New Pullet FAIL!!!

[HathawayHens]

I went to get three pullets today to add to my flock... the guy had chickens, ducks, turkeys, and pot bellied pigs all in his back yard... it was not the cleanest place, but I took pity on the poor girls (NEVER do that again)!!!!

Tonight I got them home... first I noticed diarrhea... then one of them laid a soft shell egg... then I noticed one had a runny nose... and last, LICE!!!! I could not see any of these issues during the day.

Thank goodness I quarantined... these birds are going back in the am, and I hope he has the good sense to refund my money, since he lives in a gated community and I am pretty sure there are rules about these things...

Still have to spend all day tomorrow disinfecting all the items that were anywhere near these poor diseased things!

Lesson learned, that is for sure. I knew you had to be careful, but WOW!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Yea, it scares me the chances people take with their birds. Good thing you were smart enough to quarantine them!!!

 

[HathawayHens]

should have been smart enough to just not get them!

I hope nothing airborne got out to the girls... sigh.

 

[SunnyDawn]

I hope so too! Good luck!

 

[poorartists]

I did this too, just a week ago, three older hens, none have laid yet, and one did have lots of lice. I treated them for lice and I don't see any live ones on them anymore. I think they might have some diarrhea though, how dangerous a sign is that. Should I return them completely?

It was a trade, so wouldn't want my healthy girls back at this point I guess because they will have been exposed.

 

[mandelyn]

The ones I got I checked over for bugs and watched their breathing. Fina on that count, and they were the start of my flock, so I brought them home. Really I got as many as he would sell me, went for two, returned with 6. Besides rooster rash and molt, they're healthy. I thought they wouldn't be with the conditions though. They look a heck of a lot better though with free choice feed, constantly clean water, and shavings to keep poo from sticking to their feet. All they needed was space and cleanliness, and that makes me happy.

Got two more birds yesterday. Red Stars... I didn't know how pretty they were! They are excellent, perfect health, great weight. No breast bones sticking out on these! Quarantined the new girls, to protect them from the originals just in case, it hasn't been a full 30 days yet. But they came from a totally different situation and I'm quite pleased with them. They and 4 others were spontaneous Easter purchases, and they were getting too many eggs. But they had a great coop built for them, clean and airy. Great feed, you can see it on the birds. They're smaller than my Astralorp and New Hampshire, but the weight... a good 2 pounds heavier.

It's amazing what simple changes will do for a bird.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Great to hear you've had such good luck with your's Mandelyn. I have bought from small backyard flocks before too but I knew the folks and they kept their birds in excellent conditions as well. I've not had a problem with any of them. Predators and heat have been my big concerns here.