the egg is laid, some infectious organisms can pass through the eggshell upon contact with contaminated feces, urates or bedding. This is also considered vertical transmission if infection occurs immediately after laying. Some organisms are transmitted from the ovary to the egg, and this is called transovarian transmission. Infectious organisms harbored in the oviduct can also be passed into the egg prior to the shell being formed. Some organisms can infect eggs if contents from the cloaca contaminate the surface of the eggs, and then penetrate the egg. The other method of transmission of infectious organisms is by horizontal transmission. Some ways that horizontal transmission occurs are by preening, inhalation, copulation, insect or animal bites, ingestion, contact with contaminated equipment or fighting.

It seems obvious that prior to the egg membranes and shell being applied to it, the egg would be susceptible to infection by numerous infectious organisms. Even though the eggshell appears solid, it contains microscopic pores that can allow liquids and organisms of small enough size into the egg. The pores allow the transfer of gasses, as well.

Her article goes on to discuss diseases transferred in hatching eggs such as:

- Bacterial diseases like Chlamydia psittaci, Salmonella, Staphylococcus bacteria, and E. coli.
- Mycoplasma is a HUGE concern for poultry persons...this one is uncurable according to many here on BYC.
- Viral diseases like Newcastle's Disease, Herpesviruses, etc.
- Parasites like adult ascarids (roundworms) can even be passed on in hatching eggs.

Whilst this quote above is more an avian type based source for pet birds, Margaret A. Wissman, D.V.M., D.A.B.V.P. is a very good resource since she is an exotic bird vet. Her explanation is educated, concise and easily understood. I have chosen this small quote as an example of her good advice...you may go to the link I have posted to read more should you wish to.


Some of the disease are zoonoses which simply means they are diseases that humans may get from animals...and birds. Chlamydia is one of those as are E. coli and Staph. Good hygiene is a great deterrent after being around any poultry and livestock...never mind the family dog or cat!

This is also a great source to have a read up on...

Common Poultry Diseases
University Of Florida IFAS Extension - Authors: G.D. Butcher, J.P. Jacob, and F.B. Mather

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/PS/PS04400.pdf


I would far sooner purchase adult birds (two year olds are divine...by simply living that long, they have already proven their worth) from a reliable breeder that I had built up a good rapport with than deal with all the hassles and potential diseases found in hatching eggs. Most often if the breeder has any scruples about the betterment of their choice in breeds and varieties, they are not at all interested in sending you hatching eggs--that avenue usually results in people thinking they may get something for very little and we all know nothing good ever comes easy for nothing invested. Quality needs to be worked at because hard work and working smart nets rewards! A real true breeder would want to set you up with what they deem is a good start and see you succeed and continue the existence and progression forward with their cherished lines. Many of us breeders do this as a passionate labour of love and we all know that love knows no bounds.

There are no 100% guarantees for no diseases when acquiring new stock. What lives in my yard here might outright harm & kill your yard fulla chooks. It is what it is and the reason why many of us breed for natural resistance to the factors & situations our birds are exposed to on a daily basis. You have to decide for yourself if the risks warrant the acquisition of new blood.

To get a good start in birds, one would be well advised to keep back the top three percent for potential breeders. So with the hatching rate of shipped eggs being hopefully fifty percent on a very good day, you would require at minimum 214 hatching eggs to incubate so that 107 day old chicks are hatched out. With a good average of seven percent mortality rate expected in a vigorous strain...that would leave you 100 birds to have grown out. Then you may select down to a good trio or quad of prospective breeder birds from these potential 100 choices. One needs that many for selection from if you are to begin to make and retain any improvements within a line of poultry. Jest because US humans decide some trait is desirable don't always mean the birds agree and will oblige us with our desires, eh.

Back fifteen years ago when we began here with many of our foundation stocks on our Conservation Farm, we paid $100 per bird for a prospective breeder from persons with 65 and 70 years working with a strain. If you do the math, that was a reasonable amount considering the acquisition of 214 hatching eggs and all the work involved to produce one good trio or quad in a breed and variety. If one uses the price of feed to judge where prices of decent breeder chickens should be today...I would expect to pay $340 for a good bird seeing as the price of a bag of chicken layer ration fifteen years ago was $7...and now a bag of ration is near $24 a bag. Our chickens remain productive for us running some five years for males and eight and such for females. We do select for longevity and adore our reliable oldsters.

