Speckledhen's Ten Commandments of Good Flock Management

[Msbear]

I usually agree with everything that you say, MP. You know Im your biggest fan

but I don't raise mine for meat and don't sell my eggs for consumption. Not everyone on here does... and our situations are all different. We cannot diagnose someones flock over the internet and I don't think it is our right to suggest they do in the bird without attempting treatment first. We can all agree that, more often than not, we are not dealing with a dangerous virus. I wish more people were responsible with thier housing conditions and thier flock management but that cannot be solved by culling all their birds. Teaching proper sanitary conditions will help, I think.

As for antibiotics creating superbugs and not allowing our flock to fight off infections on their own, I can say the same thing about humans taking antibiotics. I realize later I shouldn't have jumped the gun and treated my hen with antibiotic and cider vinegar would have been good enough to treat her sniffle. I think my birdy was having a rough transition in the dead of winter and got stressed. It irritates me to know that if I would have posted this situation, someone would have told me to kill her. She is absolutely fine now and none of my other birds ever showed signs of illness. We all have the power to deal with our flocks as we see fit but I just think you guys are being way too hasty to jump the gun and cull at every opportunity without considering individual situations.

For you guys, who raise and sell meat birds and eggs, there may be only one option... but for those of us that raise birds just to look pretty in our yards, we have the leisure to cull at our own discretion... after we feel there is no hope.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

First time I got chickens and saw one sunbathing, I thought it was dying.

^^^ Same!!!

 

[Dhkoenig]

Great article. The one question I have is - if you have had the same flock together for years and one gets a respiratory infection, why wouldn't you just get a vet to look him/her over and help her? That is what we did a year ago - I took Butternut to the vet asap once I noticed her puffed up and off to herself. By the time we got to the vet she was panting . They kept her in oxygen and then we gave her antibiotics and separated her into my mudroom. Once she was over it we put her back in and everyone was A-Ok. So just not sure I get the cull cull cull thing if you don't first take her to the vet and see if you can save her. I am guessing the reason only she got sick was maybe she inhaled some dirt/dust and it had some bacteria or something in it, so it got into her respiratory system but not the others. I would love some further explanation of the cull cull cull thing if one gets sick.

Never mind LOL. Just read up and I see the "contageous" part I missed. I guess you never really know but mine never had discharge or a bad smell. Sorry I read too quickly

 

[speckledhen]

Great article. The one question I have is - if you have had the same flock together for years and one gets a respiratory infection, why wouldn't you just get a vet to look him/her over and help her? That is what we did a year ago - I took Butternut to the vet asap once I noticed her puffed up and off to herself. By the time we got to the vet she was panting . They kept her in oxygen and then we gave her antibiotics and separated her into my mudroom. Once she was over it we put her back in and everyone was A-Ok. So just not sure I get the cull cull cull thing if you don't first take her to the vet and see if you can save her. I am guessing the reason only she got sick was maybe she inhaled some dirt/dust and it had some bacteria or something in it, so it got into her respiratory system but not the others. I would love some further explanation of the cull cull cull thing if one gets sick.

First, not all vets treat chickens. Second, some will treat them without knowing enough or even caring about the carrier status of these bird and take your money even if they have no idea what they're doing. I won't take a chicken to a vet because I don't trust them, except for a select few that know chickens and have them, and I don't want to be on the radar of the government (yeah, that's a whole other issue for another thread). What tests did the vet do to determine what was wrong? Or did he do any testing at all?
We learn to diagnose our own birds by process of elimination-did you bring other birds into the flock? Did you track something in on your shoes from the feed store? Did wild birds set up housekeeping in your barn and infect your flock? Did the bird become soaked in a rain storm and possibly contract pneumonia? You have to figure out how it happened and if you believe it may be contagious, eliminate that bird from the flock or risk the rest of them. It's not a question of saving a bird, but of saving the rest of the flock from that contagion.
If you choose to treat, you may be setting up a cycle of disease in the flock that is not easily managed. Treating symptoms does not necessarily mean the bird is "cured". If you can reasonably determine that this animal has a non-contagious infection, that is all well and good, however, most owners just treat symptoms blindly without ever trying to determine what the cause is...and so do vets. If you don't know, that is why the cull. Most chicken respiratory diseases are like herpes or HIV. They stay in the bird for the rest of its like, leaving it a carrier. It can infect others for the rest of its life and have relapses when under stress. It's not worth the chance, especially if you have a larger number of chickens or if you regularly sell eggs and/or chicks. If you willingly allow birds to stay in the flock, ones you really don't know if they survived one of those carrier diseases or not, you can no longer ethically sell eggs or chicks or adult birds to anyone. You risk passing on that to someone else's flock. That is why the "separate immediately, observe, assess and then cull if contagious". I hope this explains it better.

 

[speckledhen]

For those of us who couldn't cull chickens if a gun was pointed to their head, is there a place where you actually can take them and that they take care of that?

I wish there was, I really do. I wish they'd trust us with the euthanasia drug they use for dogs, but they won't. You can take them to a vet, but many, maybe most, use the heart stick method, which I can't allow. I have just as much trouble as anyone with that task, my husband more so. It is simply one of the unpleasant tasks of chicken keeping. As far as disease, you can do a lot to keep that out of your flock, but there are other reasons it may become necessary to put down a chicken. I've encountered a few, mostly neurological. It frankly sucks.

 

[blueoval1]

Are leg mites considered an infection

 

[WriterofWords]

Nicely put, missed your wit and wisdom!

 

[Buster]

Quote:
Now THAT's a great idea!

 

[herechickchick]

Quote:
What a FANTASTIC idea. I must make copies.

 

[boskelli1571]

Chickens may be livestock or they may be pets, but they deserve and desire attention and care. If you are going to maintain a healthy backyard flock, there are certain rules that should be followed. For those of you who frequently PM me for advice, or for those of you who are new to chicken-keeping, here is the "Speckledhen Method" in a nutshell.

Speckledhen's Ten Commandments of Good Flock Management

1) Keep a clean, dry environment...change bedding as needed, watch out for leaky waterers/windows/roofs, etc.

2) Fresh air/ventilation is essential..poop and respiration add moisture in the air. Ventilation overhead, not at roost or floor level.

3) Provide fresh water, daily. Would you take a sip out of the waterer? If not, clean it.

4) Give fresh, nutritious food, formulated for the age/function of the birds

5) Provide a safe, predator-proofed, uncrowded coop and run...they depend on you for protection

6) Periodically, check over each bird in the flock for lice, mites, wounds, etc.

7) Practice good biosecurity..disinfect shoes before and after visting the feedstore and shows, quarantine new birds, etc Under no circumstances, sell, trade, or give away a bird that shows sign of infection or has contacted another bird who shows signs of infection, or comes from a flock that has shown signs of infection, now or in the past.

8) At the first sign of contagious respiratory illness, i.e., discharges from nose or eyes or bad smell, cull, cull, cull...birds don't get colds, per se; they contract diseases, many of which make them carriers for their lifetime. That means they are able to infect others even if they seem to recover themselves. See Rule #7.

9) Do not medicate unnecessarily, including wormers and antibiotics

10) DO YOUR RESEARCH! There are numerous books and articles profiling poultry management and poultry disease. Read, study and then formulate a plan of action, should the worst happen, before it happens.


Happy Chicken-Keeping!

Excellent! Especially #9 & 10. I get so angry at the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in livestock. Also the need to research stuff - the lives of these animals depend on you, educate yourself