To cull or not to cull? In need of advice.

[nightowl223]

Welcome to BYC.
The only thing I can think of is medicated feed, It only prevents coccidosis, but every little helps

Well... it *sometimes* prevents coccidiosis, as there are some varieties that are more virulent than others. For cocci, I always keep Corid around, sitting in the fridge, for quick access if needed.

 

[cottagecheese]

Cutting to the chase by indulging in a little psychobabble:

You are overwhelmed because of the conflict between your subconscious mind and your conscious mind. The soul = who you are = the subconscious knows what it wants (or doesn't want) "I don't want to cull"......The conscious mind is the one all about logic and reasoning, but you gave it a mind bender of an equation to compute, too many variables, and it's getting overheated. The subconscious mind though, is the one with psychic abilities and already knows what's going on. What's going on? As @nightowl223 already stated it : The world is full of viruses, bacteria, spores, parasites and their eggs and it's impossible to protect anyone, unless you put them in a bubble.

May I compliment you on your excellent work, nightowl223.

 

[bobbi-j]

Here's my opinion - if you want a healthy flock, then you cull any showing symptoms. If you want to keep them, knowing they have a respiratory disease, then keep them. It's up to you and how much you want to spend on medications or replacing chickens from your flock when they die.

 

[Barredrock92]

At what age were your first hens when you got them? They could be carriers, or they could have developed or natural immunity to whatever your little ones got. It's really hard to tell.

They were a week old when we got them. We acquired an older hen from a different flock back in December, she was put in quarantine for a month before joining the other two.

 

[nightowl223]

The specification I made between a chick from a hatchery and a chick from a non hatchery was that the chick from the “non hatchery” could have potentially had more opportunity to catch something due to the conditions she was living in. But if there was a possible chance at discerning where the infection came from then the information was pertinent.

They could also have had a much better conditions. Some hatchery places ship thousands upon thousands of birds a day, and they don't generally care much about how they're handled, or how good their bloodlines are. While breeders generally take very good care of their animals, because they're more valuable, and the bloodlines are generally much better and sturdier. At least that's what I have seen and dealt with in my corner of the world.

 

[nightowl223]

No they haven’t been introduced to my adult hens.

Unless you practiced perfect biosecurity, like having the new ones at the opposite end of your property, and wash and change after handling the new ones before you go out to the existing flock, they could have already had germs spread from one to another. And it's really hard to keep perfect biosecurity. That's what I was meaning.

 

[Barredrock92]

They’re on probiotics, electrolytes, and ACV in the water now and some vitamin supplements. I’ll give your method a try as well.

I won’t be breeding or selling birds, they’re just for eggs and personal enjoyment.

They’ll be in the brooder for a while longer; so I have some time to see who makes it and who doesn’t.

 

[Willowspirit]

Hi, fairly new chick owner here. I have an established flock of 3. In February I decided to expand my flock with some chicks. I got two from a farm, not a hatchery. This is the worst luck with chicks I’ve ever had. First one had a respiratory infection, it was treated, and recovered. ( I now know that she is a carrier for life...I didn’t know that a month ago) Then the other died several weeks later due to sour crop.
I am overwhelmed and need help. Thanks.

Where are you located?

 

[Naser]

Welcome to BYC.
The only thing I can think of is medicated feed, It only prevents coccidosis, but every little helps

 

[Barredrock92]

Have you already introduced this original sick then healthy chick to your adults? If so, they've been exposed, so they too would be carriers. So the question goes deeper than cull the sick chick, and goes deeper than cull the 'carrier for life' chick. If your adult hens have been exposed (and are now carriers, and you don't want to cull them), you can still keep your flock; as long as you're prepared to deal with respiratory issues in your flock as they age, particularly when they're stressed, and when you introduce new birds to your flock. Knowing you have a contagious respiratory illness in your flock isn't the end of the world, but it will make things more difficult for you. Oh and... are you sure that the respiratory illness in the first chick was of the 'carrier for life' variety of illnesses? I mean, you can get a sick bird... treat it, and that's it, it's over... not a carrier... for some types of illness. Do you know for certain that whatever she had is contagious still?

No they haven’t been introduced to my adult hens.