I went to a swap last Sat. and ended up with two chicks that were sick and did not realize it until they had already been introduced to my flock. I didn't think about chicks having illnesses before all this mess has happened. When I got home from the swap I noticed that the little bantam I got was acting strange, but I had never had a bantam before and just didn't know if it was normal bantam behavior or not. It kept peeping frantically, scratching its head, and would occasionally sneeze. I put the little bantam chick by itself for a day for precautions and then my sweet little 3 year-old felt sorry for it and put it in with my babies that had hatched that same weekend. I didn't pay any attention to the other chick we got because it was one that my 12 year-old had picked out and he never said he had noticed any behavior that was strange or different. When we got home he just put it in the the 4 wk. olds in the brooder out in the coop and I never thought anything of it. Well starting Tuesday, I noticed that my brand new chicks were scratching their heads off and sneezing just like the bantam was. When I went out to the coop that morning Rhodey, my cockerel, was sneezing his head off and sounded terrible. By Wed., most of my flock in the coop were sneezing, sounded hoarse, and were scratching. The little bantam died on Wed. and then I realized that the other chick that brought in sickness to the coop needed to be culled immediately. Since then I have had two of my new babies die and I believe that I have another that is getting ready to die. I have started them all on terramycin, treated them for mites and am having to sit back and hope for the best. The 14 wk., 10 wk., and 4 wk. old chicks out in the coop seem to be pulling through this so far and not sneezing as bad anymore. Fingers crossed, they will pull through this. This has been the biggest, single most stupid thing I have ever done and I am ready for the nightmare to be over! I have been trying to gather my thoughts so my post can benefit others and hopefully prevent them from making the same stupid mistake that I made. I can not stress enough to everyone to remember to quarantine your chicks no matter how old they are unless they come from a hatchery. I stand the chance of loosing my whole flock of over 50 chicks and chickens, due to my stupidity. This has been a hard lesson but one that has been learned. I hope and pray that my mistake will save someone else the heartache that I have had to go through. Please, please, please make sure you quarantine your new birds. Don't let my mistake happen to you.
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