Lost 4 out of 7 chickens due to respitory illness. Now the carrier bird laid an egg. Can we eat it?

[jordanfmly]

We have been dealing w/ sickness in our Flock from the Get Go. We had 7. Now we are down to only 3. They seem fine, The suspected carrier has never been ill. just a few sneezes here and there. She has started laying eggs now that the Flock has greatly decreased. Just wondering if it is safe to eat. Can you eat the eggs from carrier birds. We will keep these 3 and just have a closed flock until we decide in the spring on what to do. I do not want to waste the eggs. They are rather small. But it's the first time we have had an egg in about 4 months. Exciting, but confused as to the safety of it for consumption. any advice??

 

[Eggcessive]

Your eggs are fine to eat as long as you have medicated them with antibiotics for several weeks. Each medication has different egg withdrawal times.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

X2 Get your birds on some antibiotics, generally Sulfadimethoxine or Duramycin will take care of most respiratory ailments. There is a 5 day egg withdrawal for the Sulfa and a 21 day egg withdrawal on the Duramycin. After this, your eggs are safe to eat.

Sorry you are dealing with these issues. After you get these birds treated with antibiotics, get some probiotics in them and keep them on them for a couple months. This will help beef up the immune system.

 

[jordanfmly]

Thanks. I have had them on Teramycin Spelling.. For several weeks. Stopped it about 5 days ago. . was not sure if we could eat this egg. and future eggs. I wll def look for some pro biotics. I did give them yogurt once, They loved it.

 

[TwoCrows]

You can give them yogurt every day too. If they will eat it off the spoon, great! You can also put the yogurt on chopped up hard boiled eggs, rice, bread, what ever your birds will eat. Good calcium too.

Good luck with your birds!

 

[jordanfmly]

out of curiosity , what happens if you eat an egg that has not had the wait period?

 

[TwoCrows]

Some people have reactions to certain antibiotics. But what also happens is, you are getting a tiny amount of this antibiotic in your system. Not enough to do anything to you, however by only ingesting a tiny amount, bacteria can develop immunity to this drug. This has become a big issue around the world in that bacteria are immune to these drugs. This is the reason they stopped using antibiotics in these chicken houses because store bought egg used to contain traces of these antibiotics and now bacterias are becoming immune.

So it really is in your best interest not to eat them should you need this type of drug in the future for some infection that you have.

 

[BantamLover21]

Glad you joined us!

You've received some good advice already. I'm sorry for your losses.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Welcome to BYC!

We're glad you joined.

I'm sorry for your losses!

 

[sunflour]

So glad you decided to join us. So sorry about your losses.