I'm flunking Chickens 201; cull them or cull me???

[Carolyn]

Last year I brought home 21 chicks from rural king. Everything went great except I picked out 3/4 roos. Yummy mistake.

This winter was okay except my roo got a frostbite place on his comb because he chose camping under the stars on a 15 deg night instead of the coop. By the end if winter I debeaked the right hen and stopped the feather picking I mistook for molting.

Then I stupidly bought 2 new hens and everyone got what I assume was infectious bronchitis. That was 2 1/2 wks ago, I lost 2 including one this am and the E G G S are down to very infrequent.

My friend lent me her older incubator for my first experience at hatching. The turner quit for about 4-5 days before I figured it out and fixed it. Yesterday after candling the heat went up to 110 for a few hours before I realized a piece fell off the heater. I've candled the eggs E G G S which should hatch Easter weekend. Only 3 empties but everything is pretty much to one side and I don't see any movement. Is this normal????? or have I killed them too???

Should I just go back to rural king and see how many roosters I can pick out this year????? Should I cull any chickens that still act sick??? Should I just have mercy on poultry kind and quit the business (after spending too much money and getting horribly addicted)!?!?!?!?

okay who's the april fooler chaning E G G S to rooster???

 

[SarahFair]

haha wow. Idk, but to me it sounds like you have a lot going on at once.

lol
I brought in 2 new hens myself that sneezed and coughed all over my other chickens. They both died and took 2 of my other hens with them.
I am now left with my rooster and two hens. I still havent brought anything new to the coop just to make sure the disease isnt sitting somewhere or gone temporarily dormit.
That was 5 months ago and I am just now looking to get new hens to replace the old ones.

Id be careful if you are planning to hatch new chicks if that sickness what only that short time ago! JMO though..

Good luck!

 

[Carolyn]

UR right; I am still trying to come up with another place to put my babies when they are ready to exit the brooder. However, I really don't think the e g g s in the bator will hatch after all of this.

You really have to separate them by a few hundred feet for respiratory diseases (at least i know that NOW)

 

[cyanne]

Quote:
Yep, this is a lesson that a lot of people learn the hard way, ALWAYS quarantine new birds for at least 30 days. It will save you a lot of money, work, and heartache.