Help me decide........Should I cull my flock and start over?

[chicmom]

I have a beautiful flock. When you look at them, you think, wow! Very nice looking chickens, very healthy. BUT:

My flock has these occasional bouts with an illness. I truly don't know what it is, and I am NPIP, but my hens will come down with a cold on occasion. Now, I know what you're going to say: Chickens don't get colds, but that's just a descriptive word I'm using. They start out sneezing, and in a matter of days, end up with a weezing sound, so I guess it's a respiratory illness. (No smelly discharges from the mouth, or eyes.)

I lost a hen in the winter, and almost lost a rooster. Brought him back with Tylan. Now, everything has been fine for five months, and then POW! A rooster I hatched came down with this illness. I didn't want to keep him anyhow, so I culled him. Now a few hens are begining to sneeze.

I know I can give them the Tylan and they will probably all recover and look great as usual. I can just give it to the entire flock. But should I do that? I think my flock is a carrier of something, but I don't know what it is. Regardless, I now know I shouldn't sell or give away any of my flock. But I just don't know what to do. I would have to cull 16 chickens and two turkeys! And honestly, I am really attached to some of them, and I don't want to do that. But they are obviously carriers.

When the weather changes, POW! That is when I get a flair up of this illness. And then I have to medicate. Then everybody is fine. I am getting tired of that cycle, truthfully.

Is this normal? Does anybody here have a flock that has never been sick? Am I just over reacting?

I'm really frustrated, and I need to know what's the right thing to do......I would appreciate your opinions and advice, good or bad!

Thank you,
Sharon

 

[chicken crazed 1o1]

give them tylin as it might be coryza but dont kill them they will only be carriers for a 5 months to a year .

 

[ReikiStar]

What about getting a few birds tested for a CRD before you cull everyone?

 

[chicmom]

Quote:
Reiki, if the test comes out positive, does that mean I should automatically cull? And do you know where I could get the testing done? Would a vet do it?

Sharon

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Send a culled bird for a necropsy to see what it is a carrier of. That way you know how significant and contagious the illness you are dealing with is.

 

[chicmom]

Quote:
Really? If it's coryza, they're only carriers for 5 mos?! That is something positive! Thank you! I am just sooo torn on what to do. I love my flock.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
I would love to see the publication that says they will be carriers for 5 months to a year.


Everything I have read, says carrier for LIFE. Honest, if you have the link, I would read it.






chicmom Your NPIP, and nothing comes up on the tests? Personally if it was me, I would take the next one who has an outbreak and send them to the lab to be tested.

My flock has never gotten sick - no cold, no weezing. I do battle lice, cause well...........the wild birds find my place very attractive - there is water here and I live in a desert

And sometimes I have a soft shelled egg.

for you. Not an easy place to be for a flock owner.

 

[chicmom]

BigDaddy'sGurl :

Send a culled bird for a necropsy to see what it is a carrier of. That way you know how significant and contagious the illness you are dealing with is.

That's an idea. Thank you.​

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Also, no, I would not necessarily cull them all: many wild birds carry contagious respiratory diseases, not to mention that your soil will carry the disease for potentially years. It is, in my opinion, about dang near impossible to keep a flock completely and totally disease free.

 

[chicmom]

Quote:
I would love to see the publication that says they will be carriers for 5 months to a year.


Everything I have read, says carrier for LIFE. Honest, if you have the link, I would read it.






chicmom Your NPIP, and nothing comes up on the tests? Personally if it was me, I would take the next one who has an outbreak and send them to the lab to be tested.

My flock has never gotten sick - no cold, no weezing. I do battle lice, cause well...........the wild birds find my place very attractive - there is water here and I live in a desert

And sometimes I have a soft shelled egg.

Yep, They had a "cold" a month or two before I became NPIP, and everything turned out negative as far as the testing. That's what stumps me! Can you tell me how to send chicken to a lab? I'm sorry....I've never done that. It's probably in my NPIP instructions......

for you. Not an easy place to be for a flock owner.