The most worrisome hatching egg disorder to me personally is the spread of the Chronic Respiratory Diseases. These are called stress diseases and are long, noxious, debilitating diseases that affect production of meat and eggs and generally make poultry like chickens and turkeys unthrifty and often quite a miserable existence for them; eating but not gaining weight, ruffled up and unhappy to say the least. While some may tout that these CRD problems are curable...I have yet to see any scientific proof to these claims and many of the supposed off label cures render the eggs produced unfit for human consumption and the bird itself should never be processed as food either. Personally, if I had to treat a bird (which thankfully, I have never had to do), I would solemnly vow never to eat its eggs, its meat or any of the production from the next generation it produced either. Might eat the F3's production perhaps...

I would only medicate a line of birds (Ampro is fine in turkey and chicken starters but never for waterfowl!) as a very last ditch effort to save the strain if it warranted such dramatic and drastic measures. I did not get birds to taint what they produce for my family with antibiotics and other unsavory and scary remedies. Factory farms might feed antibiotics to get their products to market, but we choose not to and want healthy good foods from our happy and healthy birds.


BRAVO...You are very wise to question the transfer of diseases you may risk exposing your current birds to. A very admirable expression of your responsible duty of care towards your current flock and your family's well being.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Ridgerunner]

That’s a nice long list. I wonder how long the list would be for diseases you could possibly get from adult birds. I’m sure statistics are not available for how often they actually happen.

A lot of different things “can” happen. A piece of space junk could fall out of the sky and hit your house today. You might have a fender bender next time you drive to the store. It might be a sunny day. Some things are more likely than others. I’m not spending the rest of my life in a cave for fear of falling space junk. And I will drive to the store today.

Life is not without risks, but from a practical viewpoint, hatching eggs is about the safest way you have of bringing new chickens into your flock from a diseases perspective. Most of the more common diseases are not spread by hatching eggs. The reliability of your source is important. Would they recognize a disease if they saw it? Are they ethical? The same questions apply to people you buy adult birds from.

NPIP is different in each state, with about the only consistency being that they all check for pullorum. Some states check for other things, some don’t. Pullorum used to be a fairly common disease spread from hatching eggs but the NPIP program has changed that. Now several states are essentially pullorum-free, at least as far as reported cases. On Gail’s list, Pullorum is called typhoid.

I suggest an NPIP source for hatching eggs because if people are NPIP you have an indication they care about preventing the spread of diseases. It’s not a guarantee, life does not come with a guarantee, but it is an indication that your odds are better.

 

[phishless13]

I appreciate all the responses. Here in CT I have contacted the department of agriculture and already have a scheduled appointment for all my birds to get tested. The woman at the CT DOA was very helpful and also informed me that NPIP sometimes takes a while to catch up with testing and compliancy to NPIP standards. So even if they say they are NPIP they might not be up to date. The reaponses i get here are very helpful and i want happy healthy chickens!!!

 

[CanuckBock]

That’s a nice long list. I wonder how long the list would be for diseases you could possibly get from adult birds. I’m sure statistics are not available for how often they actually happen.

NO the list has absolutely nothing NICE about it; it's a terrible horrible list that people contemplating hatching eggs should be made fully aware of. Feel free to cut and past and post it with full credit to Gail for compiling it and for me to have bothered to type it out so it could be read and understood for what risks there are in hatching eggs. Knowledge is power and power gives one options to select from.

I have also listed a link that lists many of the more common poultry diseases that affect adult birds too. There is no happy happy, safe safeness in bringing in new genetics...only by being educated will one be able to take precautions and make EDUCATED decisions for each individual situation.

A lot of different things “can” happen. A piece of space junk could fall out of the sky and hit your house today. You might have a fender bender next time you drive to the store. It might be a sunny day. Some things are more likely than others. I’m not spending the rest of my life in a cave for fear of falling space junk. And I will drive to the store today.

And why I posted the same. We would agree here and I sure hope nobody feels obliged to live in cave or an igloo pending your location.

