Rescue chics from feed store?

[gtaus]

Yes, they would be free.

Reminds me of what I tell everyone else about chicks, that is, buying the chicks is the least expensive thing about having a backyard flock. It's really your time and labor going into caring and tending the flock that adds up - at least if you considered your labor time as worth anything.

I know most people have advised not to get these "free" chicks, returned for whatever reason. They are probably right and i could be off base. But my thinking is that a store receives maybe 200 chicks, and a handful are not as perky as the rest. Will they survive? Maybe not.

Are they sick and infected - and the others shipped with them not infected? I would think that all chicks would either be free of infections or all have the same problems coming from the same hatchery. If infected, the "strong" looking chicks may not last very long either. I bought my chicks from our local Co-Op, and the guy who runs the chick program told me that a number of years ago he got infected chicks from a hatchery that they sold at his store. . Within weeks, customers were coming back saying the chicks died and had infected their existing flock. So he dumped that hatchery and now gets his chicks elsewhere. So I understand that the concern of getting sick chicks is a real issue.

Point is, I guess you have to be very careful about introducing any new chicks to your existing flock. In my case, my brooder setup in my garage is completely separate and nowhere near my backyard flock.

Unless that store is experiencing massive death reports of the chicks they sell, I suspect maybe these "free" chicks were overstressed in the shipping and/or maybe just a bit weaker than the others in the batch. I would take a chance on these "free" chicks myself, but I have over 40 years raising small animals and have had to deal with loss many times over. My chickens are not my pets, and I don't get that attached to them. That is just my way to cope with the loss of an animal when it does happen, and the very fact that chickens don't live that long even if healthy.

If you can celebrate the survival of a few chicks and not mourn the loss of most - or all - of these chicks, then it may work out for you. If you don't feel up to dealing with the expected loss of these chicks, then I would not get them, even if they are free.

 

[catballou]

A feed store near me is looking for someone to rescue sickly or returned baby chicks. They do get their baby chicks vaccinated. I already have an established flock. How risky would this be if I would take them in? Would any of you all do it? I am sure they would need to be quarantine. Just trying to make up my mind on whether it would be a terrible idea. My heart sometimes takes over my brain.

My heart takes over my brain way too often!

 

[Weeg]

I thin you should do it! I have brought mite infested hens and a rooster to my house for nursing. They were a friends chickens, they wanted the rooster back but since the tow hens weren't to infested, they needed to be separated before getting worse.

I kept them completely separate from my flock, and wore a latex suit when I went near them so I didn't' have to change, lol! My flock never got infested. I treated them for a month to ensure the mites were gone. I gave the rooster back after my friends flock had been treated, and I kept the hens and integrated them into my flock.

This is different, but my experience is just a way of showing that as long as you have good hygiene between the sickly and the healthy, it can be done. I would give it a go!

 

[linsybird]

I would jump on the chance to do it! Of course, I’m really bad about taking in weak/lost/abandoned creatures. It usually ends in heartbreak, but at least I’ve given them a chance.

 

[AnnieMike]

Still on the fence. I appreciate everyone’s help. Good news is they haven’t called me to pick up any. In the mean time, I am starting a batch of eggs in the incubator. ISA brown hen mix with a barred rock rooster. Calling them ISA Rocks. Wish me luck!

 

[gtaus]

Wish me luck!

Good luck!

 

[parvani]

Everywhere I've researched about Marek's disease says that it's ubiquitous in all wholesale chicken operations. EVERY day-old chick that's shipped by any wholesale hatchery has been vaccinated against Marek's disease.

(The hatchery hopes customers will choose to pay for vaccination -- but they do it regardless because they can't afford the loss of reputation if they ship chicks that all get sick and die within days, and transmit the disease to their buyers' flocks.)

The problem is that it takes a few days for the vaccination to become effective. So if a hatchery chick is exposed to Marek's in its first few days of life, it can still become very sick or die.

If it survives the illness, it can become a lifelong carrier of the disease, transmitting it to all other birds it contacts. And by "contacts", I mean "exists in the same neighborhood with". Marek's is transmitted in feather dust. It is carried in the air and can travel on your clothing and the soles of your shoes.

Now... Do you REALLY want to care for those sickly hatchery chicks?

 

[FuzzyCritters]

Everywhere I've researched about Marek's disease says that it's ubiquitous in all wholesale chicken operations. EVERY day-old chick that's shipped by any wholesale hatchery has been vaccinated against Marek's disease.

(The hatchery hopes customers will choose to pay for vaccination -- but they do it regardless because they can't afford the loss of reputation if they ship chicks that all get sick and die within days, and transmit the disease to their buyers' flocks.)

The problem is that it takes a few days for the vaccination to become effective. So if a hatchery chick is exposed to Marek's in its first few days of life, it can still become very sick or die.

If it survives the illness, it can become a lifelong carrier of the disease, transmitting it to all other birds it contacts. And by "contacts", I mean "exists in the same neighborhood with". Marek's is transmitted in feather dust. It is carried in the air and can travel on your clothing and the soles of your shoes.

Now... Do you REALLY want to care for those sickly hatchery chicks?

Do you have any sources that suggest the hatcheries vaccinate every chick? I seriously doubt that, considering the vaccine is expensive.

Chicks will not show any signs of marek's in the first few days of life. That is impossible, because it takes three weeks for the virus to incubate. So even if the chick was exposed to marek's as soon as it was born, it will be a perfectly healthy chick until three weeks (and even after that, it can still be healthy. Being exposed to marek's isn't a death sentence, as many chickens survive exposure).

These feed store chicks are definitely not sick because of marek's, they are too young for that.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

A feed store near me is looking for someone to rescue sickly or returned baby chicks. They do get their baby chicks vaccinated. I already have an established flock. How risky would this be if I would take them in? Would any of you all do it? I am sure they would need to be quarantine. Just trying to make up my mind on whether it would be a terrible idea. My heart sometimes takes over my brain.

The sickly chicks wouldn’t likely have any transmissible diseases, or all the chicks at the feed store would be sickly. However, there is a greater risk with returned chicks, as they could’ve contracted something from the returning person’s flock.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It would be safer taking on the weak chicks upon arrival and not ones returned for some reason by a customer.