Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[ronott1]

So sorry to hear that some of your flock is ill. Very responsible of you to put them down so it doesn't spread. I believe they are safe for consumption otherwise I would think it would be a required test for the NPIP process in all states. Though Im not 100% so I hope someone else has an answer for you.

MG is not part of NPIP unless you pay for it. NIPIP is different in each state though.

If a flock has special or rare breeds, you can collect eggs and run the incubator at 104 for three days. That will kill the virus but reduce hatch rates by about 30%. The chicks will be MG free though. You would then need to brood them inside away from the contaminated area to allow it to die at your place before putting the chicks out.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

All I know is, it's not contagious to humans, so I can't really imagine why it would be a problem to eat them... but that's only IF you know for certain that it's Mg. Did a lab test confirm it?

Oh we have always used it as Mistral Gris so I was wondering how a chicken caused others to be put down. Now I know and sorry you have this in your flock!!

So sorry to hear that some of your flock is ill. Very responsible of you to put them down so it doesn't spread. I believe they are safe for consumption otherwise I would think it would be a required test for the NPIP process in all states. Though Im not 100% so I hope someone else has an answer for you.

MG is not part of NPIP unless you pay for it. NIPIP is different in each state though.

If a flock has special or rare breeds, you can collect eggs and run the incubator at 104 for three days. That will kill the virus but reduce hatch rates by about 30%. The chicks will be MG free though. You would then need to brood them inside away from the contaminated area to allow it to die at your place before putting the chicks out.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and advice. No, we did not have a lab test done. I've been studying my birds (sick ones are in quarantine) and all the different respiratory diseases. I've searched so many websites and read so much information that I swear my head could explode. The sick ones will be put down today and the cage they were in washed and sanitized with bleach and oxine. I had to wait until this weekend for hubby. The rest of my birds are split up into groups now and are being quarantined for a month so I can watch for illness in them And hopefully not lose any more.

@ronott1 are you 100% certain of this On the incubating At 104? I only have 1 egg from my one hen that will be put down today but she's always been one of my favorite girls. If there's any chance of passing on her genes without the virus, I'd want to try.

 

[ronott1]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and advice. No, we did not have a lab test done. I've been studying my birds (sick ones are in quarantine) and all the different respiratory diseases. I've searched so many websites and read so much information that I swear my head could explode. The sick ones will be put down today and the cage they were in washed and sanitized with bleach and oxine. I had to wait until this weekend for hubby. The rest of my birds are split up into groups now and are being quarantined for a month so I can watch for illness in them And hopefully not lose any more.

@ronott1 are you 100% certain of this On the incubating At 104? I only have 1 egg from my one hen that will be put down today but she's always been one of my favorite girls. If there's any chance of passing on her genes without the virus, I'd want to try.

This is what I have, It is a bit different than what I posted.

Quote: The 104 may be from a different study. 46C is about 114F so very hot. Some incubators will not go that high.

It is worth trying.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

This is what I have, It is a bit different than what I posted.

The 104 may be from a different study. 46C is about 114F so very hot. Some incubators will not go that high.

It is wort trying.

thank you, I may try it with the egg I have. I came home from my son's baseball practice and my husband had already put them down and incinerated them do I guess we won't be eating them. I know he did it while I wasn't here to try to keep me from getting too upset but I still cried

 

[chicken pickin]

thank you, I may try it with the egg I have. I came home from my son's baseball practice and my husband had already put them down and incinerated them do I guess we won't be eating them. I know he did it while I wasn't here to try to keep me from getting too upset but I still cried

Its nice your DH can do it. My DH and I both have a hard time with processing so we usually send them out or sometimes my dad will do it for us.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Its nice your DH can do it. My DH and I both have a hard time with processing so we usually send them out or sometimes my dad will do it for us.

my husband makes it a point to not get attached to the chickens. Heck, he only knows a couple of their names. me, I love all my birds. This time was hardest for me though since these ones weren't meant to be butchered.I can usually distance myself enough for the ones that we know we will be eating but I still can't kill them. I can help clean and pluck but that's it.

