We have a little gal who is sneezing a lot and has runny poo. She is still drinking plenty and scratching around and very active. If she starts to act worse and we cull her, what do we do with her body? Bury, burn, cook and give to the dogs? I hate to see a chicken go to waste, but I don't want to risk making my dogs sick either. Thanks for your patience on a newbie question!
Anytime we have a bird with any kind of a known disease we always burn. We can't risk spreading it to our flock of 50 and 75 chicks. That would be way too risky. I did make the mistake of giving my dogs chicken once and I think that's why one of my dogs took it upon herself to kill one of my chickens. Just like giving my dogs old eggs I find in the yard. I never had a problem with my dogs getting into the nestboxes until I was the one who gave them eggs. Anyways I hope your chickie gets better!
Thanks! I was wondering about that with feeding to the dogs. I thought if they got a taste for it, and realized where it came from we could be in trouble. Of course I feed our dogs table scraps of chicken we buy from the store! I really hope she gets better. She is obviously low chick in the pecking order and I'm wondering if it's because she sick. I've already warned the kids that we might have to "put her down". I was really worried how the 10 yo would take it. She's not happy, but seems to have accepted it. She did ask "Can we get another one?" I let her know that come spring we'd be ordering a bunch of day olds. That seemed to help.
Giving your dogs cooked chicken isn't going to turn them into chicken killers, if they aren't already. If you gave them a raw carcass, feathers and all, or even a cleaned raw carcass, that might be a problem. I can't say for sure on that, because I won't give my dogs raw poultry of any kind, for that very reason. I'd rather not risk it, after all the work I put into training them not to bother the birds. I give them cooked chicken scraps all the time. I give them eggs, too, but only cooked, or beaten mixed with a little milk or other food. They will eat eggs they find out in the fields, but they don't take them out of the coop. I think they restrain themselves because I've made them stay out of the coop, they know it's off limits.
Quote:That was what I was wondering. I've already concluded that the dogs will have to stay inside when it comes time to process any of the birds. I don't need them trying to help clean up any mess and deciding that "boy those taste good!" Thanks for the advice!
A runny nose and runny poop is quite common and most likely nothing. Chances are whatever pathogen is causing the illness has already been introduced to the rest of your flock. Now in reality, as long as you cook the bird, the disease can't hurt you or your dogs. Boil the carcuss and make chicken soup for the dogs. My dogs have chicken, duck, or turkey soup daily with their kibble and they couldn't be healthier, including our 18 year old dog.
