How do you know your chickens are healthy?

[Somshine]

I actually did have several buff orpingtons for about a month last year I decided I did not want to waste food and space on as well as one of my hens I hatched to a friend of a friend who already had a flock. They were in between chick and pullet age. And they came back months later for a rooster so I guess that's a good sign. But that wasn't really about selling it was more about managing the flock I was building. But yeah if I sold anyone anything that by all intents and purposes I thought was healthy only to find out it annihilated their flock I would be mortified!

 

[Somshine]

Not to mention a couple years ago when I decided to add a rooster to my flock I brought home two different roosters who presented with respiratory symptoms and died both within a week. Now they were in quarantine and none of my other chickens got sick. But this feather dust blowing in the wind and things living in the soil forever... I poisoned the ground around the quarantine coop of course. But...

 

[Acre4Me]

Well nothing presently. Just reading about all of these diseases and what deadly, ridiculously contagious creepers they can be. So far I've hatched chickens to keep but if I were to sell fertile eggs or chicks (or even thin a few young layers) I would want to know I wasnt risking other people's flocks. There just doesn't seem to be a way to assure that unless you've got a lot of time and money.

Currently I have 2 pregnant goats. I bought them locally 1.5 years ago, and invited a buck to stay for a short while (from same farm I purchased the does from). They are due soon. So, naturally, I’m reading up on goat birth, kids and kid care, and some of this learning is coming from goat related fb pages. Honestly, reading those pages -where folks come to ask questions and advice-makes one think “how in the world do goats even survive?” Well, they have for millennia, I just have to remind myself of that and keep all the good learning. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the bad.

Chickens: I’ll second NPIP for you. It is required for shipping any chicks. But selling locally, it is not required.

We finally have our run completely covered. The chickens are allowed to roam outside of the pen occasionally. But, by excluding wild birds, we haven’t had mites or lice! If your chicken area has never had chickens or other animals then it is unlikely to harbor chicken diseases. If you source your chickens from quality NPIP places, you most likely will have good stock.

 

[Acre4Me]

Not to mention a couple years ago when I decided to add a rooster to my flock I brought home two different roosters who presented with respiratory symptoms and died both within a week. Now they were in quarantine and none of my other chickens got sick. But this feather dust blowing in the wind and things living in the soil forever... I poisoned the ground around the quarantine coop of course. But...

Not necessarily. Something’s only contaminate for a short while.

 

[Somshine]

Not necessarily. Something’s only contaminate for a short while.

My quarantine coop is small and movable. And I have honestly only needed to use it when introducing a rooster, so three times. I hit a spot in the woods just beyond the yard and rake all of the leaves into a low barrier around it. But two died in there. Afterwards I soaked the ground all around it with a veterinary kennel sanitizer (I'm a dog groomer), loaded the ground down with diatomaceous earth and pulled the leaves back over and have put it in a different location each time. But the feather dust in the wind and the 7-year ground contamination... I feel like it because I've had two roosters die in quarantine my entire property and possibly my chickens could secretly be contaminated without me knowing.

 

[SilverBirds]

My quarantine coop is small and movable. And I have honestly only needed to use it when introducing a rooster, so three times. I hit a spot in the woods just beyond the yard and rake all of the leaves into a low barrier around it. But two died in there. Afterwards I soaked the ground all around it with a veterinary kennel sanitizer (I'm a dog groomer), loaded the ground down with diatomaceous earth and pulled the leaves back over and have put it in a different location each time. But the feather dust in the wind and the 7-year ground contamination... I feel like it because I've had two roosters die in quarantine my entire property and possibly my chickens could secretly be contaminated without me knowing.

The disease living for 7 years only really applies to Marek's disease.

 

[Somshine]

I know but then there's that one that can go through the egg. I guess my point is how do you really know if you have a healthy flock or a contaminated flock with great immune systems month to month? Other than testing? Maybe every chicken keeper wonders this just want to be responsible with liabilities now that my flock is almost built and I may not be keeping many more. Also want to do a breed I'm in love with sometime soon.

 

[Momma-Hen-Misti]

No egg withdrawal on Aquasol!

 

[Somshine]

I feel I'm totally a vigilant chicken mama and flock manager and I'm constantly trying to learn but I'm also not rich or a scientist... So I don't know how to grow and make sure it's responsible. And the more research I do the more I realize this is a spectrum. Or more like, a Pandora's box... So I guess you talk to people and decide.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

I feel I'm totally a vigilant chicken mama and flock manager and I'm constantly trying to learn but I'm also not rich or a scientist... So I don't know how to grow and make sure it's responsible. And the more research I do the more I realize this is a spectrum. Or more like, a Pandora's box... So I guess you talk to people and decide.

When I first got chickens I was so nervous they would get sick! I raised them inside and then was afraid to move them outside. The first time I took them out one of them ate bird poop and I was extremely upset and worried! After awhile I realized they live outside and you can only do so much so I do what I can and if they get sick I try to help them. I still get worried but not as much as I did at first!