 

[chicken pickin]

my husband makes it a point to not get attached to the chickens. Heck, he only knows a couple of their names. me, I love all my birds. This time was hardest for me though since these ones weren't meant to be butchered.I can usually distance myself enough for the ones that we know we will be eating but I still can't kill them. I can help clean and pluck but that's it.

Same here I clean and pluck no problem, just cant make the kill, yet anyway. I attempted once but didn't succeed. DH isn't attached to my birds, he barley likes any of them, he just has a hard time doing an upclose and personal hands on kill he has no problem doing a kill from a far or helping process. This is a man that is a fisherman, a hunter and previous military soldier who went to the Iraq war 2 times, who would have thought he couldn't kill a chicken or turkey

I know it confuses me to lol but I respect his feelings on it.

 

[JawaChicken]

My 6 year old Daughter actually names them days of the week and holidays. According to when she wants to eat them.

I remember my first kill. Shaking hands and a pounding heart. And far to long to clean the bird.

I got lucky and met the owner of the local small chicken farm, who was more than happy to teach me when I offered a day of volunteer work in exchange for knowledge. I now help other folks in my area when they are unable to do the deed. My hands don't shake anymore, but the day my heart stops pounding when I do the first of a batch, is the day I will stop raising them for meat. I have been known to try and nurse a sick chicken back to health a week before processing. But I have no problems culling one if it is suffering. I do the kills, plucking, and evisceration. My wife and daughter sometimes help with plucking, and do the QC (I usually miss a few pin feathers).

I always tell the folks who sheepishly ask me if I would, to not worry. There is nothing wrong with asking some one else to do to it.

 

[chickadoodles]

The first year I got turkey I bought some from a hatchery I will not name and they kept sending me all toms. Three times and several hundred dollars later they showed signs of being sick.
I got rid of them all and kept my pens and coop empty and disinfected everything. Months later I bought more turkey from more reputable sources. When I called the hatchery to ask about some turkey they said they had to destroy the entire flock. So they found out and took care of the problem. Not that I would buy from them again anyways.
But I also have one hen that I kept isolated for months due to the fact she had some kind of cyst on one of her cheeks. I finally had my DIL do some tests on her and found it is only a cyst.
So I am not worried about her any longer. As far as I know my birds are all healthy and clean I have them tested and I am NPIP and AI/PT clean.
My birds are now only Porters and Reese's stock.

edited for spelling error.

 

[Tomtommom]

I had an MG scare once. All my birds started to sneeze a bit, one had a rattle in her breath, another had swelling around her eyes. I considered culling the whole flock after researching, thinking it was MG... but the more I researched, the more I found that it's near impossible to avoid MG and a LARGE percentage of flocks have it, without ever knowing.. as stress brings it to light.

I then decided I would not worry about it. Not at that time. I wouldn't cull until my birds were suffering.. which they were not.

A few weeks later everyone was back to normal, I had only given them some vet Rx and dewormed them (in case of gape worm). They had gotten wet in the rain before getting sick, and either got a cold (or stressed). They've not been sick since, and that was the winter of 2013-2014.

No one enters my coop but I (and rarely my kids/husband) and I don't bring adult birds in. Chicks are automatically quarantined, because they inhabit a brooder for their first weeks. I don't visit chicken swaps or auctions (those seem just the worst idea ever...). But, I do not believe wiping out an entire flock because they are carriers is the answer. Ofcourse, if your birds are deathly ill, and you need to end their suffering, that's a different story. But don't be too scared of MG, it's out there, it's common and birds can carry it without you ever knowing. No quarantine can garantee you wont introduce it to your flock, it can go undetected for years. Same with Marek's. Unless your birds are never going to see daylight, you can not protect them 100%. Wild birds fly over and poop in your run.

Biosecurity is important, but you simply can't avoid ALL risk. Culling your flock every time is costly, heart breaking and frankly unneccesary.