Ready to Give Up

[Jenamocrr]

I've only been a chicken keeper for 6 months, and it's been complicated.

Long explanation ahead...

In April my hubby and I decided to start our own little backyard flock. We purchased a little coop, and decided to shoot for 3 to 4 hens. This was an amount that we thought manageable for us, or so we thought.
We started incubation of a local's eggs, and only one chick(americauna) hatched.
We then purchased two faverolles chicks, from a local woman named Kara, to keep our lonely chick company. She told us that if either of the chicks ended up being a roo, she would swap for a hen. So that temporarily completed our flock of three.
Fast forward 15 weeks later, and we have two( the americauna, and a faverolles) crowing. This became an issue with our neighbors immediately.
The americauna rooster went back to the local that gave us the fertile eggs.
I then got back in touch with Kara, and I worked out swapping the faverolles rooster, along with purchasing two additional pullets for $20 each.
She ended up giving me a faverolles pullet with a respiratory illness, and $40 unsexed chicks with roundworms.
Needless to say all three birds went back to her and we got our money back.
This left our original hen lonely. Mind you we have gotten very attached to our one hen. Our kids affectionately named her Pebbles, and she follows us around and loves cuddles. But she is a flock bird, and needs other chickens in her life. So a week later, friends of our kindly gave us a NH Red hen to keep our hen company. She didn't show any signs of illness, and her and our hen became quick friends. Sadly two weeks later the NH Red was found unresponsive in our coop, and we had to cull her due to her clearly suffering.
That happened just over a week ago.
Before we lost the NHR hen I had been in touch with a local FBCM breeder about purchasing two birds from her.
This past weekend we purchased two birds from her for $50. With our luck, the next day we noticed that one of those hens is sneezing, with a chest rattle, and she dropped a large(dead) roundworm in her poop along with small amounts of intestinal lining. I am gutted that we are dealing with this again, in a matter of month! I don't know where to go from here. I don't want to keep dealing with receiving sick birds! I'm feeling so defeated because I feel like there is no solution that isn't going to be easy.
What would you do?

 

[Ryder]

Honestly I would just start with chicks.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Keeping chickens can have a really tough learning curve sometimes. I started a new flock this March after having been flockless for a year. The birds I got have a respiratory disease and need antibiotics. I was feeling really defeated and debated getting out of chicken keeping, but I just couldn’t. I forged on and my birds are healthy and happy.
You should know that chickens don’t take change well, they get stressed out and their immune system can be compromised. Give the Marans a week or two to get adjusted. During the adjustment period worm them and treat them for any other parasites that they could have. Giving them some electrolytes in their water won’t hurt either.

 

[Jenamocrr]

Honestly I would just start with chicks.

I agree, but we have the one adult hen that we don't want to part with. She's very healthy, and a great hen. We can't have her remain lonely while we wait for chicks to turn old enough to be in the coop with her. We are all struggling with the possibility that we may have to just get rid of her and start fresh in the spring with a whole new flock.

 

[Jenamocrr]

Keeping chickens can have a really tough learning curve sometimes. I started a new flock this March after having been flockless for a year. The birds I got have a respiratory disease and need antibiotics. I was feeling really defeated and debated getting out of chicken keeping, but I just couldn’t. I forged on and my birds are healthy and happy.
You should know that chickens don’t take change well, they get stressed out and their immune system can be compromised. Give the Marans a week or two to get adjusted. During the adjustment period worm them and treat them for any other parasites that they could have. Giving them some electrolytes in their water won’t hurt either.

Thank you for the encouragement. I've been on the fence about whether I should attempt to treat these new chickens or not. I figured the illnesses were underlying, and the stress from changing environments caused them to manifest. I'm going to start with some wazine to remove the worms. While helping her through her respitory illness. Which antibiotic did you use for your girls?

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

So my flock is a carrier for ILT which manifests as nasal discharge, bubbles in the eye, and sneezing. I use Tylan 50 for 5 days straight if symptoms show up. @KikisGirls helped me to give the correct dosage.

 

[Relleoms]

Thank you for the encouragement. I've been on the fence about whether I should attempt to treat these new chickens or not. I figured the illnesses were underlying, and the stress from changing environments caused them to manifest. I'm going to start with some wazine to remove the worms. While helping her through her respitory illness. Which antibiotic did you use for your girls?

I don’t think wazine is approved for use in laying hens anymore. Perhaps you can try valbazen or fenbendazole instead?

 

[Shadrach]

I've only been a chicken keeper for 6 months, and it's been complicated.

Long explanation ahead...

In April my hubby and I decided to start our own little backyard flock. We purchased a little coop, and decided to shoot for 3 to 4 hens. This was an amount that we thought manageable for us, or so we thought.
We started incubation of a local's eggs, and only one chick(americauna) hatched.
We then purchased two faverolles chicks, from a local woman named Kara, to keep our lonely chick company. She told us that if either of the chicks ended up being a roo, she would swap for a hen. So that temporarily completed our flock of three.
Fast forward 15 weeks later, and we have two( the americauna, and a faverolles) crowing. This became an issue with our neighbors immediately.
The americauna rooster went back to the local that gave us the fertile eggs.
I then got back in touch with Kara, and I worked out swapping the faverolles rooster, along with purchasing two additional pullets for $20 each.
She ended up giving me a faverolles pullet with a respiratory illness, and $40 unsexed chicks with roundworms.
Needless to say all three birds went back to her and we got our money back.
This left our original hen lonely. Mind you we have gotten very attached to our one hen. Our kids affectionately named her Pebbles, and she follows us around and loves cuddles. But she is a flock bird, and needs other chickens in her life. So a week later, friends of our kindly gave us a NH Red hen to keep our hen company. She didn't show any signs of illness, and her and our hen became quick friends. Sadly two weeks later the NH Red was found unresponsive in our coop, and we had to cull her due to her clearly suffering.
That happened just over a week ago.
Before we lost the NHR hen I had been in touch with a local FBCM breeder about purchasing two birds from her.
This past weekend we purchased two birds from her for $50. With our luck, the next day we noticed that one of those hens is sneezing, with a chest rattle, and she dropped a large(dead) roundworm in her poop along with small amounts of intestinal lining. I am gutted that we are dealing with this again, in a matter of month! I don't know where to go from here. I don't want to keep dealing with receiving sick birds! I'm feeling so defeated because I feel like there is no solution that isn't going to be easy.
What would you do?

That's a rough learning curve.
Quarantine, it's rule number one.
Try and buy from people you know who have healthy flocks and give breeders a wide berth.
Report the breeder. Breeders who sell diseased chickens are responsible for spreading disease and killing your favorite hen. Don't even think about feeling sorry for the breeder.
If you can't find someone you know with chickens you would be better off getting a small incubator and hatching your own.
People here seem to like doing it. I don't, I much prefer to let the hen do it but you don't have that option.

 

[lilmillefleur]

You've received great advice. Chicken keeping isn't always that tough!

 

[CapricornFarm]

Any time you bring new birds in they should be quarantined for a month. Then if they are ill, your other birds don't get sick.