Your Chickens are going to get Sick!!

[Chic Chick]

Yep, they're all doomed !
If they make it past all the diseases that can get them and grow up, we end up chopping their heads off and throwing them into the frying pan....lol

 

[threehorses]

I disagree strongly.

If one sticks to some basics, you will rarely if ever have a sick bird.

- Lots of ventilation, lots of clean air, not lots of draft. Lots of space - never any less than 2 square feet per bird ever. Never crowd.
- Dried and compressed horse pine shavings instead of hay as bedding - in a well ventilated coop.
- Sand on the ground instead of soil - dries out parasites and bacteria.
- Yogurt monthly for adults. Weekly for babies. Replaces good bacteria to strengthen immune systems. (In the old days it was sour milk non pasteurized)
- Keep a closed flock!
- If you don't keep a closed flock, then quarantine everything for 30 days = NO exceptions! Some diseases have a 21 day incubation period. 30 days gives you 21 days, and then four days for us to catch on if they're sick. (that includes birds you took to a show.
- Never ever ever pity-buy or buy from a flea market. Buy from tested flocks, ask for the paperwork, and then quarantine. Vaccinate for marek's if you raise your own.
- Worm with wazine and then worm with a follow up of a broad spectrum larva-killing wormer (fenbendazole, ivermectin pour on, etc) whether you think you need it or not. Do so at least twice a year or have "Fecal egg counts" done. DON"T depend on seeing worms to tell you there are worms - or your system will frankly fail.
- Sunshine shining in the coop and run will kill diseases and bacteria; take advantage of it.
- Every adult hen should have oyster shell grit. Period. No egg shells.
- Every adult bird should have granite grit no matter the diet or ground type.
- Every bird should have most of their diet a completely fortified age and use appropriate feed crumble or pellet, 10% of the diet being more of the same or healthy treats. No shrimp tails, birthday cake, few sweets, more vegetables than fruit. No more than 10% of their diet in grains.
- Feed should always be in date when purchased, strongly fresh smelling. If it smells like cardboard, it's as good as cardboard. The bag should be whole. Never use feed that's been rebagged from bulk. Use within 1 month.
- Clean fresh water - nothing in it 90% of the time.
- Never medicate to prevent anything ever. (Coccidiostats in the feed don't count.)
- Keep birds separate until they're 5 months old. They're at different stages of their immune development as they grow. Don't push things.
- If you get a worm or parasite infestation, TREAT the infestation - don't use control products to do a treatment product's job. DE is great for helping reduce numbers and prevent - it's not a treatment. Suck it up and treat and then work on preventing again (see sand and shavings recommendations above).

and the king-daddy of them all:

- Pick up your birds every week. Take no less than an hour weekly to sit and watch them eat and play. Know their weights, know their parts, know their anatomy, know their personalities, know who is the boss and who's the lowest in the flock. You can't do that from an armchair - pick them up, look at them, feel them, smell them, listen to them.

If people followed these rules, this board would be a lot less busy.

The reason I know a lot about diseases is that I used to NOT follow these rules. I've learned how important they are and I am constantly, through my advice, trying to get people back atuned to these basics. NOW I read the old poultry books and guess what every single book pushes? the above rules. Period. They're free, cheaper than meds, cheaper than tests, cheaper than culling your flock and investments, cheaper than all the stress you'll get from being heartsick over a bird.

 

[SportTees]

Quote:

 

[LegHorn-BusHorn]

I am not expecting to many problems, but I only have five. When I was first reading all the posts, I started freaking out about what could happen to my chickens. Just keep them safe secure and clean. I was given advice to not look at the Preditor section, which I did, and I know if I do have an urgent problem I can always count on BYC.