Speckledhen's Ten Commandments of Good Flock Management

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
I also do not raise my birds for meat, but I do sell their eggs. You are right that not everyone here does and that every situation here is different. I also agree that we cannot diagnose someone else's flock over the internet, we can only help point someone in the right direction and offer support.

With that said, let me tell you my opinion here. As Cyn has already stated, there are many different illnesses that chickens can contract and remain carriers of for life. As someone who has dealt with a sick flock, I am in complete agreement with Cyn. I spent my whole summer and lots of $ treating my flock for Coryza this past summer alongside a poultry specialist. I had to cull many and I had to watch many die. It is something that I will NEVER do again. It took months to eradicate this illness from my flock and a whole lot of heartache to boot. When my flock was infected, I was still fairly new to the chicken world and did not know about the importance of quarantining new birds, even chicks. I brought home an infected chick from a swap that had no doubt contracted the illness from a carrier in the previous flock. Had there not been a carrier, the chick would not have gotten sick and my flock would never have gotten sick. I take part of the blame due to my ignorance and not quarantining. BUT, if the sick birds/flock that this chick had come from had been culled this would have never been passed on. If you have a flock that is ill, it is your responsibility as a chicken owner to take action. If you do not, there is no telling how many other birds you will pass that illness on to. You don't even have to be selling your birds to pass that illness along. You could even carry it with you to the feed store on your shoes.

Now with that being said, I completely support Cyn's 10 commandments of Good Flock Management. You need to educate yourself as much as possible. That way, if and when your flock does get sick you will know what type of action that needs to be taken. You will have familiarized yourself with diseases and such enough to know what to do.

With good flock management, a responsible chicken owner will be able to forego these types of incidences and the need to cull.

 

[speckledhen]

Spook, I agree with what you said. These are just in capsule form and could be expounded on, each item pages long. Yes, you could possibly get a carrier from a hatchery, but as you said, you may never know if they have excellent care and never develop symptoms. So, there is alot more that could be said about every point; these are just the basics.

 

[hinkjc]

Great job Cyn putting those guidelines in writing for all!

I will add a comment about the use of drugs and the dosing advice given on forums. As far as I know, we do not have a licensed veterinarian on BYC (if we do, I'd like to hear from them). Any advice given is at the sole discretion of the person giving and the person receiving. Keep in mind that most antibiotics and wormers have not been approved by the FDA for use in poultry. Using them in many cases may even be illegal.

I know people don't like to hear the word cull, but it is a part of poultry husbandry that must be utilized in flock management. Whether you choose to take it into your own hands or use your state vet, that is a personal decision. The state vet is your best option in getting to the bottom of what you're dealing with prior to treatment. They are also an excellent resource of information on diseases, disease management and your state laws related to reportable diseases.

I wish you all happy, healthy flocks.

 

[Msbear]

I admit I am still learning very much about the diseases and sickness part of raising fowl and thank goodness my education is not coming from the way some of you had to learn.

MP, "leisure" was absolutely the wrong word to use.

I have a knack at doing that. I just meant that I, as small flock owner with no other poultry in a 5 mile radius, doesn't have the pressure you may have to cull in order to protect hundreds of birds as well as paying customers.

And Speckledhen, I did assume you were talking about a sneeze as being the first sign of illness and a reason to cull. Thank you all for the info we're all getting. I would never want a sickly bird in my flock. I just think that if you are a responsible chicken owner of a few birds, it can be a good idea to quarantine the sick bird while you examine further symptoms. If it proceeds way past a "little sneeze" into the respiratory symptoms you described then, obviously, a decision needs to be made for the better of your flock as well as others' flocks who could be exposed.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
See... That is exactly where these 10 commandments come in so handy.

The more popular the trend gets of having chickens in your own backyard, the more serious these issues become. There are so many uneducated people out there who go to sales and buy their birds who just don't know any better. I sure didn't when I first started and I learned a very hard lesson from it. It is absolutely necessary to quarantine new chicks and birds to avoid having to cull.

I think Cyn's main point here was that when an issue of this sort does arise, you need to be willing to cull. It is a hard thing to do, but unfortunately a big part of raising chickens.

 

[MissPrissy]

It is really hard to cull. You can be wishy washy and go back and forth. Watching for signs and waiting makes me sweat. I have had to sweat it out on several occassions through the years.

I take super precautions here with this flock. After a few years of being flockless we bought this place and my dh naggedme about getting chickens. When would I get them. When? When? When?

