Alright, I bought four Cochins yesterday from a private seller. At first I thought they had sour crop, but I ruled that out as dehydration instead. Those symptoms disappeared, but now one pullet is sneezing, coughing, and earlier had some yellow nasal discharge. Probably some sort of respiratory infection, right? All four pullets are eating/drinking normally. I can't easily tell if they are lethargic or not since I just got them. They don't seem very active to me, but maybe that's their breed? Now on top of that, there's bright green stool everywhere in the coop. I did take their food out of their coop yesterday to rule out sour crop; could that be a cause for the green stool? We phoned the breeder to ask if he knew anything about the symptoms we were dealing with, and he said they were completely healthy. Um...? He says he's a professional chicken breeder and knows that the chickens were healthy before he sold them. I don't trust that though, since sick chickens can go easily undetected.
I really don't want to deal with all these issues if they are going to be pricey and time-consuming. Even if we try giving them treatment for their respiratory infection won't they still be carriers and spread it to our flock? Really undecided on what to do, any help would be super appreciated.
I really don't want to deal with all these issues if they are going to be pricey and time-consuming. Even if we try giving them treatment for their respiratory infection won't they still be carriers and spread it to our flock? Really undecided on what to do, any help would be super appreciated.