- Jul 28, 2011
- 1
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Hi all,
This is kind of a long story, but I am only about 1.5 weeks into having chickens and it is NOT going well. A week from last Sat. I found someone in my area who had lots of chickens for sale in the age range I was looking for, 6-10 weeks. She also had lots of temping breeds. I picked out three for our small backyard flock of what I was really hoping to be all pullets. I have never had chickens of my own before, my grandparents had a farm and I helped get eggs and even cull a few roosters, but never spent much time watching them closely. The day after I got them home, one had some discharge in it's nose with bits of grass/good stuck in it. I didn't really think much of it, I guess I thought maybe it was normal for chickens to have that once in a while. 3 or 4 days later, all 3 had the yellow nasal discharge, and coughing and head shaking began. There have never been chickens on our land, and the coop/run is brand new, so am I correct in assuming they had this BEFORE I brought them home?
I contacted the seller, she stated her other chickens were not sick, but told me where and what to buy to treat them! She said sometime chickens just get sick from stress or heat, and going to a new place. It seems a little soon from me to be having to deal with this...I have been treating them with oxytetracycline and it is slowly improving them. But I am not sure I want chickens who could be carries of something, what if I want to get a few more someday? Then will they get sick, need Abx, and it will be this viscous cycle? Should I cull them all and start over with hatchery chicks I know have not been infected/exposed to things? Also, one of them crowed today, think it might be a roo, which I also do NOT want, so now I am down to two sick/recovering hens.
Any advice would be great, this is not a great start. I really just want healthy hens to hang out in my garden, give me eggs, and some meat later on when laying slows down. I have a huge organic garden and am a big proponent of all natural. It seems counter intuitive to be pumping them full of antibiotics.
Thoughts anyone ???
This is kind of a long story, but I am only about 1.5 weeks into having chickens and it is NOT going well. A week from last Sat. I found someone in my area who had lots of chickens for sale in the age range I was looking for, 6-10 weeks. She also had lots of temping breeds. I picked out three for our small backyard flock of what I was really hoping to be all pullets. I have never had chickens of my own before, my grandparents had a farm and I helped get eggs and even cull a few roosters, but never spent much time watching them closely. The day after I got them home, one had some discharge in it's nose with bits of grass/good stuck in it. I didn't really think much of it, I guess I thought maybe it was normal for chickens to have that once in a while. 3 or 4 days later, all 3 had the yellow nasal discharge, and coughing and head shaking began. There have never been chickens on our land, and the coop/run is brand new, so am I correct in assuming they had this BEFORE I brought them home?
I contacted the seller, she stated her other chickens were not sick, but told me where and what to buy to treat them! She said sometime chickens just get sick from stress or heat, and going to a new place. It seems a little soon from me to be having to deal with this...I have been treating them with oxytetracycline and it is slowly improving them. But I am not sure I want chickens who could be carries of something, what if I want to get a few more someday? Then will they get sick, need Abx, and it will be this viscous cycle? Should I cull them all and start over with hatchery chicks I know have not been infected/exposed to things? Also, one of them crowed today, think it might be a roo, which I also do NOT want, so now I am down to two sick/recovering hens.
Any advice would be great, this is not a great start. I really just want healthy hens to hang out in my garden, give me eggs, and some meat later on when laying slows down. I have a huge organic garden and am a big proponent of all natural. It seems counter intuitive to be pumping them full of antibiotics.
Thoughts anyone ???
