Need advice, should I medicate these chickens and when can I bring them to my flock?

[307151]

They aren't showing any symptoms though, just the one with the eye and the rooster only closing and opening his eye. I see nothing else wrong with them, they are eating, communicating with eachother. I don't want to waste them. They don't appear to be getting any worse, and have only got better since I brought them in. I also do sometimes hear what sounds like little sneezes, but they make no head or mouth motion when I hear it. I've watched videos of chickens coughing and sneezing and it doesn't match what I hear or see.

 

[Mrs. K]

Well you should NOT eat them if you have dosed them. Read and follow the directions, if it says wait 28 days then do so.

In 28 days, things will be dead, better or getting sicker. They are your birds, do what you are comfortable with.

However, nearly everyone else has posted on this topic, has strongly recommended culling the birds based on a great deal of experience with their flocks. It is something you might consider. You are thinking of the new birds, they are thinking of your other flock.

If the second bird, the rooster's eye begins to get worse, what ever the first bird has is contagious, and more than likely it will spread to your other flock. It is very difficult for experienced poutier, with very nice set ups to keep sickness from spreading to all their flocks. Most back yard set ups are not that elaborate.

I vote for fertilizing the garden.

Mrs K

 

[307151]

So are birds with a respitoary infection not edible? I'm confused.

 

[bobbi-j]

You stated that you had dosed them with Ivermectin and the waiting period is 28 days before you can eat them. So for sure wait until that time has passed. Whether or not they're edible, I don't know. I suppose if you cook them thoroughly, they'll be fine, but I still don't like the idea of eating a sick bird. You have come here asking for advice. You have every right to take it or leave it, that's your choice. Maybe you could do a little more research on your own and see what you come up with. I found this article in less than a minute after typing the question "Is it safe to eat chickens with respiratory disease:

http://poultrykeeper.com/respiratory-problems/mycoplasma

I'm not saying this is what your chickens have, just saying how easy it is to find information if you really want to.

 

[speckledhen]

It's probably safe to eat just about any chicken with most common diseases, however, unless I was just really starving and desperate for food, I would skip it myself. That's just me. I mean, it's only a couple of birds. Whole chickens are not that expensive and what difference in your grocery bill will it make in the scheme of things? It's really entirely up to you, but as bobbi-j said, you can find out most anything by using google or bing or the BYC search. They probably are not very hefty anyway, having been ill.

 

[307151]

Update: It seems the only chicken that is sick is the one that got her eye poked out. I figure the stress of it triggered an upper respitory infection. No one is sick but the rooster starting leaving the girls going back and fourth to both the flocks, so now I will just continue using prevenative measures to keep the flock safe. I'm trying to treat the sick bird, after she's treated I will introudce them all together into one flock. It's day 2 now since I started treating the little girl, she doesn't seem to be doing much better, but I can say she's not doing any worse. I haven't seen her drinking water, but I have seen her eating.

 

[307151]

I also figured there was no point in culling all the birds and starting over since they live both outdoors and hardly outdoors and the likleyhood of a stranger bird visiting our field is high and spreading it to someone again.

 

[307151]

The only symptoms she has is sometimes having bubbles in her eyes, occasional heavy breathing, not moving around too much, ruffled feathers, and sometimes I'll noticed on the same side of her face where her eye was poked out, her sinus (I'm guessing it what it is) inflates and deflates sometimes with her breathing, but it's only on one side.