Prouction birds?

[lone cedar farm]

Are they more apt to catch diseases than others? reason I'm asking is i have only 2 hens left out of 8 still living, they were bought back in the spring. all came of age to lay then it seems one by one they get sick and die while the rest of the flock i've had never even gets a runny nose. These are BO that i'm fighting to keep alive....puzzled!!

 

[Plain Old Dee]

My first hens were 18 months old when I bought them - from a commercial egg farm. I guess you could say I rescued them, because the ones that didn't sell were going to be shipped off to be turned into soup. They were very healthy and I never had any problems with them.

This summer, I bought some BO and RIR pullets from a breeder - and have had nothing but trouble ever since. I noticed one was wheezing and a couple were sneezing when we were bringing them home, but I didn't know then that chickens didn't catch colds and get over them - seems URI's are far more serious (and insidious) than I thought.

Bottom line - I don't think production birds are any more prone to diseases than any others. It is more an issue of how well cared for and what steps are taken to prevent disease by their previous owner.

I'm so sorry you are losing your girls like this. It's rough, I know. I had to decide whether or not to cull my whole flock or wait things out. Since my girls most likely have MG, which is carried by wild birds (and probably how they got it in the first place), I don't think there is much point in culling them - they are asymptomatic at the moment and it looks like the odds are pretty good that any other hens I bring in are going to have it as well, or they will be exposed to it by the multitude of wild birds in my area. It's probably something I'm going to have to live with.

As for your girls - when they get sick - what kind of symptoms are they showing? Do you think it could be something other than URI?