Re-stated for emphasis:
I am retracting my statement from earlier as I spoke to the hatchery in question and they've been thoroughly inspected and had no other issues in that hatch, previous hatches, or hatches after mine. I kind of jumped to conclusions trying to solve the mystery behind the illness and pointed fingers before I had had any birds analyzed. These people are very reasonable and apparently are cleaner than most of the other birds you can get around here! Obviously my "protect my babies" instinct came in a little too strong (which happens frequently, actually, lol) and I just put the puzzle together before I had all the right pieces.
Sooo yes. I'm apologizing and hoping my stupid little backyard flock doesn't dissuade anyone from giving them a try. They're fantastically friendly people and don't deserve to be punished for my "put the cart before the horse" behavior.
This is for real folks. I talked to my feed store after getting off the phone with a Farwest Hatchery representative and apparently there's been something "going around". So I could have brought it home when I picked up some feed, bedding, ANYTHING. They gave me the number of problems they've had and stated there had been no issues beforehand, so yeah.
I should also add that everything was based purely on opinion with no malicious intent. Heck, I'm only a little backyard keeper who's had birds for less than a year!
