Well, I was optimistic about the sick chickens getting better, until I changed out their water this morning and saw a lot of meaty-looking stools. They weren't bloody, just looked... well, "meaty" is the closest description I could think of.
So Sahara and Russ stayed home from church to disinfect more of the house. I had to go teach a Sunday School class. About 10 minutes before I had to leave, I asked Russ, "Would you rather stay home and do this, or substitute teach my class?" He said he'd rather teach the class... as I was all ready to go. Next time, I'll ask sooner.
The bathroom brooder is the half-bath connected to Sahara's room. So Sahara took everything out of her room. She's a packrat, so that was a lot. She was told to throw away anything that she couldn't wash in the washing machine and didn't want to sanitize by hand. The area rug got thrown away, as did the soft-cushion rocking chair and a few toys. She was told that she could not visit the new chicks unless she was in clothing that had been washed since it had been in her room. And since she's not very diligent about doing laundry, she had to wash and dry an entire load. And she sanitized every toy and book with Clorox Cleanup. Each time she complained, we explained that it all had to be done tonight. At the end, she was so tired and just wanted to see her chicks and ducks, and we asked her if it was worth it to her to shower first to make sure the babies didn't get sick. She said yes, it was totally worth it.
Russ dug down 2 inches in the outside mini-coop, then sprayed everything down with Clorox Cleanup. Then he waited until it could all dry and air out, then took the little kids out to play so they didn't catch any dander during the cleaning. They loved it! Very happy chicks in this nice weather. Then, since Sahara worked so hard and it wasn't at all her fault that the chickens were sick, Joe had to do his share. He swept and mopped the entire house. The door to the babies was shut tight, and nobody involved in the cleaning was allowed to go outside until they were totally changed and showered. So I just cared for the hens and the babies after returning home from church. My nextdoor neighbor offered to let us borrow his ionizer to keep the air clean, too.
It's tiring and frustrating, but I think we have a handle on this. As long as we keep diligent about biosecurity. I still have to decide what to do with these chickens, though. They're surviving, and still have vigor and appetites, but will they be carriers to get the rest of my chickens sick? I can't keep the roosters anyway, but I also can't just give them away without disclosing that they had been sick. And the pullets? Do I dare put them with my other chickens when they're old enough? Or do I just cull them all and cut my losses, so nobody has to worry about it? I have 3 marans, a male and a female BLRW, a black split pullet, and 2 lavender pullets. They're all valuable chickens.
