Lost all but 12 Chickens

[GableBabble]

I have not posted in a while. Been pretty upset. Long story short:
I had some chickens for sale. A guy came out to look at them. While I was getting my chicken house shoes on he went into a run even though my son told him I do not allow people to just walk into a run. Two days later I go outside to find 5 Broilers with swollen heads. One broilers eye was popped out. My Russian Orloff roo was sick. I Call everyone near and sort of far, looking for a chicken vet. I called UT. I started major clean sweeping of houses and chicken meds.
One week passes I had lost all 36 broilers. All the Orloff's, Polish tophats, lost speckled sussex. Everything but 3 EE's, a RIR hen, a Wynadotte pair, frizzle hen, silkie roo, and some sexlinks. I am heart broken.

At this point I cannot add anything for fear of loosing it to this mess. I am told it was Corza. I was also told I would have to "get rid" of all the remaining birds or else this will happen again. I did talk to someone at AU and was told that might not be the case.
I have so many rants, questions, and plain angry statements. I will just say that I am a bit depressed. Anyone had to deal with anything similar? How did you do it? I want to start over, but I am not sure it is worth it.

 

[riane'smimi]

I don't let anybody near my chickens either and I always respect others when I visit their homes and never walk in their coops nor do I pick up their birds unless told to do so.And only then if I KNOW they don't have any sickness nor have had in their flock.
Call your state vet and see if they will let you bring one or two in so at least you will know what illness they have and can make a plan on what to do.

 

[SeramasLovers]

I'm sorry for your lost.

 

[LiLRedCV]

I'm so very sorry for your loss!

Maybe to ward off this event from a stranger coming over again and entering the coops without your permission, post it in your ads that no ones allowed in the coops without following proper bio procedures and/or place large signs up on the front of your coops stating only authorized personnel allowed. Once someone does show up to look at your chickens to buy, you should let them know right off they'll not be allowed near your flocks until they follow your rules. If they can't follow your rules? They can leave. (I wouldn't put it so bluntly, but I'm sure you get the gist)

 

[GableBabble]

I facepalmed when I read your post about putting up signs. Why in the world had I not ever thought about it before. This is something that will go up asap. Hubbie is thinking about installing locks too. Thank you!

Thank you for all the posts. You always get somewhat attached to them all. No matter if they are ment to be eaten or not. My youngest will spend hours sitting in the middle of a run talking and loving the broilers. When asked one time by my mother why she spent so much time with "those birds" her answer was simple. They deserve it too. I wish I shared her bluntness and honesty. Sometimes I feel rather uncomfortable expressing my love of these awesome animals.

I am kind of in a spot where I am not sure I want to send anything to UT. I called and asked the vets there if I could lime my runs to kill off anything without killing the birds and they thought I was talking about building limestone runs. I explained further but got no where. Fortunately I did get a reply, however late, from a vet a few counties over that helped me with my question.

IF I do start over. I hope this never happens again. I also hope NO ONE ever goes through this kind of loss from one person's stupidity and total disregard and disrespect. I would never enter someone's run without finding out what state their birds are in, or without their permission. Maybe I care too much about my chickens.

 

[LiLRedCV]

Well, we'd all like to believe others will respect us enough not to do something like this guy did, but the truth is not all will (like this guy). Just too many out there who are filled with self-importance and it's "all about me" attitudes. Personally, I wouldn't do what he did even before I got my own birds, but that's me!

So, after having learned the hard way, you know what you need to do to protect you and your flock from this ever happening again. Signs and locks on the coops.

I'm not sure what your solution is in regards to if you need to cull the rest of the flock, put down lime, or whatever to sterilize the coops to get rid of this tho'. I'm sure someone here (if they see your thread) will have the answers for you tho'. Good luck!