Learning the hard way....

[luv my chickens]

This is my first thread but I wanted to start by saying a huge "thank you" to anyone out there that puts on all this great information. My husband and I are "newer" to the chicken world.... and might I say, we are just hooked! We had three original little girls that we bought last year. Originally we got them to have a few fresh eggs for ourselves. But, we soon realized how many of our family and friends enjoyed our eggs. So as I put it "pre-backyardchickens.com" find.... we have added to our flock from several different local advertisers, and we are now up to 50... So because I put it as the "pre", we are so overwhelmed with all the info on this website, that we now realize after having a few sickies, what an aweful mistake we made just bringing in new pullets to our flock. We of course have a separate coop that we held them in for 30 days, but obviously someone brought some type of respitory issues to our girls. So with all that being said, and learning a big lesson here... I wanted to reach out for a little help from everyone to answer a few questions that I have searched for on byc and can't find an answer. So ahead of time, thanks again to everyone on this forum... I never thought in a million years that I could get attached to a chicken, but their personalities, and antics they bring to our farm is awesome, so I want to try to do the best I can to get this right....
So here are a few questions...
If you do end up giving a "layer" an antibiotic, can you still consume the eggs? Or does it depend on the antibiotic.
If you would have a bird tested, and they had a resipitory disease, is it too late to vaccinate them? or the other birds they live with? Also, if you wanted to add new chickens to your flock, and you had them vaccinated prior to introduction, could they end up being with those original birds, or can you never mix them once you have a carrier?
Also, I read so much about getting a bird tested, how does that work? Do they have to be dead or do you take them to the vet to be checked?

Thanks again everyone!

luv my chicks!

 

[RhodeIslandRedFan]

Hello, luv my chickens, and welcome to BYC! I don't have as much experience with chickens as some others on here, but I see no one has responded to you yet. Different antibiotics have different withdrawal periods from the time the last dose is given, and then the eggs are considered safe to eat. Most antibiotics given to chickens are used off label, meaning they are intended for use with other livestock but used for poultry because there are few or no meds developed specifically for poultry. The thinking is that if meat is safe to eat after a certain time, eggs would be too.

I believe once a chicken has an illness, it is too late to vaccinate for that some illness. There would be no point, since the chicken is already infected. Since respiratory illness is contagious, I would guess it would be too late to vaccinate the rest of the flock as well. I'm not an expert on this, though, so we'll see what others have to say. Same goes for mixing vaccinated birds in with those that are already carriers.

Vets can test birds for many things by testing either a stool or blood sample, in addition to a simple physical exam, which can help a vet confirm a diagnosis. I believe that includes many respiratory illnesses.

Hope this helps until someone with more experience comes along.

 

[luv my chickens]

Thank you so much for your input! It is appreciated!