I will continue to expose my birds to compromising situations so they prove by simply living thru the natural pressures on their immune system they got the scruples to live into old age and hopefully pass those excellent potential genetics on to their progeny.

There are no 100% guarantees for no diseases when acquiring new stock. What lives in my yard here might outright harm & kill your yard fulla chooks. It is what it is and the reason why many of us breed for natural resistance to the factors & situations our birds are exposed to on a daily basis. You have to decide for yourself if the risks warrant the acquisition of new blood.

Keeping live poultry specimens is about living, not being fearful of the potentials for death. We should all well know the oldtimer saying that "owning LIVEstock you will have some DEADstocks." Facing the fear armed to the teeth with knowing the risks is a great thing. By addressing diseases, one is less likely to be fearful. Knowing is powerful and certainly makes poultry husbandry a much more enjoyable endeavour as far as I personally perceive it to be. As the human in the equation, it is OUR duty of care to protect the innocent chooks...our responsibility to care for the precious, heart tugging feathered fun ones as they did not ask to be acquired by us and do not deserve to be harmed because we did not bother to educate ourselves about the real realities of having birds. Some will die and some will live to make more of the same and so we hope, it continues.

I do not believe one should be candy coat hatching eggs (it is not Easter quite yet, nope, not yet) and pretend they are not vectors of diseases that may infect your established flock of already there adult birds and such. The same may be said of introducing new hatched birds but at least with them, you may EXAMINE the bird (not look pondering whimsical at the egg shell) and have the live specimen tested if you prefer by a veterinary for diseases should that be what you choose to have done.


People armed with the knowledge of the potential risks make excellent owners and should be treated as capable upstanding persons in our poultry community. In my honest opinion, the spread of CRD is horrific and while a hatchery egg is usually much more disease free than other sources, there are still risks and mainly because you cannot examine a hatching egg for healthfulness by its shell alone and usually testing a hatching egg renders it UNhatchable so what is the real point one may say.

Life is not without risks, but from a practical viewpoint, hatching eggs is about the safest way you have of bringing new chickens into your flock from a diseases perspective. Most of the more common diseases are not spread by hatching eggs. The reliability of your source is important. Would they recognize a disease if they saw it? Are they ethical? The same questions apply to people you buy adult birds from.

All things that live will die. Sorta like taxes, eh...an inevitable outcome.

One of THE most common and frightful diseases IS transferred in hatching eggs. Chronic Respiratory Disease is running rampant through the backyard flocks of America. This is a stress disease that compromises production traits and why so many will post that such&such breed/variety of dual purpose poultry is doing such a pathetic job at producing eggs and meat for our consumption. One or two eggs a week, in medium grade size for Standard sized chickens. Cockerel culls taking months to reach decent processing weights if ever...the news is very bad out there and surely the decline we see in heritage poultry stocks is hinged largely on the rampant misconception that hatching eggs are a safe alternative to decently raised non-CRD exposed adult stocks. A chicken is only as pretty outside as it is on the inside regarding healthful productive capacities...PRODUCTION combined with longevity and fertility, vigour and disease resistance, and temperament all precede phenotypes but still are hindered by CRD so hugely ingrained into being an acceptable item to have encased in a hatching egg.

The source of your hatching eggs is under NO obligation to you the purchaser...period. No ethical or moral values will likely stand up in a court of law in the business sale of hatching eggs. Caveat emptor wears heavy on the shoulders of the people with flocks already well established and under their care. As the buyer, you are under the strict code of taking care of your own needs when purchasing. A seller is under judicious compliance of meeting the terms of their sales agreement. There is rarely any monetary reward in pursuing legal action against immoral hatching egg sales.

Whilst many of us oldtime breeders are responsible and very aware of our duty of care towards the breeds and varieties we choose to sell so others will succeed with them, hatching eggs seem to attract a real business focus more so on the bottom line. The buyer wants something for little to nothing and the seller wants to make a profit on those egg sales without risking their enterprise's existence to make more money in the future. Lots sell eggs to justify buying feed to sustain the flock with. I know some sellers that even state the pens they make up to sell hatching eggs from are not intended to provide any more than chooks for the yard or ducks for the ponds. Not quality Standard of Perfection complaint breed/variety representations. Businesses sell product to make money to stay in business...an ongoing entity with a concern to make profit. A stellar name warrants a good business plan but not necessarily a prerequisite so many take their lumps dealing with hatching egg sales. There are far too many variables from how the eggs are shipped to the success rate and experience of the person hatching that commodity.