Finally when I was ready and felt like I could take on the job we got the barn ready and jumped in. I hit the ground running like in the old days and have been determined to do everything possible to keep my flock safe.

My flock is closed and I won't bring in other birds.

I have given away many bbs orpingtons to people and I always warn them to proceed with caution. To the best of my knowledge my flock is clean but you never know what stress will bring out once they get to where they are going. I repeat myself until people assure me they know to quarantine and watch the birds for issues.

I have never had a sick bird here and I know one day it will come but I am doing everything in my power to be safe.

Biosecurity is my number one priority.

 

[picklespickles]

i think "culling" as a responsibility refers to even so much more than chicknes. a dear friend has feline leukemia on her property and now even the neighobrs cats are getting sick and dying. becuase she just couldn't make herself put teh original cat down. it lived til it infected everything around. she is a good person but none of hte neighbors can afford vets. so she sees herself as their saviour for taking their cats to the vet, while they will be indebted to her financilally for quite some time. it has become a bone of contention, becase to me if she was goint to truly be there savior, why not have put her own cat to sleep or at the very, very least, keep it locked indoors no matter what at the beginning. she is a good person but omg. it makes me angry.

my dog recently survived parvo after lots of treatment on my part. i almost put her down several times. even though she is better now, since it can be spread for a good while afterwards in their leavings, i no longer bring her to work and i bleach my shoes before i go to someone's home with dogs. if i forget they have dogs, i leave my shoes outside and go in barefoot.

i am one of those people who have bomb proof chickens. so in that way, i am very lucky. cause i don't bleach for the chickens. when i do bring other chickens home for the purpose of eating, i do keep them seperate though for the day until i process them. and if occasionally i add something new, i keep it seperated for a bit. i am not the scientific type who keeps it done just so, but i do try to wait to see if the animal seems okay for a bit.

 

[mountaintopchicken]

I love your list and I am really interested in the discussion on culling for health.

The only problem with culling at the first sign of disease, is that you may never find out what it is. Chances are, if one bird has it, the rest of the flock has been exposed, even if you have already removed your sneezer. They may also be carriers who don't show symptoms, and you may never know it, unless the birds become stressed and the disease symptoms show up again.

The first thing I would do with a sick bird is get it out of the coop and quarantine. Now, when I quarantine (as I have done when new birds come here), I am so uptight about it that my husband laughs and shakes his head. I wear latex gloves when handling birds, and a one-peice jumper over my regular clothes. I get their water from a separate spigot, keep their food separate from the others so I am not inadvertently contaminating everything etc.

I would want to watch the bird and see what other symptoms, if any, develop to see if that would give me a clue as to what I was dealing with. I would ideally test the bird. This is often expensive to do, and not all states have a lab that offers testing, so this might not be available to everyone. But it would be the best option, because it's hard to fight an unknown disease. Some diseases are untreatable and make birds carriers for life, but it's my understanding that some diseases can be controlled with a vaccinated program. If you've had a disease on your farm, you might want to begin vaccinating for it. It's hard to make an informed decision about things like this if you cull before you know illness your birds have been exposed to.

 

[seriousbill]

I once had to cull for disease, quite a few years ago. And, in my case, fast-response culling was the best thing I could have done to contain the outbreak at that time, which I believe was caused by wild birds--diseased house sparrows to be specific. Everyone has to determine what he/she will do when unexpected and difficult circumstances arrive.

I believe that any good advice can be second-guessed or mis-applied. But that doesn't mean it's not good advice.

Thanks, Cyn. Many of us who have been raising chickens for years can attest to the practicality and wisdom of your post.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I've read through all of the responses and here's what I've come up with:

These commandments are subjective.

Not every bird should be culled because of a sign of disease. For instance, my birds were dying one by one. No signs of disease. They were priceless birds from a very rare line. I tried everything I could think of. Some died with very well-fed bodies, while others were dying of starvation. I tried switching feeds, doing necropsy...nothing gave me the answer I was looking for. Until another member from another board gave me the answer.

Worms. In all my years I had never had that issue...EVER. It had been a very wet year and apparently the worms from the ground had been coming up into the pen. My birds would eat the worms and contract the parasitic worms that were waiting inside. These worms could have been eaten by other species, but I'm just betting the wet environment is what caused the whole issue.

After a VIGOROUS worming...all birds are fat and happy.