Why not suggest day old hatchlings from a hatchery over the hatching eggs? There is no more quality expectations in a hatching egg compared to a day old if the source is merely hatchery stocks.

The special attention that good breeders pay to the poultry breeds and varieties that they raise often shows up from day one.

Here are some pictures of FOUR day old hatchery chicks (bantam Dark Brahmas) compared to ONE day old Higgins Rat Ranch chicks (again bantam Dark Brahmas). Let the photos speak for themselves regarding what a breeder is capable compared to what hatcheries have on offer.

Dark Brahma Bantam Chicks
LEFT - Hatchery FOUR day old Chick / RIGHT - Higgins ONE day old Chick ​

Dark Brahma Bantam Chicks
LEFT - Hatchery four day old Chicks / RIGHT - Higgins one day old Chicks
​

Dark Brahma Bantam Chicks
LEFT - Higgins ONE day old Chick / RIGHT - Hatchery FOUR day old Chick​

Some of our peas in a pod Dark Brahma Bantams...all growed up
​

Some of the hatcheries even run with statements that say:

NPIP is different in each state, with about the only consistency being that they all check for pullorum. Some states check for other things, some don’t. Pullorum used to be a fairly common disease spread from hatching eggs but the NPIP program has changed that. Now several states are essentially pullorum-free, at least as far as reported cases. On Gail’s list, Pullorum is called typhoid.

I suggest an NPIP source for hatching eggs because if people are NPIP you have an indication they care about preventing the spread of diseases. It’s not a guarantee, life does not come with a guarantee, but it is an indication that your odds are better.

There was nothing wrong with the information and perspective you posted about. It just is focussed on one aspect of many in the diseases one can expect to run a risk of getting from hatching eggs.

:

Same site...this time addressing Pullorum disease...

I appreciate all the responses. Here in CT I have contacted the department of agriculture and already have a scheduled appointment for all my birds to get tested. The woman at the CT DOA was very helpful and also informed me that NPIP sometimes takes a while to catch up with testing and compliancy to NPIP standards. So even if they say they are NPIP they might not be up to date. The reaponses i get here are very helpful and i want happy healthy chickens!!!

You are approaching this very sensible and logically. I am happy to be of help and will give you another area to do some more sleuthing and researching since you do appear to want to get yourself apprised of some of the disease issues.

This is an excerpt from the Merck Manuals on Pullorum. It is not too scary and hopefully something that is more a concern of the past but HEY THAR...remember how they thought Measles and Polio were issues we did not have to deal with any more...sigh...be safe, be educated...be a danger to the bad things that keep trying to ruin our FUN, eh!

August 2013 by Sherrill Davison, VMD, MS, MBA, DACPV...
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/salmonelloses/pullorum_disease_in_poultry.html:
Etiology and Transmission

Infections with Salmonella Pullorum usually cause very high mortality (potentially approaching 100%) in young chickens and turkeys within the first 2–3 wk of age. In adult chickens, mortality may be high but frequently there are no clinical signs. Pullorum disease was once common but has been eradicated from most commercial chicken stock in the USA, although it may be seen in other avian species (eg, guinea fowl, quail, pheasants, sparrows, parrots, canaries, and bullfinches) and in small backyard or hobby flocks. Infection in mammals is rare, although experimental or natural infections have been reported (chimpanzees, rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, pigs, kittens, foxes, dogs, swine, mink, cows, and wild rats).

Transmission can be vertical (transovarian) but also occurs via direct or indirect contact with infected birds (respiratory or fecal) or contaminated feed, water, or litter. Infection transmitted via egg or hatchery contamination usually results in death during the first few days of life up to 2–3 wk of age. Transmission between farms is due to poor biosecurity.

Peace be with you and may knowledge set you free to know the risks fully and make educated choices in whatever YOU choose to pursue. Lotsa good times, fun and the Fancy is made all the much better when we all try to assist each other against the nasties trying to ruin the happy factors with our feathered follies.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[pjag]

Yes, most definitely you may spread diseases to your current flock thru hatching eggs. There are many issues to be concerned about when acquiring hatching eggs.


From the Chicken Health Book by Gail Damerow, page 215:


Her article goes on to discuss diseases transferred in hatching eggs such as:

- Bacterial diseases like Chlamydia psittaci, Salmonella, Staphylococcus bacteria, and E. coli.
- Mycoplasma is a HUGE concern for poultry persons...this one is uncurable according to many here on BYC.
- Viral diseases like Newcastle's Disease, Herpesviruses, etc.
- Parasites like adult ascarids (roundworms) can even be passed on in hatching eggs.

Whilst this quote above is more an avian type based source for pet birds, Margaret A. Wissman, D.V.M., D.A.B.V.P. is a very good resource since she is an exotic bird vet. Her explanation is educated, concise and easily understood. I have chosen this small quote as an example of her good advice...you may go to the link I have posted to read more should you wish to.


Some of the disease are zoonoses which simply means they are diseases that humans may get from animals...and birds. Chlamydia is one of those as are E. coli and Staph. Good hygiene is a great deterrent after being around any poultry and livestock...never mind the family dog or cat!

This is also a great source to have a read up on...

Common Poultry Diseases
University Of Florida IFAS Extension - Authors: G.D. Butcher, J.P. Jacob, and F.B. Mather

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/PS/PS04400.pdf


I would far sooner purchase adult birds (two year olds are divine...by simply living that long, they have already proven their worth) from a reliable breeder that I had built up a good rapport with than deal with all the hassles and potential diseases found in hatching eggs. Most often if the breeder has any scruples about the betterment of their choice in breeds and varieties, they are not at all interested in sending you hatching eggs--that avenue usually results in people thinking they may get something for very little and we all know nothing good ever comes easy for nothing invested. Quality needs to be worked at because hard work and working smart nets rewards! A real true breeder would want to set you up with what they deem is a good start and see you succeed and continue the existence and progression forward with their cherished lines. Many of us breeders do this as a passionate labour of love and we all know that love knows no bounds.

There are no 100% guarantees for no diseases when acquiring new stock. What lives in my yard here might outright harm & kill your yard fulla chooks. It is what it is and the reason why many of us breed for natural resistance to the factors & situations our birds are exposed to on a daily basis. You have to decide for yourself if the risks warrant the acquisition of new blood.

To get a good start in birds, one would be well advised to keep back the top three percent for potential breeders. So with the hatching rate of shipped eggs being hopefully fifty percent on a very good day, you would require at minimum 214 hatching eggs to incubate so that 107 day old chicks are hatched out. With a good average of seven percent mortality rate expected in a vigorous strain...that would leave you 100 birds to have grown out. Then you may select down to a good trio or quad of prospective breeder birds from these potential 100 choices. One needs that many for selection from if you are to begin to make and retain any improvements within a line of poultry. Jest because US humans decide some trait is desirable don't always mean the birds agree and will oblige us with our desires, eh.

Back fifteen years ago when we began here with many of our foundation stocks on our Conservation Farm, we paid $100 per bird for a prospective breeder from persons with 65 and 70 years working with a strain. If you do the math, that was a reasonable amount considering the acquisition of 214 hatching eggs and all the work involved to produce one good trio or quad in a breed and variety. If one uses the price of feed to judge where prices of decent breeder chickens should be today...I would expect to pay $340 for a good bird seeing as the price of a bag of chicken layer ration fifteen years ago was $7...and now a bag of ration is near $24 a bag. Our chickens remain productive for us running some five years for males and eight and such for females. We do select for longevity and adore our reliable oldsters.

The most worrisome hatching egg disorder to me personally is the spread of the Chronic Respiratory Diseases. These are called stress diseases and are long, noxious, debilitating diseases that affect production of meat and eggs and generally make poultry like chickens and turkeys unthrifty and often quite a miserable existence for them; eating but not gaining weight, ruffled up and unhappy to say the least. While some may tout that these CRD problems are curable...I have yet to see any scientific proof to these claims and many of the supposed off label cures render the eggs produced unfit for human consumption and the bird itself should never be processed as food either. Personally, if I had to treat a bird (which thankfully, I have never had to do), I would solemnly vow never to eat its eggs, its meat or any of the production from the next generation it produced either. Might eat the F3's production perhaps...

I would only medicate a line of birds (Ampro is fine in turkey and chicken starters but never for waterfowl!) as a very last ditch effort to save the strain if it warranted such dramatic and drastic measures. I did not get birds to taint what they produce for my family with antibiotics and other unsavory and scary remedies. Factory farms might feed antibiotics to get their products to market, but we choose not to and want healthy good foods from our happy and healthy birds.


BRAVO...You are very wise to question the transfer of diseases you may risk exposing your current birds to. A very admirable expression of your responsible duty of care towards your current flock and your family's well being.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

I recently hatched 16 chicks in my incubator. 10 out of 24 from a fertility test run from my new laying hens and 6 out of 12 from my friends established laying hens. Most of my hens eggs that did not hatch were eggers (I assume never fertilized). However from my friends eggs most that did not hatch were quitters. Many developing fully then dying prior to hatching. Out of the six chicks that hatched from her hatching eggs six have died within 5 days of hatching with almost every single symptom of respiratory illness. Lack of appetite, mouth breathing, swollen eyes and so on. The only symptom that was not indicated was runny nose. Most died within an hour or two from onset of symptoms of illness. One little chick that was being followed on video from hatch to lay (we had hoped) had a huge desire to live, he actually responded to every effort I made to make him well and comfortable and lived without complaint for almost 72 hours. I miss that little trouper! He finally gave up his fight and passed in his sleep. I will not be getting hatching eggs from my friend any more. I am concerned that she may have hens or roosters that are carrying this respiratory illness may be passing it on to fertilized eggs. I have hatched 24 of her eggs before and I only have 4 living chickens from those eggs. Most died before hatching. I have let her know of my concern so she could keep an ey e on the chicks she is hatching right now as well as her chickens. I would like to verify that this may be a possibility and would like to know what disease this might be. All of my chicks that hatched from my own eggs are still very healthy so (although I isolated sick chicks as soon as they seems like something was wrong in what I call my SCHICKU-sick chick units) far. Thank goodness this does not seem to be passed from chick to chick. I also need to know if the chick that is still alive from her hatching eggs could be safe to raise as a productive roo or hen?

 

[casportpony]

I recently hatched 16 chicks in my incubator. 10 out of 24 from a fertility test run from my new laying hens and 6 out of 12 from my friends established laying hens. Most of my hens eggs that did not hatch were eggers (I assume never fertilized). However from my friends eggs most that did not hatch were quitters. Many developing fully then dying prior to hatching. Out of the six chicks that hatched from her hatching eggs six have died within 5 days of hatching with almost every single symptom of respiratory illness. Lack of appetite, mouth breathing, swollen eyes and so on. The only symptom that was not indicated was runny nose. Most died within an hour or two from onset of symptoms of illness. One little chick that was being followed on video from hatch to lay (we had hoped) had a huge desire to live, he actually responded to every effort I made to make him well and comfortable and lived without complaint for almost 72 hours. I miss that little trouper! He finally gave up his fight and passed in his sleep. I will not be getting hatching eggs from my friend any more. I am concerned that she may have hens or roosters that are carrying this respiratory illness may be passing it on to fertilized eggs. I have hatched 24 of her eggs before and I only have 4 living chickens from those eggs. Most died before hatching. I have let her know of my concern so she could keep an ey e on the chicks she is hatching right now as well as her chickens. I would like to verify that this may be a possibility and would like to know what disease this might be. All of my chicks that hatched from my own eggs are still very healthy so (although I isolated sick chicks as soon as they seems like something was wrong in what I call my SCHICKU-sick chick units) far. Thank goodness this does not seem to be passed from chick to chick. I also need to know if the chick that is still alive from her hatching eggs could be safe to raise as a productive roo or hen?

Welcome to BYC. This is a very old thread, may I suggest that you start you own thread? If you start a new thread you might get more replies.